The History of the Electric Guitar

G.E. Smith performs the history of the electric guitar, from steel to squeal, in just one song.

[marklybeer]

Thanks for this GE Smith - you are a genius! I never thought of the instrument in this way before, you make us realize that we are all connected to the people that came before us even though the sounds may be different. We are all celebrating the same thing. . .

[crazyman]

Finally synchronized! About freaking time! 😎

[robinleebraun]

This was just a part of a much more comprehensive discussion about the history of electric guitars. I wish YouTube had that video.

[JSyoutube]

This is a great song to practice with.

[pauloamw]

The electric guitar and the music played with it is America's greatest contribution to the world.

[jasoncarpp]

Awesome show! Awesome musical instrument!

[ata]

One thing they got wrong - Elvis's first recordings that made him a star were in 1954, not '55, and his first album was '56.

[djpvma]

Didn't even get into alternate tunings and 7 string guitars (KoRn), and 4 string guitars (Soulfly) and what not.

[TKNUGT]

+Smithsonian Channel please. SYNC THIS VIDEO!!! The sync is off... And thats saying something.
use Sony Vegas auto sync it works

[PatriceSerapiglia]

Well yep but you forgot to mention the most important invention, the invention of the amplifier. 1904, the Aladin valve of Fleming, 1915 the patent of the field coil speaker by Jenson …the same year 1915 the first demonstration of the PA, public address system. Your electric guitar might not be a true invention but an adaptation of the PA system. Winding a wire around a magnet seem easy compared to building a amplifier. George Beauchamp got it right the first time in the early 1930’s with the awesome horseshoe pick up .But it took a lot of inventions and new patent to build an amplifier

[rdanalytics]

First time I have ever seen GE Smith play a Stratocaster.

[kellyomalley]

you guys left alot out though, Love you GE.

[Arachnoscribe]

(Yep, Camptown Races... Rather improbable and not as (blank) as the Blazing Saddles version.) Cool? Hell yeah!

[Artaios]

Why have the 80ies been skipped completely with guitars modified by delay, chorus etc.? No mentioning of Prince, The Edge and other 80ies' guitar geniuses?

[davidmcaninch]

I can’t find the full documentary on any site at all. I don’t think it exists anymore.

[iridescentrainbow]

shame they stopped at the 60s, but still amazing. also, these narrators need to go

[jltrem]

I swear this is the first time I've seen G.E. with a strat.

[jasoncarpp]

What an awesome way to end the show! What's the name of the song they're performing?

[sklaft]

I really liked this. And the tagged notes we fun too, but how do you just ignore everything between the death of John Lennon and the Grunge era? That was the greatest period of guitar & music ever. You can't just not say anything about it. Whew.

[tomaslopez]

How could you skip the ‘80’s with the popularity of heavy metal, superstrat guitars, and shredders like Van Halen or Randy Rhoads?