# Why is the guitar the primary instrument in rock music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [October 19, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005 "2019-10-19T17:26:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/41 "2019-10-21T13:25:15Z")
Really an excellent thread of answers. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/42 "2019-10-21T18:32:20Z")
With guitar you can play rhythm or melody or both at the same time. I played the trombone for two years and never got to the point where it sounded good, I was serviceable on the guitar in two months. The only other instrument that is as versatile is the piano and that requires sitting down and staying put, whereas a guitar player can roam the stage and look at his audience. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/43 "2019-10-22T07:09:35Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > The only other instrument that is as versatile is the piano and that requires sitting down and staying put, whereas a guitar player can roam the stage and look at his audience. You’d think the keytar would be more popular 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/44 "2019-10-22T17:40:42Z")
Drums speak to the feet. Keyboards speak to the head. Guitars speak to the soul. More or less. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/45 "2019-10-22T18:43:20Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > It can’t be just the chords, though? Anyone can probably pick those same 3 chords out on a piano. I can, but it doesn’t sound nearly as good. There is a lot more variation in sound available on a guitar, based on how you play it. You get bends, percussive hits, hammer ons, harmonics, etc. And that’s before you add in distortion. As a modern-style worship pianist for years, I often had to learn how to take a guitar driven song and make it sound good on keyboard. And it involved much more than just playing the chords. I didn’t want to sound like that SNL sketch where Will Ferrell plays the piano as a music teacher. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/46 "2019-10-22T19:45:46Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Do people seriously still believe that the reason kids got into rock was to piss off their parents? Why are the same kids still listening to rock now that they’re in their 50s and 60s? People pretty much always listen to the same music they liked when they were 12-13 years-old. that’s a known thing. So if you liked pissing your parents off then, you love that shit for life. It’s why I mostly still listen to golden age hip-hop and alternative rock, even though I have an open mind and eclectic tastes. ---
**Author:** ![swampspruce](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampspruce/32/261_2.png) [@swampspruce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampspruce)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/47 "2019-10-23T18:46:34Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > This, exactly. Guitars are easily portable, easy to learn, cheap to buy if you want them to be, and allow the lead to sing at the same time. > > My ex took years of formal lessons on classical violin, and I took years of formal lessons on classical flute as well as piano. Both of us learned how to read music, and we were each able to read notes on a page like we were reading a book. But my buddy plays guitar beautifully, without any lessons, and without being able to read music. He’s amazed that I can read music, and can play it on flute and piano; and I’m amazed that he can simply pick up a guitar and play what he hears. > > It seems to me that guitar is much easier than violin or flute to pick up and play. I think the most cogent answers have been addressed and **Spoons** reminded me of an old joke: How do you stop a guitarist from playing? Put music notation in front of them. With the advent of tablature being widely available it’s even more so unless you happen to have some time in front of a piano or keyboard. Besides, during the heyday of arena rock the image of the lead singer leaning into the mic while ripping up power chords is iconic. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/48 "2019-10-23T19:18:57Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Dulcimers don’t rock. But they do get hammered. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/49 "2019-10-23T19:33:41Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > People pretty much always listen to the same music they liked when they were 12-13 years-old. that’s a known thing. So if you liked pissing your parents off then, you love that shit for life. It’s why I mostly still listen to golden age hip-hop and alternative rock, even though I have an open mind and eclectic tastes. But I didn’t like pissing off my parents. I liked the music. And I really doubt my experience was unique. If I just wanted to piss off my parents, why stop at music? Why not record road work, with jackhammer, and play \*that \*at full volume? Was pissing off your parents the only reason you got into hip-hop? Were you really thinking “I hate this awful music, but it annoys the folks so I’m gonna play it LOUD!” I don’t think so. I’m gonna guess you liked the way it sounded. Also, I don’t buy that people’s tastes are shaped at 12. (12?) At least not everyone. I’m in my fifties, and still learn about new artists. And even for people for whom music isn’t important, I think they still get exposed to new stuff through their twenties. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/50 "2019-10-23T20:07:21Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > If I just wanted to piss off my parents, why stop at music? Why not record road work, with jackhammer, and play \*that \*at full volume? What do you mean, “stop at music”? That [is music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu0YcYLyiRs), at least the kind of music grandpa is always listening to… ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/51 "2019-10-23T20:17:29Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > What do you mean, “stop at music”? That [is music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu0YcYLyiRs), at least the kind of music grandpa is always listening to… I knew without looking that it would be Einstürzende Neubauten :D. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/52 "2019-10-23T21:04:59Z")
I grew up with big-band and show music, and the grandparents’ traditions, and I never despised any. Pissing-off elders was never my goal - too much else was going on before, during, and after the divorce. I was into mountain dulcimer, rocking as best I could, while listening to Wolfman Jack and loud _coplas_ on border blasters, and folk and blues on college radio, and Bernard Shaw plays and prologues on library records. Jukebox rock was all around, with used 45s going for a dime instead of a dollar new. The Folk Music Center (now run by Ben Harper’s family) was in the next town. Korla Pandit played at the local roller rink. The world was all music to me. Rock varies around the world. Many guitar-like instruments, yes, and many keyboards, and things to bang on or blow through. (I heard Jamaican steel drums rocking SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE on in front of the main NYC library in 1968.) Otherwise, what make rock IMHO are rhythm, amplification, and attitude. But don’t lose the magic of the melody until it sounds just like a symphony. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/53 "2019-10-23T22:04:42Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > What do you mean, “stop at music”? That [is music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu0YcYLyiRs), at least the kind of music grandpa is always listening to… Ha, I was wondering if someone was going to go there. I like EN, though I prefer Skinny Puppy. But even Blixa had some song structure, sort of. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/54 "2019-10-23T23:24:29Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > After ten years of experimentation, Les Paul started building solid-body electric guitars for Gibson in 1952. The Fender Telecaster went on sale the same year. So said (or at least implied) Les Paul. Gibson says he merely endorsed, and gave some design advice on, a guitar they were already planning. > [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Leo Fender intended his guitar to be for country musicians, Les Paul intended his to be for jazz players but they were overwhelming adopted by rock musicians. And Fender’s first production guitar, the Telecaster, is still the standard for country music. But his Jazzmaster never did catch on with jazz players, nor did Gibson’s solid-body guitars (although they were a bit more popular than Fender’s guitars among jazzers). Gibson’s archtops, however, are still the standard for jazz players. > [@Kobal2](#): > > Counterpoint : you can be shit at guitar and still have it sound kind of awesome - rock proverbially runs on four chords after all. And having a bad or dirty guitar sound isn’t bad, it can even be a plus (see: Nirvana, early AC/DC, any punk band whatsoever…) > > But if you’re shit at violin, it’ll always sound like you’re violently raping cats with their claws on a blackboard. Yes indeed. A high school kid can lock himself in his room for a few months and come out being able to produce a pretty creditable rock guitar sound, thus enabling him to pick up girls. > [@beowulff](#): > > Some credit needs to be given to the vast array of sounds that an electric guitar can produce. Pianos have a huge range, but they always sound like a piano. > Guitars can make sounds that mimic other instruments, or sound like nothing else. Yes. And especially the ability to bend strings. This is why (or one reason why) the guitar was front and center in blues bands. There’s no rock 'n roll without string bending. There would be no _Johnny B. Goode_. > [@scabpicker](#): > > I’d say in addition the qualities of being cheap, portable, loud, and easy to get the skill necessary to do a decent accompaniment; the guitar allows you to be expressive in a way a lot of other instruments don’t. Even before you start messing with the electronic portions of an electric guitar’s sound, playing a stringed instrument, it just gives you more methods to make sounds. A piano can’t make the sounds a guitar makes with bends, or when playing with a slide or a whammy bar. Yep. Even without the whammy bar. See what I said above about bending strings. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/55 "2019-10-24T01:26:27Z")
In defense of the bass as a “sexy” member of the string set, consider that if you call success spending your happily ever after with a bona fide Playmate Of The Year you’re Gene Simmons. If you call it dying in bed with your favorite Vegas stripper you’re John Entwhistle. If you call it marrying at 52 an 18 y/o you’ve been dating since she was 13 :eek:, you’re Bill Wyman. So watch out for the bass player. > [@MrDibble](#): > > The guitar is the primary instrument of rock because it was the primary instrument of the kind of blues that early rock largely cribbed from, for reasons already given here but magnified in the situation of those blues musicians - cheap, portable, versatile. [quote=“Saintly\_Loser, post:54, topic:842005”] This is why (or one reason why) the guitar was front and center in blues bands. There’s no rock 'n roll without string bending. There would be no _Johnny B. Goode_. Yep, that’s my take on it too: the legacy of bluesmen. Take that and wire it through an amp stack and you’re on your way… > [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > A high school kid can lock himself in his room for a few months and come out being able to produce a pretty creditable rock guitar sound, thus enabling him to pick up girls. Is there any other reason a cishet high school boy ever does anything of his own free will? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/56 "2019-10-24T06:37:56Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > I was into mountain dulcimer… Mountain dulcimer! There’s an instrument I would love to learn to play. I’ve heard it before, and it has a unique sound, one that just cannot be replicated. I’ve played a lot of what I call “Celtic percussion,” which in my case, amounts to spoons and bones and bodhran to traditional American/Canadian/British folk tunes; but some of the guys I’ve played with included “Appalachian” among their repertoires. At least one band included mountain dulcimer. Such a pretty sound, and I would love to learn how to play the instrument. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/57 "2019-10-24T07:10:15Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > But they do get hammered. The ones that don’t? Well, they can just get plucked! Yeah, I said it! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/58 "2019-10-24T07:12:05Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I knew without looking that it would be Einstürzende Neubauten :D. With the grandpa comment, I thought Stockhausen… ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/59 "2019-10-24T23:21:13Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Mountain dulcimer! There’s an instrument I would love to learn to play. I’ve heard it before, and it has a unique sound, one that just cannot be replicated. Like guitar on steroids, Appalachian dulcimer is very, very easy on the basics - pluck your melody on a diatonic scale, like piano white keys, with drones as needed - and rather tough for sophisticated chordal tricks, which are easier on dulcitars and the like. Joni Mitchell composed many songs including BOTH SIDES NOW on dulcimer, y’know. Dulcimers are also quite easy to build. I’m guilty of a few rough ones, which I actually sold, and a twin-neck banjo-dulcimer, which I had to give away. After learning the play-basics from [Jean Ritchie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Ritchie), and a couple of obscure workshops with Dick Fariña, I moved on to Howie Mitchell’s [The Mountain Dulcimer: How To Make It and Play It - After A Fashion](https://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Dulcimer-Make-After-Fashion/dp/B003ZMDW0A). Howie taught the dulci-more and dulci-less, the latter being merely a fretboard placed against something resonant. Put four on a card table and two couples can interplay before swapping partners. ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2019, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005/60 "2019-10-26T15:38:22Z")
This is a good bit of a stretch, but it dawned on me that there may be a subliminal sexual attraction because the guitar, intentionally or not resembles a woman’s body. This is especially evident in the upright double bass where one hand is playing around the ‘waist’ and the other on the ‘neck’. Add in playing styles like Eric Clapton’s ‘woman tone’ and “moaning” tones especially evident with electric guitars and it’s no surprise that the majority of guitar heroes and fans are male and why seeing a “gurl” guitar “god” is even more sexually appealing. A search for “woman’s body guitar” brought up this article that sums up my theory very well: "On Guitars and Women Guitar Woman The hips of a guitar transfix the eyes of boys almost as completely as the hips of a woman. Even female guitarists the world over can attest to the pleasures of the physical flow of a well-made instrument. Even the piano, which most agree to be the world’s most popular instrument (guitar is usually considered 2nd) features a sensual curvature to its design. So why was the guitar designed to evoke a female figure? Realists will explain that the curve of an acoustic guitar allows it to be cradled comfortably on the thigh of the musician. Fair enough. But it still doesn’t explain why the proportions are consistent with the human anatomy. Notice that the top pair of curves in the picture here are smaller than the lower curves, just as it is on a woman’s body. Ralph Denyer, in his book The Guitar Handbook (in a curiously titled section titled “The anatomy of the acoustic guitar”), explains that the shape of an acoustic guitar’s “soundbox” amplifies the sound of the vibrating strings. The question presses on: why is the female figure the ideal shape for this acoustic amplification? The different parts of an acoustic guitar are even designated with names like “waist,” “back,” and “rib.” Symbolism can be drawn from this idea. The distinctly Freudian neck of the guitar is the decidedly “masculine” part of the instrument, which pairs with the female “body” to give birth to sound. Music. This could be what draws poets, adolescents, and hopeless romantics to the instrument. Not just the ease of its portability, but the subconscious sexuality and romance at work when a guitar is used to create music. The idea of instinctively using music as a metaphor for existence is not a new concept. Look no further than Pythagoras’ notion of musica universalis–the so-called “music of the spheres.” The image of a guitar seems to get its power from its feminine form. It is a form ideally suited for the creation of both life and music." Source: [https://lithe.wordpress.com/2008/01/01/on-guitars-and-women/](https://lithe.wordpress.com/2008/01/01/on-guitars-and-women/) Ironically, the search brings up an issue that hadn’t occurred to me and may be one reason there are few guitar female “gods”, especially rock guitarists who are tend to be more energetic in their playing. This article titled: “St. Vincent Designed A Sleek New Guitar To Fit Women’s Bodies” sums up the issue within the subtitle quote: “There is room for a breast. Or two.” [https://www.fastcompany.com/3056617/st-vincent-designed-a-sleek-new-guitar-to-fit-womens-bodies](https://www.fastcompany.com/3056617/st-vincent-designed-a-sleek-new-guitar-to-fit-womens-bodies) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-guitar-the-primary-instrument-in-rock-music/842005.md?page=4)