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16 Part I: You Got a Right to Play the Blues TEAM LinG
Figure 1-1:
The Fender
Stratocaster
and the
Gibson Les
Paul.
a
b
The Collision of Two Worlds:
Acoustic versus Electric
Electric guitars came on the scene only in the late 1930s, and then only to
those who could afford them. Thus, the acoustic guitar in blues had a long
run, and the style continued even after the advent of the more-popular electric
guitar. The acoustic guitar remained popular for other types of music
(mainly folk and country), but for blues, the electric was the instrument of
choice from about 1940 on.
Today, both acoustic and electric guitar blues exist. In fact, there are several
sub-genres in each. Acoustic guitar includes
Bottleneck or slide guitar
Instrumental blues
Singer-songwriter blues
Electric blues has two huge offshoots: