The first electric guitar

1932: Number 7 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of jazz musicIn 1932, a musician called Gage Brewer began performing on one of the first electrically amplified Hawaiian guitars. The idea soon appealed to guitarists rendered almost inaudible in big swing bands, but six years passed before a jazz guitarist, George Barnes, first recorded on a Spanish instrument with magnetic pick-ups in 1938. The next year 23-year-old guitarist Charlie Christian joined Benny Goodman's hit-making bi...

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