In 1952 the first Gibson Les Paul solidbody electric guitar was made and 2002 will be the 50th anniversary of its creation. This book is a chronicle of the entire range of Gibson Les Paul guitars, the stories surrounding their creation and the artists (such as Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton)[...]
A stunning visual guide to the guitar - with detailed profiles of everything from the legendary Martin flat-tops to Fender's twelve-string electrics and everything in between. The Ultimate Guitar Sourcebook tells the full story of every major type of guitar. With a chapter devoted to each branch of [...]
Is the sunburst Gibson Les Paul Standard really the greatest electric guitar ever made? This books aims to answer that question.[...]
The First Paperback Edition of The Definitive Reference Work On The Guitar, And The Most Beautiful Book On The Subject Ever Produced"When you get right down to it, these guitars represent something uniquely American . . . You're transported to a place where it's always Saturday night in the summerti[...]
(Book). The fourth in a series ( The Fender Book, The Gibson Les Paul Book, The Rickenbacker Book ), The Bass Book offers a complete illustrated history of bass guitars from Fender's first in the 1950s through the models of the next 40 years that formed the foundation for modern music. The bass guit[...]
(Book). Introduced in 1954 as one of Gretsch's "Guitars of the Future," the White Falcon was an overwhelmingly impressive instrument. The influence of this spectacular new guitar spread to other models and guitar manufacturers. It was the dawn of a half-century of awe-inspiring guitars which are now[...]
A glorious portrait of an iconic musical instrument and its makers and players. Launched by the fledgling Fender company in 1950, the Telecaster has become the longest-lived solidbody electric guitar, played by everyone from Muddy Waters to Chrissie Hynde. All who play know that the key to the Telec[...]
(Book). To mark the 60th anniversary of Fender, Backbeat's introduced a new, completely revised third edition of this bestseller. Fender guitars have long been the instruments of choice for artists such as Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. This book tells the complete sto[...]
In California in the early 1950s, the Fender company introduced the world's first electric bass guitar. They couldn't have known it then, but their Precision Bass started a revolution in the sound of popular music. This book explains exactly how. The two-guitars-bass-and-drums lineup that would defi[...]
Tony Bacon's definitive guide to Gibson's most famous guitar moves into its latest and most complete version yet with this new and thoroughly revised edition. Now with 16 extra pages and 45 new pictures, this timely and retitled update of "50 Years Of The Gibson Les Paul" (2002) tells the story of o[...]
This landmark book details exactly which guitars, drums, amplifiers and keyboards The Beatles used at the key points of their relatively brief but entirely revolutionary career - from the formation of the Quarry Men in the 1950s to the dissolution of The Beatles in 1970. It provides a fascinating fr[...]
Many books about Hendrix concentrate on showmanship and rock-and-roll excess, but Keith Shadwick's "Jimi Hendrix: Musician" brings to Hendrix's musical legacy as a guitarist, singer, and composer a depth of analysis missing from other accounts of his career, placing Hendrix's work in the broadest po[...]
Fender is the most successful modern guitar maker, and this revised and updated book celebrates 60 years of the company's instruments. It tells the complete year-by-year story of Fender's development from the early years until the present day, accompanied by an unrivalled gallery of colour photograp[...]
When The Byrds recorded their hit version of Dylan's "Mr Tambourine Man" they popularised a new sound in pop music: the electric 12-string guitar. There was even a suitable line in the lyric: 'In the jingle-jangle morning'. Electric 12-string has been aptly described as a jangling sound ever since. [...]
Leo Fender's company changed the course of popular music in 1954 when they introduced the Stratocaster. Since then it has been played by everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Buddy Guy and Jeff Beck. In this book, new interviews with important Strat players from every decade illustrate the Strat's versatili[...]
Gretsch electric guitars have a style all their own - a glitzy, wacky, retro charm that over the years has drawn players from all kinds of popular music, from timeless stars to unknown teens. The Beatles, Chet Atkins, Duane Eddy, and Brian Setzer all made their mark with Gretsch, and new bands conti[...]
To many vintage guitar fans, it seems inconceivable that Gibson dumped the Sunburst Les Paul in 1960 and, during the following year, introduced a completely new design, the one that we know now as the SG (solid guitar). At the time, however, it made good business sense. Sales of the Les Paul were fa[...]
Until the launch of the Flying V and Explorer in 1958, electric guitars were supposed to look like guitars. Suddenly, Gibson turned conventional design upside down, almost literally, by using straight lines and angular body shapes, changing the way electrics could look and, in the process, creating [...]
First published in 2001 and now updated and expanded, "The History of the American Guitar" begins in New York City in the 1830s with the arrival of Christian Martin, from Germany, to set up the Martin company. From that historic moment, the book takes readers on a fascinating and comprehensive visua[...]
This new version of Tony Bacon's story of the Fender Telecaster shows how the world's first commercially successful solid body electric guitar still attracts musicians more than 60 years since its birth in California. Today, it is more popular than ever, and for many guitarists it has overtaken the [...]
Ibanez is the most important Japanese guitar brand, and this new book tells the story of its electric guitars, tracking the fortunes of this impressive brand. At first the guitars were cheap and basic, and in the 1970s Ibanez was best known for its copies of leading Gibson instruments, including Les[...]