The 50s Guitar
1950–1959
The 1950s gave birth to rock and roll. Before this decade, the electric guitar was a jazz and country instrument. Then Chuck Berry duck-walked across a stage, Elvis Presley shook his hips on national TV, and everything changed. The guitar became the voice of rebellion, youth and a brand new kind of music.
This is where the story starts. The riffs are simple, the energy is raw, and the influence is immeasurable. Every rock guitarist alive owes something to these songs.
Essential Songs from The 50s
Antonio Carlos Jobim 1
Bobby Helms 1
Eddie Cochran 1
Elvis Presley 3
Freddie King 1
Got My Mojo Workin' 1
Howard, Bart 1
Miles Davis 1
Ritchie Valens 1
Serge Gainsbourg 1
The Everly Brothers 1
The Shadows 1
Traditional 1
Guitar in the 1950s
The 1950s were the decade when the electric guitar found its voice. Chuck Berry invented rock and roll guitar with his signature double-stop intro licks and driving rhythms. His style on "Johnny B. Goode" became the template that every rock guitarist would build on for the next seventy years.
Elvis Presley brought rock and roll to the masses, with Scotty Moore's guitar work providing the perfect blend of country twang and blues grit. Eddie Cochran added a rawer, more aggressive edge that pointed directly toward the British Invasion a decade later.
Gear That Defined the Decade
The Gibson Les Paul (1952) and Fender Stratocaster (1954) both arrived in the 50s and became the two most important electric guitar designs in history. Fender also introduced the Telecaster and the first mass-produced electric bass. Amplifiers were small, clean and tube-powered. Distortion was an accident, not a feature, created by cranking amps beyond their intended volume.
What Came Next
The 50s planted the seeds. The 60s took everything further: louder, more experimental, more electric. Explore that decade to see how rock and roll evolved into rock.