The Electric Guitar: Rock's Voice

Rock's identity is inseparable from the electric guitar. Three models defined the sound:

• Leo Fender's Telecaster (1950)
• Leo Fender's Stratocaster (1954)
• Gibson's Les Paul (1952)

Together they gave musicians an instrument that could scream, whisper, distort, and sustain in ways acoustic instruments could not.

Distortion — originally a defect from overdriven amplifiers — became rock's defining sound. Guitarists discovered that pushing a tube amp past its limits created harmonic overtones adding aggression and sustain. What engineers considered a flaw became the genre's signature voice.