
How an accident revolutionized guitar sound - shawndumas
http://blogs.tennessean.com/tunein/2013/08/04/peter-cooper-on-music-how-a-happy-accident-revolutionized-guitar-sound/
======
drcube
> The distorted sound of rock ’n’ roll guitar aggression was born in
> Nashville, in 1960.

That's not the way I heard it. Snoddy might have introduced the Fuzz-Tone in
the 60s, but the distorted guitar sound began with Link Wray poking holes in
his amplifier's speaker on "Rumble", in 1958.

Not to minimize the Fuzz-Tone's impact, by any means. Just setting the record
straight. ;)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble_(instrumental)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble_\(instrumental\))

~~~
Nav_Panel
Although all of the comments here have been valid and interesting, I'm gonna
poke this reply thread with a Youtube link:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAqTrbuxCRI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAqTrbuxCRI)

James Cotton - Cotton Crop Blues, on Sun Records. Recorded 1954, with a guitar
solo harder/heavier than most records up until the late 60s (with a few
exceptions like Dick Dale). And it features distorted power chords. Pretty
much the first really heavy track out there, I figure. It's my go-to point to
show people the origins of heavy, distorted guitar music.

I also like to show them some Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys, as he had a lot
of electrified instruments (electric guitar, electric mandolin, pedal steel)
and was a big influence on Chuck Berry and Elvis. Plus I love Bob Wills.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_rock_and_roll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_rock_and_roll)
does a pretty good job of covering the important records that led up to the
explosion of rock music in the 60s. Not sure about how it is beyond that.

Pretty glad a musical topic came up here on HN, though. I'm more passionate
about music history than I am about computer science (though there are no
career prospects there, so CS it is).

~~~
GoodIntentions
OT, but that Cotton Crop Blues link is at 6575 views as of now. (19:25
6Aug2013 ) Very curious to see what an HN link does to it.

~~~
Zecc
It's at 6605, after nine hours (according to the time indicator between your
username and "| link | parent | flag"; you forgot to say in what timezone
you're in).

One of them is mine, and I only went there because of your comment to be
honest.

Edit: you said "19:25" and "nine hours ago" was 2013-08-07 09:03:45 UTC, so
you're at EDT? (incidently, everytimezone.com is pretty cool)

~~~
GoodIntentions
haha, yeah. Edit the comment to tag the time, forget the the timezone... EDT (
views are 6785 as of 21:42 7Aug2013, fwiw )

------
sehugg
Another article at Gibson.com talks more in detail about "fuzz milestones":
[http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/who-
cal...](http://www2.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/who-called-the-
fuzz-714.aspx)

The distortion in "Don't Worry" was a faulty preamp on the console, probably
tube-based since the first transistor-based mixing board was made in 1964. The
distorted guitar in the Beatles' "Revolution" was also an overdriven mixing
board, but theirs was solid state IIRC.

But if you like country-flavored fuzz, WFMU has you covered with a
retrospective: [http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/11/country-fuzz-
sp.html](http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/11/country-fuzz-sp.html)

------
bbx
This reminds me of the famous "Phil Collins sound", which basically is a gated
reverb applied on the drums, and was discovered by accident during a studio
session.

[http://thecollectivereview.com/hugh-padgham/hugh-padghams-
ga...](http://thecollectivereview.com/hugh-padgham/hugh-padghams-gated-drum-
sound.html)

~~~
tehwalrus
in Music Technology lessons (yes, that was a subject for a few years in the
UK, I think it's defunct now) they _loved_ giving us Phil Collins to analyse -
he used all sorts of weird stuff noone else has ever bothered with (gated
reverb, _reverse_ reverb, short time delay on vocals, _all in the same song,_
almost as a matter of course.)

The endless repetition is why I still sit still every time I hear the intro to
"in the air tonight" trying to find the beat before the vocals come in!

~~~
philjohn
Ah, I remember doing Music Technology A-Level - it was a brilliant course, and
it helped that our school had the funds to build a halfway decent digital
recording studio.

~~~
tehwalrus
I was lucky enough to attend Hurtwood House - I really wanted to do proper
Music A-Level, but they didn't offer it, only music tech.

In retrospect, I enjoyed it far more than I would have pure music, because I
was right in the middle of my guitars-are-awesome phase - a studio was just an
elaborate set of effects pedals to me.

Hurtwood, anyway, had a ridiculously awesome setup - they spend much of the
(substantial) school fees on Media, Theatre and music tech kit, so full
digital edit suites, a huge theatre with proper cabling and sound systems,
underground recording studios with proper soundproofing and _huge_ mixers for
A level projects (In my day, a 24-channel soundcraft monster, plus numerous
physical compressors, EQs etc - I remember a particularly expensive white
valve-driven vocal preamp! Now I believe their kit is just a digital desk +
Logic Pro.)

When I left for Cambridge, I didn't make it onto their "wall of fame" \-
because Cambridge isn't an Equity-approved drama school. Seriously.

------
S_A_P
I think that its a case where a lot of people had the same idea at around the
same time. As recording technology advanced in the 1950s, people realized
there was some creativity to be found there.

Many people attribute backwards recording to the Beatles and George Martin,
but it had been done nearly a decade earlier (on purpose even) by André Popp
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Popp](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Popp)
with delirium in Hi-fi. Im sure this is not even the first instance.

Certainly there is significance here with the invention of the fuzz tone, and
it definitely inspired a new wave of guitar effects, and most likely effects
pedals. I think it demonstrates how the electric guitar is one of the most
versatile instruments ever made and has a wider sonic palette than most any
other thing out there when you account for playing styles, effects, and
expression. Either way this was a great read, and I love to nerd out to audio,
production and recording.

------
pfraze
> Snoddy explains what happened by invoking tech-talk about tube amplifiers
> and insufficient wiring. But whatever happened inside that console...

He came at me with the mumbo jumbo!

Here's the song, for anybody curious:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCbIAmy6X0M](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCbIAmy6X0M)

~~~
unclesaamm
better quality:
[http://grooveshark.com/s/Don+t+Worry/450UFD?src=5](http://grooveshark.com/s/Don+t+Worry/450UFD?src=5)

------
tmuir
The "discovery" of distortion is an example of the idea that inventors are
sometimes the first person to tell someone else about something, instead of
the first person to discover the thing.

The electric guitar was invented in 1931. It then follows that guitars were
being electrically amplified in 1931. Are we really to believe that it took
20-30 years for someone to turn up the gain higher than what would allow it to
accurately amplify the input signal?

~~~
sehugg
Tube amps distort in a very gradual way when overdriven. The "fuzz" sound is a
more severe form of clipping. This is why transistor-based stomp boxes were
sought out; it's actually hard to get a tube amp to clip in this exact way.

------
kevincennis
It would really be borderline impossible to try to pinpoint the origins of the
distorted electric guitar sound.

Well before 1960, most amplifiers would begin to distort at higher gain
levels. And even if you only want to count "deliberate" distortion, there's
the famous example of Link Wray poking holes in his amp's speakers in '58.

This is an interesting story, but it's kind of overstating the significance.
Or maybe just oversimplifying the history.

~~~
ajross
All amplifiers will go non-linear at high gain, so certainly the technical
effect can be pushed well back into the 20's. I'm sure someone, most likely an
engineer in broadcast radio, "heard" distorted audio long before this.

I think it's reasonable and interesting to ask how it became art, though.

------
pessimizer
Not the first distortion, but the first distortion using transistors. Didn't
revolutionize guitar sound, but did give guitarists something to step on
rather than a switch to flip.

------
Amadou
What I took away from the article was that the patent didn't really help the
"inventor." That sales didn't really start to take off until very near the end
of his royalty period. But yet he was still very successful in the business
with a long career.

Maybe it is just confirmation bias, but it sounded a bit like his invention of
the fuzzbox did more for his reputation in the industry than it did for his
bank account.

------
linker3000
If that 'hack' story interests you, try this one about the amp found in a skip
(dumpster) by Queen bass guitarist and electronics engineer John Deacon:

[http://www.brianmay.com/brian/briannews/briannewsjun05.html](http://www.brianmay.com/brian/briannews/briannewsjun05.html)

[http://www.deacyamp.com/index.php?route=information/informat...](http://www.deacyamp.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=19)

Link2 is to the slideshow of a booklet

------
rombdn
Another accidental discovery of distorted guitar sound was made by Dave Davies
of the Kinks in 1964, who says he sliced is amp with a razor
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Davies#Early_years_.281963...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Davies#Early_years_.281963.E2.80.931966.29))

The Kinks - You Really Got Me :
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXWKowSK3yY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXWKowSK3yY)

------
jolohaga
Don't Worry's distortion is breathtaking in the context it's presented. I can
see how it would make an impact in the industry. It's quite a unique sound,
consistent square wave distortion, verging on not sounding like a guitar any
longer. Can't say I've heard anything like it in earlier electric guitar
recordings.

------
walshemj
I always like the story that when the Beatles went to the BBC to record a show
the sound engineer (white lab coat and pipe) Flatly refused to allow them to
use a feedback sound as this is the BBC we don't have feedback here!

