Electrified: The Guitar Revolution

Featuring professional musicians and historians, this captivating film tells the story of the electric guitar, the instrument that transformed popular music in the twentieth century. In the 1920s, America was swinging to the sounds of the big bands of Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller. The limitations of the guitar effectively prevented it from making it heard. It was time to harness the power of electricity to increase the volume. Inventors looked at other devices which translated electronic signals into sound waves and applied the same principles to a plucked string. The 1950s saw the birth of rock'n'roll and the commercial rivalry between manufacturers Fender and Gibson as the mass-produced electric guitar became the young musician's instrument of choice. Pedal controls soon followed, enabling guitarists to create their own personal sound through the use of echo and distortion, exemplified by the arrival of Jimi Hendrix, who combined an impeccable technique with an understanding of electronic effects. Fashions come and go in any artistic genre, but the electric guitar remains the world's most popular instrument, as it has for the last 70 years.