The first “shredding” guitar instance? Johnny Watson plays guitar in bursts in this recording from way back in 1954. When you keep that in mind while listening to it…it’s remarkable.
It’s not that this instrumental sounds so impressive…it’s the techniques used here by Watson that inspired a generation of guitarists, including Frank Zappa and Eric Clapton. You can also hear where Jimmy Page would have been inspired by this. Watson’s guitar work laid the groundwork for such guitar players such as Joe Satriani.
He pioneered the use of feedback and reverberation. Unfortunately for him and his recording label Federal Records, the public of the early 1950s, before rock-and-roll, was not prepared for his kind of music, and the record did not sell very well. He had greater success in 1955 with his song “Those Lonely, Lonely Nights,” recorded on the Modern label.
Space Guitar seemed ahead of it’s time. He has been cited as a pioneer of reverb and feedback and in the early fifties… fans had to be a little confused with the strange sound.
Johnny Watson: “Reverb had just come out. Everybody really didn’t understand what it was all about, man, and I was experimenting with it.”
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What a great title in 1954 calling it Space Guitar. Played the vid and I love how he riffs right off the hop. Wicked
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He was ahead of his time
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True that!
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Really cool to read about this and I love those sounds.
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Didn’t now this … presumably the garage surf sound came as a result also. Excellent stuff. 🙂
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Thanks man!
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I can hear garage surf sound in there also.
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It’s really cool…especially for 1954!
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that would have been very revolutionary back then! An unknown pioneer I guess.
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Yea I couldn’t believe some of the playing…no wonder why it didn’t catch on…it was ahead of it’s time.
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HELLA GOOD.
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This is cutting edge guitar and the sax in there gives a cool oomph. You’re making me think of that scene from Back to the Future with Marty on the guitar at the dance where he almost disappeared. What a great movie that was.
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Yep Lisa, the crowd in that scene were more shocked than awed in that scene (also a great go-to feel-good movie for those long cold wet weekends.)
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Yu. All day long with this stuff.
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Plsss star my post thankyou
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Love it! Guy could rock…
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Yes he could…some nice riffs in there.
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I’ve never heard this before – I like how it jumps from twangy to reverby.
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Certainly ahead of his time for some of it.
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I have to admit for all my research in 1950’s music, Blues and R&B I don’t recall this guy. Quite a significant musician for sure!
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Yea I try to find the unknown at times…not the most popular thing but I like getting these guy/girls out.
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This is awesome. I haven’t heard it before. But I can almost picture my dad and his brothers listening to it on their radio in the 50s.
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I”ve said this…but to me it’s ahead of it’s time.
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I agree.
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That’s some pretty cool stuff, Max. Playing in bursts describes it very well. I agree with Onceuponatime70s and Lisa there’s some surf rock and garage rock vibe going on. I would also add psychedelic – what a stew! Definitely way ahead of its time!
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I really like this…I thought it was a pretty good find. I can’t say I knew this person either.
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Oh wow, that’s really modern sounding! Cool find. Perhaps Johnny Watson was visited by a time-travelling, guitar playing high school kid? Worked for Chuck Berry…
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LOL…yea it was ahead of it’s time…probably the reason it never caught on.
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Wow! I had never heard this before and you are right, for the time, this was so different. Really cool stuff. Was he inspired by Marty McFly??? Wait, that was 1955, so no.
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LOL…it was so ahead of his time….that is probably the reason it didn’t hit.
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Amazing! Thank you for the introduction.
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Amazing account of guitar history, that few would be aware of; Like me before reading your post.
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I wasn’t either…I just found it and couldn’t believe it was 1954
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I’m still perplexed how he did that to be honest. Wow
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