How much did the guitar effect American culture and music?
The first was technology. In the timeframe you reference, the only guitars that existed prior were acoustic guitars that had no means of amplification. But after World War II, people like Leo Fender and others started trying to figure out a way to make a guitar that could be plugged into an amplifier and be heard over a band. The first of these electric guitars came in two forms. The first was a lapsteel that you could play on your lap and I have read the guitar guys thought this was the one that would catch on. The second was what the manufacturers back then referred to as the “Electric Spanish” models. “Electric” because they were electric, and “Spanish” because they were meant to be played like a Spanish guitar and not a Lapsteel. Once guitar players found they could play these instruments and cut through the sound of a band or orchestra and the price came down, the electric guitar took off. First the musicians had to have one, then the kids started wanting to learn to play them. We
