Five guitar styles, from the first rock and roll records to the wall of noise of shoegaze. Each one was, in part, a reaction against the one before it.
| Style | Where and when | Tempo | Core instruments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rock and roll | United States, late 1940s to early 1950s | Faster than the R&B it grew from, with a heavy backbeat | Piano or saxophone at first, then electric guitars, double bass or electric bass, drums |
| Punk | US, UK and Australia, mid-1970s | Fast; hardcore faster still | One or two guitars, bass, drums, voice |
| Heavy metal | UK and US, late 1960s | From ballads at about 60 BPM to blast beats | Distorted guitars, bass, drums, voice; keyboards sometimes |
| Grunge | Seattle and Washington state, mid-1980s | Slower than punk: "sludgy" | Distorted, down-tuned guitars, bass, drums, voice |
| Shoegaze | United Kingdom, late 1980s to early 1990s | Not fixed by the style | Layered, effected guitars, bass, drums, buried vocals |
Rock and roll
Rock and roll took shape in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, mainly from rhythm and blues, with gospel, jazz, boogie-woogie, electric blues and swing in the mix. It got its name in 1954. In the earliest records the piano or the saxophone led; the electric guitar took over in the mid-to-late 1950s.
Defining records. "Rocket 88" by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, Ike Turner's band, recorded by Sam Phillips in March 1951, is often cited as the first rock and roll record. Bill Haley and His Comets' "Rock Around the Clock" set off the boom once it opened the film Blackboard Jungle (1955).
Production notes. The classic line-up is one lead and one rhythm electric guitar over a double bass; electric bass, first mass-produced by Fender in the early 1950s, and the drum kit followed. The energy is in the backbeat: R&B players such as Fats Domino and Johnny Otis had already sped up the tempo and pushed it harder.
Punk
Punk rock appeared in the mid-1970s in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock and set against the overproduced arena rock of the day. Songs are short, fast and stripped down.
Defining records. The MC5's debut "Kick Out the Jams" (1969) is counted a forerunner. Patti Smith's single "Hey Joe" / "Piss Factory", on her own Mer label with Television's Tom Verlaine, is often cited as the first punk record. Then the Ramones' first album and the Sex Pistols' only official album, "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols", which topped the British charts.
Production notes. One or two guitars, bass, drums and a voice. Long solos were seen as self-indulgent; the guitar plays heavily distorted power chords or barre chords, the "buzzsaw drone". Keep the takes rough and the arrangement bare.
Heavy metal
Heavy metal developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, mostly in the UK and the US, out of blues rock and psychedelic rock. Its sound is thick and loud: distorted guitars, long solos, emphatic beats, a dense bass-and-drum floor and vigorous vocals.
Defining records. Cream's "Fresh Cream" (1966) and "Disraeli Gears" (1967) are regarded as prototypes. Black Sabbath's second album "Paranoid" (1970) set the dark lyrical tone that metal kept.
Production notes. Early metal was "slow, even ponderous"; by the 2000s its tempos ran from ballads at a quarter note of 60 beats per minute to extremely fast blast beats. The guitar style built on distortion-heavy riffs and power chords goes back to Memphis blues guitarists of the early 1950s. Keyboards are sometimes added to fill the sound.
Grunge
Grunge, first called the "Seattle sound", came out of Washington state in the mid-1980s, particularly Seattle and Olympia. It fuses punk and heavy metal: distorted electric guitar, bass, drums and voice, but darker than punk, slower, and with more dissonant harmony.
Defining records. The compilation "Deep Six" (C/Z Records, 1986) is called seminal. Nirvana's debut "Bleach" was recorded for $606.17 in 1989; their "Nevermind" (DGC, September 1991) brought the whole Seattle scene to the mainstream.
Production notes. Down-tuned, riff-based guitars, loud feedback and heavy, "ponderous" bass lines. Early bands would take a metal riff, slow it down, distort it and bury it in feedback. The first records were made cheaply in low-budget analogue studios, and the sound kept that roughness.
Shoegaze
Shoegaze, also called dream rock, is a branch of indie and alternative rock from the UK in the late 1980s and early 1990s: ethereal soundscapes, obscured vocals and heavy use of guitar effects and distortion. The name, coined in 1991, mocked guitarists who stared down at their effects pedals.
Defining records. The Jesus and Mary Chain's debut "Psychocandy" (1985) is credited as the immediate forerunner. My Bloody Valentine's 1988 EP "You Made Me Realise" and album "Isn't Anything" established the style, and their "Loveless" (1991) is its peak.
Production notes. Layers of distorted, bent or flanged guitar make a wash in which no single instrument stands out, and the vocals are mixed low into it. Kevin Shields' "glide guitar" technique is the starting point of the original scene.
Sources
Every date, name, tempo and origin on this page comes from these pages, read on 2026-10-24.