Week 1

Question 1

Why is it difficult to describe the cultural appeal of guitar via individual cultures?

Answer 1

• Both electric & acoustic guitar are commonplace elements in the music of a variety of cultures around the world

Question 2

What is a better way to consider guitar over monocultural accounts?

Answer 2

• Gaining a sense of the guitar as a globally mobile instrument
• Form, tonal textures and associated playing techniques are the product of…
  
  • Its appropriation and use in a variety of locally specific musical contexts

Question 3

Is the guitar the same across all cultures?

Answer 3

• No
• Although its material form and sound are relatively standardized in global circulation…
• It is subject to specific assimilation, appropriation and change within a local context

Question 4

What does the term ‘glocal’ refer to?

Answer 4

• Created by Robertson (1995) in an attempt to…
  
  • Illustrate the perpetual dialectic that exists between local and global forces
  • Bearing of global influences upon notions of cultural identity and difference

Question 5

What is rhythm ‘n’ blues?

Answer 5

• An electrified version of traditional blues
• Prominent within northern US cities such as Chicago

Question 6

How was the rhythm ‘n’ blues variant created?

Answer 6

• African Americans appropriated the acoustic parlour guitars in the Southern US

Question 7

How did the blues genre evolve after rhythm ‘n’ blues?

Answer 7

• Appropriated by British guitarists
  
  • Eric Clapton
  • Jeff Beck
  • Jimmy Page
• During the British ‘blues boom’ in the early 1960s

Question 8

When did Jimi Hendrix create a new style of blues?

Answer 8

• He arrived in Britain in 1966
• Was extremely dexterous
• Skilled in manipulating volume and electronic effects

Question 9

How was the electric blues sound further modified after Jimi Hendrix?

Answer 9

• In the late 1960s, Carlos Santana created a fusion of…
  
  • Blues
  • Rock
  • Jazz
  • Latin
  • Afro-Cuban rhythms

Question 10

How did Frith describe the imagined connection between sound and place?

Answer 10

• ‘Accordions played in a certain way mean France, bamboo flutes China’

Question 11

What is a flaw within Frith’s description of the connection between sound and place?

Answer 11

• Did not acknowledge the power of respective connections within cultures to work increasingly both without and within the cultures

Question 12

What are two terms used within Papua New Guinean stringband culture?

Answer 12

• Ovasis
  
  • Overseas
• Lokal
  
  • Local

Question 13

Name 6 ways that the guitar can be recognised depending on one’s culture

Answer 13

• Symbol of protest
• Medium of high art expression
• Aspect of ‘authentic’ tradition
• Means of asserting national identity
• To articulate ‘underground’, ‘alternative’ culture
• Ritual medium

Question 14

How may authenticity be measured in relation to Spanish guitar?

Answer 14

• Whether or not it was made with the ‘personal touch’ of a master Spanish luthier

Question 15

How might blues guitarists achieve a more ‘authentic’ sound?

Answer 15

• Utilising an electric guitar
• Installing ‘on-board’ technology into an acoustic

Question 16

Why might blues guitarists not be willing to install on-board technology?

Answer 16

• Do not want to drill holes into their acoustic guitars
  
  • Would ‘spoil’ the look

Question 17

What is important for ensuring authenticity in ‘indie-guitar’?

Answer 17

• Correct choice and amplification
• Important for it’s ‘back-to-basics’ sensibility
  
  • Maintains relationship between the style’s musical and material simplicity (street style)

Question 18

Where was the ‘early guitar’ first distributed?

Answer 18

• Taken around the world by Portuguese and Spanish sailors
• Reached India some point in the 16th and 17th centuries
• Capitalism furthered the guitar’s cultural mobility

Question 19

Where did the modern guitar begin?

Answer 19

• Late medieval Europe
• 15th century

Question 20

What are Grunfeld’s notable insights on the guitar?

Answer 20

• The story of the guitar must be narrated by both history and its contemporary players
• Guitar’s unique history → Reconciliation between its past and present

Question 21

When did the cross-cultural migration and global naturalisation of the guitar begin?

Answer 21

• 16th century
• Cultivated in Spain, Italy and France
• Portuguese spice route → Brought guitar to Asia

Question 22

How do guitarists maintain authenticity when playing rock?

Answer 22

• Latest technological advances in effects, recording and instruments
  
  • Vintage equipment e.g. 1959 Bassman amplifier
• Sustaining old styles and techniques

Question 23

When did the greatest influx of new jazz players occur?

Answer 23

• During the 1970s