Black Guitarists besides Jimi Hendrix!

[IllmaticDelta]

Some old stuff most on here probably aren't aware of:


Billy Butler who played the guitar on this famous 1950s instrumental (Rhythm and Blues/Rock N Roll)

.
.


Oscar Moore (Jazz)

.
.
Lowman Pauling (R&B)

(he wrote this classic R&B song)










.
.

Lonnie Johnson (Blues and Jazz)

Johnson's early recordings are the first guitar recordings that display a single-note soloing style with string bending and vibrato. Johnson pioneered this style of guitar playing on records, and his influence is obvious in the playing of Django Reinhardt, T-Bone Walker and virtually all electric blues guitarists.

.
.

Blind Blake (Blues)

he was doing harmonics in the 1920s

Tracii Guns on Instagram: "This song by Blind Blake was recorded in 1926 which is 10 years before Robert Johnson did his first recordings. He incorporated a Rag style of playing but this is also the first known recording of harmonics being played on

999 likes, 14 comments - traciiguns on December 22, 2023: "This song by Blind Blake was recorded in 1926 which is 10 years before Robert Johnson did his fir..."

www.instagram.com

 

[IllmaticDelta]

François Luambo Luanzo Makiadi (6 July 1938 – 12 October 1989) was a Congolese musician. He was a major figure in 20th-century Congolese music, and African music in general, principally as the leader for over 30 years of TPOK Jazz, the most popular and significant African band of its time. He is referred to as Franco Luambo or simply Franco. Known for his mastery of African Rumba, he was nicknamed by fans and critics "Sorcerer of the Guitar" and the "Grand Maître of Zairean Music"

.
.

The guy that put electric bass on the map for Jamaica(ns) and created the early reggae style basslines

Clifton "Jackie" Jackson (born March 1947) is a Jamaican bass player, who was an important session musician on ska, rocksteady and reggae records in the 1960s and 1970s, and later a member of Toots and the Maytals.

Forming the bridge between ska and reggae, rock steady is arguably the most influential of Jamaican music’s many sub-genres. Although it lasted only a couple of years, rock steady yielded several of the island’s most immortal rhythm tracks. It is also probably the most contested of reggae formats, the innovations behind its irresistible beat claimed by a range of practitioners.

Rock steady’s innovative qualities are highly distinctive. First, it replaced the big band ska format with stripped-down studio ensembles that put the emphasis on the bass and drum, forever changing the focus of Jamaican music. Widespread use of electric bass came about during rock steady too, its upfront placement thanks partly to the advent of multi-track technology. Compare the frantic pumping of Lloyd Brevett of The Skatatlies, whose acoustic bass was often relegated to the background, with the smooth lines of Jackie Jackson in The Supersonics, and you can hear how rock steady made bass the carrier of the melody line – a constant of the subsequent reggae to follow.

Rock Steady’s Beginnings: An Introduction to Jamaican Music’s Most Influential Genre

The Red Bull Music Academy Daily is the online publication by the Red Bull Music Academy, a global music institution committed to fostering creativity in music. Just like the Academy, we think of it as a platform for the essential ideas, sounds and people that have driven – and continue to drive...

daily.redbullmusicacademy.com

 

[Knicksman20]

She's a good bass player

 

[8WON6]

I forgot breh's name for a minute, but had him in mind for this thread. Nice choice.
​

he was showing out!

 

[Van Cleef]

 

[Cakebatter]

Ike Turner

Used guitar distortion before the invention of the fuzz box on Rocket 88.

 

[Cakebatter]

I know he plays lap steel, but he should be included anyway:

Robert Randolph

 

[Amerikan Melanin]

I Ernie Isley the goat?