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Jazz Guitarist Charlie Christian; Sound Of Success: A knack for innovation amplified his musical talent.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)
Byline: PETE BARLAS
Above all, Charlie Christian wanted to be heard.
Christian, an acoustic guitar player, worried that his music was overpowered by crowds and other instruments when he played live with jazz bands and orchestras. And in the early 1930s, there were no amplifiers around he could plug into.
The problem was merely a new challenge for Christian (1916-42). To ensure his sound wasn't lost, he started amplifying his instrument with a public address microphone balanced between his legs. He later secured a microphone to his guitar with rubber bands.
The groundbreaking technique boosted the guitar's volume and radically changed how musicians and audiences perceived the guitar.
Amplified, Christian's guitar and his single-string picking technique took on a new life. It sounded like a distorted sax, recalled jazz guitarist Mary Osborne in "Charlie Christian, Solo Flight -- The Seminal Electric Guitarist," by Peter Broadbent.
"When I heard Charlie Christian, it was if the guitar suddenly spoke. He didn't have to play a lot of notes and a lot of technique," Osborne said. "For example, in "Body and Soul,' which is a piece a horn would play, the amplified guitar makes it possible to sustain and phrase things like that."
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