Kid Guitars

Back in the 1930s and ’40s, during the early days of the electric guitar, audio feedback was considered a detrimental sound to be eliminated in the interest of purifying the sound. The first solid-body electric guitars were invented for the express purpose of reducing feedback levels. Something changed in the 1960s, however. Innovators such as Jimi Hendrix and Pete Townshend began to cultivate the assortment of noises that could be produced by holding a guitar at varying distances from a guitar amplifier. I fondly remember my friends and me trying to imitate the trademark sound on our cheap electric guitars, to no avail.

Over time, this technique of perfecting a feedback loop to harmonious or dissonant effect was taken even further. The British rock band My Bloody Valentine released “Loveless” in 1991 – an album that utilized feedback in a way that made many people wonder how they could achieve such sounds with a mere guitar. Even more recently, Rage Against the Machine adopted a trademark “crunchy guitar” sound with the help of amp feedback.