32 Electrifying Guitar Facts

By James Israelsen, Associate Writer

Published December 23, 2022

World-famous guitarists Buddy Holly, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Kurt Cobain all played Fender guitars. _[8]
Leo Fender, founder of the company that makes Fender electric guitars, never learned how to play the guitar himself._[8]
The "Hawaiian guitar" is another name for the electric lap-steel models that were popularly used during the Hawaiian music craze of the early 1940s._[8]
Terz guitars are tuned to a third higher pitch than standard acoustic guitars._[9]
Rolling Stones magazine has cited the best three guitarists of all time as Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix._[1]
In 2020, the average guitar cost around $600._[4]
The ancestor of the modern guitar was probably first made in 16th-century Spain._[18]
The first acoustic guitars made hundreds of years ago had four, as opposed to six, strings._[18]
The standard tuning for a guitar are the notes E-A-D-G-B-E._[18]
A classical guitar has three metal strings and three made of nylon or silk._[18]

This is Cobain's personal Fender electric, the Jag-Stang

The most expensive guitar ever sold was the acoustic-electric model played by Kurt Cobain on MTV Unplugged, which was purchased in 2020 for $6.01 million dollars._[19]
Classical guitar techniques were invented to enable guitarists to play the music of classical composers, such as Bach and Mozart, in concerts in the 19th century._[18]
Composers only began to write serious concert pieces for the guitar in the 20th century._[18]
In jazz music, the guitar is traditionally considered part of the rhythm section._[18]
In modern popular music, it is common for an ensemble to have three different roles for the guitar: lead, rhythm, and bass._[18]
Electric pickups were first added to acoustic guitars in the 1920s._[18]
Les Paul invented the first solid-body guitar that, because it had no soundbox, needed an electric amplifier to transmit the sounds of its vibrating strings._[18]
There are seven main editions of the Guitar Hero video game._[5]
Guitarist Andrew W.K. has designed and played two electric models whose bodies were made to look like foods: "the pizza guitar" and "the taco guitar."_[11]
In 2012, David DiDonato played a solo on his guitar for over 24 straight hours, setting the current Guinness record for the longest guitar solo ever played._[14]
Roughly the size of a single biological cell, the "nanoguitar" is the world's smallest guitar. The instrument is made of crystalline silicone and has six strings, each of which is around the same width as 100 atoms._[6]

Zero-G Rock

Over the past several decades, astronauts working in the International Space Station have brought guitars up with them; the instruments require a number of extra body straps to be played in zero-G._[15]
Although Eric Clapton has auctioned off multiple guitars to raise money for various causes, and it is unknown exactly how many he currently owns, his collection is still estimated to be one of the most impressive in the world._[13]
The first rock-and-roll guitarist to smash his instrument onstage was Pete Townshend of The Who; he destroyed his guitar after accidentally bashing it into a low ceiling during a 1964 performance._[16]
An American guitarist/hobbyist spent around 5 weeks and $500 making a full-sized, playable electric guitar out of 1200 colored pencils._[10]
The 34-story building of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Seminole, Florida, is shaped like the body of a massive, neon, aqua-colored guitar._[3]
American guitarist Terence Hansen has become famous for playing a custom guitar with two necks, one acoustic and one electric._[17]
The same band, Dragonforce, wrote the hardest songs to play on both the Guitar Hero and Rock Band video games._[12]
The Luna Guitars manufacturing company makes guitars that are contoured with curves to better fit the shape of a woman's torso._[20]
Guitars that are famous for the names given to them by their owners include "Blackie" and "Brownie" (Eric Clapton), "Lucille" (B.B. King), "Trigger" (Willie Nelson), and "Micawber" (Keith Richards)._[7]
B.B. King once rushed back into a nightclub that was on fire to retrieve his guitar._[7]
A seller on eBay successfully sold his "air guitar" for $5.50._[2]