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(guitar strumming)

(energetic rock music)

- The electric guitar is
like an artist's brush

or a sculptor's clay.

It's an expression of
a human being's desire

to reach out with our senses.

It expands our sense of hearing, sight,

touch, even taste.

That is, if you play with your teeth.

Hey, I'm Kevin Bacon.

Like a lot of you, I love guitars.

If you're a player, you already
know what I'm talkin' about,

the way they look, the
way the strings feel

under your fingers, it's
almost as if they're alive.

(lively guitar music)

- [Steve] When you learn
how to play the instrument,

then the instrument plays you.

When you're really zone, it's
like God is playing, you know?

You're just the conduit.

- So, where does this passion come from?

And the power.

Why do normal, rational
people mortgage their homes

to afford a particular vintage Les Paul

or a Stratocaster?

Why would a middle-age
guy in rural New Hampshire

vault more than 2,000 of them in his barn?

And why do players make
those strange, contorted,

ecstatic, orgasmic faces
when playing solos?

This is the story of the electric guitar,

from the invention in the
1930s to its golden years,

right through the digital
guitars of the future.

We're gonna meet all kinds of people

from rock stars and teenage virtuosos

to congressmen, CEOs, in
an attempt to understand

their emotional connection
to their guitars.

- The electric guitar is magic.

It goes beyond cultures,
it goes beyond words,

it goes beyond language.

It is a pulsing, rhythmic connection

to the essential forces of the universe.

- See, what they all have in common

is their passion for the instrument,

and a quest to find
their own personal tone.

- You go through this
long, never ending journey

and you also have the aid of
the whole commercial aspect

of the guitar business to help you along

so that you can work your ass off

to spend all your money trying to fuckin'

find the end of this quest.

(energetic rock music)

- In the United States guitar market,

you're lookin' at about
7.82 billion dollars

and 17 billion dollars worldwide.

Every shape, size, color,
texture, design that you can find,

you'll find here in the
halls of the NAMM show.

It really is an amazing instrument.

(applause)

- The Guitar Center in
Hollywood rocks day and night.

You can buy just about any new guitar,

but way back in the vintage room,

a room that used to be
the Groucho Marx Theater,

the Burst Brothers reign.

Drew Berlin and Dave Belzer
are two of the world's

top experts on vintage guitars,

and the vintage room
contains most of them.

How did it all begin?

- This is called a
Rickenbacker Frying Pan.

It's probably the first
electric guitar type instrument

made in 1932, came out.
- Solid body, that's for sure

with a pickup.

- It's a piece of metal, metal body,

metal one piece body neck type of thing.

It's got the Rickenbacker pickup in it

which sounds pretty.

(guitar strumming)

Sounds pretty cool.

- For the most part, the guitar player

was kinda like next to the high hat.

You know, his job was.

(lively guitar music)

Playing rhythm parts, very little lead

because you couldn't hear him.

As soon as somebody put
a pickup on the guitar,

the guitar all of a sudden could speak.

- It went from being a
background instrument

and became a solo instrument,

and Charlie Christian was
the first person to do this.

- Benny Goodman had a black guy,

one of the first black guys
that was in a white band

called Charlie Christian,
and boy did I like that.

- [David] This pickup is the first pickup

that was used on an electric guitar,

apart from the Rickerbacker Frying Pan.

Charlie Christian was
playing one of these in 1936,

and this is the pickup that
made the sound possible.

(guitar strumming)

- Sweetest music this side of heaven to me

was that electric guitar.

I wanted to be a preacher and play guitar.

- Part of the popularity of the guitar is,

I'm sure, with three chords

you can pretty much play
90% of all the songs

you ever had to play.

(lively guitar music)

You can make a whole career
of that three chords,

and then you plug it
into a guitar amplifier

where your voice is the loudest voice

in a room of either one,
50, 500, 5,000, 50,000.

(upbeat rock music)

- An interesting dynamic begins to happen.

Once you can jack up the volume

and you can be heard across,
(laughs) in the next county.

That gives you a lot of power.

(blues band music)

- The technology of
being able to, you know,

plug into the lightning in the sky.

(laughing) You know?

And feel the fury of it.

I mean, there's still nothing better

than standing in front
of a fuckin' stack, man,

and hittin' a chord and
having it like move you.

You can feel it hit you in the back, man.

There's nothin' like that.

- It's an instrument that will always win,

because you can always crank it up.

(upbeat rock music)

- Rock 'N' Roll Fantasy Camp is a chance

for anyone to be a rock star, for a week.

Musicians of all ages and abilities

sign up for a one week
program where campers

rediscover their passion
for music and the guitar.

They audition, bands are formed,

each of which has a
rock star teacher play.

Then they have five days
to learn the material

and perfect their performance.

In the process, they form a team,

and on the fifth and final day,

the bands travel to
Hollywood's House of Blues

where they compete in
a battle of the bands

in front of the public and their families.

No pressure there.

But today is day one,
when the campers arrive,

get to know each other, and
audition for the counselors

who assign them to bands.

- I think George Thorogood
said it best in this room.

He said, "If anyone born
after 1950 ever said

"that they didn't wanna be
a rockstar, they're lying."

- Jim Gallagher.

I wanted to be a rockstar.

I went into business
instead, but, I had it in me.

And that's why I'm here.

This week, I'm a rockstar.

("Rock and Roll All Nite")

♫ You keep on shoutin',
you keep on shoutin'

♫ All right

♫ I wanna rock and roll all nite

- It's fun as hell.

My name's Greg Burns,
I'm from Atlanta, Georgia

and I'm a professor of neuroscience.

I kinda got to a point in my career where,

you know, I had put the
guitar away for many years

since high school and then
the guitar's sittin' there

in the corner, and it called to me

and I picked it up again.

It brought back a lotta great memories.

♫ Oh yeah

(cheering)
(applause)

- You take normal people
that play in their basement,

love the music, love the instruments,

and they come here and they get to play

with people that have been through this.

- Like Jeff Baxter, you know,
I play Doobie Brothers songs.

I play China Grove probably
a couple times a week.

- Paul Stanley, to get
a chance to see him.

Growing up, listening to Kiss.

- Dickey Betts, without a question.

(upbeat rock music)

- It's rock and roll.

This week is what it's all about.

- I like the noise and the
power of rock and roll.

I like the outta controlness of it,

I like the ugliness of it,
and I like the beauty of it.

I get that all from the guitar.

(heavy metal music)

- To me, you pick up a guitar
and whatever's on your mind

that you wanna get out there,
you can do it through guitar.

- The guitar sort of for
me becomes an extension

of my voice.

- It'll say all the things for me

that I don't know how to say sometimes.

- I can be as aggressive,
I can do whatever.

All the things I can't do verbally

I can express on a guitar,
whether they get it or not,

you know?
(laughing)

- [Kevin] While filming
Les Paul in New York,

there was word on the
street about a teenage girl

from Long Island who is incredibly gifted.

We caught up with her at Pie
Studios in Glen Cove, New York.

Kristen Capolino has truly found her voice

through her guitar, a Gibson Flying V.

(energetic guitar music)

- When I was little I had a
hard time expressing myself.

I went through some difficult
times when I was young

so I felt like that was the best way

to express my sadness mostly,

but at the same time,
to express my happiness

through playing.

I love the electric guitar.

You can really just feel it,

you can really place your emotion into it.

When I play, I feel like
it releases all my pain

into another world, like
it takes you somewhere.

It's like a euphoria.

- When people hear the name Les Paul,

they typically think of a guitar.

But Les is also a man.

He was one of the greatest
players of all time.

But Les may be more famous
for his contribution

as an inventor.

Some call him the father of
the solid body electric guitar

and multi-track recording.

It all started 'cause
he wanted to be heard.

(blues guitar music)

- I got a job on a Saturday
night, one of my first jobs

to play for the cars that came in

to Beakman's Barbecue Stand.

A fellow drove up in a rumble seat,

and he wrote a note to the carhop saying,

"Red, your guitar's not loud enough."

(gentle guitar music)

So I tried to take the
pickup from a phonograph

and jab the needle in
the top of the guitar,

then I got feedback.

So I decided I'm gonna go with
a piece of railroad track,

and so I placed a string on
the piece of railroad track.

I plucked the guitar,
and when I heard this

piece of railroad track
sound like something

from another planet, and I said,

"Oh my goodness, how
wonderful that sounds."

And mother says, "Wait a minute,

"the day you see a cowboy
on a horse" (laughs)

"playin' with a railroad track,"

so I said, it's gotta be a piece of wood.

Well I started with a 4x4 and I thought

everybody'd fall over,
so I put sides on it,

and I have another side here.

This is what the sides look like,

and these sides just plug onto here

and you screw 'em on and
then you go on your job

and you play it.

And so we call this the Log,

and because of the Log,
the solid body came about.

(lively guitar music)

- I can't imagine my life
without a guitar in it.

And what it brings to
me, which is a rock band

and a life of art and music.

(blues guitar music)

- [Kevin] Once you get into the guitar,

it becomes part of your identity.

Meet Sean Costello from Atlanta.

Sean plays a Les Paul, a recreation

of the 1956 Goldtop model.

We filmed him at The Viper
Room on the Sunset Strip.

- Oh it's changed my life in every way.

I mean, it's become sort
of my identity in some ways

because I started playing so young

and became successful.

I was a shy kid, very, very
shy, not a good athlete,

not really great with the
ladies at first, (laughs)

so it really helped me in every way.

I just established confidence in myself.

I mean, I can't imagine
what my life would be like

without it.

(upbeat blues music)

I don't even know where
the guitar player ends

and where I actually begin.

I think it's kind of one
in the same at this point.

- I'd say the guitar saved my life.

- It's taken me a lot of places (laughs)

that I never would have gone.

- It made me an honorary
professor. (laughs)

This would never have happened

if I didn't play guitar.

(blues guitar music)

- When I finally did get all six strings

and I learned my first pentatonic lick,

I felt like I had arrived.

I mean, I had touched on
something that changed me forever.

(upbeat rock music)

(lively guitar music)

- [David] In 1949, along
came a man called Leo Fender

who has changed the face of the
electric guitar forevermore.

- [Kevin] Leo Fender,
despite not being a player,

was an exceptional engineer
and a great listener.

Fender's Telecaster was
the first successful

solid body electric guitar.

It debuted in 1949.

It took a while to catch
on, but it definitely did.

("Hometown Jamboree")

- There's something very Americana
about an electric guitar.

I mean, especially a solid body guitar

because it is manufactured pretty much

in the same way as an automobile is.

- You know, Fender had this idea

that you didn't need to have a neck

that was actually glued on to the body.

This was the great innovation.

It was called the plank.

- This guitar can be taken apart

and put back together in minutes.

You unbolt these four
bolts, the neck comes off.

You unscrew these two screws,
the control cavity comes off.

- 1949, everybody thought it was a joke,

but Leo Fender had the last laugh.

- Leo and I, we took one
of those first Broadcasters

one night, went into Los Angeles

to a place called Riverside Rancho.

- Leo Fender and George
basically had this guitar

that they could not sell.

Nobody was buying it because
they weren't familiar

with a solid body guitar,
it's never been done before.

So they were kind of looking for somebody

to play this thing.

- There was a young fella came in,

a good looking young guy, and came over

where we were standing and he
saw our guitar sitting there

and he wanted to know what
kind of guitar it was.

I said, "Well, it's something
new we've been working on."

He said, "Could I see it?"

I said, "Certainly,
that's why we brought it."

- And he said, "Well, can I play it?"

- Never in my life have I ever heard

like these two fellas are individually.

You put 'em together and boy
you've got the very best.

Here we go with Jimmy Bryant, Speedy West,

and Flying High.

(lively guitar music)

- He played at least two hours
on that guitar that night,

and everybody just loved it.

They didn't go back to dancing,

the band didn't go back to playing,

they just listened to this young man play.

That was the fabulous Jimmy Bryant.

- The first commercially
successful solid body guitars

were definitely Fenders, and
we're talking about something

that really, really caught on quickly.

I mean, you can play a
Fender as loud as you want.

I think that's really one of the reasons

Fenders were so popular in the early 50s.

- The Telecaster really
got it goin', you know.

It just had this sonic specialty

that is unequaled.

- Some real hot licks were
played on this guitar. (laughs)

(upbeat guitar music)

- It's a great guitar.

(guitar strumming)

I mean, when you can really dig into it

and it still keeps the clarity,

and, you know, you pick up new guitars

and they don't, they just
don't sound like that to me.

- When I was growing up,
I loved Keith Richards

and I loved country music
and things like that,

and they always played Telecasters

and I always wanted a
Telecaster like Keith Richards.

He had a blonde Telecaster
with a beautiful black guard.

I finally got a Telecaster

when I was probably around 13 or so.

I think the guitar really kinda chose me.

I just play all the time.

I think that's what keeps me kind of sane.

I have terrible anxiety
and things like that

so I just play and keep
my mind off things.

And when I don't, I just get
real mean and stuff like that.

(energetic guitar music)

It's made my life wonderful,

and I'm making a living playing guitar

which I would do it for free anyways

but, you know, don't tell my bosses that.

But also, it can ruin
a lotta lives as well

just like alcohol or drugs
or anything like that

because I play so much.

When you pick your guitar over your wife,

it's not always the best thing.

Was that cool?

You can definitely be
addicted to the guitar

because when I went on my honeymoon,

not only did I take my guitar

but I took my guitar tech too, so.

At least he gave me a
towel when I needed one.

(upbeat guitar music)

- At first, Gibson
laughed at the Telecaster.

After years of making finely
crafted arch top instruments,

this plank concept looked
like amateur hour to them,

until people started
to play it, and buy it,

and suddenly Gibson needed
to compete in this new area.

So they called on our
old friend, Les Paul.

The guitars they created together

are some of the finest ever made.

The introduction of the Les Paul

began a 50 year sales war
between Fender and Gibson

that continues today.

(lively blues guitar music)

- As time went on, we
made it more lovable,

beautiful, until it was a bartender

or a mistress, a housewife.

It was everything that you could think of

and something that you could love,

and it would do what you tell it to do.

Sometimes. (laughs)

- [David] Les Paul came up
with this absolute masterpiece,

it's called Les Paul Standard Goldtop.

This was the very, very first
Gibson solid body guitar.

- This guitar has a
switch so the bass pickup,

just this pickup, sounds like this.

(energetic guitar music)

In the middle, both
pickups sound like this.

The bridge, lead pickup.

You notice I have this guitar
all the way up volume wise

and it's not making a lotta noise.

- Where this guitar, if I turn it up,

and that's the difference
between a single coil

and the Humbucker.

- Well I'm sort of a Les Paul girl.

I've always liked that more
of a growly, dirty, fat,

powerhouse kinda sound.

(energetic rock music)

Maybe it's an overcompensation
on my part, you know,

from being a girl or something.

When I play the guitar, it takes me

to an amazing place where time disappears.

You could be anywhere,
you could be any age,

you could be almost anyone.

It's beyond your own
self, it's out of body.

I love my guitar. (laughs)

- Nothing says rock and roll and sex

like a low-strung,
low-hung electric guitar.

- It's hard to hug a Steinway.

(upbeat rock music)

- It's a sort of a
romantic thing, isn't it?

When you hold something close
and you get beautiful sounds

to come out of it.

- I think the electric guitar,

I mean, there's no doubt
that there's a shape

that is a symbol of something sexy.

I gotta say that, but I'm not saying

I picked up a guitar
just because I was horny.

- Here's a perfect illustration.

Here we have a vase.
(laughing)

Put a neck on this thing,
what does it remind you of?

- It's got great curves, the
knobs are fun to twiddle with.

- It's really soft on the line,

and it totally ties into
the art of the female body.

- And I just think it's a
romantic instrument, you know.

You touch it, it's this feel of the wood

and the strings, it
vibrates against your body.

- None of the other
instruments are instruments

that you hold to your
chest, to your heart.

- Musicians feel a tremendous relationship

with their instruments, sometimes maybe

to the point of an attraction.

- This guitar is very special.

I play it and it's like making love to it.

I have never told anybody this.

I literally play this guitar
and I will start drooling.

(energetic guitar music)

- I don't know what it is, but
the first time I touched it

I felt something through
it, it connected me to it.

It's very hard to explain.

But it's not, you fall in love, suddenly.

You don't know, it just
hits you, you know?

(bluesy guitar music)

- Now with serious competition
from Gibson's Les Paul,

it was time for Fender to respond

and take it to the next level.

The Stratocaster was so
modern, it was so radical,

it looked out of place in
the band stands in the 1950s,

but rock and roll changed all that

and many legendary musicians
quickly adopted the Strat.

It's no coincidence that
the Fender Stratocaster

and rock were born at exactly
the same point in history.

- The guitar that did it
for most people in England

was Buddy Holly's Stratocaster.

Just seeing it on the cover

of that Chirping Crickets record,

it just looked fantastic.

They had a magic about them, you know.

You see these pictures
of Americans playing

these great guitars.

- This is a Stratocaster.

(upbeat guitar music)

It was a spaceship compared to anything

that had appeared at that time.

This is the sexiest, most
curvaceous instrument

that's ever come on this planet.

This is sex with strings on it.

- It just was a guitar that seemed

to be a huge leap tonally.

The Stratocaster, by
adding the third pickup,

really added to the tonal spectrum.

- This is the front pickup,
a little more mellower.

The little pickup is a little brighter.

(lively guitar music)

A little raspier sound,
and then the brighter sound

with the back pickup.

(lively guitar music)

- This is very similar
to a very famous guitar

called Blackie that was
sold by Eric Clapton

a while ago for nearly a million dollars.

- Now the interesting thing
about the Stratocaster,

which is a big part of
Eric Clapton's sound,

is he would do a little trick

which was actually putting the switch

right in between these two pickups.

(upbeat guitar music)

And you get a little out of phase sound.

- Which was the sound of Lay Down Sally

and Slowhand, the Slowhand album

or starting even with (guitar strumming)

you know, when he hooked
up with Delaney and Bonnie

and Derek and the Dominos
is really where he went

from a Gibson to a Strat.

(energetic guitar music)

- It was just my guitar, always.

I tried all kinds of guitars

and I always come back to Strat.

That's the only guitar that is part of me.

I had this fascination since I was a kid,

maybe because it was
forbidden for me to touch it.

My dad was really influenced
by American blues music

and American sound, and he
had a lot of jam sessions

back home in Serbia,
and I grew up listening

to this kind of music since
I was two or three years old.

And I just wanted to play blues.

I just really wanted to
go into electric stuff.

I was really trying hard
to sound like Howlin' Wolf

when I was 13, and that was a bad idea.

(bluesy guitar music)

Guitar is the way that our souls speak.

And I think maybe the best
comment that I ever got

from my audience was
when they come to see me,

they all come home thinking
that playing guitar

is the best, and that we should
all become guitar players.

("Wild Thing")

♫ Wild thing

- Whenever I listen to
Gary play the guitar,

I always have a glass of wine.

The house just kinda shakes.

- No one has complained,
that I know of, at least.

- Nobody tells him to be
quiet, except if our kids

are at home. (laughs)

- [Gary] My wife and daughters
aren't real impressed

with my guitar playing skills.

- And the girls go, "Dad, turn it down!

"This is embarrassing."

- You know, it's not
about them, it's about me

when we're playing guitar.

To be CEO for a company
like Southwest Airlines

is terrific.

Enjoy your flight.

But the airline industry's tough

and our assets lie at 35,000
feet, 500 miles an hour,

so it's just not for the faint of heart.

And it's also a seven day a week business,

which often translates into
near 24 hours a day, so.

I have a lot of outside interests,

and I'm just starved for time.

So I like to play guitar, obviously.

It's just a way to relax and a way

to take my mind off other things,

and even, you know, if
it's just for a few minutes

it's still, it's just a great joy.

(bluesy guitar music)

- I grew up with a
condition called scoliosis,

so I was in a back cast for
14 months when I was a kid

and a back brace for two years,

which was when I started
to learn to play guitar.

(upbeat guitar music)

You don't really get a lotta dates

when you got a full body cast on.

You try, but you really don't get 'em.

So, you know, it was really the guitar

was around all the time and ended up being

like my best friend.

I mean, it's the longest
relationship that I have on earth

is with my guitar, other
than my mother and father.

- I've been in situations in my life,

I feel like I've been through a lot where,

you know, the only thing
I had was the guitar.

The only thing that I could
count on was the guitar.

- It's kept me out of a lot
of trouble, is what it's done.

- I went from an anonymous dork

to somebody who was kinda cool,

and it changed my whole life.

- 'Cause I was kind of
a nerdy kid, you know.

I was never the most popular in school

or anything like that, until
I started playing the guitar.

I used to go over to my buddy's house

and his brother had a guitar,

just a crummy nylon string guitar,

but I picked that up and somehow

I really felt somethin' there.

I knew I could play that thing.

When I first started playing guitar,

I was playing Flamenco guitar.

You know, I never really
thought about playing

the electric guitar until I went

to see Chuck Berry play one time.

He was like the devil with his guitar,

and just the way he looked at ya,

it was like the devil with
his pitch fork, ya know?

I just knew I had to get
one of those red guitars.

("Light My Fire")

I think my style is a
combination of being in the Doors

and trying not to sound like anybody else.

I kinda had to play bass, rhythm, lead,

all those things at once, ya know,

so it made me play a certain way

and I really hadn't played electric guitar

for more than three or four
months when I got in the Doors.

At one point, Jim was writing everything

and we didn't really have enough songs,

so Jim says, "Hey, why don't you guys

"try and write some too."

So I went home and the next
day I wrote, Light My Fire.

Playing the guitar is, I guess
it's like an escape for me,

just the way those strings feel.

It just makes me feel a certain way.

It makes me feel good,
let me put it that way.

The more you play, the better you feel.

(upbeat guitar music)

- It's like a drug, it's just like a drug

only it's legal.

- Gibson's ES series was the brainchild

of Ted McCarty Gibson's
president in the 50s and 60s.

It was first produced in 1958.

It was breakthrough design
because it has a solid

maple block inside.

The ES has the attributes of a solid body

like Les' feedback, but
its resonance chambers

give it the chime of a
hollow body instrument.

It's a great all-around guitar

that is played and copied
by just about everyone.

(mellow guitar music)

- Very fundamental, two pickups,

and you could get a nice rock
and roll sound out of it too

without feeding back.

(blues guitar music)

(gentle guitar music)

- So it's got the
chimeyness of the pickups,

it's got the brightness of the neck,

and it just looks spectacular. (laughs)

(blues band music)

- [Kevin] BB historically
played an ES 355,

but more recently developed
his own version of Lucille.

BB's variation has no F holes
to further reduce feedback,

along with other modifications.

- Can't take credit for it.

I may have helped them
improve it a little. (laughs)

I didn't create it.

- Anyone that bends a note on the guitar

and holds it, and anyone
that shakes a note like that,

is getting it from BB King
whether they know it or not.

- I trill my hand like
this, if you can see,

just like that.

That's all I do.

But I've learned to do it well enough

so it moves the string a little.

- To me, the guitar is the
most expressive instrument

because you can bend those strings

and you get in between the notes.

(lively guitar music)

- The guitar, to me, is
the instrument of infinity.

It's the instrument of your soul.

It goes through your
heart, through your mind,

through your genitals, to what's
in your core in the middle.

An organ or piano, you've
got notes you have to hit,

but on a guitar you can play
the infinity between the notes.

Playing slide on a guitar
is like what life is about.

I mean, it's not where you are,

but it's about how you get there.

(energetic rock music)

- [Kevin] Without question,
the most collectible guitar

in the world is the 1959 Les Paul.

It's considered the
Holy Grail of electrics.

The 59s are super rare,
and super expensive.

At Pie Studios, Kristen Capolino

had a life changing opportunity

to play a 1959 Les Paul Standard.

And, to further elevate the experience,

she played it through a Marshall amp

that Jimi Hendrix used to
record many of his classics.

- Gibson, in the late
50s, reached a pinnacle

of craftsmanship and
materials that just, psh,

came together, where they made a guitar

that the best players in the world desire,

the Stratovarius of electric guitars.

- The Les Paul Flame Top,
this particular type of guitar

has always been the pinnacle
of collectible guitars

in my opinion.

This guitar has a lot of book match flame

which makes it very desirable.

(upbeat guitar music)

- [David] These are played
by all the great artists,

everybody from Joe Walsh to Jimmy Page,

Jeff Beck, everybody.

Even Clapton played one
of these at one time.

They're fantastic guitars.

- Les Paul Sunburst guitar.

It's one of the greatest rock
and roll guitars ever made,

and I've enjoyed playing
one for years and years.

("Drinkin' Wine")

- When the Butterfield
Band went to Europe in '66,

I noticed that Peter Green was playing

a red Les Paul like this,
Clapton was playing one,

and I wondered to myself,

how did they know that this guitar

had all the inherent qualities,
sustain, volume, and tone,

that was just better
than any other possible

rock and roll guitar at that time?

(upbeat rock music)

- There's probably 20, 25 important things

that affect the sound of a guitar pickup.

There are so many variables in the shape,

how it produces the magnetic
field around the string area.

That's what generates
the current that you hear

that goes into the amplifier.

I was very lucky to have studied ham radio

and stuff like that to
understand what it's all about.

I mean, I can hear it, but
what is it that I'm hearing?

And I wanted to be able to
produce it and understand

that if I use this many turns
or this kinda winding pitch,

how close each wire is together.

There's hundreds and
hundreds of line combinations

and I've done so many of 'em

that I can hear the difference.

(rock guitar music)

- Seymour Duncan originally
started rewinding pickups

for guitar players when
he was in London, England,

and this probably would've been
the mid 60s I'm gonna guess,

and so I just think he became obsessed

with helping people
achieve better guitar tone.

Having Seymour Duncan
pickups in your guitar,

you're putting something in your guitar

that basically goes back to
the beginning of rock and roll.

He worked with Hendrix,
he worked with Jeff Beck,

of course, Jimmy Page, so
all these great players

he helped them achieve the
sounds they were going for.

- Seymour has an uncanny
ability to be able

to translate someone describing
what they want in sound

in words.

- Like, warm sounding or bright or tight.

There's a lot of terms that
are used to describe a pickup.

- To get to the science,
you have to have the magic

or the mindset to understand
where you're coming from,

so finding a pickup that has a tone

that's to your liking, it's so important.

It's just a very
important part of playing,

it's very important to what you hear,

and it's a tone that you produce

that makes other people
appreciate what you're doing too.

- Down through the history of man,

items have been symbols
connected to people and events

that either have magical powers
or have some significance.

The electric guitar was a magic carpet

that propelled the youth of America

to another place and another time.

- The bolt of lightning struck us,

when we saw the Beatles on the
Ed Sullivan Show, actually.

- All My Lovin' from the Beatles,

that's the first rock song,
pop song I ever heard,

and I was sold.

I immediately decided I
wanted an electric guitar.

- The reason why I
started playing the guitar

was 'cause of the Beatles.

I mean, like anybody my age, you know,

that moment when on the
Ed Sullivan Show in 1964

changed everybody's life.

- They hooked me.

I actually started playing acoustic guitar

and started playing folk guitar

and graduated after a
while to electric guitar.

(upbeat rock music)

- [Kevin] Lots of politicians
play electric guitar.

John Kerry, Mike Huckabee, Tony Blair,

the late Tony Snow, and our
friend Congressman Paul Hodes

of New Hampshire.

- I'm sort of a basic rock and roller.

Ya know, if it's got a couple of chords

and I can play a pentatonic
scale, I'm a happy guy.

There's a powerful current that I feel

flowing through me when I play the guitar.

It comes from up there,
and it goes through me

and it is a very powerful thing.

How else can you make so much loud noise,

have so much fun, and have it be artful?

If you're good at it.

- [Kevin] At Fantasy Camp,

we discovered another teenage virtuoso

named Jared Stamey from North Carolina.

Jared's already a pro
musician at the age of 16.

Why is powerfully obvious when he plays.

(energetic guitar music)

- I was hooked on guitar
on my 13th birthday

which is the day I started playing.

Dad pulled me into our computer room

and said, "Listen to this,"
and he started playing

The Ocean by Led Zeppelin.

The second I heard that song,
I knew right then and there

what I had to do.

I gotta have music in my future.

If I don't, I won't be happy.

- An electric guitar has made
some pretty bold statements

since its inception.

- This is your gun, but
it is a gun for peace.

- This is the instrument
of the individual.

As soon as you've held your guitar,

you are sending a strong
message to the system.

- I believe,

that during the 60s and 70s
when rock and roll began,

we musicians, entertainers,
was able to bring

more people together than the politicians.

- In the end, why we,
Hungarians, Pols, Czechs,

and Russians brought
down the communist system

is because of rock and
roll and blue jeans.

- This is the way you get
to freedom, right here.

(gentle guitar music)

- Now as a symbol, I would say the guitar

is very powerful.

When somebody holds up an AK-47,

you know exactly what that means.

When somebody holds up an electric guitar,

there is no question in
your mind what that means.

This means freedom.

This means war and killing.

Freedom to express, freedom to communicate

your deepest and innermost feelings

from your soul to your
fellow human beings.

In a world where people
are afraid of free will,

this machine is unknown and frightening.

- In the right hands, the guitar

can change the world.

(lively guitar music)

- My love for guitars
started in Bangladesh.

It started with four of us friends

listening to Iron Maiden.

When we were like 15, we
started this band, rock music,

and being in a Muslim country

it's not really accepted, so
you have to hide and do stuff.

We did an album.

In a year, it was being played everywhere.

You'd see kids jamming to it and stuff,

and you go, "Oh my god, that's us."

Nobody knew what we looked like.

We didn't put any pictures on
the album, just to be safe.

So, we do a concert.

Curtain drops.

35,000 people cheering for us.

And then it got really weird.

(somber guitar music)

It's a Muslim country, and
certain people didn't like that.

We couldn't play certain venues anymore.

We couldn't do certain things anymore.

Had to be very careful
walking down the streets

and with our families.

But the biggest thing of
all, music and guitar,

is now I hold it and I see it was hope,

because little kids will look at you,

they'll write to you, they'll find you

and they will tell you, "You
did it, you went there,"

and, you know, "I wanna be
there, I can do it too."

I can speak through that
and tell the whole world

that I exist and I have
this beautiful thing in me.

I can express myself.

This is what inspiration does.

All those kids are inspired by us.

(energetic guitar music)

- Walter, this is one
that was just brought in.

In fact, it came in while I was at lunch.

With the instruments,
I can't truly tell you

what things are going to be worth.

That's in spite of the fact
that I appraise guitars daily.

The guitar described
below is, in our opinion,

a Gibson Les Paul Goldtop model
made early in the year 1957,

description serial number 7 space 0232.

The peghead has been cracked lengthwise.

It matters very much on condition,

whether it's been monkeyed with or not.

Now, this is one that if it
hadn't been messed over here,

it'd be at least an 80,000 dollar guitar.

Current market value, after
repair of the peg head,

50,000 dollars.

- If you look at the 1959 guitar,

one of the reasons it's
worth a lot of money

is because we sold all
of 300 on a global basis.

And let me tell you, that was
not a big number for Gibson.

- By 1960, Gibson decided
to cease production

of the Les Paul, and that's
when people like Eric Clapton

and Mike Bloomfield discovered them.

More accurately, Clapton saw Freddy King

playing a Goldtop and
wanted a similar vibe,

so almost immediately the
band exceeded the supply

and vintage Les Pauls
started getting valuable.

- They didn't want the new Gibsons.

They wanted those old ones,
and the sound was as different

as night and day.

(lively guitar music)

- I got this guitar probably early '67,

once I had enough money
to start buying guitars.

I think I paid 400 dollars
to a friend named Rocky

for this guitar.

I don't know where he got it.

- There was a period in the 60s where,

while the young kid was
running up and down the street

to get a Les Paul, Gibson
was at the same time

selling off all their equipment

and thinking that the phase was over,

that it was gonna go to a synthesizer.

They were going to discard
the electric guitar.

- After the demise of
the Les Paul in 1960,

the Strat and the Tele soldiered on

and rode a wave of enthusiasm
during the early Beatles era,

but in the mid 1960s, newer guitars

like the Fender Jazzmaster and Jaguar

began to steal the older guitars' thunder,

especially with the surf crowd.

In 1967, Fender was
ready to cease production

of the Stratocaster, and
one man single handedly

saved the Strat and maybe
the electric guitar.

(energetic guitar music)

- I first drank the Koolaid
when I saw Jimi Hendrix

at the Framingham Carousel in 1968.

That just blew my mind.

I knew at that point in time

all I wanted was Fender Stratocaster.

- The Stratocaster is today an icon.

It's the most popular guitar on the planet

with almost 100 models to choose from,

not counting the rip offs.

It's so ingrained in our culture

that it inspired a rollercoaster
at Disney World in Florida.

(energetic guitar music)

- I'm definitely a guitar addict, ya know.

I've just been a guitar
player for the last 42 years,

and I've pretty much played
the guitar every single day.

You know, I can count the
days I don't play the guitar.

In the course of a year, I can
count the days on one hand.

I'm so passionate about playing,

and I want to express that passion

and my own personal joy and exhilaration

through the guitar, because
I think I find my center

as a person when I'm playing.

'Cause it's really the
only thing I can do.

I can barbecue, but I can play guitar

better than I barbecue. (laughing)

- A number of factors combined

to create the vintage guitar market.

One was a scarcity of the early models

like the Les Paul and the
Flying V and the ES series,

even the early Strats.

The other was the fact
that both Gibson and Fender

were bought by giant corporations,
Fender by massive CBS,

and Gibson by an
Ecuadorian Cement company.

So beginning around 1966 or so,

the guitars began to
suffer from reduced quality

and inferior sound.

By the early 70s, most were junk

compared to what had come before,

and musicians began to
realize that the new guitars

just didn't feel or sound right.

The corporate bean counters
had done their jobs too well.

- Guitars back then were made
by the people for the people,

and then it got into, I
think, a monetary thing

where they had to make
more of 'em in less time

so they start automating more

and a lot of the steps, the
final little sanding here

or this over here, I think
a lot of that personal touch

got lost.

- I've been playing a Les
Paul for a pretty long time,

and the first electric guitar
that I ever got was a Les Paul

but that one was such a piece of shit

that after about a year,
I remember I stuck it

neck first through a wall.
(laughing)

- Things got so bad by the mid 80s

that Gibson was weeks away
from shutting its doors,

and then Henry Juszkiewicz
and his partners

acquired Gibson in a last minute attempt

to save the company.

They used technology and perfectionism

to revive the brand, and
gradually the new instruments

improved in quality.

But, are they really as
good as the old ones?

- I was nonplussed by the
fact that our employees

didn't think the guitars were any good.

Many of 'em were playing Fenders,

and I said, "Man, that's just not right."

I took a guitar and I
smashed it in the ground.

I said, "Every guitar
that has Gibson on it

"that's not right, is gonna be destroyed."

And you know what?

The guitars started getting a lot better

and the employees started
playing Gibson product.

(mellow guitar music)

- In hindsight, it looks
like all Gibson had to do

was look on the stages of rock and roll

and you could see everybody's
playing a Les Paul.

- If you look at the electric
guitar, in principle,

the first ones are
exactly as they are today,

the Telecaster, the
Stratocaster, the Les Paul.

They just got it right,
it's completely timeless.

- Both Gibson and Fender are copying

very, very closely what they
made in the 50s and early 60s.

- Since maybe '94 when Gibson dissected

a real verse from the 50s,

they made the correct neck joint

and the reissued flame tops that they make

are particularly good
instruments that you can buy new.

- What we have been doing is exactly what

the Kalamazoo factory
had done back in the 50s.

Of course, they didn't have 100,000 dollar

numerical control machines
to add to the process,

but we have that opportunity.

It's beyond just being like the old one.

It is a much better guitar today.

- The old ones don't all sound the same.

The pickup windings are
different from pickup to pickup.

When Seth Lover, who invented
the Humbucking pickup,

was asked how many turns
of wire he put on it,

said, "We just ran 'em
til they were full."

- It is mind boggling
that these relatively

inexpensive components of the 50s

combined with inexpensive
labor, often enough

women who didn't know how
to play a single chord

on a guitar winding the pickups

were producing results that today

physicists study to try to figure out.

- And that's part of the
mystique of the old ones,

but as far as recreating the sound,

you can come close enough I think

that in a blindfold
test, you couldn't tell.

(upbeat guitar music)

- This is a 1954 Les
Paul, with P90 pickups,

a wraparound bridge, and this
is their version nowadays

of basically the same guitar.

(bluesy guitar music)

Let's listen to the difference.

(bluesy guitar music)

It's so creamy, you know?

- You can't expect a guitar from 2006

to sound like a guitar from 1955.

- We have to look at the
quality and integrity

of the things that were
made in a different time.

People made all these things by hand.

- And today, guitars are mass produced.

They may have made 500
of these a year back then

for three years, maybe a little more.

Now it's 400 a day.

- When you get into vintage instruments,

you're dealing, I think, with just time.

And who knows what impressions
time makes on a thing.

- Vintage versus the new.

(laughing)

- [Kevin] There was a time when the guitar

was at the forefront of a generation gap,

but today, it can be a
bridge between generations.

- Johnny started playing
with us, sitting in with us

when he was nine years old.

And actually, on two of our albums

that we got nominated
for instrumental Grammys,

Johnny was the guitar player,

on one of which when he was nine. (laughs)

- It's a great way also
to spend time together.

Being able to share a
common passion for music

and for guitar playing,
keepin' it in the family

and play with someone
you love and respect too.

We're always hanging out

and we're able to hang out and do things

that we both care about, so
it makes it a lot more fun.

(upbeat guitar music)

He's a solo hog.

(laughing)

(mellow rock music)

- It's been my lifelong
dream, is to play with him.

♫ Come and see the smoke and mirror show

- He took me out when I was 12 years old,

when I just started playing
guitar, and I saw a gig.

I saw Toto play.

It just blew me, he like,
(blows through lips)

just ripped it up.

The fans are going crazy.

I was like, "I wanna be that
guy, I wanna be my dad!"

(laughing)

So, I remember the first
time I asked, I was like,

"Dad, I wanna play guitar."

He was like, "Oh yeah?"

I'm like, "Yeah."

And he tuned down my low E to a D

and he put my finger and it
sounded like a power (mumbles),

and he goes, "Have
fun," and left the room.

And I just, ya know, that's
pretty much how it started.

- It's been a kick for
me just to see my son,

ya know, like stand next to me, playing,

and watch him develop.

Writing songs together and
working in the studios together

doing sessions and what
not, it's been great fun.

- Yeah.

- I mean, he's my best friend

and he just happens to be my son.

Give Daddy a kiss now.

(laughing)

(bluesy guitar music)

- You can only have one woman at a time,

but you can have more than
one of these things of beauty

and I fall in love all the time.

- GAS.
- GAS, yes, GAS!

- Well, we're talking about GAS, you know,

and I try not to pass it
that much but I do have it.

- Oh, I totally have GAS.

- I have GAS, yes, I do.

- I've had Guitar Acquisition Syndrome

since I was 16 years old.

- And you just fall in love with something

and have to have it.

- There's times I just have to, like,

I don't care, I'm taking
that home, how much?

Okay, I don't care, you know what I mean?

- It costs a fortune, but
god, it's fun! (laughs)

- I think I've got it
fairly under control.

I only bought two guitars
this week. (laughs)

Two!

- Well this is my third
Strat that I've had.

I always get the Sunburst.

- We've got guitars in
every room of the house.

- How many wives have said,

"Well why do you need so many guit-?"

Well they all have their own little vibe.

- I just love to hold 'em and play 'em

and collect 'em and look at them,

which is why I got over 100 guitars.

- I just did a photo shoot
so I have 108 guitars,

but they're not crap.

- Now I probably have about 150 guitars.

- Between guitars, banjos, mandolins,

it's around 2,000 guitars.

- I don't think a man
ever has enough guitars.

- I wonder if I keep buying 'em,

I'm gonna be living under the freeway

but I'm gonna have a really
nice guitar collection.

(upbeat guitar music)

- I bought a Gibson Les Paul Sunburst

from a guitar player in the Hollies.

I paid 250 pounds for it.

And when I sold it for
500 pounds I thought,

hey, I doubled my money.

- I had a '54 black Les Paul.

A guy I knew said, "Let me
borrow it for the summer."

I was young, it was the summer of love.

I said, "Sure, take the
guitar for the summer, man.

"I'll see ya back here in school."

He took the guitar and
traded it for a Harley.

- I actually had the opportunity

to buy the most flamey '60 I've ever seen.

This was back in the 70s.

That guy wanted 3,000
dollars for it and I said,

"Are you kidding?

"That's not worth no 3,000 dollars.

"It'll never be worth that much."

- Hell, this one is 350,000 dollars.

- There are people who've
paid over 400,000 dollars

for these.

- Nowadays, one in this condition

you can expect to pay about
a half a million dollars for,

possibly more, sky's the limit.

- Coulda had 12 Harleys.

Coulda had all of the
Harley Davidson company.

- Shoulda bought it.

- Before I just poo poo the whole idea,

we can say that there
are people who've paid

over a million dollars for the
right postage stamp or coin

and the postage stamp is no
good to put on an envelope

and mail something with
it, and the coin is no good

to put in the gum machine.

(energetic guitar music)

- Hi, this is Brian
Fischer from Firebird Farm

up in New Hampshire.

We primarily grow organic blueberries,

but I've been known to
grow a few Firebirds,

Gibson Firebirds, that is.

My main reason of
collecting these instruments

is that I'd say half of
the instruments that I own

need to be preserved for
generations beyond us,

and I just wanna make
sure they get into an area

where everyone can appreciate 'em.

This is, of course, a 1958 Flying V here

with the original tags.

They were a total failure in the market.

They produced approximately 70 some.

They were just too modernistic,

so it's hard to venture a guess

of what a Flying V in this
condition would bring.

Would it be 200,000, or
could it be 500 or 700,000?

- The old guitars do have a certain mojo,

and if you don't know what it means,

I can't help you.

- This guitar here is
what mojo is all about.

This is an original 1958 Flying V

that I got from a blues guy in Cincinnati

named Big Ed Thompson.

- Nine times out of 10, if
you pick up an old guitar

and it's been played by
somebody who could really play,

you get that sense out of the guitar.

- There's a lot of soul put in there

from somebody else who put the time

to wear the paint off right here

or have some pick scratches
down here, you know.

There's some stories in that guitar.

- I do like playing my
old Teles, you know.

It just, you get this feeling

that this guitar's from the 50s

and, you know, it just has a vibe about it

because it's been around for so long.

- I really believe that
certain guitars have a spirit.

- It's been to 1,000 gigs.

It's had hundreds and hundreds
of hours of playing on it.

- Just think of all the people
who have been entertained

by this thing and who have
put those good vibes back.

You know, and they sound silly.

I don't know if it's
true or if it's not true,

but this guitar here, I have never played

another electric guitar, bar none,

that sounds better than this.

This is the one, and it
also has that oozing,

unmistakable mojo that
the old guitars have.

(bluesy guitar music)

- When the guitar market
started gettin' so crazy

where Les Pauls were
four or 500,000 dollars,

and Stratocasters were 10, 15, 20, 25,000,

all during like the 60s and 70s and 80s,

people would change stuff out and put in

other hot rodded stuff
that maybe would've made it

sound different, but
it didn't have the look

of the old instrument that was
retaining so much in value.

So I said, "You know what, I
gotta do somethin' about that."

And that's when I came
up with the antiquities,

and the antiquity is the
art of making something

or quality that is old, so for me,

that was important to do.

So that all of a sudden
became just a great hit,

and we do a lot of custom things to 'em

so they're all different.

You're getting a pickup
like how it was manufactured

50, 60 years ago.

I started with the antiquities,

and then Fender came out with the Relics,

and then Gibson came
out with the Historics.

But we started all that aging thing.

- Since not everyone can
afford a vintage guitar

and there are only so many to go around,

the manufacturers have created new guitars

that are aged or reliced
versions of famous axes.

- This is an exact replica
of Stevie Ray Vaughn's

number one guitar, and
at the time of his death

this is the way that guitar looked.

They measured this guitar in every respect

and made 100 exact replicas
of Stevie's guitar.

- Relics are also very collectible.

Since such a limited amount are produced,

they're great investments.

So when it comes to relicing, say,

Stevie Ray Vaughn's Lenny Stratocaster,

every nick, ding, every discoloration

and even the cigarette burns and decals

are precisely replicated.

- It allows the consumer to
actually partner with the artist

and own exactly what he's had.

That's cool, it's a good thing, you know?

It's a historical artifact
that's very important

to the world, and now you're
in this improbable position

of documenting it.

Something that means so much to people

that you're going inside of
that, it's a heavy experience.

(gentle guitar music)

- The beauty of this guitar,
I've actually played it.

The technicians at Fender
that made these guitars

said, "We want people to play 'em.

"We want people to be able to feel

"the same thing Stevie felt."

- What is a digital guitar?

Does it play the same way as
a traditional analog guitar?

How does it feel?

And how can it come so close to sounding

like 26 other guitars
at the turn of a dial?

- The Variax guitar, first and foremost,

is a musical instrument

The ability now to do modeling

really is just to take, take
us into the next chapter

of the discovery of tone.

(energetic guitar music)

Everything you hear from the Variax comes

from the player's fingers.

What goes on in Variax is
we take those six strings,

convert 'em to digital, and effectively

place those strings on a different guitar.

So the guitar has, (guitar strumming)

has regular pickups in it.

If you wanna hear a buzz,
(guitar strumming) it will.

The analog part of it
has its own personality,

and then you have the fact

that all the Variax guts
inside can change it

to another 26 different personalities,

so you've got a manic
depressive on your hands

that you're playing.

- Here's kind of a Les Paul sound.

It's the standard, kind
of a Marshall amplifier.

(energetic guitar music)

Then another one, if you
want the basic Fender.

There's just kinda that in
between Fender position.

Rickenbacker 12 string.

(upbeat guitar music)

So it's just a lot of variety.

- With the Variax you've got
a whole catalog of guitars,

so you can see how this
fits in with my idea

'cause I'm not one guitarist.

I'm not one sound, I'm not one style.

(energetic guitar music)

Now I do see Variax as
a very definitive way

of being able to chill
with just one guitar,

but getting every sound I want.

Then there's, (guitar strumming)

I mean, if you want big,
obviously just dial it up,

you know. (laughs)

(lively guitar music)

- Is it the future?

Will it replace the instruments
that we all know and love?

Les Paul thinks so.

- There seems to be no
alternative at this time

that we're going to go any
other direction but digital

and it won't be analog.

- George Gruhn doesn't.

- It's phony.

It doesn't feel the same to the player,

and it doesn't inspire the
player to do the same thing.

- There's really no
difference between the feel

of a modeled instrument versus a real one.

- Even if the audience can't
tell the tonal difference,

if the musical ideas, the concepts

wouldn't have even
occurred to the musician,

if he wouldn't have composed
that piece otherwise,

then the instrument is
critically important.

- Leo Fender got all kinds
of criticism for his plank,

this crazy piece of wood with these

new fangled pickups on it,
and because it was just

completely new, completely different.

- A guitar is something
that's a sacred instrument,

if you will.

It's very important,
and I would personally

find the idea of a digital guitar

about as interesting as a
photograph of dinner to eat.

Much the same as going
out with a blowup doll

that looks like a girl, it
just means absolutely nothing.

- By its very nature, the electric guitar

is forward thinking and progressive,

however, that exact
same thing that made it

so groundbreaking in the beginning

is the same thing that creates classicists

and people that do not wanna change

and want to immediately
sort of hold things in awe

and not be able to progress.

- This is the time, this
is the technological age,

so why stop dreaming now?

You know, I'm still dreaming,

I'm still dreaming that all of this

will get better and better.

- This is all about musical exploration,

and that journey should never end.

(mellow guitar music)

- I believe that each
guitar just has somethin'

locked in it that you just wanna get out,

you know, it sorta dictates
how you wanna play.

(energetic rock music)

- For some reason, a melody or a theme

comes to mind, inspired by the instrument.

- If I pickup somebody's
guitar or pick something

off the wall, it's like
a weird thing to me.

It's like something new in your hands,

and I almost always
come up with a new riff

on a new guitar.

(audience applause)

- I've been my whole life
dreaming of this sound

that no one has heard,
but I hear it in my head.

- We've all heard of the
surfer's endless quest

for the perfect wave.

The guitarists' lifelong quest is to find

his own tone, and it's just
as elusive and personal.

So where does tone come from?

Is it the guitar or the fingers,

the imagination, or the soul?

- 10 guitar players, line 'em up.

They play the same exact blues lick,

the same amp, the same guitar,

you're gonna get 10 different sounds.

So you're gonna really find
out it's not a magic guitar.

- We toured with Van Halen.

I got to put that to a test 'cause Eddie

would come up and paly through my stuff

and jam with us at sound checks,

so I would plug into his stuff.

You know, he plugs into my amp,

he sounds like Eddie Van Halen.

I plug into his amp, I sound like me.

- Eric Clapton could play
any instrument in the world.

BB King could play any
instrument in the world

and you would know it's
Eric Clapton and BB King.

Tone is the reason that they're rockstars

and I'm a congressman.

- Tone, to me, is a sound

that pleases me.

Don't ask me what it is. (laughs)

- All the things that
affect tone are the wood,

the placement of the pickups, the bridge,

type of bridge, the string gauge,

the height of the pickup to the string.

- The three things that I think tone is

is the guitar, the amp, and your fingers.

If you have 10 fingers,
then that's 12 things.

- How strong the magnets are,

the type of coil that's in a pickup,

how many turns, the pitch,
how many layers per turn

that are put on it and
how many turns per layer.

- Tone is the only part of the music

that makes sense in the entire universe.

(high-pitched guitar strumming)

- [Man] Oh, come on!

- And then you have the combination

of potentiometers, the
value of potentiometers,

the neck, the frets, the finger board.

- Tone, for me, is a pleasurable sound.

It's color.

It has to be warm, a
brightness in there as well.

(energetic guitar music)

- How strong the joints are
between the neck and the body,

the placement of the tailpiece,

either if its a floating tremolo
or if it's a solid bridge.

- Tone is how you imagine you will sound.

(mellow guitar music)

And what you hear, what
you're looking for in a sound.

But you're searching for it,

you're trying to please your own ear.

Actually, in the end, what you play,

I mean, what notes you choose to play

is all about tone as well.

- The finish is very important too.

A glocker finish will make
your wood sound softer

than a polyester finish
which will brighten it up

and sometimes muffle the
sound of an actual guitar.

- What it really comes
down to is your body

and how it reacts to the
guitar that you play.

It's really the flesh
on the wood and strings

and some electricity running through it.

(heavy metal music)

- Each instrument's gonna
give you a different tone

that the person playing
it is gonna put a tone

into that instrument that's gonna come out

to the amplifier.

- Tone is your signature,
or what you're feeling,

what comes out of your belly.

(energetic guitar music)

- I think tone is basically
what you feel in your soul.

It's a combination of
what you hear in your head

that comes through your spirit

and is transmitted through your hands.

- It's their mood, it's their profile,

it's their upbringing,
it's their whole karma,

and the whole aura about
how they live their life.

- The thing about it is,
it's the thing that you seek

and that you hope you can one day have

as your own voice, an identifiable voice.

When somebody turns on
your record and goes,

"Oh, that's him."

(upbeat rock music)

- The best form of expression
that I'm capable of.

That person that goes out and
does the hour and a half gig,

for that hour and a half that's who I am

more than at any other time.

- Are you ready to rock?

Tonight we got 13 real
special bands for you.

They worked damn hard all
week long to perform tonight.

(energetic rock music)

♫ Get the fire

♫ 'Cause she sets my soul on fire

♫ Get the fire

♫ Woo hoo, yeah

♫ Get the fire

♫ Woo hoo, yeah

♫ Oh yeah

(applause)
(cheering)

- I just told these guys,
let's have fun and kick ass,

that's it.

- It feels incredible.

What a rush.

- Can totally understand why
people get addicted to this.

- [Man] So how's it gonna feel

going back to real life tomorrow?

- It's gonna suck.

- I definitely feel more like a rockstar.

I mean, it's about being on stage.

That's what the culmination
of this whole week is about.

That's what everything is about.

Nothing feels better than this, nothing.

- I think when you strap on
the guitar, you can do magic.

(gentle guitar music)

- I'm gonna do this til I die, folks.

(bluesy guitar music)

- Why do people love the guitar?

They're beautiful, they let you express

your deepest emotions,
they make you look cool,

it could be a ticket to
somewhere you wanna go,

and they've changed the world.

But for me, I just love to play.

Gotta find some tone of my own.

(audience applause)

(energetic rock music)