Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T18:17:26.126Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

15 - Electro-Collectives: Virtual Guitar Communities

from Part IV - The Electric Guitar in Society

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2024

Jan-Peter Herbst
Affiliation:
University of Huddersfield
Steve Waksman
Affiliation:
Smith College, Massachusetts
Get access

Summary

Communities of guitarists have existed and evolved in parallel with the instrument’s long and varied historical development. Technological progress in the twentieth century saw two major milestones for the guitar: the invention of the electric guitar, and the birth of the internet. This chapter explores the shift of guitar-based communities to virtual spaces starting with email groups, internet forums, and chat rooms. These communities serve similar functions as real-world communities by sharing knowledge and resources as well as providing spaces for discussions and performances. Peer-to-peer file sharing regenerated an old form of guitar-specific written notation: tablature. Then along came social media, which changed the entire music industry, including online guitar communities. Many of the world’s largest and most visited websites, Facebook, YouTube, X, and Instagram, are havens for guitar communities no longer defined by geographical boundaries. This has had enormous consequences as cultural and aesthetic expressions, particularly in the form of guitar performance practices, are now freely transmitted globally and instantaneously via virtual networks.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Selected Bibliography

Avdeeff, Melissa, “Engagement and Technologies of Taste,” in Mediated Youth Cultures: The Internet, Belonging and New Cultural Configurations, edited by Bennett, Andy and Robards, Brady (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), pp. 130145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bennett, Andy and Dawe, Kevin, Guitar Cultures (Berg, 2001).Google Scholar
Dawe, Kevin, The New Guitarscape in Critical Theory, Cultural Practice and Musical Performance (Ashgate, 2010).Google Scholar
Dawe, KevinGuitar Ethnographies: Performance, Technology and Material Culture,” Ethnomusicology Forum 22/1 (2013): 125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, Jerald and Lang, Karl Reiner, “If I Had a Song: The Culture of Digital Community Networks and Its Impact on the Music Industry,” International Journal on Media Management 5/3 (2003): 180189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waldron, Janice, “Online Music Communities and Social Media,” in The Oxford Handbook of Community Music, edited by Bartleet, Brydie-Leigh and Higgins, Lee (Oxford University Press, 2018), pp. 109130.Google Scholar
Wenger, Etienne, Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity (Cambridge University Press, 1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×