Charlie Christian was an innovative American jazz guitar player who, in his short career, had a profound effect on the way the instrument was played. He was inspired by acoustic guitarists Eddie Lang and bluesman Lonnie Johnson. His long, legato lines and horn-like phrasing helped bridge the gap between the older swing style and the emerging bebop style of the 1940's. His Gibson ES-150 electric guitar and Gibson EH-150 tube amp, now vintage instruments, produced a distinctive clean, warm sound. He was a major influence to several generations of jazz and blues guitarists such as Wes Montgomery and George Benson. He also paved the way for other innovators of the electric guitar like B.B. King.

Though his life was short, his hornlike, single-note style, which capitalized on innovations in amplification technology, revolutionized and redefined the role of the electric guitar in popular music. The reverberations from Christian's pioneering efforts have echoed down the decades, through Western swing, rockabilly and rock and roll to the present day. For this reason, Charlie Christian was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. (let us just mention here that we have an entire guitar lesson focused on learning to riff like Charlie Christian ... how could we not focus on one of the greats!? It's available to all of our members as part of our Jazz 101 course. Find our more about learning to play Jazz Guitar).

Though there are sketchy accounts of Christian using Harmony, Vega and National guitars, his primary guitars were Gibson ES (Electric Spanish) models manufactured in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Like most Fender guitars, The ES-150 had a single coil pickup. His hollow-body electric guitar sound was clean, warm and rich sounding that changed the course of jazz and blues guitar forever.

(July 29, 1916, Bonham, TX - March 2, 1942, New York, NY) Charlie Christian studied guitar with his father and played in groups in Oklahoma. He rose to international prominence after joining the Benny Goodman Sextet in 1939.

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