The guitar and piano seem like the two most widely-used instruments. Is that because of their resonance?
In: Other
A lot of the modern ways we use instruments in pop music is based on conventions established in early rock’n’roll.
The early rockers were piano players, like Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino. They often toured with a base player (the big stand up base type) and a drummer. If you squeeze three guys, a base and a small drum kit into a car, it’s pretty full. The piano pairs well with base and drums, as they cover complementary functions in music, with rhythm and melody combined. An important factor was also that pianos (or sometimes organs) were available in many churches in the south were rock music originated, so a lot of people could learn how to play.
So up until the mid 1950’s, a rock singer was also a piano player.
Then there came a man named Elvis Presley, and he became ridiculously popular. He didn’t play the piano as a young man (but he learned it later). He was given a guitar as a child, and on the cover of his first record he is seen playing an acoustic guitar.
Right then and there, the rocker became a guitar player, and we’re still trodding down that road.
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