Surf music
Surf music is a genre of rock music featuring electric guitars, often with reverb or delay effects. It started in the United States and Great Britain, and quickly spread worldwide.
Early acts included The Ventures (1958), The Shadows (1958), The Gamblers (1959), The Bel-Airs (1961), Dick Dale (1961), and The Chantays (1962).
- The Shadows
- The Ventures
- The Chantays
- The Bel-Airs
- Link Wray
- The Trashmen
- Dick Dale & His Del-Tones
- The Beach Boys
- The Gamblers
- Duane Eddy
- The Marketts
- The Tornadoes (USA)
- The Tornados (UK)
- The Surfaris
- The Pyramids
Tone[edit | edit source]
Usually clean amp, sometimes turned up to the point of overdrive or distortion.
Link Wray experimented with distortion, punching holes in a speaker with a screwdriver.
Spring reverb, but not always. Fender external unit. Plate reverb and oil can reverb also available at the time.
Delay - Binson used by the Shadows.
Guitars - Most often Fender Stratocasters, but also Jazzmasters and Jaguars. Other brands too, sometimes hollowbodies.
Vibrato - usually using vibrato (aka tremolo or whammy bar on Fenders) arm on guitar.
Tremolo effect (aka vibrato on Fender amps) - bias or optical
Tremolo picking - rapid alternating picking, popularized by Dick Dale.
Fender amps, development of the Showman.
Influences[edit | edit source]
Mexico, Spain.
Hawaii
Blues, R&B
Pop, country, jazz, rockabilly
Middle East - Dick Dale song Miserlou possibly of Greek or Egyptian origin. He learned tremolo picking from his uncle who was from Lebanon.