"In his 1958 masterpiece “Johnny B. Goode,” Berry created the ultimate rock-and-roll folk hero in just a few snappy verses. As we all know, Goode wasn’t pounding a piano, singing into a microphone, or blowing a sax. In his choice of the electric guitar, something sleek and of the moment, the fictional character of Goode would forge an image of the archetypal rocker, doing as much to shape the history of the instrument as any real-life figure ever has. The song’s opening riff is a clarion call — perhaps the greatest intro in rock-and-roll history. It was played by Berry on an electric Gibson ES-350T, and it indeed sounded “just like a-ringin’ a bell.”"
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Rock singersSinger-songwriters from the United StatesGuitarists from the United StatesPeople from St. LouisAfrican Americans
Original Language: English
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Sources
Brad Tolinski and Alan Di Perna, in Play It Loud: An Epic History of the Style, Sound & Revolution of the Electric Guitar (2016); also excerpted in "How Chuck Berry Wrote “Johnny B. Goode” and Created the First Rock and Roll Guitar Hero" in Guitar World (18 March 2017)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chuck_Berry
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Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (18 October 1926 – 18 March 2017) was an American guitarist, singer , Poet and songwriter, and a pioneer of rock and roll music.
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