Guitarchitecture is a term developed by

Chuck Hammer Chuck Hammer is an American guitarist and soundtrack composer, known for textural guitar work with Lou Reed, David Bowie, and Guitarchitecture. As an artist, Hammer is best known for his Guitarchitecture recordings, though he is also widely re ...

in 1977, describing an approach to soundtrack composition, employing discrete textured guitar layers. The core idea behind Guitarchitecture: "to expand the guitar's sonic vocabulary", is contextual and process based: The Roland GR 500

Guitar/synthesizer A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical instrument systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities. Overview Today's guitar synths are direct descendants of 1970s devices from manufacturers (often in partnersh ...

allowed partial - "infinite sustain" through the use of a built in magnetic field sustainer. This "sustainer" radically altered the temporal properties of guitar string response, extending its basic physical sonic capabilities. As the instrument could now sustain single notes and chords almost "infinitely", the music that could now be conceived and rendered with a guitar were widely reconsidered. The ideas and concepts surrounding Guitarchitecture were gaining strength while

toured live with a GR 500 Guitar Synth with

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

1978–1980. During this time, Hammer began recording a series of experimental Guitar Synth multi tracks for RCA, Epic, and Atlantic Records. These early Guitarchitecture soundtracks were eventually sent to David Bowie in an effort to raise their profile. This eventually led to the recording of seminal guitar synth tracks for

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's album '' Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)'', released in September

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Syst ...

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

, which included four layered guitar synth tracks on " Ashes to Ashes".

External links

Guitarchitecture Official Site
Guitars {{guitar-stub