Table of Contents
The Dreamy Guitar Tones of Shoegaze, Minimalist Riffs of Drone, and New Age Relaxation that Shaped Ambient Guitar Music
Introduction
Ambient guitar music first emerged in the 1970s but has evolved considerably since then. The hypnotic textures of shoegaze, the sparse aesthetic of drone music, and relaxing new-age styles have all served as influential forces in shaping the ambient guitar genre over recent decades.
By examining the origins and salient qualities of these three genres, we can better understand ambient guitar’s own artistic journey.
The Influence of Shoegaze on Ambient Guitar
Shoegaze originated in the late 1980s, pioneered by bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride and Lush. The name “shoegaze” comes from the fact that these groups often stood motionless during live performances, intently gazing at their effect pedals to generate the right guitar tones.
Shoegaze guitar playing emphasizes layers of dense, distorted rhythm guitar overlaid with longer notes from a lead guitar. By employing chorus, flanger, reverb and delay effects, shoegaze guitarists create massive, swirling “walls of sound” that wash over the listener.
My Bloody Valentine’s album Loveless stands as a prime example of pioneering shoegaze guitar work.
Tracks like “Only Shallow” and “When You Sleep” demonstrate the band’s innovative guitar arrangements that interweave dissonant distorted layers with dream-pop vocal melodies. Other archetypal shoegaze albums like Slowdive’s Souvlaki and Ride’s Nowhere also provide excellent case studies in the techniques and aesthetics of early shoegaze music.
This textural, multi-layered guitar approach translates seamlessly into ambient music.
Several notable ambient guitarists emerged from shoegaze backgrounds before applying the genre’s guitars styles more atmospherically.
Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins shifted from dense pop structures to widescreen soundscapes on his solo ambient albums like Imperial and Continental.
Former Slowdive guitarist Neil Halstead also embraced Ambient in his post-Slowdive project Mojave 3, mixing reverb-drenched guitars with electronic beats and soundscapes. Bands like the Veldt took shoegaze’s innovations even further into the realm of ambient dream pop.
Other ambient guitar pioneers borrowed elements of shoegaze without coming directly from that movement.
Guitarist Fennesz utilizes lush walls of processed guitar as texture floating above his electronic beats. Japanese artist Chihei Hatakeyama also overlays serene guitar melodies with shoegaze-influenced background distortion. It’s clear that dense layers of effect-treated guitars have become an elemental ambient texture thanks to shoegaze’s initial sonic innovations.
The Minimalist Aesthetic of Drone Music
Drone music also helped shape the sparse, minimalist side of ambient guitar.
La Monte Young and his Theatre of Eternal Music collective in the 1960s and 70s pioneered long-form drone pieces where a limited number of notes or tones were sustained over extended periods.
Young himself focused on the drone potential of bowed strings and sustained organ notes, but the hypnotic nature of his music influenced later guitarists.
In minimalist drone music, rhythm and conventional melody are largely discarded in favor of prolonged resonant tones from guitars and FX processing.
This static approach creates an open, meditative listening environment for the listener.
Important drone composers like Eliane Radigue emphasized microtonal shifts and gradual dissonance within unchanging guitar drones.
These works helped set a precedent for guitar-based ambient music without standard rhythmic structures.
Later ambient guitarists like Oren Ambarchi built upon Young’s drone foundations by spreading guitars tones into slowly evolving cloud-like textures.
Rather than siloing off ambient and drone approaches, today’s guitarists often blend both schools.
Artits like William Tyler and Sarah Lipstate incorporate both buzzing drone tones as well as delicately picked acoustic guitar melodies within their compositions.
This fusion of styles offers a spectrum of listening experiences in one track.
New Age Music’s Contemplative Spirit
New age music first emerged in the 1970s – 1980s as a response to the spiritual seeking and relaxed lifestyle aspirations of the era.
Often written off dismissively as merely background music, the best new age artists created emotionally resonant pieces harnessing delicate acoustics, synthesizers and nature samples to evoke introspection, tranquility and healing. Will Ackerman’s Windham Hill label became the leading hub for new age music showcasing acoustic guitar soloists in particular.
Ackerman himself served as a hugely influential acoustic guitarist, prioritizing graceful finger-picked tones and careful use of echo, reverb and harmony to craft rich sonic spaces.
New age broadly encompasses many styles but Ackerman’s glowing steel-string guitar works clearly impacted later ambient guitar directions. Subsequent Windham Hill guitarists like Michael Hedges and Alex De Grassi also pioneered new percussive and tapping techniques within otherwise placid acoustic guitar instrumentals.
The dreamy serenity conjured by these new age guitar works transfers fluidly into ambient music contexts. Erik Wøllo melds new age relaxation with electronic ambient textures on albums like Traces of Light.
Other modern artists like Gregg Nestor produce contemplative solo steel-string guitar albums perfect for ambient listening. Few artists today may self-identify as “new age” but its core musical principles live on within ambient guitar music.
Modern Ambient Guitar Innovations
Contemporary ambient guitarists now stand on the shoulders of shoegaze, drone and new age precursors, combining and refining those genre contributions using modern technology.
Computer software like Ableton Live enables artists to micro-edit guitar tones and layer them into evolving cloud-like formations.
The mastery of expression pedals and guitar synthesizers also allow guitarists to manipulate their instrument’s native sounds into endlessly shifting ambient textures.
Forward-thinking artists like Christopher Willits fuse multiple influences into signature hybrid ambient guitar styles. Willits’ album Opening blends acoustic finger-picking akin to new age forebears with computer manipulation in service of minimalist yet emotionally resonant pieces. Other guitarists use effects like looping, delay, reverb and distortion to simulate the calming wash of shoegaze.
Most artists today easily cross these stylistic boundaries as technology enables ever more creative sonic mixtures.
Ambient guitar music will continue traveling down unpredictable paths as new artists synthesize the drone, shoegaze and new age influences of the past with modern tools.
Listening to the progression of any musical genre provides insight into the human creative spirit.
Each new expression expands on what came before it in an endless desire to craft sounds that convey emotion and meaning. Ambient guitar music offers a compelling lens into this process, demonstrating how artists plant seeds in existing forms to grow wholly new sounds.
The coming years will reveal what future guitarists can harvest from the rich ambient influences sown before them.