Dick Dale created the surf guitar sound. This is a statement that is irrefutable (a rare commodity in music). As it's been documented and retold, Dick Dale began by playing the drums and then transferred this percussive quality to the electric guitar - the result being the breakneck strumming and picking that has become irrevocably associated with surf guitar. As a style, surf guitar as endured and informed generations of guitarists, from heavy metal to garage rock and every rock-minded station in between.

To read Rev. Adam McKinney's full feature, click here.

Dick Dale

with Girl Trouble, the Coloffs, Graceland 5
Thursday, Jan. 12, 9 p.m., $20 advance, $22 DOS
Hell's Kitchen, 928 Pacific Ave., Tacoma
253.759.6003