African Music on Guitar: Styles and Leading Artists

African music has always been celebrated for its diversity, with countless styles and instruments evolving over the centuries. The guitar is one of the instruments that found its place in this musical landscape, from traditional folk-inspired melodies to modern, electrified interpretations. In this article, we’ll explore some of the key styles and artists who helped shape African music through the guitar.

Guitar culture in Africa: styles and iconic figures

African music is rich and varied, and the guitar is a go-to instrument in many different genres. Some of the best-known African styles that feature guitar include West African highlife, Central African soukous, South African mbaqanga, Caribbean zouk, and Senegalese mbalax. Here are a few iconic artists and groups in African guitar music:

• Osibisa: a West African highlife band that enjoyed major success in the 1970s.
• Franco Luambo Makiadi: a legendary Congolese musician who helped popularise soukous in the 1960s and 1970s.
• Lucky Dube: a South African mbaqanga singer who became one of the most influential reggae artists in Africa and beyond.
• Alpha Blondy: an Ivorian reggae and zouk singer, also regarded as one of the genre’s greats worldwide.
• Youssou N’Dour: a world-renowned Senegalese mbalax singer who played a major role in bringing African music to international audiences.

Many other talented artists have contributed to Africa’s guitar culture—this is only a small selection of the most widely known names. You can find videos of each of them on YouTube by searching their names. If you’d like to follow in their footsteps, consider taking online guitar lessons or a structured course to build strong fundamentals.

What is the symbolism of the guitar in African music?

The guitar is a popular instrument across many musical styles in Africa, and it holds deep symbolic meaning because of its ability to express human emotions and tell stories.

In traditional African music, the guitar often accompanies songs of praise and celebration. It is frequently played at important events such as weddings and births, as well as to honour ancestors and deities. The guitar is seen as a link between the living and the dead and is commonly used to invoke ancestral spirits during traditional ceremonies.

The guitar also carries powerful symbolism in modern African music, often voicing the struggles and hopes of Africans in the postcolonial era. Guitar songs frequently carry a political or social message, raising awareness of issues such as injustice, poverty, and oppression. African artists use the guitar to express their resilience and resistance in the face of hardship and to celebrate Africa’s cultural diversity.

In short, the guitar is a symbol of African music. It is used to express human emotions, tell stories, celebrate important events, invoke ancestors, and voice the struggles and hopes of Africans. It serves as a link between the living and the dead and a means for African artists to raise awareness of the continent’s challenges and to celebrate its rich cultural diversity.

Taking online guitar lessons: a great solution

There are several convenient ways to take online guitar lessons. The most popular options include:

Live lessons with an online teacher

These sessions are similar to face-to-face lessons, with the only difference being that the student and teacher connect remotely via an online platform. Students can ask questions and participate in discussions in real time. These lessons can be taken individually or in groups.

Recorded lessons

These are video or audio recordings of a lesson given by a teacher. Students can watch or listen to them at their own pace, but they cannot ask questions or participate in real-time discussions.

Online learning programmes

These programmes are designed for independent study and include lessons, exercises, and songs to help students improve their guitar technique. Here, too, students can take lessons at their own pace, but they cannot ask questions or participate in real-time discussions.

Online jam sessions

These courses are designed to help students improve their performance by playing with other musicians online. Students can take these courses individually or in groups, and they can ask questions and participate in real-time discussions.

Before choosing an online guitar course, it’s important to assess your learning goals and make sure the course or programme you select aligns with those needs.

If you also own a piano, you’ll surely be interested in practical tips to help you improve—and that’s exactly what this other article offers, helping you further develop your skills on that instrument.