“Four reasons,” he says. “It’s a very portable instrument. You can’t carry a piano. Secondly, it’s one of the only instruments where you can accompany yourself with vocals. Thirdly, it’s the only musical instrument you embrace while you play it. You feel the music in your abdomen, your chest cavity.”
B.C. Rich “Warlock” 1981, on display at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.Credit: Justin McManus
And the fourth?
“It’s the only instrument that hurts to play. When you learn on steel strings, you get blisters, and you bleed. You have to push through that. For what other instrument do you bleed?”
When he was in high school, Newquist wanted to be a rock star. He played in some college bands, and recorded some music, but nothing lasting. His career as a writer brought him back to music when he began contributing to, and eventually editing, Guitar magazine. When a visitor pointed out that his house looked like a guitar museum, he realised such a thing didn’t exist.
He’s now perpetually on the road with his 200-instrument collection. In a way, he is fulfilling the rock and roll touring dreams of his youth. He’s taken the collection to 58 locations in the US, and this year it made its first overseas appearance in Whirinaki Whare Taonga in Upper Hutt, New Zealand. Now, it’s in Ballarat.
Though guitar rock bands don’t dominate the pop charts as they once did, the instrument’s iron grip over pop culture shows no sign of abating.Credit: Justin McManus
Though the millennia-old history of the instrument is covered, the bulk of the show comes from the 20th century and beyond. And there’s a strong Australian angle to the art on show, including playful portraits of rock idols from Yankunytjatjara artist Kaylene Whiskey and Western Aranda artist Vincent Namatjira.
“Rarely do we have anything that goes so far across artistic genres as this,” says Newquist. “It reflects the whole nation’s culture. It really gives you a sense of not only the history of country, but how the guitar has been a part of that history.”
And much of the work is specifically Ballaratian.
“Ballarat has this amazing history of music,” says Tegart. “In the goldfields times, music was not only a way of crossing cultures, but a relief from the drudgery.”
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Though guitar rock bands don’t dominate the pop charts as they once did, the instrument’s iron grip over pop culture shows no sign of abating. And a new generation is picking it up. Tegart cites a study undertaken by Fender in 2018 which found that 50 per cent of all beginner guitarists were women and girls.
“Its popularity goes in cycles,” says Newquist. “In the current cycle, you have performers like Taylor Swift, who plays the guitar on stage. She’s inspiring a new generation to play, in much the same way that Jimmy Page inspired me.”
Medieval to Metal is at the Art Gallery of Ballarat from October 12 until February 2, 2025.
