the possibilities of the guitar changed right then and there

For a kid, an electric guitar can be many things.  That vessel of teenage angst that never yells back no matter how hard you swipe it.  A hypnotic forest of surprises awaiting from string to string.  And then there are the kids who can't help but notice the bestiary of noise you can draw out of a loud one. 

Gregory and His Bike
 

One of the most accomplished high school musicians I knew was my friend George, a drumming fiend who has since gone on to distiguished careers in music and ministry.  Every summer I'd find an afternoon to jump on my bike and head down the street to George's, my beater electric swaddled in a pillowcase.  We would jam, though it was all I could do to keep up with him.  Even if that guitar never would stay in tune, imaginations were running wild:

http://soundcloud.com/gregory-ts-walker/the-beast

Much has been written about the legend that is Jimi Hendrix.  The range of the sonic palette he developed enabled him to reach for things - wildness, psychedelia, poetry, protest - that nobody before even knew were there.  A lot of guys will point at Purple Haze or Star-Spangled Banner or even Machine Gun and say the possibilities of the guitar changed right then and there.  But by the time I finally caught up with Hendrix, I was still too young to appreciate such epic hallucinogens.  However, I was ripe for the effortless display of cool that was Johnny B. Goode.  Even before I got hold of the footage and saw that he actually plays one of the last solos with his teeth...