Conclusion

     After looking at three distinct slide guitar traditions a number of consistent developments are noticed. These distinct traditions all incorporated the slide guitar technique into their respective music after contact with the guitar. The style lent itself to the music for a number of reasons. First, all three areas had a history of playing stringed instruments and adapting existing traditions to their own when encountered. Second, playing the guitar with a slide lent itself to best serve the musical idea of capturing some of the nuances of the human singing voice. Lastly, the slide guitar tradition developed out of the need for musicians to incorporate a foreign instrument into their own tradition and develop it in a way that fit into that tradition.

     Both the Hawaiian and African-American areas had stringtraditions prior to the introduction of the guitar. One can only speculate as to how influential these traditions were to the musicians that developed the slide guitar style in these areas. By looking at the North Indian tradition it was obvious that the developers of this tradition were highly influenced by the existing string traditions. These instruments; the vichitra vina, sarod, and sitar all are surrounded by similar mysteries that surround the Hawaiian and African-American slide traditions in their developments.

     I included histories of the vichitra vina, sarod, and sitar to show that controversies existed in their developments, as well as to show how well developed these traditions are. Modern players of these instruments such as Vilayat Khan and Ali Akbar Khan were in the process of having a great influence on the North Indian music traditions when the slide guitar tradition began to develop in North India. Vilayat Khan, indirectly had a great influence over these players by further developing the gayaki ang playing style and Ali Akbar Khan tutored and encouraged Brij Bhushan Kabra as he developed his slide guitar technique.

     Brij Bhushan Kabra, Debashish Bhattacharya, and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt were all consciously aware of the slide guitars' ability to combine the best elements of the vichitra vina, sarod, and sarod, as well as the slide guitars ability capture the nuances of the human voice. Throughout the sections on these musicians it was stated, in their own words, that this idea was one of the reasons they chose to play the particular instrument. Little evidence exists as whether or not the idea of the desire to mimic the human voice influcenced the development of the Hawaiian and African-American traditions, although I tried to show that this was a distinct possibility by showing the influence of vocal music on the instrumental music of these traditions.

     All three tradtitions had histories of taking instruments from outside influences and incorporating them into their respective traditions. Taking the guitar and making it part of the respective traditions was a natural process for this reason. This idea was most evident in the North Indian musical tradition. The sitar and sarod were both examples of this. These instruments developed over many years in India after their introduction to North India from Persia.

     The combination of these reasons is the best answer why the slide guitar lends itself to music so well. The creative spirit is what keeps music evolving. For some musicians it is enough to play for one's enjoyment. For others, such as Joseph Kekuku, Son House, Vilayat Khan, Brij Bhushan Kabra, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, or Debashish Bhattacharya playing an instrument for enjoyment is not enough. The innovative musician feels he must strive to move ahead, constantly meeting the challenges that new musical encounters presents him with. By trying to move ahead and conquer new ground, these musicians all attempted to take an instrument and develop its technique to new heights.

     While some people argue that traditional music is dying, we see in the above study that music doesn't die but changes. As Ravi Shankar states "Patterns of living have changed, and now we must sincerely try to find a new way for the essence of our ancient tradition to be maintained and passed on. (pg. 14) It is in this manner that the slide guitar has presented itself to musicians, and it is in this manner that many musicians have approached the instrument. The North Indian musicians are an example of this. They took the instrument and made it an extension of the existing traditions in their backgrounds as well as using it to enable the tradition to progress and survive new influences.