Closer to The Edge...

The BBC has begun featuring a new series...Imagine: The Story Of The Guitar explores the history and culture surrounding the world's favorite instrument and the personal stories of those who have dedicated their lives to it. The series, presented by Alan Yentob, features interviews with some of the greatest living guitar players, including The Edge from U2.

Since the Fifties, the guitar has been a symbol of sexiness, freedom, adventure, youth and individuality. Those who master this six-stringed wonder are regarded as guitar heroes, or even gods. It has always been a popular instrument, as opposed to its courtly cousin, the lute, but it was only in the Fifties, with the coming of rock 'n' roll, and the Sixties, in the wake of The Beatles, that it has captured the popular imagination. The guitar has been the agent of social change and juvenile delinquency, anti-war protest and anarchy, peace and love and violence.