Chuck Berry, 'The Father of Rock 'n Roll' Has Enormous Contribution for Modern Rock Music

Chuck Berry is dubbed as the "Father of Rock 'n Roll," due to his enormous contribution to the modern rock music. From his guitar technique to his signature stage performance, duckwalk has influenced musicians for decades until now.

Every rock musician who plays guitar will have Berry's influence in his technique, according to The Guardian. His signature riff guitar has been de facto basic technique for every rock guitarist from the 1960's until now. Guitarists from Jimmy Page, Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton to Eddy Van Halen and Slash have their technique based on the guitar riff.

Furthermore, his song is ahead of his time. Although later, Elvis Presley became the teenage favorite at their time, it was Berry who paved the way for Presley to create a new branch of blues to become rock 'n roll.

His songs have been sung and interpreted by many musicians from The Beatles, Grateful Dead, to a heavy metal band like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. The Beatles recorded  three cover versions of his songs, "Johnny B. Goode," "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Rock 'n Roll Music." Even The Beatles version of "Rock 'n Roll Music" is more famous than Berry's original version.

Berry's contribution to the modern rock music is enormous and immeasurable according to CNBC. He created a foundation for rock music for decades. In addition to that, his lyrics was also ahead of his time.

A few decades before Bob Dylan wrote his social commentary lyrics, Berry was doing it two decades before in the 1950's, when people only sang love stories between man and woman. John Lennon once commented, "He was singing good lyrics, and intelligent lyrics in the '50s."

One of the huge influence from the St. Louis natives for the guitarist in stage performance is his duckwalk. The duckwalk is performed with a half squatting, as the guitarist walks forward, or hopping on one leg. Up to now, the duckwalk is still a favorite stage act by guitarists, even after more than 60 years since Berry introduced it in the 1950's. Watch the original duckwalk as performed by Berry below: