Co-founder and rhythm guitarist with The Ventures

Don Wilson, co-founder of the instrumental rock group the Ventures, whose twanging, hard-driving sound, propelled by his dynamic rhythm guitar, led to hits like “Walk — Don’t Run” and helped shape the surf music of the early 1960s as well as influencing generations of guitarists, died Jan. 22 at a hospital in Tacoma, Wash. He was 88.

His daughter Staci Layne Wilson confirmed the death.

Don Wilson and Bob Bogle formed the group that became the Ventures in the late 1950s and had been having modest success performing in the Seattle area when, with Nokie Edwards on bass and Skip Moore playing drums, they recorded “Walk — Don’t Run” in March 1960. It was their version of a song by jazz guitarist Johnny Smith that had previously been recorded by Chet Atkins.

Theyhad already released one 45 rpm record; they formed their own label, Blue Horizon, with the help of Mr. Wilson’s mother, to do it. But that first record didn’t generate interest, and neither did “Walk — Don’t Run,” until they played it for Pat O’Day, who had the afternoon show on the Seattle radio station KJR. He smelled a hit.

The station always played an instrumental leading into its newscast at the top of the hour, but without introducing it, O’Day said in an interview for “Sonic Boom! The History of Northwest Rock, From ‘Louie, Louie’ to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ ” a 2009 book by Peter Blecha. “So we put it on every hour as that filler there,” he said, “and of course you know what happened after that.”

What happened was, callers flooded the station wanting to know what that catchy record was. One of the callers was from Dolton Records, which had earlier turned the fledgling group away. Dolton signed the Ventures, and soon the record had reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It stayed on that chart for months and became one of the most recognizable songs of the era.

The group went on to have a number of other successful singles, most notably its version of the theme from the television series “Hawaii Five-0,” which made the Top 10 in 1969.

The lineup shuffled a bit — Bogle, who died in 2009, switched to bass; Edwards, who died in 2018, was the better player and became lead guitarist; and Mel Taylor, who died in 1996, settled in as drummer. Mr. Wilson pounded out his rhythm accompaniments for 55 years, turning over the job to Ian Spalding, son of another current member, Bob Spalding, during a show in Tokyo in 2015.

In 2019 the Grammy Museummounted an exhibition in honor of the group, calling the Ventures “the most influential, bestselling instrumental band in rock and roll history.” Leon Taylor, Mel’s son, is the Ventures’ current drummer and had a close-up view of Mr. Wilson’s impact.

“Don has been a part of my life since I was a little kid,” he said by email. “Don was a unique talent that influenced thousands of guitar players all over the world.”

Mr. Blecha, too, cited the group’s influence on wouldbe guitar players, as well as its chutzpah in putting out its first records on its own label when no one else would, something rare for the time.