classical guitar yamaha c40

Electric Guitar

Acoustic guitars and their various musical relatives can be traced back thousands of years, but the idea of a guitar to use electric currents to amplify its sound had to wait until 1930 to begin to take root. Necessity was, perhaps, the mother of invention, as the volume of the guitar, previously was used blues and jazz, could not compete with the new sounds of big band and wail of brass instruments. Early experiments by simply adding microphones to guitars were of limited success, partly because of the quality of tone and partly because of feedback effects that may occur as soon as a reasonable amount was reached. The breakthrough came when Les Paul, a jazz guitarist, successfully experimented with a magnetic pickup system that could convert the vibrations of the strings into an electrical signal to be amplified and sent to a speaker. Soon guitarists started adding pickups to their hollow body guitars, but in reality there was no need for an electric guitar having a hollow body as the pickups could detect very subtle vibrations and strengthen them anyway. Before long, Fender, Rickenbacker, and, of course, Gibson produced solid body electric guitars.

Innovations unique to the electric Guitar

Electric guitars allowed many innovations that would continue to define their sound. Most remarkable was that the volume and tone controls could be added to the electronics between pickup and cable, which meant that it performed the guitarist to adjust the tone and loudness while on stage. Second and third pickups were added at different points along the body to take advantage of the difference in tone at different points along the strings, and these could be confused with more controls. Tremolo arm appeared, then notes that bent down or up (before they could be bent upward by pulling the string away from its natural line, thus tightening it). The tremolo arm was a part of the early sound of rock 'n' roll, and can make a vibrato sound or creating long, sustained, wailing sounds associated with Jimi Hendrix. Other sound effects such as chorus, overdrive, vibrate wah wah, reverb and delay (echo) can also be controlled via foot pedals of the player, further adding to the variety of sounds available. Pick was also used for bass guitars and is now looking at violins, mandolins, cellos, and many other types of string instrument.

Musical styles, using electric guitars

The genres of music that uses electric guitars are too many for this article, but their origin can be traced back to jazz and big band sound that became popular between the wars. Blues guitarists groundbreaking "dirty" sound that would later morph into heavy metal, and no rock and roll group would complete without at least one electric guitar. Bob Dylan was once called "Judas" by a heckler when he swapped his acoustic for an electric on stage, a significant moment in the electric folk music. Sixties as mainstream pop and psychedelic bands allow the instrument to good use, and disco, punk, ska and reggae music seventies used instrument intrinsic rhythm, a lively and thriving African sound when the guitar most innovative current streams. Each time a new technology has come along, especially the electronic revolution in the late 1970s and 1980s, people have written off the electric guitar, but it shows no signs of losing popularity.

About the Author

Charlie Buquette wrote this article about
Yamaha Electric Guitars
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