The Story of the
Electric Guitar Written by James Carter
Contents Why the electric guitar? What is an electric guitar? The unplugged years Plugging in – the “frying pan” Gibson and Les Paul Leo Fender Early electric players The fifties – twangy guitars The sixties – jangly guitars The Beatles Jimi Hendrix The seventies – long hair, long solos The eighties – going modern The nineties – guitars return The noughties and beyond Guitar technology – effects pedals Weird and wild Playing the electric guitar Guitars of the future Glossary Index Electric guitars – a timeline
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Why the electric guitar? Is the electric guitar the greatest invention ever? Well, a great many guitarists would say that it is! One thing is for certain – the electric guitar is one of the most popular musical instruments in the world today. From Toronto to Tokyo, Mumbai to Manchester, people at this very moment are buying, playing, recording, practising on and, of course, doing gigs with electric guitars.
Jimi Hendrix
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Although it’s less than a century old, the electric guitar seems to have been around for ever. The people who have played this fantastically expressive instrument are some of the wildest, t, zaniest characters that have ve ever walked upon a stage. ge. They’re just part of the fascinating history of the electric guitar. But why this instrument? What is it about
St Vincent
this simple piece of wood with six metal strings? Why has nearly every teenager on the planet since the 1950s wanted to play one? Some say it’s because they’re loud – they’re amplified, so you can turn them up to ear-splitting volumes. Others say electric guitars help those who play them to look cool. But it’s also a very social instrument to play, as you can get together with friends – to jam, form a band and do gigs. Ever tried getting a piano on the bus? Exactly! 3
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Guitars are portable – you can take them to school, friends’ houses or rehearsal rooms. But are they easy to play? Without too much practice – say six months or so – you can get a decent tune out of one. If you want to play really well, that takes time. With electric guitars, as guitar icon Jimi Hendrix once said, you’re free to experiment, as they can be played in all kinds of ways. Moreover, if you use different effects pedals such as reverb or echo, they can make all kinds of wonderful noises. Plus they’re creative – you can write tunes or songs on them, songs with lyrics about what’s going on in your world. To write a song you only need to learn a few chords, and off you go.
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Most of all, electric guitars are exciting and fun – but can they make you famous? Well, if that’s what you want, you’d better get practising!
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What is an electric guitar? There are various types of electric guitars, including bass guitars and electro-acoustics (guitars that can bee played either with or without amplifi ifiers).
bass guitar
But generally, when people talk of “electric guitars”, they mean the six-string variety. The science of an electric guitar is fairly straightforward. Each of the six steel strings is tuned to a different note, usually E/A/D/ G/B/E. As each string is plucked or strummed, it vibrates. When the guitar is plugged in, these vibrations are transformed by the magnetic pick-ups on the guitar into electrical sound signals that travel through the guitar lead and into the amplifier. electro-acoustic guitar
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tuning pegs
headstock
nut
neck frets
pick-up switch pick-ups
bridge
tremolo
volume and tone control
body
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The electric guitar is a very versatile instrument. It can be rhythmic or melodic, and create different moods and textures. It can play a melody, a solo or a riff. ●
A melody is the tune of the song – a sequence of notes that can be sung or played on any instrument, including the guitar.
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In a solo, the lead guitarist plays a sequence of often improvised notes.
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A riff is a basic, repetitive sequence of notes or chords, often featured at several points in a song.
electric guitar
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Electric fact One of the most famous guitar riffs ever is Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple. And because it’s so very simple, it’s the first thing that nearly every electric guitarist learns. Some guitar shops have banned customers from playing it as it drives the staff mad hearing it all day!
From the sixties onwards, many bands (though by no means all) had four musicians – two electric guitarists, one electric bass guitarist and a drummer. With this set-up, often the two guitarists will have different roles. The rhythm guitarist will mainly strum or pluck the chords of the song. The lead guitarist will play the chords as well as the melodies and the guitar solos. Either guitarist may play the riffs of the song.
Listen to Riffs: ● Wild Thing – The Troggs ● You Really Got Me – The Kinks ● Steady, As She Goes – The Raconteurs
Solos: ● Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen ● Purple Rain – Prince
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The unplugged years The guitar is part of a large global family of stringed instruments, which includes the lute, banjo and mandolin – as well as the Arabic oud, the Russian balalaika, the African kora, the Greek bouzouki and the Japanese koto. Stringed instruments were invented some 4,000 years ago in the Middle East. When people invaded Spain from North Africa in around 800 CE, they
balalaika
took with them their own instrument, the oud. By the 1200s, this had evolved into what the Spanish call the “guitarra” (with four pairs of gut strings made from animal intestines!). From there, guitars spread slowly all over Europe.
oud
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koto
modern Spanish guitar
Electric fact
bouzouki
The modern Spanish guitar was developed in Spain in around 1850, by Antonio de Torres.
kora
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Electric tric fact Although ugh his main rument was the recorder, instrument ng Henry VIII of England King as a keen player of was ittern – an early the gittern guitar-style instrument.
a gittern
The most famous American an acoustic guitar company, Martin, was set up as early arly as 1833, when German settler Christian Martin set up a music shop in New York, and had a small guitar workshop in his back room. Martin guitars are now amongst the most famous acoustic guitars in the world. However, it was the American Larson Brothers who ďŹ rst introduced steel string acoustic guitars around 1900. Steel strings allowed the instrument to increase in volume, and eventually enabled the guitar to become electric. an early Martin acoustic guitar
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a modern Martin acoustic guitar
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