Electric guitar. The History of the First Electric Guitar The Making of the Electric Guitar

An electric guitar that differs good sound, reliability of the assembly and the quality of the materials from which it is made, it is almost impossible to buy thoughtlessly, at random. This tool is one of those things that you need to carefully prepare for the acquisition.

It is especially important to learn as much information as possible for aspiring musicians who have finally raised the money they need to buy their first electric guitar.

Many beginners simply choose the instrument they like. appearance, which:

  • comfortable to hold;
  • is expensive enough to be of poor quality.

How to make the right choice, even without experience

There are a lot of nuances that you need to pay attention to, a lot of details you should check to make sure that the tool in question is the one you need.

This concerns not only the functioning of all individual elements, but also the quality of the materials from which the main parts of the electric guitar are made. The soundboard and neck are made of wood, which unscrupulous manufacturers may not dry well enough, which will certainly have a bad effect on the life of the instrument.

Only an experienced musician with good hearing can fully appreciate the sound quality.

Buying the cheapest guitar is pointless. In the near future, it will have to be thrown away or, blushing with shame, sold to an even more inexperienced enthusiast.

Buying a used guitar separate story, here it is generally difficult to predict how long it will last. The most expensive models are affordable for very few beginners.

Fortunately, there is a fail-safe method for picking a good guitar, suitable for beginners. It comes down to three conditions:

  1. It is better to choose a model of a proven company, the quality of which has no reason to be questioned;
  2. Of the available guitars, it should be noted that are most suitable for you in terms of sound (taking into account the direction in which you are going to play), appearance, weight and ergonomics;
  3. Before buying, check the operation of all elements.

Details on how to perform such a check are written later in this article.

Overview of reputable firms

There can be no doubt about high quality tools from the following manufacturers:

  • Fender is one of the most popular guitar brands. Most famous models of this firm are Telecaster and Stratocaster. They can be bought much cheaper if you choose samples collected in Mexico rather than the USA.
  • Gibson. This is a well-known company among professional musicians, which has been one of the market leaders for decades. Models of this company can be easily distinguished by the style that manufacturers carefully adhere to. The most famous Gibson guitars are the models Les Paul, Gibson SG, Explorer and Firebird.


  • Ibanez is a company whose products are preferred by hard rock and metal performers. For several decades, these electric guitars did not leave the polygons of heavy music. However, Ibanez brand models are used in all genres.
  • B.C. Rich - this company is also famous among rockers and metalheads from the 80s to the present. Bich, Mockingbird and Warlock electric guitars are especially popular.

Each of these campaigns has its own story, but they have one thing in common: you can be 100% sure of the quality of their products. But that doesn't mean you can blindly buy a guitar just because it's an Ibanez or a Fender. Great quality sound is not everything.

Check before purchase

Choosing an electric guitar starts with an assessment of build quality.

Except when the inscription "Fender" on the neck of the guitar is written by the labor of the local school, all parts to be removed must be firmly fixed to the base. Nothing should stagger, dangle, creak, crunch. Feel and try to move everything, even the belt holders.

Further verification includes testing the operation of the main functional parts, such as:

  • neck;
  • frets;
  • tremolo;
  • pickups;
  • volume and tone knobs.

Let's take a look at each of these details in turn.

Vulture

In the production of an electric guitar, one of the most important tasks is to create the perfect fretboard and adjust its fixation. This work requires high precision. It is not surprising that the low level of quality is first noticeable on the fretboard, and special attention should be paid to checking this detail.

Before choosing an electric guitar, you should inspect according to the following scheme:

  • Examine the grain of the wood if it is not hidden behind a layer of opaque varnish. On the back side, the fibers should be along the neck, not across. Otherwise, strength is compromised and there is no guarantee that deformations will not occur.
  • It is advisable to play every string on every fret, but this can take a long time. If not, at least try how the string sounds if you clamp it on the first fret and closer to the deck. There shouldn't be any rattling.
  • At the twelfth fret, there should be a distance of 2 mm from the string to the nut.
  • Make a slide (moving your finger along the fretboard immediately after the note is struck). This way you can check if the frets are too wide.
  • Hold the instrument as if it were a violin, resting the soundboard against the neck. From this angle, it is easier to see the flaws and bumps in the neck, if any. If it is directed to the side or twisted, then you should not buy this model.


  • Next, you need to check if the neck is bent. In the region of the 7th fret, if you clamp any string on the first or fourteenth, there should be a distance of half a millimeter between it and the metal frets. If the height is greater or less, it can be adjusted with an anchor rod. The main thing is that the gaps should be the same on all strings.
  • The anchor rod, which can be used to adjust the degree of deflection of the neck, is located inside it. It is advisable to check if it is spinning.
  • There should be no noticeable gaps between the neck and the body at the junction.
  • The nut on high-quality electric guitars is fixed firmly and securely. The slots must match the thickness of the strings so that the strings cannot slide sideways through them.

fret sills

This is the name given to the metal plates on the fretboard. It is necessary to check the sound of all strings at each fret. The slightest impurities, rattling and rustling indicate that something is wrong with the fret tracks.

Don't expect it to go away with time. Sometimes sellers can promise this, but do not believe it: the overlay will dry out and deform a little more, as a result of which the frets will come out of their grooves even more. Naturally, this change is not for the better.

Sometimes linings are made from the so-called ebony wood. In this case, the form will remain stable. But guitars equipped with such overlays are very expensive.


Tremolo (or "vibrato")

This device is needed to fix the strings and change the tuning of the instrument right during the game, with a subsequent return to the original sound.

A lever is inserted into a special hole in the tremolo. To create an effect, the guitarist presses it against the body, and then returns to its original position. The tuning does not go astray thanks to the springs that return the strings.

You can test tremolo like this:

  • put any chord;
  • play all the strings with your right hand;
  • press the tremolo lever;
  • release it and strike the strings again.

If the sound has changed after the second play and the guitar seems out of tune, then the tremolo is not working well. This may result in the inability to properly tune the instrument.

What you need to know about pickups

They detect vibrations in the magnetic field they create and transmit it to the amplifier.

The history of pickups begins with the installation of contact microphones on guitar bodies. But it quickly became clear that something else had to be invented, since such devices perceive not only the sounds of the strings, but also all the rest. Then sound pickups were invented. Nowadays, they are piezocrystalline and magnetic. The first are installed mainly on electro-acoustic guitars. The piezocrystal built into them converts mechanical vibrations into an electric current of the same frequency.

On solid-body guitars, magnetic pickups are more often installed, it is worth talking about them in more detail.

In fact, this device is a coil. It is based on a permanent magnet (sometimes there are several). The winding is made of copper wire. A magnetic field is created around the sensor, the vibrations of the strings in which change the current in the coil winding, transferring the desired frequency to it. For example, the sounding first string performs 440 vibrations per second. In this case, the frequency of the current in the winding is 440 hertz.


There are two types of magnetic pickups:

  • singles;
  • humbuckers.

Single

This type of pickup consists of a single coil.

Its core is made of four or six magnets. The wire winding, the thickness of which does not exceed 0.06 mm, is made up of tens of thousands of turns.

Singles are valued for being able to provide a very clean and deep sound. Instruments with such pickups are preferred by professionals playing in the jazz genre. The history of these directions of guitar music was created with the help of singles.
But this type of device also has a drawback.

Singles are not protected from interference. The cheapest of them are even capable of receiving and broadcasting a radio signal, sadly. The interference of extraneous electromagnetic fields can be heard in the speaker along with the sounds of the guitar.

Modern modifications are divided into two windings, which are connected to each other in antiphase. These pickups have the humbucking effect described below. Leads are not terrible for them.

humbuckers

The name of these pickups comes from the English “hum-bucker”, which means “noise suppressor” in Russian.

The history of humbuckers dates back to 1935, when Electro-Voice proposed a device in which two coils are wound on a permanent magnet in different directions (clockwise and vice versa). Through such coils, the radio signal travels in different directions, due to which all pickups are superimposed on each other and destroyed.


Humbuckers don't produce as clean and crisp a sound as single coils, but the effect they provide is interesting in its own way.

Tone and volume knobs, pickup switch

The tone block located behind the plastic shield inside the electric guitar makes it possible to adjust the timbre and volume of the instrument.

The pickup switch allows you to turn them on selectively or all together (it has five positions).

To check the tuning knobs, you need to plug the guitar into the amplifier and turn them, paying attention to the purity of the sound. There should be no crackling or crackling. If such rustles occur, it means that variable resistances may fail in the near future.

How to buy a model suitable for a specific musical genre

Before choosing an electric guitar, you need to consider what style you want to play.


Humbucker guitars are most often chosen by players who prefer heavy styles.

For melodic music, it is better to purchase an instrument with singles. A good electric guitar with these pickups is the Fender Squier Affinity Fat Stratocaster RW.

There are also models with pickups. different types. For example, the Ibanez GRG170DX has two humbuckers and one single coil. Such electric guitars are bought by those whose preferences in music are quite diverse.

With a solid body and electronic pickups that convert the vibrations of steel strings into vibrations of electric current. The signal from the pickups can be processed to obtain various sound effects and then amplified for playback through the speakers.

Uninformed people believe that electric guitars are made of plastic, etc. However, they are made of wood. The most common materials are alder, ash, mahogany (mahogany), maple. The fingerboards used are rosewood, ebony and maple.

Most common six-string electric guitars. The build of a six-string guitar is similar to the build: mi la re sol mi (E A D G B E). Quite often, the “dropped D” tuning is used, in which the lower string is tuned to D (D) and lower tunings (Drop C, Drop B), which are used mainly by metal and alternative music guitarists. In seven-string electric guitars, the extra bottom string is most often tuned in B (B).

Typical, most popular and one of the oldest models of electric guitars are telecaster(released in 1952) and Stratocaster(1954) companies Fender, and Les Paul(1952) companies Gibson. These guitars are considered reference and have many copies and imitations that are made by other companies. Many modern large musical instrument companies at the beginning of their activities produced only copies of popular models. Fender And Gibson. However, subsequently such firms as Rickenbacker, Ibanez, Jackson and others have released their own lineups tools that have become very popular in the world.

Most Outstanding Guitarists using electric guitar in rock music: Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page, Brian May, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Vai, David Gilmour, Kevin Shields, Tom Morello, Jonny Greenwood, Johnny Marr, George Harrison, Mark Knopfler, Joe Satriani, Tony Iommi, Slash.

Origin

The first magnetic pickup was designed in 1924 by Lloyd Loar, an engineer-inventor who worked for Gibson. The first electric guitars for the mass market were produced in 1931 by the Electro String Company, formed by Paul Barth, George Beauchamp and Adolf Rickenbacker: being made of aluminum, these instruments received the fond nickname “frying pans” (“frying pans”) from the musicians. The success of these early models prompted Gibson to create their (now legendary) ES-150. The first electric Hawaiian steel guitar from Ro-Pat-In (later Rickenbacher) hit the American market in 1932.

In fact, the use of pickups in jazz bands in the 1930s and 1940s led to a whole revolution in the musical field in the middle of the century. It turned out that sound distortions, originally considered as a marriage, can give rise to an infinite number of previously unknown timbres. After that, the electric guitar became the most important instrument of several new genres for several decades - from guitar pop to heavy forms of metal and noise rock.

There are still disputes about which of the guitarists was the first to switch from acoustic to "electricity". Two contenders for the role of pioneers: Les Paul (who claimed to have begun experimenting in this area in the early 20s) and Texas jazzman Eddie Durham, who in 1928 joined Walter Page's group The Blue Devils, and later joined the Kansas Orchestra conducted by Benny Moten.

Documentary evidence of these early experiments, however, was not preserved. But the archival catalog of the RCA Victor company testifies: on February 22, 1933, the Noelani Hawaiian Orchestra recorded about a dozen songs using an electric steel guitar, four of which were released as two records. They were on sale for a short time, not only traces, but even their names were lost, however, the mentioned date can rightfully be considered the official birthday of the electric guitar sound.

On August 29, 1934, the Andy Iona And His Islanders orchestra made its first recordings in Los Angeles, which later became famous for its ability to introduce aggressive guitar parts into jazz fabric. Steel guitar was played by Sam Koki, along with Saul Hoopy, who was considered the best guitarist West Coast. The latter switched to "electricity" in the same 1934, as evidenced by the recordings he made in the Los Angeles studios of Brunswick on December 12. A month later, Bob Dunn of Milton Brown's Musical Brownies used the electric guitar sound in the Western swing genre.

One of Dunn's impressive performances was Leon McAuliffe, a young guitarist with the Texas Light Crust Doughboys, who by 1935 was playing hard riffs and solos in Bob Wills' band The Texas Playboys, combined with traditional brass sounds. The band's cover version of Sylvester Weaver's "Guitar Rag" (released under the title "Steel Guitar Rag") became the band's first of numerous hits, and helped establish the electric guitar as a staple for West Coast bands.

It is generally accepted that Jim Boyd, the younger brother of Bill, the one who led the band called Bill Boyd's Cowboy Ramblers in 1932, was the first to convert to electricity. Last recorded on January 27, 1935, the version of the popular "Under Double Eagle" march became a bestseller, and at the same time a kind of educational study for beginners.

In 1937, Zeke Campbell The Light Crust Doughboys went into "electricity" not alone, but together with a steel guitarist. Subsequently, the laurels for this discovery were involuntarily appropriated by Bob Wills, who organized similar competitions with Shamblin and McAuliffe.

Some techniques for playing the electric guitar

  • Hammer-on- the simplest method of the game. The name comes from English word hammer, that is, a hammer. The guitarist extracts the sound by striking the string at any fret with the fingers of the left hand like a hammer, perpendicular to the plane of the fretboard. In music, this technique is called "rising legato".
  • pull off- extracting a sound by breaking a finger off the fret of a sounding string; the reverse action of hammer-on. In music, this technique is called "descending" legato.
  • Plectrum slide(eng. Slide) - artificial sliding along the strings up and down the fretboard with the fingers of the left (sometimes right) hand or with a plectrum. "Sliding" is achieved by sliding smoothly over the strings, during which the fingers reproduce the sounds on the frets. In music - "glissando". In blues (sometimes also in rock), instead of a finger, a slide is used - a special metal, ceramic or glass object, due to which a greater “smoothness” of the sound is achieved.
  • Bend- one of the main techniques of electric guitar technique. Its essence consists in the movement of a string pressed to the neck across the neck, that is, perpendicular to the line of the neck. During this movement, the pitch changes smoothly and the note becomes higher.
  • vibrato- any movement of the string after the note is played changes the character of the sound. Vibrato is the vibration of a finger on a string that changes the sound.
  • Tapping- extracting a sound by hitting one or more fingers of the right hand on a string at any fret.
  • Two-handed tapping- the sound is extracted by striking the strings with the fingers of both hands, perpendicular to the plane of the fretboard.
  • Palm mute- muting the strings at the saddle of the guitar with the edge of the palm of the right hand to get a drier, more aggressive sound.

Electric guitar equipment

  • combo amplifier(amplifier) ​​- an amplifier and a speaker mounted in one case. The main element of creating a guitar sound. The amplifier can be built on electronic tubes (tube) or semiconductors (transistor or microcircuit).
  • effects pedal(gadget) - a device that processes the sound of a guitar. Usually one device implements one type of effect, rarely two or more. The most famous effects:
    • distortion- the effect of strong distortion, used in heavy music.
    • overdrive- modeling the sound of a tube amplifier with an overloaded input.
  • digital processor- a device that processes guitar sound using digital algorithms. Implements several types of effects with the possibility of combining them.

Video: Electric guitar on video + sound

Thanks to these videos, you can get acquainted with the tool, see real game on it, listen to its sound, feel the specifics of the technique.

Electric guitar- a highly technical subject. And constructively disposes to all sorts of alterations and improvements. Therefore, there are radically more varieties of electric trains than ordinary acoustic guitars. The meaning of innovations is not always clear even to those who come up with these improvements. But in the end, a new kind of electric guitar appears - which makes manufacturers and sellers very happy, but finally confuses buyers ...

This short article does not claim to be complete. She doesn't claim anything at all. This is just an attempt to slightly systematize the information about the types of instruments and help the beginner with the choice of his first electric guitar.

First, a few words about sensors. Pickups for an electric guitar are almost the same as a motor for a car. It depends on their set - what the guitar is suitable for, and what it is not very suitable for. Sensors are passive and active. Passive ones convert string vibrations in an electromagnetic field into an electrical signal - and send it through a cord for amplification to a remote control or combo. Active ones do the same, but before transmitting the signal, they further amplify it. ALL cheap electric guitars under $300 have only passive pickups. Therefore, it is better for a beginner not to delve into the topic. And if you are very interested - turn to suitable resources on the Internet.

Pickups come in 2 types: single and humbucker. The single was invented first, it is a simple device in the form of a coil with a wire. The single is characterized by a bright, sharp, sonorous and very "sincere" sound. All singles are noisy, and expensive ones sometimes make more noise than cheap ones. Guitarists appreciate them for the very "sincerity" of the sound. The humbucker was invented later - in order to reduce noise and interference. Structurally, these are two small singles tied in such a way that useful signals are added, and noise is subtracted. The humbucker produces a clean, rich, powerful and fat sound. It makes much less noise than a single, but it does not have its sonority and transparency.

The purpose of the guitars, where they are installed, follows from the properties of the sensors. For "classic" solo rock and blues purposes, singles are more relevant. Humbuckers are more suitable for powerful and heavy music. Some guitars have both single coils and a humbucker at the same time. For a beginner, such guitars may be preferable - they will allow you to get acquainted with different sound and gradually understand what is dearer to the soul.

Historical types: Modern types:

With all the great abundance, modern electric guitars go back to 3 main types, which, for simplicity, we will call by the names of the pioneering companies.

Inexpensive training electric guitars are usually made "under Fender", "under Gibson", "under Ibanez". This does not mean that they are radically worse than the originals. The first strata also did not shine with sound. There are a lot of myths around electric guitars (and in general around "sound"). Guitarists spend a lot of money and effort trying to find the sound of a "true tube amp" or a "true fender". But what they are looking for was once perceived by musicians as the usual (and not the best) sound of their imperfect instruments. So there is no need to pay too much attention to it. To begin with, it is enough to purchase an inexpensive electric guitar, a home amplifier, and a good cord. And slowly begin to master the instrument. It's good if there is a teacher or at least an advanced guitarist friend. A lot of useful things can be learned from literature and video schools. The most important thing here is the desire to learn.

As a first electric guitar, a Stratocaster is most suitable, especially with a combined circuit of single-coils and a humbucker. This is a simple, proven and inexpensive guitar. Les Pauls are usually more expensive. You can refer to them if you already have experience playing the acoustic guitar. Lespol even looks a bit like acoustics. Telecaster is good as a rhythm guitar.

Electric guitars are not always used for their "direct" purpose. There are several reasons for that. The most important thing is that the musician wants it that way. Sometimes he just got used to, say, a strat, so he uses it everywhere, plays hard... But this is the decision of an experienced guitarist, he has the right to whims. A beginner needs to be simpler and more modest. And try to learn the rules before he earns the right to break them. Therefore, it is not necessary to look for the "exact" guitar played by your idol guitarist. First, what he plays costs almost as much as your apartment. Secondly, he has been playing on this for a long time. Thirdly, in best case it looks similar, but not the fact that you can learn from it. For example, a flyrose guitar should initially cost $500 or more. And a cheap flyrose is a stand for testing the health of a student ...

Electric guitars are rarely used on stage with a clean sound. Usually they are included in the "gadget" (effects pedal) or guitar processor, which allows you to simulate many different gadgets. Beginners often abuse these features. Of course, by clamping the sound with a powerful distortion, you can easily feel like a virtuoso. But this is an illusory feeling. You have to learn how to play with a clear sound.

For home schooling and rehearsals, a low-power combo is enough - 10-20W. Useful if a reverb or hall is built into the amp (in a small room, a guitar without a reverb sounds flat and dry). A good cord will significantly reduce pickups and other noise when playing. Useful metronome, you can electronic, combined with a tuner for tuning. Of course, the guitar should be stored in a case.

About bass guitars.

The bass guitar was invented by Leo Fender. There are not very many types of basses and their pickups.

P- Precision. The sensor in the form of "checkers" - two small singles, standing close, but shifted from the center to the right and left.
J- Jazz bass. His singles are spaced far apart.
P+J- Combined schemes. Usually at the top there are "checkers" from the prestige, and at the bottom there is a long single.
H- Humbucker. Bass humbucker. Sometimes at the top another single from jazz bass is added.

Precision (like the Telecaster among electric guitars) is a somewhat archaic bass guitar, but it is suitable not only for retro music. Jazz bass is more dynamic and has a number of additional features (since the pickups at the typewriter and at the neck pick up a very different sound). Combined basses are the most common and optimal in terms of their set of advantages. The bass humbucker (like the guitar one) makes less noise than single-coils, gives a dense and powerful sound, but the click is less pronounced there. Therefore, such basses are used in all heavy music. There are also fretless basses, but this is a separate exotic topic ... Most bass guitars are 4-strings (like the double bass from which they originated). Fashionable now 5-6 string basses designed for solo play and other complex professional purposes. A beginner simply does not need it.

There is no hard and fast relationship between bass type and musical styles. Those. any type can be used while playing any music. Therefore, a beginner can choose a bass guitar without delving too deeply into the terms and pickup circuits. It is optimal to buy an inexpensive 4-string bass with a J or P + J formula. Basses also differ in design, weight, scale. Here it is enough to follow the principle of like / dislike. Later, having gained experience, you will figure out what is really good for you ...

It is important to remember that musical instrument- it's just a tool. With it, you can express something important that YOU have. It is impossible to master it instantly. But if you work regularly and persistently, success is inevitable.

The most common are six-string electric guitars. The six-string guitar has the same tuning acoustic guitar: mi la re sol si mi (E A D G B E). Quite often, the “dropped D” tuning is used, in which the lower string is tuned to D (D) and lower tunings (Drop C, Drop B), which are used mainly by metal and alternative music guitarists. In seven-string electric guitars, the extra bottom string is most often tuned in B (B).

The typical, most popular and one of the oldest models of electric guitars are the Telecaster (released in 1952) and the Stratocaster () by Les Paul () by Rickenbacker, Jackson and others have released their own model ranges of instruments that have become very popular in the world.

Appearance

The first magnetic pickup was designed by Lloyd Loher in 1924. Lloyd Loar), an engineer-inventor who worked in the company. The first electric guitars for the mass market were produced in 1931 Electro String Company, formed by Paul Bart, George Beucham and Adolf Rickenbacker: being made of aluminum, these instruments received the loving nickname "frying pans" ("frying pans") from the musicians. The success of these early models prompted Gibson to create their (now legendary) ES-150. The first electric Hawaiian steel guitar from Ro-Pat-In (later Rickenbacher) hit the American market in 1999.

In fact, the use of pickups in jazz bands in the 1930s and 1940s led to a whole revolution in the musical field in the middle of the century. It turned out that sound distortions, originally considered as a marriage, can give rise to an infinite number of previously unknown timbres. After that, the electric guitar became the most important instrument of several new genres for several decades - from guitar pop to heavy forms of metal and noise rock.

There are still disputes about which of the guitarists was the first to switch from acoustic to "electricity". Two contenders for the role of pioneers: Les Paul (who claimed to have begun experimenting in this area in the early 20s) and Texas jazzman Eddie Durham (Eng. Eddie Durham), who in 1928 joined Walter Page's The Blue Devils and then joined the Kansas Orchestra under Benny Moten. Documentary evidence of these early experiments, however, has not been preserved. But the archival catalog of the RCA Victor company testifies: on February 22, the Noelani Hawaiian Orchestra recorded about a dozen songs using an electric steel guitar, four of which were released as two records. They were on sale for a short time, not only traces, but even their names were lost, however, the mentioned date can rightfully be considered the official birthday of the electric guitar sound.

Applications

In jazz and blues

in rock

Simultaneously with the birth of rock music, the electric guitar became one of the main instruments of the rock band. It sounded on the records of many early rock musicians - Elvis Presley, Bill Haley, however, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley had a revolutionary influence on the development of the rock technique of playing the electric guitar. Their solo-parts and techniques of using guitar sound in the context of the song, experiments with sound had a serious impact on subsequent rock music.

In the 1960s there appears whole line new discoveries in the use of the electric guitar. First of all, the first distortion and fuzz effects pedals appeared, used at first by garage rock bands (Link Ray, The Sonics, The Kinks), and a little later - and more popular performers(The Beatles, The Rolling Stones). By the end of the decade, experiments began with the use of guitar feedback in songs (The Velvet Underground), as well as with a more aggressive and dirty sound. The latter led to the emergence of the heavy metal genre in the 1970s, with Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore and Jimi Hendrix being the most prominent guitarists.

In academic music

Some techniques for playing the electric guitar

  • Hammer-on- the simplest method of the game. The name comes from the English word Hammer, that is, a hammer. The guitarist extracts the sound by striking the string at any fret with the fingers of the left hand like a hammer, perpendicular to the plane of the fretboard. In music, this technique is called " ascending legato".
  • pull off- extracting a sound by breaking a finger off the fret of a sounding string; the reverse action of hammer-on. In music, this technique is called "descending" legato.
  • Plectrum slide(eng. Slide) - artificial sliding along the strings up and down the fretboard with the fingers of the left (sometimes right) hand or with a plectrum. "Sliding" is achieved by sliding smoothly over the strings, during which the fingers reproduce the sounds on the frets. In music - "glissando". In blues (sometimes also in rock), instead of a finger, a slide is used - a special metal, ceramic or glass object, due to which a greater “smoothness” of the sound is achieved.
  • Bend- one of the main techniques of electric guitar technique. Its essence consists in the movement of a string pressed to the neck across the neck, that is, perpendicular to the line of the neck. During this movement, the pitch changes smoothly and the note becomes higher.
  • Lift- the action, the reverse of the bendu - the string stretches down the plane of the fretboard, causing the sound to change tone. A series of quick changes of these techniques is usually used to obtain a wide vibrato reception.
  • vibrato- any movement of the string after the note is played changes the character of the sound. Vibrato is the vibration of a finger on a string that changes the sound.
  • Tapping- the sound is extracted by Hammer-on and Pull-off techniques on the neck of the guitar with one, usually the left hand.
  • Two-handed tapping- the sound is extracted by striking the strings on the neck with the fingers of both hands, perpendicular to the plane of the neck.
  • Palm mute- muting the strings at the saddle of the guitar with the edge of the palm of the right hand to get a drier, more aggressive sound.

Equipment

  • Combo amplifier (amplifier) ​​- an amplifier and a speaker mounted in one case. The main element of creating a guitar sound. The amplifier can be built on electronic tubes (tube) or semiconductors (transistor or microcircuit).
  • An effects pedal (gadget) is a device that processes the sound of a guitar. Usually one device implements one type of effect, rarely two or more. The most famous effects:
    • Distortion is a strong distortion effect used in heavy music.
    • Overdrive - modeling the sound of a tube amplifier with an overloaded input.
  • A digital processor is a device that processes guitar sound using digital algorithms. Implements several types of effects with the possibility of combining them.

Notes

see also

  • Leo Fender

Links

  • Guitarplayer - One of the most popular Russian guitar forums.
  • Guitars.0fees.net Guitar Forum

Buy electric guitar it's pretty hard these days. If you decide to choose an electric guitar, not an acoustic one, and not a bass guitar, then you need to take into account a lot of different factors.

The first thing you need to do is decide on a price range. Good electric guitar can be found in budget options up to 15 thousand rubles. Next, you need to decide what style (or styles) you want to play in: there are no universal solutions (there are only what is more suitable for some genre and less for which), and a lot depends on the device and the component parts of the guitar: wood, pickups (humbucker or single coil), strings, etc. Therefore, when you decide what exactly you will play on the guitar, the range of models and / or manufacturers will also be determined. Of course, you need to choose your body type: stratocaster, telecaster, forest floor, v-style and others. For beginners, the Stratocaster and other superstrats are best suited. If the guitar has a so-called tremolo lever, and if you need it, also pay attention to it, it should hold tight.

Next - evaluate the sound of the selected guitar, live or in demo samples. If it suits you, proceed to the purchase, and when you get the electric guitar in your hands, be sure to check its system (the guitar must keep the system), fret (the number of frets), evaluate the workmanship, check the neck (put the body of the guitar on your shoulder and look along neck: the neck should be straight and the strings should be at the same level).

Once you've chosen an instrument, think about accessories: an electric guitar won't sound on its own. To fully play the electric guitar, you will need at least


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