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The demand for amplified guitars began during the big band era as orchestras increased in size, guitar players soon realized the necessity in guitar amplification and electrification. Įlectric guitars were originally designed by acoustic guitar makers and instrument manufacturers. Hobbyists in the 1920s used carbon button microphones attached to the bridge however, these detected vibrations from the bridge on top of the instrument, resulting in a weak signal. Patents from the 1910s show telephone transmitters were adapted and placed inside violins and banjos to amplify the sound. Many experiments with electrically amplifying the vibrations of a string instrument were made dating back to the early part of the 20th century. In large rock and Metal bands, there is often a rhythm guitarist and a lead guitarist. In a small group, such as a power trio, one guitarist switches between both roles. In pop and rock music, the electric guitar is often used in two roles: as a rhythm guitar, which plays the chord sequences or progressions, and riffs, and sets the beat (as part of a rhythm section) and as a lead guitar, which provides instrumental melody lines, melodic instrumental fill passages, and solos. There are several types of electric guitar, including: the solid-body guitar various types of hollow-body guitars the six-string guitar (the most common type), which is usually tuned E, A, D, G, B, E, from lowest to highest strings the seven-string guitar, which typically adds a low B string below the low E the eight-string guitar, which typically adds a low E or F# string below the low B and the twelve-string guitar, which has six pairs of strings. The sound of an electric guitar can be modified by new playing techniques such as string bending, tapping, and hammering-on, using audio feedback, or slide guitar playing. Guitars may have a fixed bridge or a spring-loaded hinged bridge, which lets players "bend" the pitch of notes or chords up or down, or perform vibrato effects. It served as a major component in the development of electric blues, rock and roll, rock music, heavy metal music and many other genres of music.Įlectric guitar design and construction varies greatly in the shape of the body and the configuration of the neck, bridge, and pickups. It has evolved into an instrument that is capable of a multitude of sounds and styles in genres ranging from pop and rock to folk to country music, blues and jazz. During the 1950s and 1960s, the electric guitar became the most important instrument in popular music. Early proponents of the electric guitar on record include Les Paul, Lonnie Johnson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, T-Bone Walker, and Charlie Christian. Invented in 1932, the electric guitar was adopted by jazz guitar players, who wanted to play single-note guitar solos in large big band ensembles.
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Often, this is done through the use of effects such as reverb, distortion and "overdrive" the latter is considered to be a key element of electric blues guitar music and rock guitar playing. The sound is sometimes shaped or electronically altered to achieve different timbres or tonal qualities on the amplifier settings or the knobs on the guitar from that of an acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickups to convert the vibration of its strings into electrical signals, which ultimately are reproduced as sound by loudspeakers.
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An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic guitar exist.
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