1. Choosing your first Electric Guitar
Choosing your first electric guitar can seem a huge task. Which one? How much to pay? And where is
the best place to get it from? These are the questions I will try to answer in this project as well as
giving a little history on guitars including famous people who play them.
Advice:
Decide on a price you are prepared to pay
Research the market and the different makes of guitar available
What you need to know:
•
An electric guitar can cost from £80 to £4000
•
There are many differences between guitars from shape to brand
•
To play an electric guitar you will need a guitar, an amp and a cable to connect them both
together
Understanding How Guitars Work
•
An electric guitar is a guitar that converts the vibration of its strings into electrical impulses
•
The signal from an electric guitar is too weak for a loudspeaker, so it is amplified and then sent
to the loudspeaker
•
The signal is often modified using effects such as reverb and distortion
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2. Top 10 Guitar Brands
The-top-tens.com rates the following as the top 10 guitar brands
1. Gibson
2. Fender
3. Ibanez
4. Epiphone
5. Jackson
6. Yamaha
7. Paul Reed Smith
8. Mosrite of California
9. B.C. Rich
10. 10. Rickenbacker
The image I have used is of a Fender American Standard Telecaster guitar. These come in many
different colours to suit your taste and the price of these starts at just over £400 each. The price of
these guitars as with any of the other makes is down to the type of materials used. You can pay over
£1000 for some and on this website http://www.bornrich.com/expensive-guitars.html you can view
guitars that can cost over a million pounds.
The dearest is the Asia Fender Stratocaster Guitar at $2.8 million. This guitar is autographed by many music
legends including Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney,
Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, Bryan Adams and many more.
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3. Price of Guitars
Price
£900
£800
£700
£600
£500
£400
£300
£200
£100
£0
£800
£700
£550
£600
£500
£470
£550
£500
£400
£450
When choosing your first guitar, you wouldn’t buy the dearest available. Your first should be of good
quality and what you can afford (refer to advice, what you need to know). Most of the guitars in the
above graph are suitable for beginners only the quality is different which is reflected in the price.
Before buying you should try the different ones first to see whether they are the right size and weight
for you. Don’t make your mind up on the first guitar you see or even chose one in the first shop you
go to. There are many good guitars to buy, ask friends to help you choose and research using the
internet for comments from other users to help you decide.
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4. Price of Guitar Strings
Brand
Price
Ernie Ball
£7
Gibson
£8
Stagg
£3
Dunlop
£5
Cleartone
£11
Fender
£6
Legacy
£3
Warwick
£14
Aquila
£7
Elixer
£11
The average price of a guitar string is £75 / 10 = £7.50. When buying a new string you would buy the
one that you can afford, this may not be the best available and you should understand that the better
the quality the longer it will last you.
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5. What notes are which?
There are 6 strings on a guitar; they are from left to right; E A D G B E or an easy way to remember E - Every
A - Adult
D - Dog
G - Growls
B - Barks
E – Eats
There are many types of strings available for your guitar;
Wound strings - Roundwound, Flatwound and Hexcore. These also come in different thicknesses
ranging from Extra super light (8–38) to Extra heavy (13–56).
Bowed strings - String sets in three tension levels: heavy, medium, and light
Core materials – Steel, Nylon, Gut and Silk
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6. Get to know the parts of an Electric Guitar
1. Headstock:
1.1 - Machine heads
1.2 - Truss rod cover
1.3 - String guide
1.4 - Nut
2. Neck:
2.1 - Fretboard
2.2 - Inlay fret markers
2.3 - Frets
2.4 - Neck joint
3. Body:
3.1 - Neck pickup
3.2 - Bridge pickup
3.3 - Saddles
3.4 - Bridge
3.5 - Fine tuners
3.6 - Whammy bar
3.7 - Pickup selector switch
3.8 - Control knobs
3.9 - Output jack
3.10 - Strap buttons
4. Strings:
4.1 - Bass strings
4.2 - Treble strings
Decided?
Once you have taken time to choose the guitar for you, the best way to learn is with lessons. These
will help you understand the basics of playing and you will then be able to improve with practice.
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7. History of the Guitar
Numerous people were experimenting with electrical instruments in the 1920s and early 1930s and
many have claimed to invent the first.
Electric guitars were originally designed by guitar makers and instrument manufacturers; the first
electrically amplified guitar was designed in 1931 by George Beauchamp.
The guitar is traditionally constructed from wood and the strings made with either nylon or steel, this
helps to make the different sounds unique.
The modern guitar was preceded by the Lute which was used for many years during the reigns of
Tudor kings. They were then followed by the baroque guitar, which was then followed by the
development of the modern day 6 string instruments. There have been instruments like the guitar for
at least 5,000 years. The Sitara from ancient India and central Asia is another variation of the guitar.
There are 3 main types of modern guitar: classic, steel string acoustic and archtop. Their sounds are
produced by the vibration of the strings either by very thin picks (plectrum) or your fingertips.
Electric guitars were introduced in the 1930’s and had hollow bodies which would amplify their
sounds.
Guitars are recognized as a primary instrument when playing music such as Blues, Country, Folk, Jazz
Rock and many more.
Famous players include; Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Slash, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton and Brian
May.
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8. Sources
•
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_guitar
•
http://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/bc/48/776/elixir-strings/
•
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roadsideguitars/3200340527/
•
http://www.bornrich.com/expensive-guitars.html
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