2. How it began.
• The Electric Guitar was invented in
1931, the electric guitar became a
necessity as jazz musicians sought
to amplify their sound.
• Many people experimented with
electrically amplifying the
vibrations of a stringed instrument
in the 1900s especially 1910 to
1920. With numerous people
experimenting with electrical
instruments in the 1920s and
early 1930s, there are many
claimants to have been the first to
invent an electric guitar.
3. How it progressed.
• Some of the earliest electric guitars
adapted hollow bodied acoustic
instruments and used tungsten pickups.
The first electrically amplified guitar was
designed in 1931 by George Beauchamp,
General Manager at National Guitar
Corporation with Paul Barth who was Vice
President. The maple body prototype for
the one piece cast aluminum "Frying Pan"
was built by Harry Watson, factory
superintendent of National Guitar
Corporation. Commercial production
began in late summer of 1932 by the Ro-
Pat-In Corporation (Electro-Patent-
Instrument Company Los Angeles), a
partnership of Beauchamp, Adolph
Rickenbacker (originally Rickenbacher),
and Paul Barth. By 1934 the company was
renamed Rickenbacker Electro Stringed
Instrument Company.
4. What are pickups.
• A pickup device is a
transducer that captures
mechanical vibrations,
usually from suitably
equipped stringed
instruments such as the
electric guitar, electric bass
guitar, Chapman Stick, or
electric violin, and converts
them to an electrical signal
that is amplified, recorded,
or broadcast.
5. Pickups.
• There are many different
types of pickups and each one
picks up the sound from the
strings in a different way.
There are Single Coils,
Humbuckers, Mini
Humbuckers, P90s, Piezo,
Lipstick Pickups, And EMG’s
Active Pickups. Every single
one of these would pickup
different frequency and
would affect the sound
slightly.
6. Pickups.
• Single Coils- A single coil
pickup for an electric
guitar is composed of wire
wrapped in a single coil
around a single bar
magnet or several rod
magnets.
7. Pickups.
• Humbuckers- A humbucker
(or Humbucking pickup) is a
type of electric guitar pickup
that uses two coils, both
generating string signal.
Humbuckers have higher
output than a single coil
pickup since both coils are
connected in series.
8. Pickups.
• Piezo-These have a
very different sound,
and also have the
advantage of not
picking up any other
magnetic fields, such
as mains hum and
feedback from
monitoring loops.
9. What strings used to
be and are now.
• In the 1930s and on the first
electric guitar they used steel
strings.
• Now they used nickel strings
and some companies (Ernie
Ball) and making Cobalt
strings and some have nylon
strings (but thats normally
acoustic)
• Kurt Cobain has been known
to use piano strings
10. Strings.
• The tone of a string depends partly on
its weight, and, therefore, on its
diameter or so-called gauge.
Traditionally, a string's diameter is
measured in thousandths of an inch.
The larger the diameter, the heavier
the string is. Heavier strings require
more tension for the same pitch and
are, as a consequence, harder to press
down to the fingerboard. If a fretted
instrument is restrung with different
string gauges, it may be necessary to
adjust string height above the frets,
(the "action") to make the instrument
easier to play or keep the strings from
buzzing against the frets
11. The Wood.
• Electric guitars can have solid,
semi-hollow, or hollow bodies,
and produce little sound without
amplification
• The woods over the whole of the
guitar can make very different
overall sounds. Mahogany has
almost always been used for “Les
Pauls” because it creates a thicker
and warmer sounds. Maple or
Alder on the other hand create a
thinner more “Stratocaster” like
sound.
12. Alder
• Alder is used commonly
because of its light weight,
most commonly in
Stratocasters. Has an
excellent clean tone. It is
commonly a tan colour
without many distinctive
grain lines. Not a good
choice for clear finishes.
13. Ash
Ash is available in two types:
Northern (hard) or Southern (soft).
Hard Ash is popular because of its
hardness, with bright tone and long
sustaining qualities.
• Soft Ash (aka Swamp Ash) is much
softer. Many 50's era Fender guitars
were built with this wood. It has a
much warmer feel than Hard Ash.
Both variations have an open grain,
meaning that a lot of lacquer is
required to seal the wood. Excellent
for clear finishes.
14. Maple
• Maple is a very popular wood
for necks and fret boards.
Easily identifiable because of
its bright tone, characteristic
grain patterns and moderate
weight. It's tonal
characteristics include good
sustain with plenty of bite. It is
about as dense as hard ash,
but is much easier to finish.
Very durable.
15. Mahogany
Mahogany's weight and density
are similar to maple, however
mahogany carries are more
mellow, soft and warm tone
to it. Great sustain, but not
well suited to clear finishes.
Les Paul guitars are made with
Honduran mahogany.
16. Rosewood
Rosewood is one of the heaviest
woods available. Strat bodies
made out of rosewood will weigh
in at over 6 pounds, and
remember that Stratocasters are
quite small guitars. The sound is
very warm, although the high end
sounds are dampened. Finishes
can be a little difficult to apply.
Usually reserved for fret boards
only.
17. Walnut
Walnut's tone is slightly warmer
than maple, although it still
has good sustain. Walnut can
look excellent with oil
finishes, and is moderately
heavy, but still lighter than
maple.
18. Basswood
Basswood is a very light wood -
even lighter than alder. It is
very soft, and should not be
subjected to much abuse.
Clear finishes are not very
desirable. However,
basswood has a nice warm,
soft tone.
19. Ebony
• Ebony is commonly used in
fingerboards. It is quite
heavy, but has a very bright
attack, good sustain, and
excellent durability
compared to rosewood.
22. Effect Pedals.
• Effects pedals are used all the
time by guitarist and bass players
and even piano players.
• The first effect pedal was in 1948
by Harry DeArmond. This device
produced a tremolo by passing an
instrument's electrical signal
through a water-based
electrolytic fluid. In the 50s and
60s is when pedals became
popular but were impractical like
the fender reverb box and Gibson
GI-VI
23. Distortion
• The first amplifiers built for electric
guitar were relatively low-fidelity,
and would often produce distortion
when their volume (gain) was
increased beyond their design limit
or if they sustained minor damage.
One of the earliest recorded
examples of distortion in rock music
is the 1951 Ike Turner and the Kings
of Rhythm song "Rocket 88", on
James Cottons which guitarist Willie Kizart used an
Cotton Crop Blues amplifier that had been slightly
http://www.youtu damaged in transport
be.com/watch?v=x http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
J3VCPz8Qx4 Gbfnh1oVTk0
In 1964 Dave Davies (second from left), lead guitarist of The Kinks, famously
achieved a distorted sound on "You Really Got Me" by slashing the cones of
his guitar amplifier with a razor blade.
24. Stomp Boxes
• Stompboxes, or effects pedals,
are effects units designed to sit
on the floor or a pedal board and
be turned on and off with the
user's feet. They typically house a
single effect. The simplest
stompbox pedals have a single
footswitch; one to three
potentiometers for controlling
the effect, gain or tone; and a
single LED display to indicate
whether the effect is on or not.
25. Stomp Boxes
• To preserve the clarity of the tone, it
is most common to put compression,
wah and overdrive pedals at the start
of the chain; modulation (chorus,
flanger, phase shifter) in the middle;
and time-based units (delay/echo,
reverb) at the end. When using many
effects, unwanted noise and hum can
be introduced into the sound. Some
performers use a noise gate pedal at
the end of a chain to reduce
unwanted noise and hum introduced
by overdrive units or vintage gear
26. Rackmounts
• Rackmounts are most commonly used
in recording studios and "front of
house" live sound mixing situations,
though many musicians use them in
place of stompboxes. Rackmounts are
controlled by knobs or switches on
their front panel, and often by a MIDI
digital control interface. During live
performances, a musician can operate
rackmounted effects using a "foot
controller".
27. Multi-effects
• A multi-effects device (also called a
"multi-FX" device) is a single
electronics effects pedal or rackmount
device that contains many different
electronic effects. Multi-FX devices
allow users to "preset" combinations
of different effects, allowing
musicians quick on-stage access to
different effects combinations
