Electric Guitar History, Where The Electric Guitar Comes From And Other Interesting Facts

Electric guitar history shows that in the early 1920s the big bands of the time were getting bigger and the sound of the acoustic guitar was being overwhelmed by the sound of all the other instruments. The acoustic guitar needed to be amplified and this was when people started fitting crude microphones to the acoustic guitar. Using an amplifier, the acoustic guitar volume increased substantially.

Here are some interesting facts on electric guitar history:
1920s- Lester Polfus or "Les Paul" starts experimenting with amplified guitars. Blues and Jazz start becoming popular on the radio and acoustic guitars start going on sale to the public. Recorded music becomes a reality.
1930s- Various electric guitars are now being mass-produced. Gibson is the first manufacturer to sell an electric guitar with a built-in pick-up. The electric guitar moves from being an accompanying instrument to a lead instrument.
1940s- The first vinyl record to sell more than 100 000 copies is recorded and the famous "The Log" solid body guitar is built by Les Paul. Jimi Hendrix is born and the whammy bar is invented.
1950s: Electric guitar history shows us that Leo Fenders' mass production of the twin pick-up "Fender Telecaster" and "Precision" electric bass guitar would prove to be a massive success, a few years later the "Fender Stratocaster" is introduced. The first "Rock 'n Roll" record is recorded by Jackie Brenston and Elvis makes his first recording. The humbucker pick-up is invented by Gibson and the Vox amplifier is born.
1960s: The Gibson Les Paul changes names to Gibson SG after Les Paul parts ways with Gibson. The Ernie Ball "Slinky" guitar string is invented, this is a light gauge string for guitarists that "bend" the strings often. The first Marshall amplifier is introduced and the Maestro FZ-1 "Fuzz Tone" becomes the first commercial stomp box. Vox introduces the "Wah-Wah" pedal and various other sound effects modifiers are invented. 500 000 people attend Woodstock.
1970s and 1980s: Heavy Metal hits the scene as a result of heavy experimenting with guitar electronics, ( I`m sure experimenting with drugs was also a contributing factor!)

There is not much electric guitar history available after the 1980s, but today the rise of professional female lead electric guitarists like Bonnie Raitt, have earned an equal standing in what was traditionally a male-dominated scene. The electric guitar has become a natural member of most genres of music, even classical music.

About The Author

Jorge de Andrade is an author and his knowledge of the guitar is exemplary. His articles are a reliable source of information.
For more information on guitar history: electric guitar history or to do the FREE mini-course where you will get FREE guitar lessons and 8 FREE guitar tools go to http://www.funacousticguitarandelectricguitarlessons.com/.

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Learn Electric Guitar Much Faster By Doing This

I found myself driving along the interstate the other day and "Breadfan" by Metallica came on the stereo. If you have ever heard that tune, you realize it has got a number of impressive riffs. Kirk Hammett really shreds it up once or twice in that song.

Plus it took me back to the moment I had been a youngster and eager to learn electric guitar. Metallica, together with Pantera, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth plus a whole variety of other bands were actually the reason I desired to learn to play the electric guitar.

The actual music that they produce with the electric guitar truly is amazing and it's also a lot more awesome when you can play them yourself.

Back then I set out to find the fastest method I was able to learn how to play since I needed to get up and play tunes as fast as possible. I had taken various lessons, then memorized the chords and trained every single day until eventually I could move between the chords fluidly.

I became obsessed as well mainly because I trained morning, day and night (and my parents were not real happy!). But it worked because within a couple of months I was actually playing the Am I Evil riffs. In no way perfectly, however I could shift across the fretboard pretty fluidly.

Today you've got so many more choices to learn electric guitar actually faster than I was able to. Personal lessons are usually the approach to take simply because you have somebody that gives you continuous and immediate feedback. They will likewise keep you on track so if you never practice they will really get on to you.

The only problem with instruction such as this is they are very pricey. I have seen a few of them run as high as $100 an hour.

The other choice is to sign up for any type of those online guitar membership web sites, like Jamplay or even Guitartricks. These types of sites are pretty cool because you can pay month-to-month and they have practically thousands of lessons available given by 30-40 different instructors. They also have a ton of genre's you can concentrate on, such as metal, rock and roll, jazz, blues, fingerstyle or even classical.

One other awesome aspect is if you are a novice, there is a learning path which you can follow in order to focus on the absolute essentials, and progress as you get more and more advanced. It really is also not just for beginners. They include loads and loads of advanced training as well.

Studying a guitar using this method can get you playing your favorite songs even quicker than when I learned because it is on demand and you've got somebody sitting there in the video demonstrating to you just what direction to go.

So next time you listen to your favorite tune on the stereo and also you have that itch to learn electric guitar, take a look at Jamplay or Guitartricks if you want a firm foundation that will have you playing those tunes even faster.

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An Early History of the Electric Guitar

The first attempts at producing the electric guitar date from the early part of the 20th century. In the 1920s a lot of hobbyists tried various ways to magnify the sound from guitars and other stringed instruments using carbon button microphones at the bridge and tungsten pick-ups, but this produced weak signals and thus poor results. Hollow bodied acoustic guitars were the accepted form at the time and much experimentation went on throughout the 1920's and early 30's by numerous luthiers any one of whom may have claimed to be the first inventor. The 1930's saw the beginning of the 'Big Band' era, who's sound was closely associated with jazz and wherein brass instruments featured prominently. Because of this the guitar needed to gain a stronger voice and this was a major influence on the development of the electric guitar.

George D Beauchamp (1899-1941) was the man attributed with discovering the first successful magnetic pick-up for a guitar. In 1931 he and his accomplice Adolph Rickenbacker (1886-1976) created the guitar known as the 'Frying Pan', a lap steel instrument in which this technology was introduced. The body of the 'Frying Pan' was formed from cast aluminum and featured a pick-up composed of a pair of magnets that curved over the steel strings. Beauchamp did not obtain a patent for his invention until 1937 which allowed other manufacturers to capitalize on his work, in particular the Gibson Guitar Corp. The 'Frying Pan' was introduced to the public in 1932 and over 2700 were made before the 1939 outbreak of the Second World War, when production ceased.

The first fully electric guitar, meaning that it had individual string pick-ups rather than a single bar, was credited to a North Carolina physics professor by the name of Sidney Wilson. In 1940 Wilson entered his guitar in the N.C. state engineering fair and stole the show. He reasoned that individual pick-ups would solve the unequal loudness problem that the single bar pick-up was afflicted with. He also argued that a hollow bodied guitar was more prone to vibration feedback issues and thus his prize winner was built with a solid body. Following the war, electric guitar production went through a metamorphosis when in 1952 Gibson's designer Ted McCarty, along with Paul Barth and Les Paul, brought out the solid body design known as the Gibson Les Paul electric guitar. This guitar made in two different models the first the 'Gold Top' in 1952 and the second the 'Custom' in 1954. Prior to that Les Paul had developed his own solid body guitar known as the 'Log guitar' because the body consisted of a solid 4"x4" piece of wood with a neck attached and two Swedish hollow body halves attached to each side that had no functionality, but made it more aesthetically pleasing. Whilst Gibson and Les Paul were introducing their brand, another maker Leo Fender (1909-1991), who had a background in electronics, married his electrical skills to guitar production and in 1951 came out with his own solid body guitar known as the 'Broadcaster' later renamed the 'Telecaster'. That same year Fender also launched a new base guitar called the 'Precision Base', because it had a fretted neck instead of the traditional open neck and could be played like a guitar instead of the familiar large acoustic bodied instrument. Following on from there, Fender introduced the "Stratocaster' in 1954 which changed the design of its predecessor to incorporate suggestions from professional musicians, Fender employees and Leo Fender himself. More importantly it added the new tremolo bridge, intended to give the sound associated with the pedal steel guitar. In addition it included its third single coil pick-up, which gave it a wider range of tonal possibilities and also a better body design, to allow easier access to the higher registers.

Introduction of the electric guitar was the foundation of Rock and Roll and has had a major impact on jazz, blues, and other forms of popular music.

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