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/.

View the original article here

Where to Start If You Are a Beginner and Want to Learn Guitar Chords

Have you ever been wishful to learn to play guitar just after watching a great concert by a famous rock band? Have you ever felt like just grabbing a guitar and playing beautiful music straight from the heart? Well, certainly many people do feel that way because music has great impact on their lives. The guitar is one very common musical instrument found widely in every country and it even comes in many kinds. However, if you want to master it you need to put a lot of work and dedication, and the first step is to learn guitar chords.

First and foremost, you should have the desire to learn how to play the guitar before being able to learn guitar chords. Mindset is everything. Not only when it comes to guitar playing, but in many areas of life. The desire connotes to being patient and persevering in taking the lessons. You can get some lessons online through videos and audios that offer tutorials for free or with a small fee. So basically, the intense of your interest in learning to play guitar and its chords really does matter. Purchasing the guitar is, of course, the first step, but after doing that you are right away all set up to learn guitar chords.

The very first basic chord patterns you have to learn are the C, A, G, E and D major guitar chords (also known as "CAGED"). Once again, these are the most basic easy chords that you will encounter. These chords can help you in building the strength and endurance in your fingers especially when moving your hand up and down the fretboard as you play along. Interestingly, once you're comfortable with playing these chords, you can already perform a couple of pretty good songs that you will surely enjoy. Therefore, I suggest that you first practice these five basic guitar chords and memorize them until you are able to play them in a smooth sequence.

If you want to be able to play guitar chords there's basically one crucial thing for you to master. You have to get familiar with chord diagrams and their construction. To describe this to you, the guitar chord diagram has six vertical lines that represent the six strings. And the horizontal lines indicate frets except for the top line which is the head of the guitar. You can actually find these diagrams in any song book or handbook usually located at the back portion.

Sometimes you can stumble upon reversed chord diagrams. Ones where vertical lines represent frets, and horizontal lines represent strings. Fortunately, chord diagrams are usually well described to prevent any kind of confusion.

The black dots (or full dots, depending on the design) that are found in the diagram instruct you on what fret and string to place your fingertips on. The white dots (or empty dots) tell you to play the open string which means the string is strummed without being fingered on the fretboard. There are also diagrams that show numbers on the black dots to indicate what finger to use in pressing a string.

Finally, you should always keep in mind that guitar chord diagrams are all the resources you need to help you to learn new chords, chord progression and the rhythm parts of the song. The capacity to understand and read the guitar chord diagrams does not require the ability to interpret musical notes. So be positive in knowing that you can learn to play guitar, at least the basics of it, in a short span of time.

Now the best part. If you want to learn guitar chords in a friendly environment then feel free to visit my blog (the link earlier in the sentence) and receive some handy charts of 101 Basic Guitar Chords - it's free.

View the original article here