Electric guitar

{{===Acoustic-electric=== Some steel-string acoustic guitars are fitted with pickups purely as an alternative to using a separate microphone.These guitars are made out of fiber and sodium chloroplast. They may also be fitted with a piezo-electric pickup under the bridge, attached to the bridge mounting plate, or with a low mass microphone (usually a condenser mic) inside the body of the guitar that will convert the vibrations in the body into electronic signals, or even combinations of these types of pickups, with an integral mixer/preamp/graphic equalizer. These are called electric acoustic guitars, and are regarded as acoustic guitars rather than electric guitars because the pickups do not produce a signal directly from the vibration of the strings, but rather from the vibration of the guitar top or body. These should not be confused with hollow body electric guitars, which have pickups of the type found on solid body electric guitars.

String, bridge, and neck variants

Fewer than six

Although rare, the one-string guitar is sometimes heard, particularly in Delta blues, where improvised folk instruments were popular in the 1930s and 1940s. Eddie "One String" Jones had some regional success with a Mississippi blues musician Lonnie Pitchford played a similar, homemade instrument. In a more contemporary style, Little Willie Joe, the inventor of the Unitar, had a rhythm and blues instrumental hit in the 1950s with "Twitchy", recorded with the Hall Orchestra. The best-known exponent of the four-string guitar, often called the tenor guitar was Tiny Grimes, who played on 52nd Street with the beboppers and played a major role in the Prestige Blues Swingers. Grimes' guitar omitted the bottom two strings. Deron Miller of CKY only uses four strings, but plays a six string guitar with the two highest strings removed. Many banjo players use this tuning: DGBE, mostly in Dixieland. Guitar players find this an easier transition than learning plectrum or tenor tuning.

Seven-string

Main article: Seven-string guitar

Most Seven-string guitars add a low "B" string below the low "E". Both electric and classical guitars exist designed for this tuning. A high "A" string above the high "E" instead of the low "B" is sometimes used. Another less common seven-string arrangement is a second G string situated beside the standard G string and tuned an octave higher, in the same manner as a twelve-stringed guitar (see below). Jazz guitarists using a seven-string include veteran jazz guitarists George Van Eps, Bucky Pizzarelli and his son John Pizzarelli.

Seven-string electric guitars were popularized among rock players in the 1980s by Steve Vai. Along with the Japanese guitar company Ibanez, Vai created the Universe series seven string guitars in the 1980s, with a double locking tremolo system for a seven string guitar. These models were based on Vai's six string signature series, the Ibanez Jem. Seven-string guitars experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 2000s, championed by Korn, Fear Factory, Strapping Young Lad, Nevermore, and other hard rock/metal bands. Metal musicians often prefer the seven-string guitar for its extended lower range. The seven-string guitar has also played an essential role in progressive rock, and is commonly used in bands such as Dream Theater and by experimental guitarists such as Ben Levin.

Eight and nine-string

Main article: Eight string guitar

Eight-string electric guitars are rare, but not unused. One is played by Charlie Hunter (manufactured by Novax Guitars). The largest manufacturer of 8- to 14-strings is Warr Guitars. Their models are used by Trey Gunn (ex King Crimson) who has his own signature line from the company. Also, Mårten Hagström and Fredrik Thordendahl of Meshuggah used 8-string guitars made by Nevborn Guitars and now guitars by Ibanez. Munky of nu metal band Korn is also known to use eight-string Ibanez guitars and it is rumoured that he is planning to release a K8 eight-string guitar similar to his K7 seven-string guitar. In 2008 Ibanez released the Ibanez RG2228-GK which is the first mass produced eight-string guitar. Jethro Tull's first album uses a nine-string guitar on one track. Josh Smith of the band The Fucking Champs plays a 9-string guitar, with two G, B, and high E strings each, tuned in unison.

Twelve-string

Main article: Twelve string guitar

Twelve string electric guitars feature six pairs of strings, usually with each pair tuned to the same note. The extra E, A, D, and G strings add a note one octave above, and the extra B and E strings are in unison. The pairs of strings are played together as one, so the technique and tuning are the same as a conventional guitar, although creating a much fuller tone. They are used almost solely to play harmony and rhythm. They are relatively common in folk rock music. Lead Belly is the folk artist most identified with the twelve-string guitar, usually acoustic with a pickup.

George Harrison of The Beatles and Roger McGuinn of The Byrds brought the electric twelve-string to notability in rock and roll. During the Beatles' first trip to the US, in February 1964, Harrison received a new "360/12" model guitar from the Rickenbacker company, a 12-string electric made to look onstage like a 6-string. He began using the 360 in the studio on Lennon's "You Can't Do That" and other songs. Roger McGuinn began using electric 12-string guitars to create the jangly sound of The Byrds. Another notable guitarist to utilize electric 12-string guitars is Jimmy Page, the guitarist with proto-heavy metal and rock group Led Zeppelin.

3rd bridge

Main article: 3rd Bridge

The 3rd bridge guitar is an electric prepared guitar with an additional 3rd bridge. This can be a normal guitar with for instance a screwdriver placed under the strings, but can also be a custom made instrument. Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth plays with a 3rd bridge.

Double neck guitars

Main article: Double neck guitar

Double-neck (or, less commonly, "twin-neck") guitars enable guitarists to play guitar and bass guitar or, more commonly, a six-string and twelve-string. The double-neck guitar was popularized by Jimmy Page, who used a custom-made Gibson EDS-1275 to perform the Led Zeppelin song "Stairway to Heaven". Guitarist Don Felder also used the Gibson EDS-1275 during the Hotel California tour.

There were also some double necks that had two six-string necks with different pickup configurations. The most popular 6 and 6 were made by Ibanez in the early 1980s, which were copies of the Gibson SG style 6 and 12, and were also referred to as the "pre-lawsuit" guitars. Ibanez stopped production when they lost a lawsuit to Gibson. The Gibson 6-string and 12-string was also popularized by the Eagles song "Hotel California".

English progressive rock bands such as Genesis used custom-made double-neck instruments produced by the Shergold company. Rick Nielsen, guitarist for Cheap Trick, uses a variety of custom guitars mostly made by Hamer Guitars, many of which have five necks, with the strap attached to the body by a swivel so that the guitar can be rotated to put any neck into playing position. Guitarist Steve Vai occasionally uses a triple-neck guitar; one neck is twelve string, one is six string and the third is a fretless six-string. In the 2000s, a small number of boutique guitar makers produce specialty instruments with up to six necks on a guitar, consisting of various guitar necks with different stringing and/or "drone" strings which are designed to vibrate sympathetically.

Uses

Popular music

Popular music and rock groups often use the electric guitar in two roles: as a rhythm guitar which provides the chord sequence or "progression" and sets out the "beat" (as part of a rhythm section), and a lead guitar, which is used to perform melody lines, melodic instrumental fill passages, and guitar solos. In some rock or metal bands with two guitarists, the two performers may perform as a guitar tandem, and trade off the lead guitar and rhythm guitar roles. In bands with a single guitarist, the guitarist may switch between these two roles, playing chords to accompany the singer's lyrics, and then playing a guitar solo in the middle of the song.

In the most commercially available and consumed pop and rock genres, electric guitars tend to dominate their acoustic cousins in both the recording studio and the live venue, especially in the "harder" genres such as heavy metal and hard rock. However the acoustic guitar remains a popular choice in country, western and especially bluegrass music, and it is widely used in folk music.

Jazz and jazz fusion

Jazz guitar playing styles include rhythm guitar-style "comping" (accompanying) with jazz chord voicings (and in some cases, walking basslines) and "blowing" (improvising solos) over jazz chord progressions with jazz-style phrasing and ornaments. The accompanying style for electric guitar in most jazz styles differs from the way chordal instruments accompany in many popular styles of music. In rock and pop, the rhythm guitarist usually performs the chords in rhythmic fashion which sets out the beat of a tune. In contrast, in many modern jazz styles, the guitarist plays much more sparsely, interminging periodic chords and delicate voicings into pauses in the melody or solo. Jazz chord voicings are usually rootless and emphasize the 3rd and 7th notes of the chord.

When jazz guitar players improvise, they use the scales, modes, and arpeggios associated with the chords in a tune's chord progression. Jazz guitarists have to learn how to use scales (whole tone scale, chromatic scale, etc.) to solo over chord progressions. Jazz guitar improvising is not merely the recitation of jazz scales and rapid arpeggios. Jazz guitarists often try to imbue their melodic phrasing with the sense of natural breathing and legato phrasing used by horn players such as saxophone players. As well, a jazz guitarists' solo improvisations have to have a rhythmic drive and "timefeel" that creates a sense of "swing" and "groove".

Jazz guitarists typically favor hollowbody instruments; solidbody guitars are also used.

Contemporary classical music

Until the 1950s, the acoustic, nylon-stringed classical guitar was the only type of guitar favored by classical, or art music composers. In the 1950s a few contemporary classical composers began to use the electric guitar in their compositions. Examples of such works include Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen (1955-57); Donald Erb's String Trio (1966), Morton Feldman's The Possibility of a New Work for Electric Guitar (1966); George Crumb's Songs, Drones, and Refrains of Death (1968); Hans Werner Henze's Versuch über Schweine (1968); Francis Thorne's Sonar Plexus (1968) and Liebesrock (1968–69), Michael Tippett's The Knot Garden (1965-70); Leonard Bernstein's MASS (1971) and Slava! (1977); Louis Andriessen's De Staat (1972-76); Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint (1987), Arvo Pärt's Miserere (1989/92), and countless works composed for the quintet of Ástor Piazzolla.

In the 1980s and 1990s, a growing number of composers (many of them composer-performers who had grown up playing the instrument in rock bands) began writing contemporary classical music for the electric guitar. These include Shawn Lane, Steven Mackey, Nick Didkovsky, Scott Johnson, Lois V Vierk, Tim Brady, Tristan Murail, John Rogers, and Randall Woolf. Yngwie Malmsteen released his Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in 1998, and Steve Vai released a double-live CD entitled Sound Theories, of his work with the Netherlands Metropole Orchestra in June 2007. The American composers Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham have written "symphonic" works for large ensembles of electric guitars, in some cases numbering up to 100 players, and the instrument is a core member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars (played by Mark Stewart). Still, like many electric and electronic instruments, the electric guitar remains primarily associated with rock and jazz music, rather than with classical compositions and performances. R. Prasanna plays a style of Indian classical music (Carnatic music) on the electric guitar.

See also

• Guitar manufacturing companies
• 3rd Bridge
• Guitar harmonics
• Guitar/synthesizer
• Bass guitar
• Guitar effects
• Guitar amplifier
• Distortion (guitar)
• Guitar pedalboard
• Electric pipa
• Red Special
• Electronic tuner

Further reading

• Ralph Denyer, The Guitar Handbook, (ISBN 0-3303-2750-X), Pan Books; 2Rev Ed edition (27 November 1992)

External links

• Gibson electric guitar
• Fender guitar
• Taylor Electric Guitars
• From Frying Pan to Flying V: The Rise of the Electric Guitar
• Electric Guitar Research Blog
• HowStuffWorks - Includes a thorough article about how electric guitars work
• King of Kays - Information, photos, and videos of vintage electric guitars from the U.S. and the rest of the world.
• Chicken Wing Solid Body Electric Guitar - downloadable plans for building a solid body electric guitar, on the Liutaio Mottola Lutherie Information Website.
• "Born to Rock" guitar exhibit at Harrods, London, February 2007, featuring the 1931 Rickenbacker "Frying Pan". Also see BBC 6 Music * news story.
• The Rockabilly Guitar Page - The first electric rock guitars. Detailed info on recording sessions of the first rock hits.
• The Invention of the Electric Guitar - Online exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History