History of the Electric Guitar

1. History of the Electric Guitar

2. Time line • Principles of guitar amplification developed by GEORGE BEAUCHAMP in 1920s’ using horseshoe magnets and wound copper coil. Called the ‘Frying pan’ • First electric guitar to be played in a sitting or standing position was made by GIBSON. It was called the ‘ES150’

3. In 1946 LES PAUL developed the first Solid body electric guitar which minimised feedback. The guitar became known as ‘The Log’, produced by GIBSON. Popular with Jazz musicians • In the late 1940s’ LEO FENDER produced the ‘Fender Telecaster’. It soon became popular with Rock‘n’roll artists.

4. FENDER followed the success of the ‘Telecaster’ with the release of the ‘Stratocaster’ in 1954, played by JIMI HENDRIX. • FENDER also released the ‘Precision’ electric bass in 1951.

5. 1957 GIBSON release a new ‘LES PAUL’ guitar with a Hum-bucking pickup. Popular Rock guitar. • GIBSON and FENDER still remain the main guitar manufactures.

6. Amplification • FENDER’S amps became popular in 1940s’. Most famous is ‘the twin’. • Also produced the ‘bassman’ amp in 1952

7. JIM MARSHALL developed his range of amps during the 1960s’. These distorted more quickly than the FENDER amps making them popular with rock groups.

8. Effects • During 1960s’ ‘fuzzboxes’ appeared to provide more distorted sounds. • 1970s’ brought with it the ‘wah wah pedal’. A wah-wah pedal boosts either the low frequency or the high frequency of a tone, acting as a bandpass filter. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYvYJXdCJi8 Wah-wah demonstration

9. Flanger – creates whooshing effect by mixing the original sound with a delayed version. This became popular in psychedelic music during the 1970s’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmjb5vHEdMUFlange demonstration • In the 1990s’, DIGITECH introduced the ‘whammy pedal’ allowing the guitarist to bend the pitch of the guitar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV6pSml-zXIDigitech Whammy pedal demonstration

10. Electric guitar construction The electric guitar basically consists of these elements: • Body – The first electric guitars had hollow bodies which caused problems with feedback. The solid bodied guitar was introduced to help solve the problem. • Neck – The neck in joined to the body in one of two ways. Glued in necks (such as the Gibson Les Paul), and bolt-on necks (such as the Fender Stratocaster, ideal for easy replacement.) • Pickups – Pickups convert the sound energy of the string into electrical energy that can be amplified. • Bridge – The strings are connected to the nut at the top of the neck, and the bridge which is connected to the body of the guitar. The bridge can be fixed so that it doesn’t move, or can have a tremolo arm (or whammy bar) attached which will move the bridge and thereby adjust the pitch of the strings.

11. How an electric guitar works Electric guitars rely on a process called ‘Electromagnetism’ to create their sound. Magnets wrapped in coiled wire on the guitar are known as ‘pickups’. These convert sound energy into electrical energy. When the metal string vibrates over the pick up, an electrical current is induced which is equivalent (or analogous) to the pitch of the string. This electrical current is then amplified by an amplifier and converted back into sound energy so that it can be heard by the human ear. Video - How an electric guitar works