Electric guitars
Main article:
Electric guitar
Electric guitars can have solid, semi-hollow, or hollow bodies, and produce little sound without amplification.
Electromagnetic pickups convert the vibration of the steel strings into
electrical signals, which are fed to an
amplifier through a
cable or
radio transmitter. The sound is frequently modified by other electronic devices or the natural
distortion of valves (
vacuum tubes) in the amplifier. There are two main types of pickup,
single and double coil (or
humbucker), each of which can be
passive or
active. The electric guitar is used extensively in
jazz,
blues, and
rock and roll. The first successful magnetic pickup for a guitar was invented by
George Beauchamp, and incorporated into the 1931 Ro-Pat-In (later
Rickenbacker)
"Frying Pan" lap steel; other manufacturers, notably
Gibson, soon began to install pickups in archtop models. After World War II the completely solid-body electric was popularized by Gibson in collaboration with
Les Paul, and independently by
Leo Fender of
Fender Music. The lower fretboard action (the height of the strings from the fingerboard), lighter (thinner) strings, and its electrical amplification lend the electric guitar to some techniques which are less frequently used on acoustic guitars. These include
tapping, extensive use of
legato through
pull-offs and
hammer-ons (also known as slurs),
pinch harmonics,
volume swells, and use of a
tremolo arm or
effects pedals.
The first guitarist of note to use a seven-string guitar was jazz guitarist
George Van Eps, who was noted as a pioneer of this instrument.
Solid body seven-strings were popularized in the 1980s and 1990s in part due to the release of the
Ibanez Universe guitar, endorsed by
Steve Vai. Other artists go a step further, by using an
8-string guitar with two extra low strings. Although the most common 7-string has a low B string,
Roger McGuinn (of
The Byrds and
Rickenbacker) uses an octave G string paired with the regular G string as on a 12-string guitar, allowing him to incorporate chiming 12-string elements in standard 6-string playing. in 1982
Uli Jon Roth developed the "Sky Guitar", with a vastly extended amount of frets, which was the first guitar to venture into the upper registers of the violin. Roth's 7-string and 33 fret "Mighty Wing" guitar features an altogether 6-octave range.
The
electric bass guitar is similar in tuning to the traditional
double bass viol. Hybrids of acoustic and electric guitars are also common. There are also more exotic varieties, such as guitars with
two, three,
[16] or rarely four necks, all manner of alternate string arrangements,
fretless fingerboards (used almost exclusively on bass guitars, meant to emulate the sound of a
stand-up bass),
5.1 surround guitar, and such.
Some electric guitar and electric bass guitar models feature
Piezoelectric pickups, which function as
transducers to provide a sound closer to that of an acoustic guitar with the flip of a switch or knob, rather than switching guitars. Those that combine
Piezoelectric pickups and magentic pickups are sometimes known as hybrid guitars.
