Electric Guitars

The Electric guitar hasn’t been around nearly as long as the Acoustic and Classical guitars. In fact, the Electric guitar was created just 70 years ago (the 1930s) by Adolph Rickenbacker. Since that time, the Electric guitar has greatly evolved to the where it is today. In this article, we’ll go over the history of the Electric guitar.

The History

Guitars, or similar instruments, have been around for thousands of years. The Electric guitar was first manufactured in the 1930s by Rickenbacker. Original Electric guitars used tungsten pickups. Pickups basically convert the vibration of the strings into electrical current, which is then fed into the amplifier to produce the sound.

The very earliest Electric guitars featured smaller soundholes in the body. These guitars are known as semi-hollow body Electric guitars and still are somewhat popular today, mainly due to the fact that they are flexible guitars.

However, with the use of pickups, it was possible to create guitars without soundholes (like the Acoustic and Classical guitars have) that still had the ability to be heard, if plugged into amplifiers. These guitars are called solid body Electric guitars.

The Electric guitar’s popularity began to increase during the Big Band era of the ‘30s and 40s. Due to the loudness of the brass sections in jazz orchestras, it was necessary to have guitars that could be heard above the sections. Electric guitars, with the ability to be plugged into amplifiers, filled this void.

The Electric guitar that is most prevalent today is the solid body Electric guitar. The solid body guitar was created by musician and inventor Les Paul in 1941. It is a guitar made of solid wood with no soundholes. The original solid body guitar created by Paul was very plain—it was a simple rectangular block of wood connected to a neck with six steel strings. Les Paul’s original solid body guitar shape has, of course, changed from the original rectangular shape to the more rounded shape Les Paul guitars have today.

During the 1950s, Gibson introduced Les Paul’s invention to the world. The Gibson Les Paul, as it was and still is called, quickly became a very popular Electric guitar. It has remained the most popular guitar for 50 years.

Around the same period of time, another inventor named Leo Fender came up with a solid body Electric guitar of his own. In the late 1940s, Fender introduced the Fender Broadcaster Electric guitar. The Broadcaster, which was renamed the Stratocaster, was officially introduced to the public in 1954. The Strat, as it is now known, was a very different guitar in comparison to the Les Paul. It had a different shape, different hardware and was significantly lighter. Fender’s Stratocaster Electric guitar is the second most popular guitar in the world, second to only the Les Paul.

Over the years, other companies, such as Ibanez, Jackson, Paul Reed Smith, ESP and Yamaha have all produced solid body Electric guitars of their own. However, most Electric guitars still feature the familiar shape of a Les Paul or Strat guitar.

If your electric guitar is under your bed gasping amongst the dust bunnies, it is not too late to revive it and give the kiss of life to your electric guitar ambitions.

Do you have an electric guitar under your bed silently reminding you of a dream which is for the moment, buried? Did you fantasize about fame and female attention or was your dream about the music? Did you believe you could make a lot of progress in your musical education without much effort? Maybe you even spent a little too much money on your first electric guitar, hoping it would somehow fast track the learning process.

Well the guitar by itself isn’t really much help. The most effective input has to be from you, the aspiring guitar player.

But wait a minute! It was you who put the guitar under the bed, leaving it alone and wondering what it had done to incur your displeasure. What happened there? Why did you bury your dream? Did the fame and female attention arrive by some other route? Well obviously they weren’t what you expected or you wouldn’t be reading this. I think the issue is that you just need to look a little more closely at the process of learning the guitar.

The most obvious things to look at are firstly, did you give yourself enough time and space to practice, and were the guitar lessons you tried really suited to your needs?

If you live in a busy household you are going to have to fight for time and space. Your family or house mates may be willing to cut you some slack at first but the time will come when you pick up your guitar you will hear groaning noises from the people who a short time ago were so encouraging. You are going to need to examine your day. The hours you spend working or studying. The time you need for household chores. Are there TV programs you just can’t do without? You need to include those. If you practice in the living room you need to do it when other people aren’t using the area. You get the idea. If you end up with much less time to devote to guitar lessons than you thought you had, don’t give up. Just use the time you have available. As your guitar playing progresses you will begin to make more time for yourself.

So what kind of guitar lessons do you feel you could derive the most benefit from? The fact is learning to play the guitar will flow much more smoothly if you feel comfortable and receptive. So give some consideration to what works best for you.

So let’s look at the simplest solution – buy a guitar lesson book. Too simple? It might be all you need. Some people can’t do without the input of a face to face teacher or the experience of seeing their guitar lessons on video, but there are many people who do quite well with printed instructions and music.

If you need a more intense experience, but you have a live guitar teacher near where you live then give online electric guitar lessons a shot. With online lessons, you just sit in your room and absorb the teacher’s instructions, and then do your practice. No time wasted travelling to your teacher, and no putting up with a teacher you do not care for!

Some people do better without a teacher standing over them, encouraging them to play it until they get it right. Online electric guitar lessons are more student-friendly in this respect. You can approach any obstacles in your own individual way, in your own sweet time.

One of the most outstanding advantages of online electric guitar lessons compared to tuition with a live teacher is the expense. You can get even the very best lessons on the internet for a fraction of what you would pay your local guitar teacher!

You can also buy your guitar lessons in video format. Video lessons are available for students of all genres of guitar music whether they be beginners or advanced students. With videos you can review your lessons as many times as you want, and even if you lose your enthusiasm for learning the guitar, your video lessons will be waiting for you when your muse returns.

Live rock concerts were the rage in the 70′s and they are still the rage. The essence of rock music does not just lie with the lyrics; it also lies with the electric guitar and the various sounds that it can produce. There are so many kids across the block who would give up anything to play like Ritchie Blackmore, Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour, John Petrucci, Steve Vai, Kirk hammett, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page etc. These men are not just some of the best guitarists of their times, they are legends.

Now if you are interested in learning how to play the guitar then the first thing you will need to buy is a guitar. Most people start with an acoustic and graduate to the electric guitar. It is quite difficult for anyone to choose the right electric guitar since there are hundreds of models and several brands out there in the market. If you are buying an electric guitar then you will need to also buy amplifiers, pick-ups, pick, tuner etc.

Electric guitars are available in a lot of variety, colors, and designs with the aerodynamic designs being one of the most popular. Don’t go for the first electric guitar you see. You need to look around a bit and check out the prices and models before you buy one. In fact, one of the best ways to choose a guitar is by the brand or by the style. Here’s our take on the four important styles:

Stratocaster
This certainly is a show stealer and has a typical style. The most famous is the red and white color combination, which was extensively used by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. The Stratocaster is from Fender and has a neck bolted to the guitar body. Apart from this, it has double cutaway sides, 22 frets accompanied by a tremolo system or the wammy bar and three single-coil pickups. Fender designed the first Stratocaster in the early 50’s. Some of the popular designs include:

1. Fender Deluxe Stratocaster: approx $600
2. Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster HSS Electric Guitar in Rosewood: Approx $1200
3. Fender Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar in Maple: Approx $400
4. Fender Standard Stratocaster Electric Guitar in Rosewood: Approx $600
5. Fender Stratocaster Eric Johnson Signature model: Approx $1800

Telecaster
The Telecaster is another creative instrument from Fenders. It is more than just a guitar it is a complete orchestra. It is a solid body electric guitar and comprises of dual pick-ups. The first Telecaster was manufactured by Leo Fender in the 1940′s and has a single cutaway body. It doesn’t have the tremolo or wammy bar but has two different single-coil pickups. Some of the popular Telecaster models include:

1. Fender American Telecaster HS guitar: $900-$1000
2. Fender Standard Telecaster Electric Guitar: $400-$500
3. Fender 63 Telecaster Relic Solid Body Electric: $2500-$3000
4. Fender 72 Telecaster Custom Electric Guitar: $700-$800

Les Paul
This is a classic guitar that has been designed by Gibson. The salient feature of a Les Paul’s is its set neck construction, which means there are no joints or bolts. The body is a single cutaway and rounded. It is equipped with two humbucker pickups as well as a raised scratch-plate. If you want to play distorted sound then the Les Paul’s will provide you with a varied range of such sound. Some of the legends who use the Les Pauls include Eric Clapton, Kirk Hammett (Metallica) and Slash (ex-G’N’R). Some of the famous Les Paul models include:

1. Les Paul Custom Electric Guitar: $3000-$3500
2. 1959 Les Paul Standard Guitar: $5500-$6000
3. Les Paul Vintage Mahogany Electric Guitar: $700-$800
4. Les Paul Classic Electric Guitar: $1800-$1900

Gibson
Gibson is one of the greatest brands in music and all their guitar models are classic and can’t be compared to any. Gibson was actually started in 1902 by Orville Gibson and has been responsible for giving the world some of the best acoustic and electric guitars. Some of the famous models include the arch-top Gibson L5 model, the ES-150 electric, Gibson Explorer, Flying V etc. Some of the legends who have played a Gibson or are still using it include Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Ace Frehley (KISS), Frank Zappa, and Toni Iommi (Black Sabbath) to name a few. Some of the popular Gibson models include:

1. Gibson Flying V Electric Guitar: $500-$600
2. Gibson SG 61 Classic Electric Guitar: $1500-$1600
3. Gibson Faded SG Special Electric Guitar: $550-$600
4. Gibson Explorer Pro Electric Guitar: $1100-$1200

These are the best brands in electric guitar. The other aspects that will help you to pick up a guitar include fretboard, the pick-ups, and the body. Full-bodied guitars are normally preferred as they can produce some of the best sounds that you will ever get to hear.

Electric guitars have made their home in our universe. There are even classical pieces composed for electric guitar. This is a new kind of musical instrument. Not only is the sound amplified by electronics but the sound itself is MADE by electronics. Can just anybody learn to make music on this twenty-first century instrument?

Well first of all it is best to start to learn using a nylon string acoustic guitar. Steel strings are rough on the fingers when you are just learning how to play. So whether you get it from ebay or the local music store, you need an acoustic guitar that’s halfway decent. It doesn’t need to be expensive, just playable.

When it comes to buying an electric guitar, you can easily start off with one of the less expensive models. You can get the buzz from playing a real honest to goodness electric guitar on whatever no-frills Stratocaster copy your music store has, and it will get through your initial guitar playing experiences.

If there’s one single lesson that all guitar students of all styles of music need to learn, it’s TAKE IT EASY – SLOW DOWN. The music will still be there, you don’t have to rush out to meet it. If you have a tendency to go too fast, to try to force your body to do chord changes before the muscles have learnt them properly, ask yourself how you want to be sounding in a year’s time. Because if you don’t slow down when you are learning you are going to be sounding like a hat full of baby seals in one year – and probably twenty years time!

An important aspect of learning to play electric guitar is how you are going to be holding the guitar during your long hours of practice. If you do not pay attention to this stuff now, you could end up with back, neck and shoulder problems later from straining your muscles and skeleton.

Now you have your guitar, and of course a decent amplifier. A practice amp is good for use when playing near loved ones if you want to remain loved yourself. Another good idea is to get some kind of guitar effects program for your computer but be aware that some of them can be very hard on your computer’s resources.

A tuner and a metronome are essentials. These are two bits of equipment which are part of the discipline of electric guitar playing. Get into the habit of tuning your guitar from time to time during practice sessions – you might be surprised how far out you can get without being aware of it! While you are first learning how to play electric guitar you probably won’t be able to do too much jamming with friends until you develop a familiarity with your instrument. So once you feel you have gotten the hang of a song or a riff, try it out with the metronome. As slowly as you need to; you are not doing anybody any favors by rushing.

Do you need a teacher for electric guitar? Can you get all you need from books in your local music store or off the internet? It’s true that looking for a person who can teach you what you need to know in a way that you can handle it is a bit of a trial. It’s like any relationship, a lot better without the other person, but what can you do? If you want to try learning without a teacher then make Google your friend. If you are not used to using search engines, just type any questions into the search box in your own words, and the results you get will at least point you in the right direction. Start by looking for guitar forums. This is where you will find people like yourself who have questions together with people who have answers.

There are many ways online to learn to play guitar, some involve buying packages of videos and books which will be delivered to your house. Some give the less expensive option of downloading the videos and instructions. For the most part these guitar teaching methods are excellent. Another way to go is an online course where you can interact with your teacher and ask questions by email or on a forum. This is by far a better way to go because it can’t be quite as easily forgotten about as a course that consists of physical goods or computer files.

As the distinction between electric guitars and synthesizers becomes less distinct the novice electric guitarist gets more opportunities to reproduce the sound of his or her favorite artist. But as your guitar skills expand you will have a world of electronic music to play with. Enjoy!

The idea of this article on making your own electric guitar is to give you a real, practical idea of the magnitude of the job and the skills, tools and raw materials needed to make your own electric guitar. The original electric guitar was a railway sleeper with strings. The designer, Les Paul, finally marketed his invention with a guitar shape because he felt that was what people expected of an electric guitar, not because any particular shape was really necessary to make music. One thing you need to get straight on now is you will not save money by making your own guitar. If you want a cheap electric guitar, there’s one with your name on it at your nearest music store.

So if you fancy yourself as a designer, you could try making an electric guitar to your own specifications but you will need certain materials to work with. The first thing you will need is a love of working with wood. The second is an arsenal of power tools like drills, routers, saws, and fiddly bits of hardware. Your environment is also crucial. You will need a workspace which is not too hot or cold or wet or dry!

When you design your home made electric guitar, you will need to know how long your neck is going to be and how far apart your frets will be. You will also have a choice of the basic shape of the head of your guitar – the part that holds the tuning pegs.

You probably already know that a pickup near the neck gives a deeper sound than a pickup close to the bridge. The placement and configuration of the pickups on an electric guitar is a science in itself.

Solid body electric guitars are usually made from maple, ash, mahogany, alder, basswood or nut because they possess proven sound qualities for guitar manufacturing. You will need to buy your wood from a sawmill in lengths rather larger than needed for guitar making, and you will need to cut the wood down to size before making your guitar. You will also need hardware like machine heads, pick guards, fret wire, bridge and whammy bar mechanism. You will also need hardware if you use a bolt-on neck.

For the electronic parts of your electric guitar, you will need pickups – single coil or humbucker, shielding to cut down hum and associated knobs, nuts and grommets.

The first job in making your own electric guitar is making a template of your instrument from plywood. The template is your exact pattern for your finished guitar, and needs to be crafted with care. If you find yourself cutting corners at this stage you may as well stop this project and continue with the home brewing you started two winters ago.

To finish off this short essay, I should mention that there exists another solution for people wanting to make their own electric guitar – the electric guitar kit. As an example, the Yamaha EG-112PF Electric Guitar Kit contains: EGP112 Electric Guitar 2 Single coil pickups 1 Humbucking pickup Vintage vibrato system 5 position pickup switch Tremolo bar Master Volume and Master Tone controls Maple neck Chrome closed tuning hardware Bolt-on neck construction Rosewood fingerboard Basswood body No coil split Scale length: 25-1/2″ (648 mm) Nut width: 1-5/8″ (41mm) Radius: 13-3/4 (350 mm) Frets: 22 Color: Black with white pick guard Guitar cable included GA10 Amplifier 7 watts of power 5″ speaker Volume, Tone Bass, Distortion / Clean controls Headphone jack Dimensions: 10.4″ (w) x 10.0″ (h) x 6.4″ (d) Complete Starter Kit Electronic tuner — YT120 Special Yamaha gig bag Extra set of strings Picks Strap with Yamaha logo String winder Capo Guitar method book. I found it on Amazon while looking through 1,320,000 results for a Google search on “electric guitar kits”! Best of luck!

Although the electric guitar has originated in blues music, it is rock that gave its popularity. With rock music, the electric guitar became a massively expressive instrument. All guitar lessons have to touch on rock as well, but if you want to learn to play rock guitar, there are special modules you can take up. These modules focus almost exclusively on rock music.

The things you will be taught when you learn to play rock guitar can be roughly spread into three modules: first lessons, where you will learn the basics about playing the guitar, electric guitar improver and power chords.

First Lessons

These lessons are mostly for beginners. If you have some knowledge about playing the guitar, you may skip some of these. This is up to your teacher to decide.

However, if you’re holding a guitar for the first time, this is where your teacher will usually start. You will be taught the fundamentals about playing a guitar in general and playing rock guitar in particular. You will learn the basics about rock lead guitar and power chords. After these first lessons, you will have some idea on how to play classic rock guitar. If you get these right, you are on your way to actually playing rock guitar.

Electric Guitar Improver

In the next lessons, you will probably be taught various rock techniques, such as sliding, string-bending, pull-offs, vibrato and hammer-ons. These tips will enable you to play some fairly good rock solos. You will also learn about scales and chords that will help you start making up your own music.
There might be a lot of blues references within these lessons. Going through all these will help you understand the relation between blues and rocks, which is essential if you want to learn to play rock guitar like a pro.

Power Chords

Power chords are two or three string distorted sounding chords used in some of the most popular rock songs of all times. You will learn to play several rock songs during the first few lessons of this module. Afterwards you will be very familiar with the fretboard and surprise yourself with the sounds you will be able to play.

If you seriously want to learn to play rock guitar, don’t get frustrated or discouraged if you’re not playing the way you would like to at the beginning. If you enjoy playing, the progress will come at some point. Find a guitar teacher you communicate well with, design a workable schedule to practice and, most importantly, try to have fun while you’re learning.

ask Google:

It makes me remember some legendary rock bands, like Metallica and Gun n Roses.Some people think the vocalist looks like Ozzy Osborne. Yes off course his hair looks like Ozzy’s hair

After I search more information about this rock band, I found that this ‘Devour’ song is quiet popular. It ever stays at first position at US mainstream rock chart. I don’t know about their other songs. I hope their other songs like this song.

Shinedown has release 3 albums. One of their album got Platinum certification. Their current members are:
Brent Smith – Vocals (2002 – present)
Barry Kerch – Drums (2002 – present)
Zach Myers – Guitar (2005 – present)
Nick Perri – Guitar (2008 – present)
Eric Bass – Bass Guitar (2008 – present)

Off course they have a blog too, today is internet world right. You can see their blog here; you can see shinedown concerts, and Shinedown photos.

Talking about metal rock, do you remember these videos? These songs were my favorite songs at that time.

Guns N’ Roses – November Rain:

Metallica- Enter Sandman:

I hope Shinedown can be a rock legend.

2. Jimmy Page

3. Michael Romeo

4. Slash

5. Richie Blackmoore

6. Paul Gilbert

7. Yngwie Malmsteen

8. John Petrucci

9. Dimebag Darrell

10. Eddie Van Halen

Wheels of Fire by Cream
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“Crossroads”

Live at the Fillmore by Derek and the Dominos
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“Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?”

Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton by John Mayall & the Blues Breakers
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“Have You Heard”

E.C. Was Here by Eric Clapton
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“Driftin’ Blues”

Eric Clapton by Eric Clapton
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“Let It Rain”

From the Cradle by Eric Clapton
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“Five Long Years”

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“Presence of the Lord”

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“She’s Gone”

Just One Night by Eric Clapton
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“Double Trouble”