AcousticGuitarElectricGuitarLessons : Acoustic Guitar Electric Guitar Lessons
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Acoustic guittar Electric Guitar Lessons
This site offers extensive information on guitars, with an emphasis on beginners who want to (or have started to) learn about playing the guitar. If you want to learn to play the guitar (or to learn more about guitars), this site will help you in understanding the basics and in selecting your guitar gear. Start by browsing the various Types of Guitars that exist. Some basic guitar playing instructions are also available to get you started. However, once you get interested and want to do more with your guitar - you should consider in-person training from a guitar teacher. Books, videos, and online resources may help up to a point, but there is no substitute for a professional who you can talk to and watch, and thus learn from much faster.
The Guitar is a fretted stringed musical instrument that has been around in some form or the other for over 5000 years, from the ancient Cithara, to the more recent ministrel's Lute.
The guitar creates its music from the vibration of its strings. Each string vibrates at a different frequency based on its thickness and length, thereby making different sounds. Additionally, by pressing down a string at a fret (the metallic bumps that run down the length of the guitar's neck), you effectively shorten the length of that string, changing its vibration and its sound. There are two broad families of guitars: Acoustic guitars and Electric guitars. An acoustic guitar is constructed in a shape that reflects back the sound of its vibrating strings, amplifying them "acoustically". An electric guitar makes no audible sounds, its vibrating strings are detected by electro-magnetic coils called "pickups" - and the electric signal is sent to an "amplifier" (amp) which converts it to sound and amplifies it as well. A hybrid of both these guitar (this instrument is used in every form of music, from Classical to Heavy Metal) types is the Acoustic-Electric guitar, which is an acoustic guitar with built in pickups. Acoustic-electric guitars can be heard without an amp, but it can also be plugged in if a higher sound volume is desired.
The acoustic guitar is often the choice for rhythm players. Acoustic guitars have a richer consistent sound, and experienced musicians can really bring out expression in their music with an acoustic guitar. That being said, electric guitars can also be used for rhythm especially with the creative use of "effects pedals". Mainly, electric guitars are used for playing lead. From the mind wrenching wails of Jimi Hendrix' guitar, to the heart moving riffs of BB King's guitar - that is what the electric guitar has become synonymous with. Of course, acoustic guitars can also be used in playing lead, and is often seen in country-western style music.
There are numerous variations of guitars. One of the most popular is the twelve string guitar. As the name suggests, the 12 string guitar has 12 strings instead of the usual six. Each of the traditional strings is paired with a duplicate string, so it sounds as though two guitars are being played simultenously. Another popular variant is the archtop guitar, which is has a curved top piece (instead of the normal flattop as normal acoustic guitars have), and an f shaped sound hole (instead of the normal round sound hole seen in normal acoustic guitars). Archtop guitars have a distinctive tone and a louder sound than traditional acoustic guitars.
- Guitar Types The different types of guitars that are available, such as acoustic, electric, classical, bass, steel string, nylon string and more.
- Acoustic Guitar Parts The parts of a typical acoustic guitar, with illustrations and pictures to help explain why these parts are needed.
- Electric Guitar Parts The parts of a typical electric guitar, with illustrations and pictures to help explain why these parts are needed.
- Acoustic or Electric Guitar Choosing between an acoustic or electric guitar as your first guitar or for starting to learn to play the guitar.
- Buy Acoustic Guitar How to select an acoustic guitar to buy, be it your first or your 15th guitar.
- Buy Electric Guitar How to select an electric guitar to buy, be it your first or your 15th guitar.
- Basic Guitar Lessons The absolute basic guitar lessons, just to get you started and to build your interest so you will continue to play.
- Guitar Notes How to play basic guitar notes, an explanation of why there are six strings and which notes each string makes.
- Guitar Chords How to play basic guitar chords, a chord is a combination of two or more notes to produce a richer sound.
- Guitar Tabs Basics on how to read guitar tablature (guitar tab) notation, the quick and easy way to play any music on your guitar.
- Guitar Sheet Music Basics on how to read sheet music, even though guitar tab makes things easy, reading music notation is important as you get better playing the guitar.
- Guitar Techniques Basic guitar playing techniques, such as bends, hammer ons, pull offs, trills, vibrato, muting and alternate tuning information.
- Acoustic Guitar Types Information on acoustic guitars, such as the available sizes, length and scale, wood types, and strings (steel/nylon).
- Electric Guitar Types Information on electric guitars, such as construction, strings, bridges, tremolo, pickups and other features unique to electric guitars.
- Electric Guitar Effects Electric Guitars are usually used with effects pedals, which can produce new sounds such as distortion and wah-wah.
- Electric Guitar Amps Electric guitars require an amplifier (amp), basic information about guitar amp features that you should know about.
- Guitar Care How to care for your guitar, cleaning and storage instructions.
- Child Guitar If you want your child to learn to play guitar, here are some tips and information on how to get started.
Electric guitars usually have solid wood bodies, and always use steel strings since they have electro-magnetic "Pickups" that send the string vibrations to an amplifier (amp). The wood used in the body and neck as well as pickup types used, provide the distinctive sound to each electric guitar. Click for information on how to Buy Electric Guitar, or for Acoustic Guitar Types. Some brands/models are synonymous with certains kinds of music; such as the Fender Stratocaster for Rock'n'Roll (Eric Clapton), or the Gibson "Lucille" for Blues (BB King). Some electric guitar models also have hollow or semi-hollow bodies, and they come in many shapes and sizes. The shape in itself does not affect the quality of sound (unlike acoustic guitars), but it is a matter of comfort while playing that guitar (along with its size).
The neck on an electric guitar is either glued or bolted to the body. Electric guitars are much heavier than acoustic guitars since they use heavier wood and have electronic parts inside - the neck must take a lot more stress. While wood type for the body, neck and fingerboard is less of a factor in electric guitars; it does contribute to a guitar's distinctive sound and "feel". Expensive electric guitars are usually made from high quality solid wood, while cheaper models may use laminates (plywood) or pieces of wood glued together. Some plastic and metal body electric guitars are also available.
There are variations in the length of the neck scale, with shorter scale electric guitars having their frets closer together. Electric guitar necks comes in two types, the "C" neck (rounded back shaped like a C) and the "V" neck (sharper back shaped like <). The shape of the neck does not affect the sound of the guitar, it is a matter of choice and comfort based on the size of your hands. The width of the fingerboard affects the spacing between the six strings, and should also be considered for comfort based on your hand size and finger length. Electric guitars have more frets than acoustic guitars; 17, 19, 21 or 24 frets. The smaller size and default cutaway body shape makes it possible to play every fret on an electric guitar. Heavy metal and rock music loves the high frets (upto the 24th fret), but this does reduce the spacing between all the frets to accomodate the extra frets within the length of the neck (making these harder to play).
The "pickups" detect the vibration of the strings on an electric guitar, and send the signal to an amplifier (amp) that produces the actual sounds. Electric guitars usually have one, two or three pickups - positioned from close to the neck, to close to the bridge. There are two kinds of pickups, the "Single Coil Pickup" provides the vintage guitar sound - but is susceptible to hum and interference. The "Humbucker" or "Dual Coil Pickup" has two electro magnetic coils wrapped in opposite directions - this eliminates the hum and interference but it also reduces the quality of the sound. Electric guitars may have a combination of single-coil and humbucker pickups in the three pickup positions, and most have a selector switch to choose which pickup (or combination of pickups) is active. Volume and tone controls are also present on the electric guitar body, cheaper guitars tend to have lower quality "Pots" (potentiometers, the electronic device that regulates the sound) which wear out quickly and can make crackling sounds. The pickups largely contribute to the type of sound an electric guitar can make, but this is often supplemented by effects pedals and the amplifier (amp).
Electric guitars have two kinds of bridges (where the strings terminate on the guitar body side). The "Fixed Bridge" is quite simply fixed to the body; and the "Floating Bridge" is spring loaded and often has a "Whammy Bar" (or Tremolo bar) attached to it. The fixed bridge tends to stay in tune much better, but most guitarists prefer the quality of sound from a floating bridge. Since it is spring loaded, the floating bridge does cause the strings to go out of tune much more often - and as it has moving parts, it does require maintenance such as adjustments or spring replacements. The whammy bar is a rod that sticks out of the bridge, when pressed (or pulled) it changes the tension on the strings and the sound being produced. Rapidly pushing (or pulling) the whammy bar adds a tremolo effect to the note being played. String action and intonation adjustments can also be made on the bridge of an electric guitar (which cannot be done on most acoustic guitars).
The quality and thickness of the string contribute to the playability of an electric guitar (this instrument is used in every form of music, from Classical to Heavy Metal). While electric guitars always use light strings (or super-light), always use the recommended thickness string for a specific guitar. Lighter strings are easier to bend with, but they do tend to break faster. Electric guitar strings are rated by "gauge", such as 0.08, 0.10 or 0.12 - this number corresponds to the gauge of the THINNEST (E) string with the lower number being the lightest (super light). Guitar strings are like shoes, you wouldn't know how they feel until you try them out. Keep trying different gauges and manufacturers till you find one that feels "just right" and don't break with your style of playing.
The next section has information on Electric Guitar Effects, or click for information on how to Buy Electric Guitar.
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