| Acoustic guitars and their various musical | | | | arm appeared, allowing notes to be bent down |
| relatives can be traced back thousands of | | | | or up (before, they could only be bent |
| years, but the idea of a guitar using | | | | upwards by pulling the string away from its |
| electric currents to amplify its sound had to | | | | natural line, thus tightening it). The |
| wait until the 1930s to start to take root. | | | | tremolo arm was part of the early sound of |
| Necessity was, perhaps, the mother of | | | | rock 'n' roll, and could make a vibrato sound |
| invention here, as the volume of the guitar, | | | | or create the long, sustained, wailing sounds |
| used previously in blues and jazz, could not | | | | associated with Jimi Hendrix. Other sound |
| compete with the new sounds of the big band | | | | effects, such as chorus, overdrive, vibrate, |
| and the shriek of brass instruments. Early | | | | wah-wah, reverb and delay (echo) could also |
| experiments with simply adding microphones to | | | | be controlled via foot pedals by the player, |
| guitars had only limited success, partly due | | | | further adding to the variety of sounds |
| to the quality of the tone and partly because | | | | available. The pickup was also applied to |
| of the feedback that could occur as soon as a | | | | bass guitars, and is now seen on violins, |
| reasonable volume was reached. The | | | | mandolins, cellos and many other types of |
| breakthrough came when Les Paul, a jazz | | | | string instrument. |
| guitarist, successfully experimented with a | | | | |
| magnetic pickup system that could convert the | | | | Musical styles using electric guitars |
| vibrations of the strings to an electrical | | | | |
| signal to be amplified and sent to a speaker. | | | | The genres of music that use electric guitars |
| Soon, guitarists started adding pickups to | | | | are too numerous for this article, but their |
| their hollow-bodied guitars, but in fact | | | | origins can be traced back to the jazz and |
| there was no need for an electric guitar to | | | | big band sound that became popular between |
| have a hollow body, as the pickups could | | | | the wars. Blues guitarists pioneered the |
| detect very subtle vibrations and amplify | | | | "dirty" sound that would later morph into |
| them anyway. Before long, Fender, | | | | heavy metal, and no rock and roll group would |
| Rickenbacker and, of course, Gibson were | | | | be complete without at least one electric |
| producing solid-bodied electric guitars. | | | | guitar. Bob Dylan was once called "Judas" by |
| | | | a heckler when he swapped his acoustic for an |
| Innovations unique to the electric guitar | | | | electric on stage, a significant moment in |
| | | | electric folk. The sixties saw mainstream pop |
| Electric guitars allowed many innovations | | | | and psychedelic bands putting the instrument |
| that would go on to define their sound. Most | | | | to good use, and disco, punk, ska and reggae |
| noticeably was the fact that volume and tone | | | | music of the seventies used the instrument's |
| controls could be added to the electronics | | | | inherent rhythm; a lively and thriving |
| between the pickup and the cable, which meant | | | | African sound is once of the guitar's most |
| that the accomplished guitarist could adjust | | | | innovative current streams. Whenever a new |
| the tone and loudness whilst on stage. Second | | | | technology has come along, especially the |
| and third pickups were added at various | | | | electronic revolution of the late 1970s and |
| points along the body to take advantage of | | | | 1980s, people have written off the electric |
| the difference in tone at various points | | | | guitar, but it shows no sign of losing |
| along the strings, and these could be blended | | | | popularity. |
| together with multiple controls. The tremolo | | | | |