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