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Guitar Lessons
The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that adapts readily to a wide variety of musical styles. The three main types of guitars are the electric guitar, the classical guitar, and the acoustic guitar. It typically has six strings, but many other string combinations also exist. The size and shape of the neck and the base of the guitar also vary, producing further varieties of sounds.
Guitars are recognized as one of the primary instruments in flamenco, jazz, blues, country, mariachi, rock music, and many forms of pop. They can also be a solo classical instrument. Guitars may be played acoustically, where the tone is produced by vibration of the strings and modulated by the hollow body, or they may rely on an amplifier that can electronically manipulate tone. Electric guitars were introduced in the 1930s, and they have continued to have a profound influence on popular culture since then.
The acoustic guitar is not dependent on an external device to be heard – it uses a soundboard, which is a wooden piece mounted on the front of the guitar's body. The acoustic guitar is quieter than other instruments commonly found in bands and orchestras so when playing within such groups it is often externally amplified. Many acoustic guitars available today feature a variety of pickups, which enable the player to amplify and modify the raw guitar sound.
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 by the natural distortion of valves (vacuum tubes) in the amplifier. The electric guitar is used extensively in jazz, blues, and rock and roll, and was commercialized 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 that are less frequently used on acoustic guitars.
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Bradford School of Music | 1600 Osgood Street | North Andover, MA 01845| 978.685.7900
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