Technology Development

Electric guitar converts the vibrations of the metallic strings to electrical audio signals using the principle of electromagnetic induction. The increasing demand by jazz musicians to amplify their music led to invention of electric guitar in 1931.Electric Guitar was first used in 1932 by a musician named Gage Brewer who performed on an electrically amplified Hawaiian guitar. After six years, in 1938, a jazz guitarist George Barnes made the first recording on a Spanish instrument having magnetic pick-ups. The Electronic guitar emerged as a popular instrument when 23 year old guitarist Charlie Christian united with Benny Goodman to play the sensational Gibson ES-150. The demand for electric guitar had grown in the big band era when orchestras were growing in size and guitars had to face tough competition with large brass sections. Nowadays these electric guitars are used as a rhythm guitar for providing progressions and beats or as a lead guitar which produces melodious notes.

Right String for your Guitar

Ascertaining the right string for your guitar can be a difficult task. Electric guitars make use of the steel strings in their G string. The electric strings can either be Nickel Plated, Pure Nickel or of Stainless Steel. Nickel Plated string is made of nickel plated wraps of steel surrounding a steel core. The steel has an advantage of a better pull therefore giving a larger volume in electronic terms, whereas steel is prevented from corrosion by making use of nickel. Nickel Plated strings are the most common electric strings. Pure Nickel strings are mainly consisted of steel core surrounded by nickel wraps. Pure nickel makes the string produce a softer tone and also gives lesser output in electronic terms. Pure nickel is said to give what is popularly called the “vintage sound”. Stainless steel has a decent volume in electronic terms. Although it lacks the smoothness which the touch of nickel gives since it is a hard material but by far this material is the brightest for electronic guitars.

You can change your guitar sound by simply changing guitar picks. Heavy picks (up to 2mm) thicken the sound and are thus preferred by guitarists. Thinner picks produce a brighter sound but with lesser depth. String gauge can affect you instrument’s tone, adjustments and playing capability. Larger the gauge more will be the tension on the instrument. Thus rendering larger volume and hence a focussed sound. Buzzing is decreased in high tension strings. Thus you should make the required adjustments to tweak your guitar as you like.