A Short History of the Electric Guitar

Electric guitars are strongly associated with famous musicians of the twentieth century—and may be the iconic musical instrument of our time. Here’s a brief history of their rise in popular music.




During the Big Band Era in the 20’s and 30’s, performers experimented with attaching microphones to acoustic guitars in order to amplify the sound. Most electric guitars were hollow-bodied acoustics with electric pickups. But the hollow space within the guitar produced vibrations that made harsh feedback when interacting with electric pickups.

Manufacturers experimented with solid-body guitars to get rid of the feedback. One of the earlier solid-body guitars was an aluminium instrument known as the “Frying Pan” or “Pancake Guitar.” In 1940, Les Paul attempted a solid-body instrument called the “log guitar,” so called because it was a simple post equipped with neck, strings, and pickups.

The electric guitar did not hit commercial success until the 1950’s, when Fender released its first solid-body model: the Esquire. The Esquire was followed by the Telecaster and finally, in 1954, the Stratocaster.

The aggressive sound of the electric guitar became characteristic of rock and roll in the 60’s and 70’s. It was a high-profile instrument during this time, appearing on stage with dozens of famous bands and musicians.

This created demand for affordable electric guitars. In the 60’s and 70’s, electric guitars were too expensive for ordinary buyers. But it wasn’t until the 1980’s that Japanese manufacturers stepped forward with affordable electric guitars that sounded good. This put pressure on American companies such as Gibson and Fender to provide their own affordable lines.

Today, the electric guitar is one of the most prolific instruments in popular music. You can find it in a wide variety of genres, from metal to New Age.

by: Paul Smith

A Simple Way To Learn Music – Web Music Tutorials

By Sarika Kabra

Many people dream of being able to play their favorite musical instruments but hesitate to start learning because of the hassles involved in getting the right teacher and school for the lessons. Money and time are other factors that deter them from trying to learn music. If you are among these people, you have a great opportunity to learn music easily and at a low cost at home! If you have a computer and Internet connection, you can learn music online and not have to worry about finding a music teacher.

These days, there are hundreds of websites and music software that teach music at nil or very reasonable costs. These websites are God sent for those who have time constraints and scheduling issues with the public music classes. Web tutorials on music let you learn at your own pace and without having to worry about the progression curve of the rest of the class. You are in control of how fast you learn. You set your own timetable and learn at any time of the day. If you are free only after 9 PM, you can learn to play music at your convenience at night because you are at home. If you had joined a music class, you would have to make many adjustments and might even have to miss many lessons. Not so, however, with e-classes.

There are scores of websites teaching people to play piano, guitar, violin, drum, chords and many more instruments. All you have to do is download music software. The best part is that many of the websites do not charge for the music lessons. However, for more advanced training, you may have to register and pay a fee. Nevertheless, it is a small price to pay for the great service you get. Not only does a e-learning module on music save time to commute to the music classes but also the hassles of rescheduling classes in case you are busy.

Also, if you download music to learn, you will get to learn any type of music even if it is not available in your locality. Any genre of music and any type of musical instrument is easy to master with the online tutorials. You do not have to move to India to learn Indian forms of music. Internet can help you learn everything at home.

Until Internet revolutionized the way the world works, most people interested in music had to buy self help books to learn music. This was not as effective as online classes as the speed of learning was slowed down considerably. Again, a private music teacher could be costly while a public music class might bring in scheduling conflicts. Thus, online music classes are a boon for all those who have a passion for music.

You have, therefore, no excuse for not learning music if you have always wanted to. With simple clicks, you can not only learn how to play the instrument of your choice but also create your own compositions and upload your digital music recording.

The author has learnt music. Even you can learn with the help of an online music dictionary. All kinds of music terms are properly explained along with explanations of procedures such as home recording, mixing, mastering etc.

Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Introduction

Hi all,

This blog will be about learning guitar. At first, it will aim at beginner guitar lessons, but soon you will be able to find all sort of information concerning guitar learning.


All proposed method to learn guitar will be as simple as possible and will try to keep a good balance of fun and technical skills, so you won't quit after a week of playing because it's too hard or boring. The main objective of this website is to help you learn guitar the easy way.