Electric guitars are some of the most popular instruments used in the majority of musical genres, including rock, country, blues and jazz. The electric guitar made its first appearance in the 1930s in jazz music and big band performances. Electric guitars cannot be heard without amplification. Electrical components called pickups send the vibration of the strings to an amplifier in order to produce sound. In order to help produce adequate vibration, electric guitars feature steel-cored strings. A standard electric guitar has only six strings but one, four, seven, eight, nine and twelve string electric guitars do exist. They are just rare. Traditional electric guitars have a solid body rather than a hollow body like an acoustic guitar. However, hollow body electric guitars do exist. Steel guitars are also electric instruments, but they are generally not considered to be in the electric guitar category.
Rock music in the 1950s and 1960s started a trend in the popularity of electric guitars that has continued strong into the present era. The first solid body electric guitar was the brainchild of Les Paul. Les Paul is now a type of electric guitar made by Gibson, but at that time, Gibson didn’t think that the idea of a solid body electric guitar would be popular, so they passed up the idea. A few later, Fender saw serious potential in the solid body electric guitar and became the first company to manufacture them on mass scale. The Gibson ‘Les Paul’ followed very soon after.
Electric acoustic guitars are a combination of the acoustic and electric pickup technology used in both types of guitars. Because electric acoustic guitars can be played without an amplifier, they are considered as part of the acoustic guitar family rather than the electric guitar family. Twelve string guitars are usually associated with acoustic guitars, but twelve string electric guitars are used to create a fuller sound. George Harrison from the Beatles played a twelve string electric guitar which later inspired Roger McQuinn of The Byrds to make it a part of his signature sound.
Some of the strangest guitar shapes that can be seen are custom shaped electric guitars. The guitarist, Jimmy Page, for the famous “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin made the double head electric guitar famous. He needed to use both a six string and a twelve string guitar for the song. To help better fill this need, Gibson created a custom guitar that head two heads on one guitar. Don Felder also used a double head guitar in the Eagles’ song “Hotel California.” Some custom electric guitars are made with three, four or even five heads on one guitar.
Electric guitars are commonly associated with rock music, but their influence and prominence is displayed in many of the popular music genres of the present and the past. The electric guitar has played an important part in shaping the role of guitars across all musical genres. Some of the most customizable instruments ever made are electric guitars.
