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The Electric Guitar
If you'd love to play the electric guitar and would like to find out more, check out this useful information from our guitar team.
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The electric guitar is an instrument for everyone, and popular with adult learners and schoolchildren.
There are small scale instruments for younger players to start playing straight away. If you don't own an electric guitar yet, your local music shop is a good place to start and they will have knowledgeable staff who can demonstrate the different instruments available. There are some excellent and affordable sets available with everything you'll need to get started, or you can choose from a range of types and makes of electric guitar to find the right instrument for you.
Special features
The electric guitar goes back to the birth of modern music and has shaped its development. It is popular with singers in bands because they can play and sing at the same time.
Musicians interested in music technology can use effects like reverb, delay and distortion to create unique sounds and it can spark an interest in music production. There are lots of different styles and sounds you can experiment with and opportunities to improvise that giving you the ability to create your own signature sound.
Why choose the electric guitar?
There are lots of key musical skills that you develop when learning to play the electric guitar, such as a strong sense of rhythm, melody, improvisation and harmony. It also opens up social possibilities; lots of bands need guitarists and performing will help you grow as a musician. Some electric guitarists learn to solo which gives opportunities to be expressive and creative. The electric guitar is popular with GCSE and BTec Music students who can use their talents for individual or group performances.
The electric guitar and its instrument family
Electric guitars are part of the guitar family. They are different from classical and most acoustic guitars because their sound can be modified dramatically by plugging them into speakers and amplifiers where the sounds of the notes can be altered electronically.
There are lots of different brands and models of electric guitars with different body shapes and decorations that look different, however most electric guitars will have six steel strings that are mainly played with a plectrum.
The electric guitar in action
Watch carefully and you can see the guitarists starts out playing with his left hand fingers and then moves to a plectrum. The guitarist moves seemlessly from accompanying the singer to taking centre stage for the solos.
Anastasia performed by Slash ft. Myles Kennedy & The Conspiritors:
