History Of The Electric Guitar

Once upon a time, music was a relatively small-scale form of entertainment. Instruments were played to family members and close friends. Musicians often played to small groups of people in local villages, no one would have new it could evolve into something as big as it has today. Mass groups of people turning up to see their favorite rock bands play, with millions of followers backing them.

From the 1930′s, people discovered that the acoustic guitar just won’t be sufficient as the music scene and crowds grew. This is where Adolph Rickenbacker stepped in with the invention of the electric guitar, which evolved into what it is today.

Although there has been trace-backs from the 1800′s of inventors creating ways to power instruments, it wasn’t until the 1930′s where the electric-powered-guitar started to take shape.

The electric guitar really took off by the 1940′s in the big-band era. The need to amplify the guitar became more prominent as the big brass instruments would simply outshine the unplugged acoustic guitar.

Many versions of an electric guitar were created for many different reasons. The two versions that are popular today are the hollow-bodied electric guitar which was invented by Adolph Rickenbacker, and the solid-bodied electric guitar, invented by Les Paul in 1941. The hollow-bodied electric guitar still has the sound-hole like the acoustic guitar does. It is normally amplified by a carefully placed microphone inside the body. For this reason, the hollow-bodied guitar can be played with or without amplification. The solid-bodied electric guitar is typically thinner and has no sound-hole. In it’s place are electric pickups. These are placed underneath the strings and pick up the sound and vibrations of the strings. This is transmitted into an electric signal which travels through a guitar lead and into an amplifier. The amp then receives the signal and transforms it into a preset sound and outputs it through the speakers.

In the 1950′s, Gibson, a guitar manufacturer bought Les Paul’s invention and released the Gibson Les Paul worldwide. It was such a success that the Gibson model has been among the favorite guitar for over 50 years!

Leo Fender was another inventor of the time, he invented the Fender Stratocaster. Which, back in the 1940′s, was called the Fender Broadcaster. The Stratocaster is another solid-bodied guitar that been a rival to the Les Paul for over 50 years.

These guitars were the originators of the classic electric guitar style. Many companies have had success manufacturing guitars that are based on the classic looks of the Les Paul and Fender models. These include Ashton, Yamaha, ESP, to name a few.

So this is a brief history of the electric guitar. The instrument will continue to evolve into the future accommodating new designs and features.