Electric Guitars: What You Need To Know

In general and in the past few weeks, many parents and students are approaching me with various questions about all types of instruments. This article serves to be informative to any interested guitar beginners, and may even help to fill some gaps in education for intermediate and advanced guitar players as well.
Although many amateurs had dabbled with using electricity to amplify instruments years before, the electric guitar is said to have been created in 1931. Since the creation of this instrument, along with the amplifier, the musical realm we live in today has been forever altered. Acoustic and electric guitars are played in the same fashion but the electric guitar may be manipulated with (obviously) electricity, resulting in sometimes a completely different tonal quality. This incredible change in tone has inspired many famous artists to find their own voice; thus, sonic exploration is encouraged and almost necessary for any progressing guitar student.
There are many similar parts between acoustic and electric guitars, therefore the concentration will be on the electric guitar’s pickups.

A pickup contains magnets with wire wrapped around them thousands of times. This is referred to as an electromagnet. They are placed on various points of the guitar underneath the strings. When electricity is introduced the magnetic vibrations from the strings are picked up by the electromagnet (thus the name ‘pickup’). This is converted into an electrical signal, which travels out the guitar’s output jack into an amplifier, ready to be heard.
Every guitar has at least one pickup, but most have two or three. Generally speaking, pickups located close to the neck of the guitar have a darker or richer sound, while pickups located close to the bridge have a brighter or thinner sound. In some guitars this is known as the treble (bridge) and rhythm (neck) positions. By the flick of the pickup selector switch one can immediately change tones. In some cases the switch will allow you to turn on two or more pickups simultaneously, providing even more tonal options. These sounds can be further modified by the guitar’s volume and tone knobs (usually one per pickup, respectively).
A single pickup is referred to as a single-coil pickup. These pickups tend to have a brighter sound that can cut through clearly over a mix but with a price. Single-coil pickups tend to buzz or hum, especially when around other electrical devices (i.e. fluorescent lights). When harnessed correctly, this hum can be used tastefully and creatively, such as by Jimi Hendrix:

Video - Jimi Hendrix - Purple Haze Live at Stockholm,Sweden (May 24,1967)

Hendrix is playing on a Fender American Stratocaster, a very popular single-coil guitar. It contains three pickups, with a five-position selector switch (during the 60s there were only three positions). In this video it appears he is in the bridge position or the ‘one’ position for Strats. It should also be noted that Hendrix, a lefty, commonly played a right-handed Strat upside-down!
When two single-coil pickups are combined correctly, the result is a signal with far less hum. Aptly named, the humbucker provides a less noisy tone with usually a richer sound. Perhaps one of the most famous models to don humbuckers, the Gibson Les Paul, is another iconic sounding and iconic looking guitar. Played here by Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, listen for the clarity and richness of tone.

If you notice right before the one-minute mark Page switches his pickup from neck to bridge (or rhythm to treble on a Les Paul). Notice the brighter more cutting tone when the switch to treble occurs.
From a simple electromagnet a skilled guitarist can created sounds that have never been heard. In addition, this article doesn’t touch upon guitar amplifiers, which in their own right, are complex tone machines, so imagine the possibilities when guitar and amplifier are paired! There are decently priced guitars for the beginner that still produce quality tone. (i.e. Epiphone, Squire, Fender) Go to your local music shop and try a couple different guitars with different pickups and see what you like. Start listening to your favorite bands and artists now with a new perspective; see how they’re creating their tone and try to emulate it!

Make some noise