In the past century the guitar has become one of the most popular instruments in
music becoming a staple in nearly every style of music from Classical to Rock and roll.
These days, though, most people do not care about guitars or rock and roll, and the
styles that make the top 40 these days (rap, hip-hop, Etc) rarely showcase the guitar in
their style of music. But have you ever wondered how a guitar works?

      With personal opinions pushed aside, this article will show you the wonders of the guitar.

The Basic Stuff

      The guitar has six strings, each representing a note on the musical scale.
When plucked the string produces a note. To change the pitch the guitarist presses
down on the neck in between frets (metal bars). The shape and resonance in an
acoustic guitar creates the amplification. In an electric guitar electromagnetic pickups in
the body pickup the vibrations from metal strings and convert them into radio signals,
which come out an amp through either a cable or a radio transmitter.

Below: a Gibson les Paul and a fender Stratocaster, two of the most popular models of guitar.

Distortion

Of course the sound of guitars rarely makes it to your ears without some form of
modification. One common form of distortion is bending the string to elongate the note
or change the tone back and forth. However, the most common form of distortion is
through the sound pedal, which changes the sound into anything from crunch to metal
to blues. It can even make the guitar sound like it is shaping sounds in another
language.

Style

Each style of music alters the sound to its own needs. For example, country music and
early rock use a bright twangy sound, while hard rock and metal use a heavy constant
driving sound.

Picks, Bows and Capos

Picks are tiny pieces of plastic, wood or tortoiseshell used to strum the strings on a
guitar in place of fingers. Jimmy Page popularized using violin bows on guitars in his
Led Zeppelin song ‘Stairway to Heaven.’ Capos, when attached to a guitar, raise the
pitch by one semitone.

In conclusion, guitars are an essential part of our culture. In order that more people
can learn to appreciate the sound of a guitar when they listen to the radio, music
featuring guitars should have a reserved spot in the top 40.

My Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitars

<< Go back