Guitar How-To

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The guitar was originally an acoustic instrument that was used as a solo instrument or to accompany singers in situations involving small audiences. The popularity of jazz bands featuring a guitar as part of the rhythm section led to efforts by guitar players to be heard above the other instruments.

The result of these efforts was an amplified guitar that did not sound like a loud acoustic guitar – it was a totally different instrument! So the electric guitar’s progress became a story of changes in the way the guitar is played and the way it sounds.

The Gibson company spends lots of money on innovations in guitar technology. An outstanding example is the Robot guitar which takes only ten seconds to tune itself. Now, a new Gibson electric guitar is born. Due out in Decemger, the new guitar looks the same on the outside as the nineteen sixties Firebird X but the inside is about as 2010 as you can get.

Powered by a mobile phone battery, the guitar has built-in effects and sounds numbering in the thousands. The new Firebird never goes out of tune because there is an automatic tuner built right into the neck.

Sounds great but many guitar players are complaining that the new guitar is too expensive and full of features no real, working guitar player would ever want. Also, there are doubts that those of us who will be able to afford the new Gibson will be able to buy parts for it in the future.

And another thing . . . not everybody sees built-in effects as a desirable feature. A lot of guitar players prefer their effects separate from the guitar so that they can change them.

More info on the electric guitar can be found in the first of my free PDF articles on the guitar called Learn How To Play The Electric Guitar.

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