Monday, October 17, 2011

In the land of Guitars...

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

Definition: a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. Consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, usually 6, are attached. They are repaired by people called luthiers.

Different Types

Acoustic Guitars
-Has hollow bodies, been in use for over 1000 years
-3 main types: classical guitar(nylon string guitar), steel-string acoustic, archtop guitar.

Electric Guitar
-Introduced in the 1930s
-Relies on an amplifier to manipulate tone
-Early amplified guitars had a hollow body, but a suitable body was found to be better. Electric guitars have a major influence on pop culture. The electric guitar has been used in the following genres of music: blues, bluegrass, country, flamenco, jazz, jota, mariachi, metal, reggae, rock, soul, many forms of pop

Acoustic Guitars

Renaissance/Baroque
-These are the ancestors of the modern classical guitar
-Smaller, more delicate, produces a much more quiet sound

Classical
-Strung with nylon strings
-Played in a seated position

Extended-range classical
-No more than 6 strings, up to 13
-Classical guitar

Flamenco
-Made of lighter construction, with cypress body and spruce top
-Has tapping plates glued to the table, to protect against taps with the fingernails

Flat-top
-Significantly larger than classical guitar
-Has a narrower, reinforced neck, stronger structural design

Archtop
-Steel string in which the top and back of instrument are carved from solid billet in a curved shape than flat
-Mostly used by jazz and country

Selmer-Maccaferri
-Unusual looking, distinguished by a fairly large body with squarish bouts and a D or oval shaped soundhole
-Strings gather at the tail, but top is formed from thin spruce and forced into a shallow dome

Resonator
-May be made from brass, nickel-silver or steel, as well as wood.
-Sound is produced by the aluminum resonator cones mounted in the middle of the top

12 String
-Has steel strings usually, and is widely used in folk, blues, rock
-Has 6 courses made up of 2 strings each

Russian guitars
-This usually is tuned to open G major
-Has 7 strings, used by the guitarists of the 19th and 20th centuries

Acoustic Bass
-Has steel strings or gut strings
-Often the same tuning as an electric bass guitar

Guitarron
-Large, deep bodied, Mexican 6 string acoustic bass played in mariachi bands
-Has heavy gauge nylon strings, and is usually played by doubling notes

Tenor Guitars
-4 string guitar
-Evolved from Dixieland jazz

Harp Guitars
-Very difficult to classify as there are many types of this guitar
-Considered very rare and uncommon in music

Extended-range
-Typically has 7, 8, 9 or 10 strings
-Bass strings can sometimes be added

Guitar battente
-Smaller than a classical guitar, usually played with 4 or 5 metal strings
-Mainly used in Calabria to accompany the voice


Electric guitars

-Can have hollow, solid, semi-solid bodies and produce little sound without amplification
-Electromagnetic pickups convert the vibration of strings into signals which get fed into an amplifier
-The sound is frequently modified by other electronic devices or natural distortion of waves.
-The electric guitar is frequently used in rock, jazz, blues, R&B
-After WWII, solid body electrics were popularized by Gibson in collaboration with Les Paul, and independently Leo Fender of Fender Music.
-The first electric guitarist to use a 7 string guitar was a jazz guitarist named George Van Eps.



  1. Headstock
  2. Nut
  3. Machine heads (or pegheads, tuning keys, tuning machines, tuners)
  4. Frets
  5. Truss rod
  6. Inlays
  7. Neck
  8. Heel (acoustic)–Neckjoint (electric)
  9. Body
  10. Pickups
  11. Electronics
  12. Bridge
  13. Pickguard
  14. Back
  15. Soundboard (top)
  16. Body sides (ribs)
  17. Sound hole, with Rosette inlay
  18. Strings
  19. Saddle
  20. Fretboard (or Fingerboard)

Guitar Accessories

Capotasto
-Used to change the pitch of open strings
-Clipped onto fret board with aid of spring tension
-To raise guitar pitch, one would clip a capo on to the fret board below the first fret

Slides
-Mainly used in blues music, and rock music
-Creates a glissando or Hawaiian music effect
-Types of this include pedal steel, steel guitar
-Famous slide players: George Thoroughgood, George Harrison, Muddy Waters, Rory Gallagher

Plectrum
-AKA a guitar pick
-Held between the thumb and first finger to "pick" the strings
-Mostly used for electric and steel string acoustic guitars




Different Types of Guitar

Fender
-Telecaster
-Stratocaster
-Precision Bass
-Jazz Bass

Electric
-Telecaster












-Stratocaster












-Jazzmaster












-Jaguar












-Jag-Stang












-Mustang












Electric Basses
-Precision Bass












-Jazz bass












-Jaguar Base












-Bass VI












-Mustang Bass












Gibson
Acoustic guitars
-Blues King
-Hummingbird
-Dove

Bass Guitars
-EB-2 (Electric Bass, version of the ES-335, or Electric Spanish. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones uses this one alot, the ES-335)
-Les Paul
-Grabber
-Ripper

Electric Guitars
ES Series
-ES 120
-ES-335
-ES 340

Solidbody Guitars
-Gibson ES-335-S
-Blueshawk
-Dark Fire
-Digital

Different Brands Under Gibson
-Epiphone
-Baldwin
-Kramer
-Steinberger
-Kalamazoo

Fender Stratocaster Users
-Jeff Beck
-Randy Bachman
-Frank Zappa
-Eric Clapton
-David Gilmour
-George Harrison
-Jimi Hendrix
-Budd Holly
-John Lennon
-Pete Townshend
-Richie Sambora
-Ritchie Valens
-Ronnie Wood

Fender Telecaster Users
-Syd Barrett
-Jeff Beck
-Sheryl Crow

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