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The Many Styles of Guitar
Types of electric guitars
As we stated previously, there are many types of electric guitars. First off, there is the famous guitar that almost everyone can picture in their mind; a classic rock guitar. When most think of a classic rock guitar they think of Jimmy Hendricks standing on stage shredding on an upside down Gibson Les Paul. Even though the Les Paul is one of the more famous rock guitars, it is not the only kind of rock guitar. The main factor that separates a classic rock guitar from all others is not actually the look, it is the pickups on the guitar. These kinds of guitars have a pickup called a dual-coil or humbucker. The humbucker is a certain kind of pickup that has two coils, one with a south magnetic force and one with a north magnetic force. The fact that they have two coils make them cancel out a lot of the feedback, or hum; they buck the hum, hence the name humbucker.
The reason that most rock guitars have humbuckers is because that way a heavy distortion pedal can be used and have it will still sound like a guitar. Even though there are certain styles of guitars that are titled “rock guitars” and others titled “metal guitars” the truth of the matter is that they can, for the most part, be intermixed. They both are equipped with humbuckers, the only real difference is that metal guitars can actually be longer in scale so they can be drop tuned.
Drop tuning is another whole element of guitar; it is where one or all the strings are tuned down to give it a lower sound. This is a technique used usually in heavier styles of music, such as metal, heavy metal, hardcore, metalcore, thrash metal, death metal, and other such styles of music.
Another style of guitar is a jazz guitar. There is not just one style of jazz guitar; some jazz musicians would play on an acoustic, or on various styles of electric guitars. The main style used would be a kind of guitar called a hollow body guitar; this guitar will either have humbuckers, or single coil pickups. Usually they have single coils, which is a pickup that contains a single, magnetic coil that picks up the vibrations of the strings. The reason these guitars have single coil pickups is due to the fact that in this style of music they rarely, if ever, use any form of distortion.
Another form of electric guitar is the light rock guitar. This guitar usually has a solid body and single coil pickups. This kind of guitar works also for more of a country style sound. It sounds great with lighter distortion and is very rarely used with heavy distortion. It usually has a very clean and clear tone. There are many forms of electric guitars, but generally they all fall under one of these four main categories: rock, metal, jazz, and light rock or country.
There are three main categories of acoustic guitars: normal acoustics, twelve strings, and classical acoustics. Acoustics are characterized by a hollow body and generally have a circler hole in the center of them. They are much wider than electrics due to the fact that they rely on the shape of the body and the hollowness of the body to produce their sound.
A twelve string acoustic guitar is just like a normal acoustic except for the fact that it has twelve strings instead of six. The way to play these guitars is actually just like a six string guitar would be played. Because the strings on a twelve string guitar consist of the same notes as a six string, it is just that the top three strings have a string right below them that is an octave higher and the bottom three have a second string with the same note under them. The only difference is that if one note was played on a six string, the same note would be played twice on a twelve string.
The third form of an acoustic guitar is the classical guitar. This guitar is very different than all other guitars. It does have the same body as a normal acoustic guitar, but the big difference is that its strings are made of nylon. The bottom three are made solely of nylon and the top three are made of nylon wrapped in either silver plated wire or copper wire. These strings give it a very soft and gently sound.
There are not just two kinds of guitars; there are many. Every guitar can be used to play any style of music, but each guitar has a different sound and has a certain genre of music it works best with. Despite what many think, there is a big difference in guitars even though they are all the same instrument.
Most may not realize it, but there are many different kinds of guitars for many different styles of music. There are certain guitars for everything from jazz to metal to classical music. You could, for the most part, play any style of music on any kind of guitar. You could use a metal style guitar to play a jazz song, but it is not going to sound like it is supposed to. Many just place guitars in three different categories: electric guitars, acoustic guitars, and bass guitars. These categories are true to a point, acoustic and electric are the two main divisions in guitar. Bass guitars are not technically even guitars any more than a mandolin is a banjo. Must musicians would say, “Wait a minute, bass guitars and normal guitars have the same set up, the bass simply only has four strings versus six strings. So they are the same, the bass just has less strings.” This is a fair enough assessment, but the truth of the matter is that all instruments have the same notes, they are all just played differently. That is what separates a guitar and a bass; they are played differently.
One may say, “Well, if a bass and a guitar aren’t the same, then is an acoustic and an electric guitar different?” Yes, they are different, but they are still the same instrument. Usually they are played differently, but a talented guitar player can play a lead guitar solo (which is usually an electric guitar characteristic) on an acoustic guitar even though an acoustic is technically a rhythm instrument. They are both guitars and can both be played the same way, hence they are the same instrument.
Now there are many differences that separate an acoustic and an electric guitar. First off, the acoustic relies on the wood and the body shape and its size for its tone and sound, whereas an electric guitar relies on the pickups and its tone can be adjusted easily by the turn of a knob. Of course, there is such a thing as an acoustic electric guitar. That kind of guitar can be either played as an acoustic guitar and then works the same as an acoustic guitar, or it can be plugged into an amp. Most acoustic electrics have tone and volumes controls on them, but not all do. How do you adjust the tone and volume if the guitar lacks these controls? Well, the answer to that is actually rather simple: you either adjust it on the amp or you use a pedal.
Humbuckers are usually used in heavy styles of music.
Single Coils are usually used in light styles of guitar.
Acoustic guitars rely on their hollow body and body shape to make their sound.