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| Electric Guitar Effects to Play Guitar, Lessons | ||
 When Les Paul invented the first solid body electric guitar in the 1950's - blues musicians immediately embraced the new contraption. Since electric guitars require an amplifier (amp) to produce the sound, it is an easy matter to electronically alter the signal to change the sound. They recognized the possibilities of being able to make funky sounds with it. Click for Electric Guitar Types information. One of the first "effects" to be invented was the Reverb effect, essentially an electronic echo that diminishes rapidly. Many guitar amps today have reverb built in, it is a simple and elegant sound effect that adds a warmth to the guitar sound. Effects for electric guitars are usually created by plug-in devices, these usually take the form of a "Pedal" (as they are stomped on to activate the effect, or control it). Rock and metal guitarists often use several effects pedals connected in a daisy-chain. Newer models of effects pedals are computerized (digital) and a single device can create all possible variations of effects by itself. 
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All present western music (rock, jazz, R&B, rap, etc) has evolved from blues, and the ability to alter the sounds of an electric guitar have been passed on to each new genre. Heavy metal, for example, almost exclusively uses the Distortion effect with electric guitars. The distortion effect does exactly what its name suggests, it distorts the original guittar sound and produces a completely new sound - bordering on screeching. Jimi Hendrix has created mind bending wails from his guitar with distortion. Many amps today have distortion effects built in, it is a very popular effect used in rock and blues music. While many variations of distortion exist, most are are "Gain" control effects. Two controls, "Pre-Gain" and "Post-Gain", alter the sound on the pre and post edge of the sound wave. This can create sounds ranging from a flat "thunk" (bluesy), to a screeching "wail" (metal).
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The Wah Wah effect was made popular during the sixties by bands such as Cream. The Wah Wah effect is activated by the guitarist's foot (by rocking the effect pedal), and alters the tone of the sound (going from low treble to high treble) - this creates a voice-like wah-wah-wah effect. New digital wah wah effects devices also have "Auto Wah", in which no pedal pressing is required - the computer in the device automatically varies the sound for you. Some popular rock songs use a wah wah pedal, but it is kept stationary in halfway position - this makes a unique funky sound. Many other effects are also available; such as producing an acoustic guitar sound from an electric guitar pickups, signal duplication (sounds like two guitars are playing), rotating speaker modelling (mimics rotating cone speakers used by some musicians), and many more effects. Electric Guitar Types<<<Previous Next>>>Guitar Amps
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| Read Guitar Tabs to Play Guitar, Lessons | ||
Because there are many ways to play any given note on the guitar (on any string, different frets), most guitar music is often provided in Tablature format (guitar tab). The guitar tab provides a tabular grid showing which fingers to use on frets. As most guitar music is written in a format that makes it easy to switch fingers between notes, the guitar tab makes it very easy to play virtually any piece of music. Click for Basic Guitar Notes information if you need a reminder. 
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Guitar tab is provided on ruled paper (or on your computer screen), with 6 horizontal lines that indicate the six guitar strings. Note the orientation of the strings in the tab diagram above, it appears to be upside down - but look down at your guitar fretboard while you are playing your guitar - the High E (fattest string) is closest to your face and the Low E (thinnest string) is furthest away. Treat the tab sheets the same way, the line closest to you (or anyone else) (High E) is at the bottom of the sheet. All music is broken into chunks called Measures, in the example above there are 5 measures. Each measure in turn is broken into Beats, in the example above there are four beats for each measure. Beats are usually even numbers, either 4, 6, 8 or 12 beats per measure (for normal music) - in our examples we will stick with the simplest 4 beat format. Each beat is indicated with a number on a string, in the above example the first beat of the first measure is "0" which indicates no frets (open string). The number indicates the fret that you have to press (remember, just ahead of the fret toward the headstock, as close to the fret as your fingers allow without actually climbing the fret, click for a basic guitar lesson reminder).
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Print out this page so you have the above picture front of you as a reference, then play the notes as shown. Leaving your fingers OFF the frets pick just the high E string (fattest string nearest your face), the open (unfretted) position shown as 0. The next beat has a 1 on the same string, so lower your index finger onto the first fret and pick the sixth string again. The next beat has a 3 so lower your third finger (middle finger) onto the 3rd fret and pick the sixth string, the next beat has a 4 so lower your pinky finger on the 4th fret and pick the same sixth string again. Measure 2 switches to the fifth string, again pick the open position (0) then lower your middle finger on the 2nd fret and pick, then lower your ring finger on the 3rd fret and pick, the last beat in this measure has a 0 so lift all fingers and pick the fifth string again in the open position. The third measure has different strings being picked. The first beat is 0 on the 4th string (open), then 0 on the 3rd string (open), then 0 on the 2nd string (open), the last beat is 1 on the same 2nd string - so lower your index finger on the 1st fret. Remember to pick the appropriate string for each beat, use your metronome so your mental timing gets trained at the same time as your fingers are learning. The fourth measure starts with 3 on the 1st string, so lower your ring finger on the 3rd fret and pick the 1st string, then raise that finger and lower your index finger on the same 1st string and pick again. Then raise that finger and pick the open 1st string for the third beat (0), and the last beat jumps to the 2nd string so lower your ring finger on the 3rd fret on the SECOND string and pick that string. Similarly, the final fifth measure has fret 1 followed by open position on the 2nd string, then fret 1 and fret 3 on the first string.
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One problem with guitar tablature is that is does not properly indicate timing. While simple beats can be displayed, advanced music often uses variations in timing that cannot be properly displayed in guitar tab format. Additionally, "rest" periods (of silence, no notes being picked) are difficult to distinguish from "held" notes (where you allow a note to continue to ring out for the next beat or beats). However, for learning to play the guitar - this tab format makes life much easier. The next section teaches the basics of reading Guitar Sheet Music. More advanced tab notation can be found in the Guitar Techniques section. Guitar Chords<<<Previous Next>>>Read Guitar Sheetmusic
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Additional pages about Electric Guitar Effects
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