The Fabulous School of Music

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Electric Guitar

What is an Electric Guitar?

Guitars were originally made to be played acoustically, where the tone was produced by vibration of the strings and modulated by its hollow body. Later in the 20th century electric guitars were introduced. The electric guitar was patented by George Beauchamp in 1936. In the 1950’s and 1960’s with the development of better amps and many more guitar manufacturers, the electric guitar became a huge influence on popular music and culture ever since.  The largest music retailer today, Guitar Center, was renamed from “Keyboard Center” in 1964 due to the popularity of the Beatles and their electric guitars.

Electric guitars can have solid, semi-hollow, or hollow bodies, and produce little sound without amplification. Electromagnetic pickups convert the vibration of the steel strings into electrical signals which are fed to an amplifier through a cable or radio transmitter. The sound is frequently modified by other electronic devices (special effects, stomp boxes) or the natural distortion of valves (vacuum tubes) in the amplifier.  There are two main types of pickup, single and double coil (or humbucker), each of which can be passive or active (with a battery). The electric guitar is used extensively in jazz, blues, country and especially all styles of rock music.  Two of the most notable companies to commercialize the electric guitar are Gibson in collaboration with Les Paul, and by Leo Fender of Fender Music. 

Over the last 50 years the electric guitar has become one if not the most popular instrument with several guitar players adding to its popularity such as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Satriani, Les Paul, Jimmy Page,  Carlos Santana and many more!

Teaching Philosophy

With seven guitar teachers on the faculty of the Fabulous School of Music, we have a tremendous amount of schedule flexibility as well as several types of guitar instruction, different books used, techniques, levels, styles and ages each teacher will take.

Our teachers start the young beginning student with reading notes using one of the Hal Leonard or Mel Bay Guitar Method books. Power chords, simple scales and R ‘n R techniques are introduced along with simple chord progressions and cool riffs, strumming patterns and most importantly the students choice of songs.  Young students will find it easier to play the electric than any other kind of guitar due to its forgiving action (small distance of the strings to the fretboard) and smaller neck and lighter strings.

For older students and adults the same approach can apply, although we normally design and evolve the curriculum around the individual, their capabilities, their musical preferences and their level.  Topics that will be covered are barre chords, types of chords, strumming, chord progressions, scales, soloing, music theory and ear training. Students are also encouraged to bring in specific songs and styles that they would like their teacher to cover during their lessons.  Normally electric guitar students are accepted at age 7.

The philosophy of our guitar teachers is that learning the guitar should be fun, a creative outlet and we strive to instill a passion for music that lasts throughout a student’s life.