Page "Guitar" Paragraph 34

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 signals, which are fed to an amplifier through a cable or radio transmitter.

The sound is frequently modified by other electronic devices or the natural distortion of valves ( vacuum tubes ) in the amplifier.

There are two main types of magnetic pickups, single-and double-coil ( or humbucker ), each of which can be passive or active.

The electric guitar is used extensively in jazz, blues, R & B, and rock and roll.

The first successful magnetic pickup for a guitar was invented by George Beauchamp, and incorporated into the 1931 Ro-Pat-In ( later Rickenbacker ) " Frying Pan " lap steel ; other manufacturers, notably Gibson, soon began to install pickups in archtop models.

After World War II the completely solid-body electric was popularized by Gibson in collaboration with Les Paul, and independently by Leo Fender of Fender Music.

The lower fretboard action ( the height of the strings from the fingerboard ), lighter ( thinner ) strings, and its electrical amplification lend the electric guitar to techniques less frequently used on acoustic guitars.

These include tapping, extensive use of legato through pull-offs and hammer-ons ( also known as slurs ), pinch harmonics, volume swells, and use of a tremolo arm or effects pedals.