The Paul. Defending. These are just two very famous guitar brands, and you don’t have to be a musician to have heard of them, they simply imply a quality product by name.

An electric guitar differs from an acoustic guitar in that it uses a pickup to convert the vibration of its strings into electrical signals. With an acoustic guitar, the musician plucks the strings and the air inside the body and outside the world, as well as a wooden resonance box makes the notes shine. An electric goes a step further and uses a pickup, usually of the magnetic variety, which is in turn connected to an amplifier and then sent to a speaker that makes the sound loud enough to be heard. An electric guitar on its own makes little noise, which is not useful when trying to make your music play.

The amplified electric guitar was invented in 1931 and was instantly a huge hit with jazz guitarists who, for the first time, could be heard in the great band ensembles of the time. The earliest pioneers of sound included the Les Paul, T-Bone Walker, and Charlie Christian, and by the 1950s and ’60s this invention became the most important instrument in all of popular music. Quick, name a band that doesn’t use an electric guitar. Difficult, isn’t it?

As with acoustic guitars, the electric variety varies greatly between makes and models; the shape of the body, neck, bridge, and pickups can be different and therefore produce different sounds and allow you to do different things with that sound. Not only does the fixed bridge allow the musician to bend notes up or down in pitch, but new playing techniques are always emerging that allow for a completely new sound from that same guitar. Things like hammering, bending strings, striking, or playing the guitar are used to change it up and add interest to the music.

As with most things, the electric guitar comes in several models, such as the typical six-string, seven-string, twelve-string, hollow-body, and solid-body varieties. Today’s popular bands will be using two or more guitars while grinding our favorite tunes, allowing for more melodies, chord sequences, beats, and the like to set them apart.

The electric guitar, what would we do without it?