Strings

The materials used in the strings gives players a range of tonal options. String types include all-metal strings (roundwound or flatwound), metal strings with different coverings, such as tapewound and plastic-coatings, and non-metal strings made of nylon.

Roundwounds have a brighter timbre with greater sustain than flatwounds. Flatwounds are still used by bassists who want a more vintage, smooth, or damped sound.

An excellent supplier of high quality guitar strings is Sfarzo. They have a good range and variety so no matter what instrument you have you will find a set to suit.

I use them myself and I highly recommend them. You can order online and have them delivered by clicking on any of the Sfarzo banners you see on the site.

The "Vibrato" (pitch bend) unit can be found on many electric guitars. It also has a number of slang terms applied to it such as "tremolo bar (or arm)", "sissy bar", "whammy handle", and "whammy bar".

The last two terms led  to 'stomp-box' manufacturers to use the slang term 'whammy' to describe a pitch raising effect introduced by the popular guitar effects pedal brand "Digitech".

Leo Fender contributed a lot to the creation of the electric guitar. He also created much confusion over the meaning of the terms "tremolo" and "vibrato". More specifically, he did this by misnaming the "tremolo" unit on many of his guitars and also misnaming the "vibrato" unit on his "Vibrolux" amps.

Generally in music, vibrato is a variation in pitch, whereas tremolo is a variation in volume.  So to add to the confusion, the tremolo bar is actually a vibrato bar (pitch) and the "Vibrolux" amps actually had a tremolo effect (volume).

However electric guitarists traditionally reverse these meanings when speaking of hardware devices and the effects they produce - following Fender's lead.

A distinctly different mechanical vibrato found on some guitars is the BIGSBY vibrato. This vibrato wraps the strings around a horizontal bar, which is then rotated with a handle by the musician.

Another type of vibrato is the B-Bender. This is a spring and lever device mounted in an internal cavity of a solid body electric guitar. It allows the guitarist to bend just the B string of the guitar using a lever connected to the strap handle of the guitar. The resulting pitch bend is the reminiscent sound of the pedal steel guitar.

A capotasto (or capo) is used to change the pitch of open strings. Capos are clipped onto the fret board with the aid of spring tension, or in some models, elastic tension.

 

To raise the guitar's pitch by one semitone, the player would clip the capo onto the first fret.

 

Their use allows a player to play in different keys without having to change fingering. Because of the ease with which they allow guitar players to change keys, they are sometimes referred to as "cheaters".

 

Classical performers are known to use them to enable modern instruments to match the pitch of historical instruments such as the renaissance lute.

A slide is used in blues and rock to create a glissando or 'Hawaiian' effect.

The necks of bottles were often used in blues and country music and a knife blade or round metal bar has been known to be used. (My brother-in-law uses a triangular miniature whisky bottle)

 

Modern slides are constructed of glass, plastic, chrome, brass or steel, depending on the weight and tone desired.

An instrument that is played exclusively in this manner, (using a metal bar) is called a steel guitar or pedal steel.

Slide playing to this day is very popular in blues music and country music.

 

A "guitar pick" or "plectrum" is a small piece of hard material which is generally held between the thumb and first finger of the picking hand and is used to "pick" the strings.
 
Though most classical players pick solely with their fingers, the "pick" is the most common means of playing used today.

Today they are mainly plastic, however variations do exist, such as bone, wood, steel or tortoise shell. Tortoise shell was the most commonly used material in the early days of pick making, but as tortoises became more and more endangered, the practice of using their shells for picks or anything else was banned.

Sadly there currently exists a black market for tortoise shell picks, which are coveted for their supposedly superior tone and ease of use.

Picks come in many shapes and sizes. Picks vary from the small jass pick to the large bass pick. The thickness of the pick often determines its use. A thinner pick (between .2 and .5 mm) is usually used for strumming or rhythm playing, whereas thicker picks (between .7 and 1.5+ mm) are usually used for single-note lines or lead playing..


Vibrato Units

A vibrato effects unit is used to modify the sound of an electric guitar. It achieves this by producing a regular variation in the volume (amplitude) of the sound.

Vibrato units can be individual "stomp boxes" or built-in multi-effects units. They are traditionally built in to guitar amplifiers. A vibrato unit typically has three controls: speed, depth and power

The vibrato/reverb channel of a Fender Vibrolux amplifier.
The potentiometers, from left to right, read:
Volume, Treble, Bass, Reverb, Speed and Intensity.



Speed controls the frequency of the variation, typically from a maximum of 5 - 10Hz to a minimum as slow as one cycle taking several seconds.

Depth or intensity controls the volume of the variation itself. The minimum depth is usually, but not always, zero. This is no effect on the sound at all. The maximum depth does not normally cut the sound off completely at the cycle minimum, but may reduce it by as much as 6dB.

The on/off control which is traditionally a pull-on switch on the depth potentiometer, a foot switch, or both. Off position bypasses the unit. On an amplifier mounted unit where both on and off switches are supplied, the unit is bypassed if the pull-on switch is off, regardless of the pedal. If the pedal is not plugged in, the unit is turned on and off by the pull-on switch; If the pedal is plugged in, then it controls the unit when the pull-on switch is on.

 

Guitar Effects Pedals

An effects pedal, or "stomp box", is an effects unit housed in a small metal chassis.

They are called pedals or stomp boxes because they sit on the floor and have large on/off switches on top that are activated by foot. Some, such as wah-wah or volume pedals, are also manipulated while in operation by moving a large foot-activated potentiometer.

These devices alter the sound quality or timbre of the input signal, adding effects such as

• distortion,
• fuzz,
• overdrive,
• chorus,
• reverberation,
• wah-wah,
• flanging,
• phaser or
• pitch shifting.

In contrast, the sound of a guitar or other instrument that is played without the use of an effects pedal is generally described as "clean."

Guitar Amp Foot Pedals

Some guitar amplifiers have built-in effects such as Reverb and Tremolo and a switching pedal that turns the effects on or off. Channel switching between clean and distorted channels of a guitar amplifier's built-in preamp is also done with a switching pedal.

Sign Up For Your 5 Free Guitar Lessons Today!

Enter First Name
Enter Last Name
Enter E-Mail
Choose Mail Format	HTML Text
YES! I want MY Free Lessons NOW!