The Hollowbody Electric Guitar (holowbody) also known as the “semi-acoustic guitar”, was originally developed by Gibson in the late 1950’s. As a compromise between the fully hollow, arch topped electric guitars and the new solid bodied electrics created by Les Paul, the Semi-Acoustic is an archtop design with a much shallower depth than a standard archtop. Additionally, there is a solid sustain block of wood in the center under the top, in which the pickups, bridge, and tailpiece hardware are mounted.
The end result is a very versatile instrument which can evoke the warmth of a full archtop and then shriek with the cutting power of a solidbody guitar with a flick of a switch and tweaking of the Volume and Tone knobs. The semi-acoustic has long been the preferred instrument of many blues, jazz and rock players. In addition to Gibson, models from Epiphone, Yamaha, Ibanez, PRS and others are available for guitarists to choose according to taste.
The Reverb (ree – vurb) effect, short for “reverberation”, is a common effect often used to create “bigness” or to facilitate the illusion of a guitar’s tone being engineered in an environment in which it is not. This effect is used to replicate the sound created by when playing the guitar in a variety of environments, such as a chamber hall, an arena or a jazz club.
There are many sound devices which are made to simulate reverb effects of many situations. Reverberation effects are based on processing exact duplicates of the sound wave of a guitar between 50-100 ms after the original sound was made, a phenomenon also known as a delay, flanging or an echo.
The Pull-Off (p??l- ??f) is a term that is used to describe a technique that allows the guitar player to play multiple notes on the same string without strumming more than once. To perform a pull-off, the player must already be fretting a string with one finger. The other finger must be on one of the upper frets. The pull-off is completed when the player removes the upper finger, while still holding the finger that is behind the pull-off finger.
It does not matter how far ahead the pull-off finger is from the fretting finger., although most players typically perform a pull off with a distance of three frets.
The Pickup (p??k??p) is a device that magnetically amplifies the vibrations created when the strings are plucked or strummed. An electric current flows through the metal receivers of the pickups to accurately relay the vibrating movements to the guitar’s amplifier. While pickups are a mandatory feature for all electric guitars, some acoustic guitars have pickups as well. Acoustic guitars with pickups are usually called acoustic-electric guitars.
There are various styles of pickups, but the main styles are humbuckers, single coil and double coils. Different pickup styles have different sounds. For example, the humbucker style of pickup is often used by rock guitarists because of its full tone. The double coils have a biting sound to them, and they are often used by blues and jazz guitarists. Some guitar players customize their guitar to incorporate both humbucker pickups and double or single coil pickups. This allows for great versatility in guitar playing. The different pickups can be toggled by the switch that is usually located close to the volume knob.
The Pickup (p??k??p) is a device that magnetically amplifies the vibrations created when the strings are plucked or strummed. An electric current flows through the metal receivers of the pickups to accurately relay the vibrating movements to the guitar’s amplifier. While pickups are a mandatory feature for all electric guitars, some acoustic guitars have pickups as well. Acoustic guitars with pickups are usually called acoustic-electric guitars.
There are various styles of pickups, but the main styles are humbuckers, single coil and double coils. Different pickup styles have different sounds. For example, the humbucker style of pickup is often used by rock guitarists because of its full tone. The double coils have a biting sound to them, and they are often used by blues and jazz guitarists. Some guitar players customize their guitar to incorporate both humbucker pickups and double or single coil pickups. This allows for great versatility in guitar playing. The different pickups can be toggled by the switch that is usually located close to the volume knob.
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