The Electric Guitar

Question 1

What was a problem with amplifying a hollow body guitar

Answer 1

Problems with feedback when amplification was turned up.
Solid body guitars were formed to combat this problem

Question 2

What is a pickup

Answer 2

A transducer- converting the vibration of the string into an electrical signal

Question 3

What are the two main types of pickup

Answer 3

Single-coil
Humbucker

Question 4

Single-coil pickups

Answer 4

Susceptible to interference and hum, but produce a brighter, more cutting sound

Question 5

Humbucker pickup

Answer 5

Reduce interference and hum. They use two coils of opposite magnetic and electric polarity; electromagnetic noise hitting both coils cancels itself out

Question 6

What does a tremolo arm/whammy bar do

Answer 6

Allows the player to adjust the pitch of the strings, making it possible to add vibrato, ‘divebomb’ effects and ‘screaming’ harmonics.
The effect produced is more of a modulation in pitch

Question 7

What features were introduced to help avoid de-tuning while using a tremolo arm

Answer 7

Locking nut and Floyd Rose tremolo systems

Question 8

What are guitar harmonics

Answer 8

Harmonics occur naturally when a note is played as an oscillation on a string or tube; whilst you hear one main note, it is accompanied by other, quieter frequencies.
Rather than hearing these as notes, they form part of the sounds timbre

Question 9

How does a step sequencer work

Answer 9

The notes are entered into a sequencers memory one at a time onto a grid or series of buttons.
Step sequencers were built into a number of popular analogue synths during the 70s