An electric guitar is mostly solid wood and sounds quiet without power. Under the strings sit pickups: small magnets wrapped in wire that turn the vibration of the steel strings into an electrical signal. An amplifier makes it loud. Tuning and chord shapes are the same as on an acoustic guitar.
Many amps have distortion (overdrive). It makes the sound rough, powerful and long-ringing – the typical rock sound. With distortion, full chords quickly sound muddy. That’s why players love power chords.
Power chords
A power chord has only the root and the fifth – no third, so it’s neither major nor minor. It’s written with a 5, for example E5: the low E string open and the A string at fret 2. For more punch, add the D string at fret 2 – that’s the root an octave higher.
The great thing: the shape can move. Index finger on the low E string, ring finger two frets higher on the A string. At fret 3 that’s G5, at fret 5 A5, at fret 7 B5. Only strum those strings and lightly mute the others with your hand. In Drop D a power chord even works with a single finger.
Bending strings
When bending, you push a fretted string sideways across the fretboard. It gets tighter and the note rises – like a singing voice. It works best on the G or B string: ring finger on the fret, middle and index fingers helping behind it. Push until the note sounds a whole step higher – as high as two frets further up. The thin steel strings of an electric guitar make this easy.
Setting it up in the app
In the tuner, tap “My guitar …” at the bottom. There you choose the sound: “Classical guitar (nylon)”, “Steel-string acoustic” or “Electric guitar”. With electric guitar, songs, chords and the blues sound distorted – and you can try bending there too.
Play the blues