Guitar Pickup Basics

A guitar pickup essentially consists of a coil of wire wrapped around a magnet (or series of magnets, as would be the case). When a steel or nickel string vibrates, it interrupts a magnetic field, creating energy. This can be explained by Faraday's Law of Induction.

Faraday's Law of Induction: The induced electromotive force (EMF) in any closed circuit is equal to the time rate of change of the magnetic flux through the circuit.

In other words, when a magnetic field is disrupted, it creates energy in a closed circuit that is also in its field.

Magnets: Lower strength magnets give the guitar a warmer, bassier tone and sound better clean, while higher strength ceramic magnets have more treble and bite, and are usually desirable for use with distortion.

Coils: The more wraps in a pickup's coil, the more output it has. The kind/age/preparation of the wire also alters the tone. Most coils are sealed in wax to prevent feedback.

Single Coil Pickups: The first form of guitar pickup. While picking up the sound of the guitar, early single coils would also pick up stray radio frequencies, which would result in an annoying humming sound. Single coils are still used, however, because of the quality of their clear, bright sound, and because many improvements have been made that minimize the hum.

Humbucking Pickups: This pickup literally "bucks" the "hum" from the signal, and was first invented as a solution to the single coil. The humbucker is essentially comprised of two single coils next to each other that share a large magnet at the base. Each coil has oppositely wound wiring, which effectively cancels out the hum caused by stray radio frequencies. The unintentional effect that came with the humbucker was a higher output due to the multiple, stronger magnets.

Piezo Pickup: A pickup that functions based on the principle of piezoelectricity. A ceramic disc (or more recently, a synthetic polymer) is affixed to a vibrating surface (usually the bridge of a guitar or other stringed instrument). The vibrations create energy which is sent to the amplifier.

Piezoelectricity: The charge which accumulates in certain solid materials (in this case, ceramics) in response to applied mechanical strain. This is essentially electricity resulting from pressure.

Different ways to play the same note, and the distance between the G and B strings.

I'm only going to touch on the major and minor scales in this post, because they are the most commonly used scales in modern music, and once you have an understanding of how scales fit together, you can play them anywhere on the neck.

There are two common ways to play a major scale:

e:|-|B|C|-|-|-|
B:|-|-|G|-|A|-|
G:|-|D|-|E|F|-|
D:|-|A|-|B|C|-|
A:|-|E|F|-|G|-|
E:|-|-|C|-|D|-|

And:

e:|-|-|D|-|E|F|
B:|-|-|A|-|B|C|
G:|-|E|F|-|G|-|
D:|-|B|C|-|D|-|
A:|F|-|G|-|A|-|
E:|C|-|D|-|E|-|

You'll notice, as you travel up the strings, that even though the patterns are different, the notes occur in the same sequence. This is because the same note occurs in multiple places on the neck, and can be played in different places to suit different fingerings and even styles of play. The top example is the more traditional way of playing a major scale, and lends its self more easily to melodic playing. The bottom is often referred to as a "shredder scale", because there are three notes per string and, as you can see, small modules of notes on the E&A, D&G, and B&e strings. This makes it easy to blast up and down your scales at silly speeds, and is usually favored by metal guys.

We can see the same thing with the minor scale:

e:|-|A|-|-|-|-|
B:|-|E|F|-|G|-|
G:|B|C|-|D|-|-|
D:|-|G|-|A|-|-|
A:|-|D|-|E|F|-|
E:|-|A|-|B|C|-|

And:

e:|-|-|-|-|-|-|
B:|-|F|-|G|-|A|
G:|C|-|D|-|E|-|
D:|G|-|A|-|B|-|
A:|D|-|E|F|-|-|
E:|A|-|B|C|-|-|

The really important thing to learn here is that the same note occurs one string down and five frets to the right. This is important, because if you're confronted with a situation where you've run out of fingers and can't move any further to the right on a string, you can always step up to the next string using this rule.

A:|X|-|-|-|-|-|
E:|-|-|-|-|-|X|

Octaves occur two strings up and two frets to the right. This is one of my favorite tricks, because it lets you repeat the same riff in different octaves on the neck. It sounds very shreddy, and is a useful way of moving from place to place quickly.

D:|-|-|-|X|-|
A:|-|-|-|-|-|
E:|-|X|-|-|-|

This next example is one such riff. The X'es mark the octaves, and the 0's mark the other notes. You can see how it repeats up the fretboard. If you look closely, you may notice that my rule does not hold up between the octaves on the D and B strings. This is because the distance between the G and the B strings is one half-step shorter than all the others, which equates to one fret shorter. One half-step equals one fret.

e:|-|-|-|-|-|-|0|-|-|0|-|-|
B:|-|-|-|-|-|-|X|0|-|-|-|-|
G:|-|-|-|0|-|-|0|-|-|-|-|-|
D:|-|-|-|X|0|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|
A:|-|0|-|-|0|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|
E:|-|X|0|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Because of this, every time we play up to the B string from the G string, we need to shift the next note one to the right. Similarly, move one to the left when traveling downwards.

e:|-|-|-|-|-|-|0|-|-|0|
B:|-|-|-|-|-|-|X|0|-|-| --> Traveling upwards; move right.
G:|-|-|-|0|-|-|0|-|-|-| <-- Traveling downwards; move left.
D:|-|-|-|X|0|-|-|-|-|-|
A:|-|0|-|-|0|-|-|-|-|-|
E:|-|X|0|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|

Here's an example: On any other two strings, the beginning of a C major scale will look like this:

A:|-|F|-|G|-|A|-|
E:|-|C|-|D|-|E|-|

But on the G and B string, it will look like this:

B:|-|-|F|-|G|-|A|
G:|-|C|-|D|-|E|-|

The reason for this is that it makes barre chords work. With the B string down a step, it would be impossible to barre chords.

These things make all the difference:

Guitar Picks: Your choice of pick is extremely important. Light gauge picks will allow you to play faster, but sacrifice a bit of tone, while heavy picks give your sound a bit more clarity and presence. The most important thing here is that you have a pick that feels comfortable. Picks that you can't properly hold on to will do you no good.

Guitar Position: You'll see most classical guitarists playing with their guitar resting between their legs, with the instrument angled up about 30 degrees. This serves several purposes, and should be used by everybody, whether they're playing Bach or not:

1. When the fretboard is closer to your face, you bend your neck less, which makes extended practice sessions considerably more comfortable.
2. When your hands are relaxed, they generally lay with the palms facing towards your body. The further away from this position your turn your wrists, the more tense your arms become, and the more difficult it is to play your guitar. Chapman stick players probably have the most relaxed arms of all, because the chapman stick is played pointing vertically, which positions the hands in a very relaxed manner.
3. This position encourages better posture. It looks more professional, and is ultimately more comfortable. With your guitar over your right leg, it's quite easy to slouch over it. If we get really technical, we might even say that this will muffle some of the tone (this applies more specifically to acoustic guitars, of course).

Strap Length: I'm sure we can all agree that wearing your guitar down by your knees looks cool. However, the longer your strap gets, the more difficult it is to play accurately. A shorter strap will position your wrists in much more favorable positions to the fretboard.

Warming Up: No athlete can run a race without warming up first. Fingers, like legs, have (albiet, smaller) muscles, and will benefit immensely from a session of finger exercises and scales before you really begin practicing.

The Pinky: Yeah, the pinky sucks. It's small, weak at first, and awkward to control. Nobody likes learning to use their pinky, but it's essential if you want to learn to play well! The pinky will allow you to stretch further, play more diverse scales, and is essential for learning tricker songs. Thousands of guitarists before you learned to their pinkies, and you won't be able to play any of their material unless you learn to use yours as well.

Welcome!

I've been playing guitar for around 7 years now, and nothing has come easily. It's been a huge battle, and much of the reason why I've had so much difficulty is that almost I'm completely self taught. I had to discover almost everything on my own. I've figured out a lot of it, though, and I think I should share my knowledge with others so that they don't have to spend as much time as I did agonizing over how to form unusual chords, find notes on the fretboard, or improvise.

This blog will be devoted to explaining everything that has made guitar easier and more enjoyable for me.