You may often hear people discussing electric guitars and electric bass guitars use the word 'effects' when talking about the things which can be achieved with these instruments. However, for beginners it isn't always clear what is meant by the word effect - so exactly what are the effects that can be achieved by playing either an electric guitar or an electric bass guitar?

Since electric guitars of all kinds are, by their very definition, electronic, most of the effects that can be achieved are electronic ones - altering the tone of the guitar in some way, or affecting the actual pitch of the notes, or even making changes to the overall sound of the guitar. You may have heard electric guitars used in a variety of different types of music, from gentle songs to hard rock, from the flat slappy sounds of funk to the distinctive sounds created by jazz musicians. To some extent these different sounds are created through the playing techniques used. Picking gently with your fingers will of course create quite a different sound from plucking the strings with a hard plectrum, or slapping the strings with the fingers. Each of the different genres or styles of music uses different playing techniques - but these techniques are only half the story. Much of the style and sound is created electronically, through the use of these effects that alter the sound, pitch or tone of the guitar.

The effects that can be applied to the sound created by the guitar can be included in a number of different ways. Pedals can be used, so that the guitarist can temporarily apply a distortion effect by using his foot to press the pedal down. In other cases, the effect is generated by the amplifier. In this way, a variety of either pre-set effects or dials which allow the performer to choose which type of effect to use, can be activated. In this way, the digital signal from the guitar is fed to the amplifier, which then applies the effect immediately. This type of effect usually is used to change the overall tone of the guitar, creating more of a richer voice, or a pitch change perhaps. These effects are permanent, until the guitarist stops and changes the settings on the amplifier.

There are other more complicated items of electronic equipment which are usually used by those more experienced players, and these can include items such as amplifier simulation software, which uses computers to affect the sound of the guitar, especially where the guitar is being recorded.

One of the most obvious effects used in electric guitar playing is distortion, where the sound of the guitar is distorted in such a way that it almost sounds as though the guitar is on the verge of having an argument with the amplifier! This effect is most commonly heard in rock music, especially heavy rock, and also in metal. Usually this effect is applied through the use of a pedal, since it is only used on certain, usual sustained notes during the song. The variety of distortion effects is huge, and this can be applied using pre-sets. These pre-sets usually work by taking the raw waveform of the guitar and clipping the signal.