Person:Mary Driver (2)

People have been playing guitars or similar instruments all around the world for hundreds of years, but they've only been electric since 1923. That was when Lloyd Loar invented the pickup, the gizmo that makes the guitar louder in the same way a microphone makes your voice louder. They take the sound from the strings of the guitar and send them to an amplifier. This increases the volume of the guitar. Three brands of guitar that are still popular today helped perfect the pick-up: the Rickenbacker, Les Paul and Fender. These guitars changed popular music. Before the electric guitar, popular music was played with trumpets, clarinets and pianos. This music was called ragtime and big band. With the growth of the electric guitar, musicians began to play more country, blues, folk, jazz and rock 'n roll. Now you can hear an electric guitar almost anywhere you hear popular music.