An electric guitar is a guitar which has its sound electronically amplified. They are similar to acoustic guitars in that they have six strings but they have pick-ups on the fretboard that detect the vibrations of the strings and amplify the sounds through an amplifier.
A pickup uses magnetism to detect the vibrations of the guitar strings and turns these into electrical signals which are sent to the amplifier. All pickups have the same simple design of a rectangular magnet wrapped in a copper bobbin coil and it screws onto the guitar body. A single pickup has one coil while a humbucking pickup has two coils side by side and produces a fatter sound.
Amplifiers pick up the signals from the guitars pickup and amplify the sound through an inbuilt speaker. They can be used to manipulate and distort the sound to a certain degree. They come in a wide range of models with some suiting different music styles more than others. They range in price from economical right up to top of the lines models.
Cables are needed to link the guitar to the amplifier. Buy good quality cables when possible and always consider the cable length, short cables will be useless if you move around a lot when playing.
A range of foot activated peddles or stomp effects can be added to offer a variety of special effects. A power supply is needed to power the equipment. Most equipment can be plugged into a normal household power outlet. Depending on the amplifier an extra speaker may be required.