<P> The effects alter the instrument sound by clipping the signal (pushing it past its maximum, which shears off the edges of the signal waves), adding sustain and harmonic and inharmonic overtones and leading to a compressed sound that is often described as "warm" and "dirty", depending on the type and intensity of distortion used . The terms distortion and overdrive are often used interchangeably; where a distinction is made, "distortion" is used to denote a more extreme version of the effect than "overdrive". "Fuzz" is a term used to describe a particular form of extreme distortion originally created by guitarists using faulty equipment (such as a misaligned valve tube, see below), which has been emulated since the 1960s by a number of "fuzzbox" effects pedals . </P> <P> Distortion, overdrive, and fuzz can be produced by effects pedals, rackmounts, pre-amplifiers, power amplifiers (a potentially speaker - blowing approach), speakers and (since the 2000s) by digital amplifier modeling devices and audio software . These effects are used with electric guitars, electric basses (fuzz bass), electronic keyboards, and more rarely as a special effect with vocals . While distortion is often created intentionally as a musical effect, musicians and sound engineers sometimes take steps to avoid distortion, particularly when using PA systems to amplify vocals or when playing back prerecorded music . </P> <P> The first guitar amplifiers were relatively low - fidelity, and would often produce distortion when their volume (gain) was increased beyond their design limit or if they sustained minor damage . Around 1945, Western - swing guitarist Junior Barnard began experimenting with a rudimentary humbucker pick - up and a small amplifier to obtain his signature "low - down and dirty" bluesy sound . Many electric blues guitarists, including Chicago bluesmen such as Elmore James and Buddy Guy, experimented in order to get a guitar sound that paralleled the rawness of blues singers such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, replacing often their originals with the powerful Valco "Chicagoan" pick - ups, originally created for lap - steel, to obtain a louder and fatter tone . In early rock music, Goree Carter's "Rock Awhile" (1949) featured an over-driven electric guitar style similar to that of Chuck Berry several years later, as well as Joe Hill Louis' "Boogie in the Park" (1950). </P> <P> In the early 1950s, pioneering rock guitarist Willie Johnson of Howlin' Wolf ′ s band began deliberately increasing gain beyond its intended levels to produce "warm" distorted sounds . Guitar Slim also experimented with distorted overtones, which can be heard in his hit electric blues song "The Things That I Used to Do" (1953). Chuck Berry's 1955 classic "Maybellene" features a guitar solo with warm overtones created by his small valve amplifier . Pat Hare produced heavily distorted power chords on his electric guitar for records such as James Cotton's "Cotton Crop Blues" (1954) as well as his own "I'm Gonna Murder My Baby" (1954), creating "a grittier, nastier, more ferocious electric guitar sound," accomplished by turning the volume knob on his amplifier "all the way to the right until the speaker was screaming ." </P>

Who was the first guitarist to use distortion
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