What does distortion mean in music?

Answer 1

A clean tone is the sound a guitar string makes when it is plucked. A common sound manipulation trick used in rock, and well, most types of music involving Guitars, is "distortion". Distortion is what gives the guitar that electric sound we all love.

The intro to this song is a guitar that is clean (no distortion):

http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=xPKkKgOJmiM

The intro to this song is a guitar that is distorted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9skUH9rSD8

Sorry I can give you the technical specifications. Check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distortion_(guitar)

Answer 2

What is distortion?

Amplitude distortion occurs in an electronic signal when the power of the amplifier is not great enough to carry the sine wave to its intended peak amplification. If you look at the wave form of a amplitude distorted output signal, it would look like someone had neatly sliced off the top of a hill. Though amplitude distortion is usually an undesired result, the effect is sometimes used intentionally for audio applications, such as a distorted rock guitar which gives that crunchy rock sound.

Answer 3

Distortion in music means exactly what the word distortion suggests. Any instrument or vocals in a song is warped or changed from it's original sound, usually in such a way you can still tell what the original instrument was, but with a new flavor. A couple of examples are autotune on vocals, or overdrive on electric guitar.

Answer 4

Distortion is the twisting and tweaking of musical sound to give it a particularly desired outcome.