Chapter 2 – Guitar Basics

The guitar is an instrument with ancient roots and is used in several different musical genres. Guitars usually have six strings but you can find guitars with seven, ten or even twelve strings. Guitars are typically the main instrument in music such as rock, blues, country, and forms of pop. Guitars may also be used as a solo instrument. Traditional guitars are made of wood and steel or nylon strings.

Guitars may be played either acoustically or may need to rely on an amplifier. There are various types of guitars. First there is the acoustic guitar. In an acoustic guitar, the sound is created by vibrating strings that are echoed in the hollow body of the guitar. It does not depend on anything external to produce its sound. It depends on a wooden piece that is mounted on the front of the guitar. The acoustic guitar is typically quieter than the instruments you would find in an orchestra or band so it is usually externally amplified. There are a lot of acoustic guitars that have different pickups so the player can modify and amplify the sound of the instrument.

There are different types of acoustic guitars. They are steel string guitars, twelve string guitars, arch top guitars, flamenco, and classical guitars. There is also the acoustic bass guitar.

The invention of the electric guitar has influenced much of the music of the twentieth century and popular culture. An electric guitar relies on an amplifier that helps to manipulate the tone of the instrument electronically. An electric guitar uses what you call pickups to change the vibration of the strings into an electrical current, which is then amplified. The electrical signal that emits from the guitar may be altered electronically before it passes into the amplifier. This makes the final sound. Some electric guitars have the ability to sound like an acoustic guitar with the flip of a switch.

Unlike the acoustic guitar, an electric guitar usually does not have a hollow body and the guitar makes very little sound when you pluck the strings. When the strings are plucked an electric current is generated. This current is then sent through a wire to an amplifier. The current produced varies depending on how dense the string is and how much movement occurs (how you are strumming the guitar).

The electric guitar was initially used in jazz music and is now used in many other genres of music such as rock and roll, blues, country, new-age and modern classical music.

Some hybrids of electric and acoustic guitars are currently available. There are some very exotic guitars available as well. There are guitars with two three or even four necks.

 

Guitar Structure

The top of the guitar consists of a slim neck and the “headstock”. The headstock’s main function is to hold the guitar strings. The headstock is placed at the end of the guitar and is furthest from your body.

The headstock consists of tuners that allow you to change the pitch of your guitar strings. At the bottom of the headstock is the “nut”. A nut is a piece of material where there are grooves carved out. These grooves guide the strings to the tuners.

The nut is usually made of plastic, bone, brass, stainless steel, graphite or other material. The nut is found where the fret board meets the headstock. A fret board or fingerboard is wood that is embedded with the metal “frets” that make up the top of the neck.

The guitar neck will be the focal point as you begin to learn how to play the instrument. The neck joint or “heel” is where the neck is glued or bolted to the guitar body. The majority of acoustic guitars have necks that are glued while the majority of electric guitars have glued and bolted necks. Your fingers will be placed on different parts of the neck and this will create various notes. Solid body electric guitars have a neck through body construction. These types of necks are built so the head down through the bridge is on the same piece of wood.

Next there is the body of the guitar. The body of a guitar will be different depending on what type of guitar you use. In an acoustic guitar the body of the instrument determines the quality of the sound. The vibration of the strings is passed through the bridge and saddle through a sound board. A sound board is usually made of spruce or cedar and is about 3mm thick.

There is a sound hole in the body of the acoustic guitar. The sound hole is designed to project the sound of the instrument. The sound hole is typically a round hole on the front of the guitar, under the strings. The sound of the guitar is projected through the sound hole. The air inside the body of the guitar vibrates as the guitar body and top is vibrated by the instrument’s strings.

The bodies of most electric guitars are typically made of wood. It is rare to find a piece of hardwood that is wide enough to create the entire guitar so it is hard to find a guitar made of one piece of wood. Most guitars are created with two pieces of wood and have a seam going down the center of the body. Maple, ash, mahogany, basswood, alder, and poplar wood are commonly used to create the body of an electric guitar. Many guitar bodies consist of cheap wood such as ash glued on top of a wood such as maple. Guitars that are made in this way are called “flame tops”. Some electric guitars are made of such

materials as carbon composites, aluminum alloys, or a plastic material such as poly carbonate.

The majority of electric guitars have bodies that are solid and do not have a sound hole. Electric guitars instead have “pickups”. Pick-ups are basically small microphones that capture the sound of the strings and then the sound is amplified.

Guitar strings go from the pegs on the headstock and over the nut. They then go down the neck and over the body and then over the sound hole or pickups. The strings are then anchored to a

“bridge”. A normal guitar has six strings. These strings are all different sizes and represent different notes. The bottom string is usually the skinniest and has the highest sound. It is an E note. The bottom string is also known as the first string. The second string is a little thicker than the first string and is the B note. The third string is B, the fourth string is D, the fifth string is A, and the final, sixth string is an E, just like the first string. This sixth string is the thickest string of the set. It has the lowest sound and is the one that is closest to you. If the guitar is tuned correctly, the first string and the sixth string should give you the same note but in different pitches. If you want to memorize the string position and values you can use a mnemonic devise such

as Eat All Day Get Big Easy.

Frets are strips of metal that cut the guitar in sections from top to bottom. The combination of strings and frets form a grid. This grid covers the guitar neck. If you put your finger in between two frets, this allows you to play a note. The higher you place your finger on the fret; the notes will have a higher sound.