Body Neck Head

Soundhole

THE BASICS OF GUITAR PLAYING: PARTS OF THE GUITAR

So next, we have to learn the parts of a guitar. That way, you will know what I'm refering to in the future when I'm teaching how to play. It's simple, really. So let's get started!

To begin with, we'll start with the top of the acoustic guitar. Here's a picture of a general acoustic.

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Ok, so there are three sections of the entire guitar: the body, neck, and the head. Since the head is the top part of the guitar, we'll begin from there. So, there are three main parts that you need to know that are in the guitar head. These are the tuning pegs, the tuning knobs, & the nut. The tuning pegs are where the guitar strings are suspended to the guitar, which are geared up by the tuning knobs. The knobs, on the other hand, can turn from one side to another, in order to tighten or loosen the guitar strings held on the tuning pegs. The nut, is the littler bar that runs across the guitar neck horizontally (when the guitar is vertical) and holds up the guitar strings from the surface of the neck so they have enough space to vibrate and therefore, create a sound.

Tuning knobs

Tuning pegs

Nut

The Guitar Head

This is also where you clip on your tuners!

Up next, we have the guitar neck. This is where the strings are mainly located. There are 6 strings on the guitar. Each string has a different level of thickness, which makes a different sound. The thicker the string, the lower the pitch. We number the strings on the guitar from 1 to 6; 1 as the highest (thinnest) string note, and 6 as the lowest (thickest) string note. The letter notes of the guitar strings are low E, A, D, G, B, and high E (listed from 6th string to 1st string). Here's a motto to remember the order of the string notes:

The fret board is also located here on the guitar neck. Frets are those small lines that run across the neck like how the nut is positioned. They also hold up the guitar strings like the nut, but play an additional role to the instrument. Like the piano, there are keys to represent the different sounds of the keyboard. Well, on a guitar, the "keys" are the frets. To make different sounds, you press on a certain strings in the space behind a certain fret to get a certain sound. Remember, the higher the sound, the closer you must place your fingers on the frets that are closer to the body of the guitar. All the notes of the keyboard are also on the guitar and on any other instrument!

Eat

A

Darn

Good

Breakfast

Everyday

6th string

5th string

4th string

3rd string

2nd string

1st string

Guitar Strings

L-O-L!!! ;)

When playing the guitar, the low E strings is the string closest to you (your head). just keep the in mind.

Motto

Hey, you can also make a new motto of your own to memorize the guitar strings. There's an infinite number of mottos that you can create! For example, Ethan Ate Disgusting Gummy Bears Ecstatically, or Excellent Alligators Deserve Great Baked Eclairs may work for you as well (although those are lame, I have to admit)! Be sure to share your own motto in the comments below.

Frets

The Guitar Neck

Fret Dots

Guitar Strings

See the white dots on the guitar neck? Those are fret dots, which mark which fret is which so a guitarist know where to place his/her fingers in order to play their songs correctly. The fret dots mark only the odd numbered frets starting from fret 3 all the way to fret 21 (yes, there are around 21-24 frets on a guitar). On some guitars, the instruments are customized with rectangles, or pictures of birds to be fret dots. Here are some to show you:

Fret Dots! woo...~(-. -~)

Lastly, we have the body of the guitar. In this section, the soundhole, pickguard, and saddle of the acoustic guitar. The sound hole of the guitar is the large hole in which the guitar's sound vibrates and rings out of. The pickguard, otherwise known as the scratchplate of the guitar, is located next to the soundhole to the right (if you look at it vertically). This is usually found on most acoustic guitars so it can protect the instrument's body from any scratches that guitartists can cause when strumming with their picks. So, when you actually play the guitar, meaning that the guitar is placed horizontally, you can see that the pickguard is right under the soundhole.

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& EXPLORE IN...

This is where the pickguard/

scratch-plate would normally be, but on some guitars, like this one, there isn't any.

The saddle is that little dark band-ish structure near the bottom of the guitar body. It contains the lower part of the strings, the bridge, and the bridge pins. It basically holds the end of the strings on to the guitar. On the diagram above, the bridge is the small white band that serves the same purpose as the nut of the guitar, only that it is on the lower part of the instrument. It holds up the strings and marks where they are held. The end of the guitar strings are held by the bridge pins, which are the 6 white dots on the diagram, & are located a little ways past the bridge.

Now the way that the strings are held by the saddle is that the bridge pins pin down the ends of the guitar strings. The ends of the strings are kind of special-looking, too. They have a sort of metal shaped like a bead at their ends, which forms a circular space for the pins to pin through into the saddle body. In addition, a twisted wire is created around the ends, as well. The bridge plays the role of leading the strings down to the saddle surface, creating a tension throughout the whole entire guitar, so you can pluck the strings and create a sound.