“You’d always see a lady or a little girl sitting at a piano. I decided I wanted to play something more unexpected, so that’s when I got interested in learning to play the guitar.”
– Barbara Lynn
Content:
> Introduction;
> Parts of an Acoustic Guitar;
> The Neck;
> The Bridge;
> The Body;
John Petrucci, Jimi Hendrix, Slash, Zakk Wylde, Paul Gilbert ... Do any of these names ring a bell for you? Except for being Legends amongst Rock and Metal fans around the world and having a massive influence on generations of guitar players, they all have one thing in common; They all started on a cheap Acoustic/Classical guitar. Look at them now!
If you want to become like them, write a song, do covers, just learn your favorite riffs, or just want to impress some gals at parties, you have to start with the basics and learn your instrument first.
In this series, I will be going over the basics of an Acoustic guitar and what should you expect to learn the first week, month and year of playing. A little bit of knowledge and a couple of chords for you to practice. This article will be all about your instrument, so leave your pick aside and grab a pen and paper to take some notes!
Parts of an Acoustic Guitar
The Acoustic guitar really has 2 main parts: the body and the neck. The others, some crucial and others not that much, are the bridge, sound hole, pickguard, fretboard, neck and tuners. I'll be going over all of them and explaining their purpose.
The Fretboard
1. Inlays
The most common inlays on the guitar fretboard are dotted (like the guitar in this article) because they are easier and more cost-effective to make, others will have Isosceles trapezoids (Gibson-style), birds (PRS-style) or something more premium like 'Tree of Life' and 'PIA Blossom', which Ibanez uses.
Common positions for the marker inlay schemes include single inlays at 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th, double inlays at 12th, and single inlays at 15th, 17th, 19th, 21st and double at 24th if it's present.
Some guitars will have a marker on the first, others won't have a marker on the third (like the guitar used for this article). It really comes down to the builder or manufacturer's preference.
2. Frets
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The frets on the fretboard are what makes the guitar sound loud and clear. They are these long pieces of straw-like metal (usually made out of nickel/brass/stainless steel/mixed metals) pieces that are embedded in the fretboard. The number of frets varies by the type, model and manufacturer of the guitar. Most common (acoustic/electric) guitars have 20-24 frets. |
The 'first fret' on the guitar is the position between the nut and the first fret, the second is the next position between the first and second fret, and so on.
3. The truss rod
A truss rod is a long metal rod that is hidden underneath the fretboard. It starts from the nut and ends at the last fret. You can see in the picture above through the sound hole. Most guitars have a truss rod, some do not require one. It is used because of the high tension that the strings apply to the neck, bending it over time. Most Classical guitars, for example, do not require one, since they use nylon strings, which do not apply as much tension as steel strings.
There are 2 types of truss rods used in guitars: Adjustable and non-adjustable. Adjustable truss rods can be single and dual action. Meaning a single-action truss rod can only be adjusted from one side of the neck, while a dual-action truss rod can be adjusted from both directions.
Read a more detailed article about the truss rod here.
The Neck
1. Headstock
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The main function of the headstock is to foster the mechanisms, also known as tuning pegs, that hold the strings and are used to adjust the tension, which is how you tune your guitar. There are lots of shapes. Some modern guitars don't even have one. Although a guitar without a neck is not a new invention, since they've existed since the 80s, Strandberg is a popular company that makes them nowadays. |
2. Tuning pegs
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The tuning pegs are the mechanisms that hold the strings in place and adjust the tension. This way you tune the guitar to different tunings, the standard one which is 'E Standart': (1)E (2)A (3)D (4)G (5)B (6)e. (1) being the thickest string (6) thinnest You can use a tuner from the store that clips onto the neck or just download a free guitar tuner on your smartphone. I use 'Fine Chromatic Tuner' on mine. Also if you have an Acoustic-electric guitar, they come with a built-in tuner that you can use. |
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3. Nut
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The guitar nut is the hard material between the headstock and the fretboard that elevates the strings, allowing them to hover over the fretboard, so you can press down on them and make out different notes. It keeps the strings straight allowing for them to be evenly spaced out a couple of millimeters apart. |
The Bridge
1. Bridge pins
| They can be made out of plastic, wood, bone or metal. The bridge pins are used to hold the guitar string in place and straight. It also carries the sound from the string to the guitar body. Some argue that each affects tone in a different way. Brass is the brightest, while wood and bone offer excellent sustain. But this is also subjective and you should look for your own personal tone. |  |
2. Bridge
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A guitar's bridge supports the strings and transmits their vibrations to the body. Strings inherently produce very deep sounds because they move only a small amount of air when they vibrate. Therefore, the string vibration must be directed into a larger plane of resonance, which is usually achieved in the bridge of stringed instruments. A bridge can be made of a single material (usually wood for acoustic guitars) or it can be made of multiple pieces including other materials such as plastic or bone. |
3. Saddle
| Bridge saddles are part of the instrument's bridge and act as spacers for the strings. The saddle also helps transfer string vibrations from the bridge to the soundboard or pickups. |  |
The Body
1. Body inlays
Inlays on guitars and similar fretted instruments are decorative materials embedded into the wood surface of the instrument using standard inlay techniques. Inlays can be placed anywhere on the guitar, but are most commonly found around the fretboard, headstock (usually the manufacturer's logo), and sound hole on acoustic guitars. Only the position marks on the fretboard or neck and the rosette around the soundhole serve a non-decorating function (the rosette serves as reinforcement).
2. Sound hole
| Sound holes help acoustic instruments produce sound more efficiently, but the sound doesn't just come out of the sound hole. Sound emanates from the surface of the soundboard, and the sound hole provides an opening to the resonance chamber formed by the body, allowing the soundboard to vibrate more freely, and allowing the vibrating air within the instrument to escape from the instrument. |  |
3. Pickguard
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The pickguard's role is plain and simple. To prevent the picking hand from scratching the finish of the guitar. Although, it was not intended for protecting it from picking with a plectrum (pick), but instead from the nails of the picking hand, since a proper picking technique prevents that from happening. It's still okay to have if you are a beginner. Even if you are not, accidents still happen. |
Great! Now that you've read everything all the way to this point, go back and try to ask yourself what everything is and its purpose of it just by looking at the pictures. Test yourself, once you've learned everything, you are then ready to begin learning some basic techniques, your first scale and some chords! That will come in the second part of our Acoustic Guitar introduction series.
