Parts of the Guitar | Wanna Play Music

What are all the parts on a guitar?
The average electric guitar consists of more than 200 parts that must work together in perfect harmony to make the guitar stay in tune and deliver a good sound. Most parts are necessary, and you'll find that on even the most basic guitar, the number of parts isn't that different from the number of parts on the most expensive, deluxe model. It's the quality of the parts and the accessories, as well as the craftsmanship, that separate the big-money guitars from the cheaper ones.

The main parts of an electric guitar are:

• Body
• Neck

The body is most often solid wood, usually made from one, two, or more pieces of a hard wood glued together and given a durable paint finish. Whether hollow or solid, the body is the guitar's central point, tying together all the parts. A hybrid design called a semi-solid guitar has a block of wood running through a hollow body, imparting some of the best tone characteristics of both solid and hollow construction. Many electric guitars have a cutaway, a part of the body that's been removed so it's easier to reach the fingerboard's top notes. Some guitars have two cutaways, one on each side of the neck.

The neck is the guitar's backbone and can be made of hard wood or graphite composite (the type of strong, lightweight material used in fishing poles and tennis rackets). If it's wood, it can be one or more pieces, usually of extremely hard wood such as maple. The neck withstands the pull of the strings and gives your hand a place to grab onto. It may be glued into a slot in the body, bolted or screwed on, or built into the body, passing through its entire length.

The head (also called the headstock, or peghead) is actually the end of the neck, and on most guitars it's where the tuning machines are attached. A few guitars have no headstock, and therefore the strings must be anchored behind the nut and tensioned by tuning machines built into the bridge.

Made of a hard wood such as maple, ebony, or rosewood, the fingerboard is often a separate piece glued onto the neck. Dots or other shapes made of pearl, metal, or wood are inlaid along the fingerboard to guide your fingers to various positions.

Thin metal strips called frets are inlaid across the fingerboard. A guitar typically has 21 to 24 frets. When you push down on a string, the fret acts as a contact point, setting the length of the string's vibrating portion and, therefore, the exact note that you hear.

The nut is a piece of bone, plastic, or metal that is located where the fingerboard and head meet. It has tiny slots or rollers that guide the strings so that they're spaced a uniform distance apart. Only the section of string between the nut and the bridge is important to making a sound.

Each string is attached to a corresponding tuning machine (also called a tuning key, or tuner). When you turn the tuning machine's knob, or key, the string wraps around the machine's shaft, pulling the string tight. Because tuning depends on string tension, the tighter a string is, the higher it sounds when you pick it.

Strings make the guitar's sound. The magnetic pickups underneath them sense their vibrations and send tiny electrical signals to an amplifier. Heavier strings are harder to bend but produce a stronger sound. They also stay in tune better than thinner ones. On an electric guitar, the strings are usually steel with either steel or nickel windings around the steel core.

Like the nut, the bridge acts as an endpoint for strings. Some bridges anchor the strings, while others let them pass over before they end at a part called a tailpiece. Small, movable bridge parts called saddles support each string, setting its height, spacing from adjacent strings, and how well it stays in tune with the others. Some bridges have a tremolo (also sometimes called a vibrato), which has a bar that slightly detunes the strings when you press on it. This is good for warbling effects, but also makes a guitar harder to tune. Bottom line for a beginner: You don't need a tremolo.

The end of the line for strings, a tailpiece can be a beefy piece of metal bolted to the body or a thin, lightweight piece that looks like a trapeze. In many modern guitars, the tailpiece is part of the bridge and may include a tremolo for bending notes.

Located beneath the strings, and set into the body, are pickups. An electric guitar can have one, two, three, or even more pickups. What do they do? They're coils of wire wound around a magnet to translate the string's vibrations into electrical signals that an amplifier turns into sound. Think of a pickup like a microphone for the string's vibrations, and you have a good idea of its job. There are two primary types of pickups: Single-coil and humbucking (dual-coil). Basic single-coil pickups use one coil. Using two coils in a pickup makes it a humbucker: It reduces hum and noise while creating different tones.

How do I find a teacher?
Lucky for you, there are lots of guitar teachers. Your first lessons will mostly involve properly holding the guitar, picking the strings, finding the notes, and eventually playing the basic chords. These are all things that are common to both electric and acoustic guitar (and which you can use on either one!). Most guitar teachers are also working musicians, so they'll have a good knowledge of current and classic songs and styles.

Your local music store is the best place to start. They either have guitar instructors or can help you to find one. (Look in the Yellow Pages under "Music Instruction".) Ask guitar-playing friends if they can recommend a teacher, too. Another way to find a guitar teacher is to ask your school's music teacher if he or she can recommend one. Music teachers are almost always musicians and know the local players.
Remember that you want to learn the basics of playing. Tell the teacher what kinds of music interest you, since this will give him or her an idea of what your goals are.

Can I learn without a teacher?
Can't find a teacher, or can't afford one? Or, maybe you have too many other activities to fit in regularly scheduled lessons. Learning the guitar isn't impossible, and in fact some of the greatest guitarists in history learned from basic guitar method books. Music stores usually have a lot of these, and most are designed to let you learn at your own pace. You may need a little help at first tuning the guitar and changing strings. Plenty of web sites can help you there, and if you ask a friend who plays guitar, it's likely they'll be glad to help. And don't forget that you can take your guitar back to the music store and ask their guitar specialist for help, too.