Parts Of The Guitar

Learning the parts of the guitar is fundamental. The most common guitars used today can be classified as either Acoustic Guitars or Electric Guitars. Both types share the same three basic areas in common: Head, Neck and Body.

Parts of the Guitar

The head of the guitar (or ‘headstock’ as some prefer) is where the tuning keys are found. Where the guitar head and neck meet is the nut. The nut slots the strings and provides string height in relation to the neck. The neck has frets to shorten the depressed string by defined distances. The fingerboard (not the frets) is where we press down the strings. Not all guitars have position markers but they are used to help number the frets.

The body of the guitar defines the difference between Acoustic and Electric guitars. Acoustic guitars have a soundhole to focus the acoustic energy of vibrating strings. Electric guitar have pickups, which are small magnets that sit underneath the strings. When a vibrating steel string moves against the magnet a small electrical signal is produced and sent throught the output jack. Electric guitars can have various combinations of pickups, some type of pickup selector switch to choose the pickup used and volume and/or tone controls for those pickups.

The bridge of the guitar is where the strings attach to the body. The saddle is the part of the bridge the string passes over.

Your basic six-string guitar. Play yours today!

Storm Stenvold
GuitarTeacher.com