Help: Electric and Acoustic explained Guitar Part Names
Generally the parts are similar on most guitars, but there are some obvious differences between classical and electric.
Number 1 on my list is the sound hole (acoustic guitar) or pick ups (electric guitar)
The sound hole allows sound in and out – in when the strings are plucked and out once the sound has bounced (also called reverberated) around inside the body of the acoustic guitar.
Pickups do ‘pickup’ the sound as the name suggests. They do a similar job to the sound hole but the sound is passed through the electronics of the guitar and to an amplifier.
Some of the sound on an electric guitar also gets absorbed into the body. You can hear this if you place your ear onto the body and pluck a string – it will sound quite loud!
2 is the bridge. This is where the strings connect to the body. The strings go over the bridge!
3 – the ‘nut’ this is the opposite end to the bridge. The strings pass through this onto the (4) tuning pegs. These allow the strings to be stretched or slackened. Usually turning a peg anti-clockwise makes the string sound/pitch go up/lower. Clockwise makes the string sound go down/lower.
5 The tuning pegs are screwed into the headstock of the guitar. Combined, the nut, bridge, headstock and tuning pegs control the string tuning and pitch. It is very simple physics – the nut and bridge keep the string on a constant pitch. When you place your finger on the (6) fretboard, you are shortening the string and replacing the nuts job. Your finger becomes the nut! Using your fingers you can only make the string pitch go higher. To make it lower you have to turn the tuning pegs.
7 The frets are split by metal bars laid into the fret board. This is where you will be placing your fingers when we get to actual playing.
8 The electric guitar has volume and tone controls. The tone controls change the sound of the string.
9 Pick up selector. You can switch between pickups, choosing which pickup to use – also changing the tone of the string.
10 Jack/output. Where you will plug in a guitar lead to plug an electric guitar into an amplifier.
Those are the basic parts of a guitar. On some electric guitars you will find a ‘whammy bar’ or tremolo arm. This allows you to change the pitch of a string by pushing or pulling the bar. It’s great fun.
All guitars have these parts in one way or another (possibly not the whammy bar) but they are sometimes spread into different places. On my Westfield Les Paul the pickup selector is nearer the top of the body than the bottom – there are also less choices to choose from.
My Fender Stratocaster has 5 different choices and combines different pickups to change the tone of the strings.
Thanks for reading 'Electric and Acoustic explained Guitar Part Names' this is the 2nd FREE guitar beginner lesson written by me, Steve Blackmore.
The next lesson is about your guitar hand position
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