Guide to the Guitar

Understanding Your First Guitar

So you've just bought your first guitar! Before we dive into learning pieces and how to play, let's familiarize ourselves with the different parts of the instrument.

Connecting Your Guitar

If you have an electric guitar like this, you probably have an amplifier (amp) as well. To connect your guitar to the amp, you'll be using a jack lead. Here's how:

• Plug the jack lead into the input jack located at the bottom of your guitar or on the body of certain models.
• Connect the other end to your amp where it says "input."

Now you should be able to hear sound coming through the amp nicely and clearly.

The Main Areas of a Guitar

Every guitar consists of three main areas:

1. Body
2. Neck
3. Head

This is true for both acoustic and electric guitars.

The Body

• Sound Production: The body is where the main sound comes from.

  • On an acoustic guitar, the body is thicker and has a sound hole, which projects the volume of the instrument.
  • Electric guitars lack this feature, which is why we use an amplifier to transfer sound through the cable.

• Scratch Plate:

  • Not all electric guitars have a scratch plate, but yours probably does.
  • The scratch plate protects your guitar from wear caused by playing with a pick over time.

• Volume and Tone Knobs:

  • Volume Knob: Controls the output signal to the amplifier.

    • When rolled all the way off, no sound comes through.
    • As you raise the volume, you hear the classic guitar sound.

  • Tone Knob:

    • Adjusts the amount of high-end in your sound.
    • If you play a chord and adjust the tone, you'll notice a significant difference:
      • Lowering the tone can give a darker, "underwater" sound.
      • Raising it brings back clarity.

Pickup Selector

• Pickups:

  • These are magnetic devices that capture the sound of the strings and send the signal through the guitar and to the amp.

• Functionality:

  • The pickup selector acts similarly to a tone knob.
  • Different pickups provide distinct sounds:
    • Neck Pickup: Often bassier, as it's closer to the neck.
    • Bridge Pickup: Treblier and often harsher, as it's closer to the bridge.

The Bridge

• This is where the strings are mounted to the body of the guitar.

The Strings

• The Source of Sound: The strings are what produce sound. Without them, the guitar is just a piece of wood.

• Configuration:

  • Six strings:
    • The lowest (thickest) is closest to the head.
    • The thinnest (highest) is closest to the floor.
  • As you pluck down the strings, the pitch increases.

The Neck and Frets

• The neck is where you find all the pitches on the frets.

What is a Fret?

• A fret is the metal strip running vertically down the neck that gives us the ability to change pitch when we press down on the strings.

• Playing Technique:

  • Push down just behind the metal fret on the wooden gap to get the clearest note.
  • Avoid touching the metal strip, as it causes the note to sound rattly.

Getting the Note Right

• Pressure:

  • Ensure you apply enough pressure for a clean note.
  • Too soft will result in a muted sound, while too hard can change the pitch or cause discomfort.

• Practice:

  • Move up and down the neck and experiment with different strings, as some may require more pressure than others.

The Nut

• This part keeps the spacing of the strings accurate as they run through.

The Head and Tuning Pegs

• Tuning Pegs:

  • This is where the strings go through, helping keep your guitar in tune.

• Importance of Tuning:

  • Playing with other musicians or backing tracks is difficult if your guitar is out of tune.

• Example:

  • If the lowest string is out of tune, it can make everything else sound bad.
  • Simply turn the pegs to find the correct note.

Conclusion

That's all about the different parts of the guitar!

Action Step: Pause this video, examine your guitar, and try to label the parts. Rewind to check if you got them right!

Next up, we'll cover how to sit with your guitar, how to hold a pick, and eventually how to play some notes.