BASIC PARTS OF GUITAR

ACOUSTIC GUITAR AND ELECTRIC

In this image, all the different parts of the guitar are indicated. Some can only be

found on electric guitars, some only on acoustic guitars. I will now give a brief

description of every part indicated, from top to bottom.

01.Head (or headstock): the upper end of the guitar neck, where the tuning

machinery is attached

02.Tuning keys (or tuners, tuning machines): these are rotating pieces of material

where the strings are wound around. By turning a tuner, you will wind a string

further around, stretching it tighter so that the pitch rises; or by turning in the

other direction, you will unwind the string from the tuner causing it to loosen, so

that the pitch drops.

03.Nut: a strip of material that is designed to keep the strings in place at a fixed

distance apart from each other. When a string vibrates, it will vibrate from the nut

to the bridge

04.Neck: a wooden extension protruding from the guitar's body. The neck is

composed of the fretboard and frets, the headstock and tuners, and for electric

guitars, a truss rod (a metal rod that runs inside the neck along its length,

supporting it and giving it a fixed curve).

05.Frets: small metal strips sticking out of the fretboard. When you press down a

string behind a certain fret, the string will no longer vibrate between nut and

bridge, but between that particular fret and the bridge. The string length is now

shorter, which gives a higher pitch: 1 semitone higher for each fret you go up

(towards the bridge).

06.Fingerboard (or fretboard): the wooden top part of the neck of the guitar,

where the frets protrude. You place your fingers between the frets and press the

string down onto the wood, hence "fingerboard".

07.Position markers: not every guitar has these, but most of them have. These

are little dots (or other marks) indicating a certain fret number. Most guitars have

markers at the 3rd, 5th , the 7th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 17th, 19th, and 21st (and

possible 24th) fret. They're just there so that you know in which position your left

hand is.

08.Body: In case of an acoustic guitar, the body is the hollow wooden case

where the vibrations created by your strings echo inside, so that the sound is

amplified. In electric guitars, the body can be solid, hollow or semi-hollow, and

the amplification is created by the pickups. The overall sound, though, is in all

guitars greatly determined by the (quality of the) guitar's body.

09.Pickguard: piece of material attached to the top of the guitar's body to protect

it from scratches made by your picking attacks.

10.Soundhole: The hole in the upper part of the guitar's body where string

vibrations enter the body, and amplified vibrations come out to produce sound.

All acoustic and some electric guitars have soundholes.

11.Pickups: Only on electric guitars, although accessory pickups for acoustic

guitars exist for amplification. Electric pickups detect the vibration of electric

guitar strings through magnetism and convert this vibration into an electric signal.

This is the signal that is amplified by a guitar amplifier to produce sound. The

"tone" of an electric guitar is greatly determined by the (quality of the) pickups.

There is a difference between "single coil" pickups (only one magnetic coil,

Fender Stratocasters have S pickups) and "humbucker" pickups (2 magnetic

coils, Gibson Les Pauls have H pickups).

12.Pickup selector switch: most electric guitars have 2 or 3 pickups: one located

near the neck ("neck pickup"), one near the bridge ("bridge pickup") and possibly

one in between ("middle pickup"). With the pickup selector, you can select which

pickups are active. Each pickup detects string vibrations at different locations

along the string's length; this makes every pickup sound different.

13.Saddle: a piece of material where the string runs over before it goes to the

bridge. On acoustic guitars, this normally is a strip of material protruding from the

body, but on some electric guitars the saddle is adjustable so you can fine-tune

the length of the string. (Normally, you shouldn't have to use this too often,

though!)

14.Volume and tone controls: only on electric guitars. With these two knobs, you

can control the guitar's volume and "tone" (or how the guitar sounds).

15.Whammy bar (or vibrato bar, or often very wrongly called tremolo bar: if you

have a floating bridge (see below), you can adjust the string's length (and thus

tension) while playing for some cool pitch-shifting effects. Press it down to the

guitar's body to drop the pitch; pull it away from the body to raise the pitch (not

possible with every whammy system!). 16.Bridge: the bridge serves as the

second end-point for the strings, so that they vibrate between nut and bridge.

Some bridges are "fixed" and thus not moveable; others are "floating" and can be

moved while playing. Doing this will increase or decrease the length of the string,

to raise of lower the pitch. You can move the bridge by using the whammy bar:

GUITAR

A guitar is a popular musical instrument that makes sound by the playing of its

(typically) six strings with the sound being projected either acoustically or

through electrical amplification (for an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar,

respectively). It is typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the

right hand while fretting the strings with the left hand. Before the development of

the electric guitar and the use of synthetic materials, a guitar was defined as

being an instrument having "a long, fretted neck, flat wooden soundboard, ribs,

and a flat back, most often with incurved sides". The term is used to refer to a

number of chordophones that were developed and used across Europe,

beginning in the 12th century and, later, in the Americas.[2] A 3,300-year-old

stone carving of a Hittite bard playing a stringed instrument is the oldest

iconographic representation of a chordophone.

The modern word guitar, and its antecedents, has been applied to a wide variety

of chordophones since classical times and as such causes confusion. The

English word guitar, the German Gitarre, and the French guitare were adopted

from the Spanish guitarra, which comes from the Andalusian

Arabic قيثارة qitara, itself derived from the Latin cithara, which in turn came from

the Ancient Greek  κιθάρα kithara.

The term guitar is descended from the Latin word cithara but the modern guitar

itself is generally not believed to have descended from the Roman instrument.

Many influences are cited as antecedents to the modern guitar. Although the

development of the earliest "guitars" is lost in the history of medieval Spain, two

instruments are commonly cited as their most influential predecessors, the

European lute and its cousin, the four-string oud; the latter was brought to Iberia

by the Moors in the 8th century.[5]

A guitarra latina (left) and a guitarra morisca (right), Spain, 13th century

At least two instruments called "guitars" were in use in Spain by 1200:

the guitarra latina (Latin guitar) and the so-called guitarra moresca(Moorish

guitar). The guitarra moresca had a rounded back, wide fingerboard, and several

sound holes. The guitarra Latina had a single sound hole and a narrower neck.

[6] By the 14th century the qualifiers "moresca" or "morisca" and "latina" had been

dropped and these two cordophones were simply referred to as guitars.[7]

The Spanish vihuela or (in Italian) "viola da mano", a guitar-like instrument of the

15th and 16th centuries, is widely considered to have been the single most

important influence in the development of the baroque guitar. It had six courses

(usually), lute-like tuning in fourths and a guitar-like body, although early

representations reveal an instrument with a sharply cut waist. It was also larger

than the contemporary four-course guitars. By the 16th century the vihuela's

construction had more in common with the modern guitar, with its curved one-

piece ribs, than with the viols, and more like a larger version of the contemporary

four-course guitars. The vihuela enjoyed only a relatively short period of

popularity in Spain and Italy during an era dominated elsewhere in Europe by

the lute; the last surviving published music for the instrument appeared in 1576.

Meanwhile the five-course baroque guitar, which was documented in Spain from

the middle of the 16th century, enjoyed popularity, especially in Spain, Italy and

France from the late 16th century to the mid-18th century.[B][C] In Portugal, the

word vihuela referred to the guitar, as guitarra meant the "Portuguese guitar", a

variety of cittern.

History of Guitar

The guitar is an ancient and noble instrument, whose history can be traced back

over 4000 years. Many theories have been advanced about the instrument's

ancestry. It has often been claimed that the guitar is a development of the lute, or

even of the ancient Greek kithara. Research done by Dr. Michael Kasha in the

1960's showed these claims to be without merit. He showed that the lute is a

result of a separate line of development, sharing common ancestors with the

guitar, but having had no influence on its evolution. The influence in the opposite

direction is undeniable, however - the guitar's immediate forefathers were a

major influence on the development of the fretted lute from the fretless oud which

the Moors brought with them to to Spain.

The sole "evidence" for the kithara theory is the similarity

between the greek word "kithara" and the Spanish word

"quitarra". It is hard to imagine how the guitar could have

evolved from the kithara, which was a completely different type

of instrument - namely a square-framedlapharp,or"lyre". (Right)

It would also be passing strange if a square-framed seven-string lap harp had

given its name to the early Spanish 4-string "quitarra". Dr. Kasha turns the

question around and asks where the Greeks got the name "kithara", and points

out that the earliest Greek kitharas had only 4 strings when they were introduced

from abroad. He surmises that the Greeks hellenified the old Persian name for a

4-stringed instrument, "chartar". (See below.)

The Ancestors

The earliest stringed instruments known

to archaeologists are bowl

harps and tanburs. Since prehistory

people have made bowl harps using

tortoise shells and calabashes as resonators, with a bent stick for a neck and one

or more gut or silk strings. The world's museums contain many such "harps" from

the ancient Sumerian, Babylonian, and Egyptian civilisations. Around 2500 -

2000 CE more advanced harps, such as the opulently carved 11-stringed

instrument with gold decoration found in Queen Shub-Ad's tomb, started to

appear.

"Queen Shub-Ad's harp" (from the Royal Cemetery in Ur)

A tanbur is defined as "a long-necked stringed instrument with a small egg- or

pear-shaped body, with an arched or round back, usually with a soundboard of

wood or hide, and a long, straight neck". The tanbur probably developed from the

bowl harp as the neck was straightened out to allow the string/s to be pressed

down to create more notes. Tomb paintings and stone carvings in Egypt testify to

the fact that harps and tanburs (together with flutes and percussion instruments)

were being played in ensemble 3500 - 4000 years ago.

Egyptian wall painting, Thebes, 1420 BCE

Archaeologists have also found many similar relics in the ruins of the ancient

Persian and Mesopotamian cultures. Many of these instruments have survived

into modern times in almost unchanged form, as witness the folk instruments of

the region like the Turkish saz, Balkan tamburitsa, Iranian setar, Afghan panchtar

and Greek bouzouki.

The oldest preserved guitar-like instrument

At 3500 years old, this is the ultimate vintage guitar! It belonged

to the Egyptian singer Har-Mose. He was buried with his tanbur

close to the tomb of his employer, Sen-Mut, architect to Queen

Hatshepsut, who was crowned in 1503 BCE. Sen-Mut (who, it is

suspected, was far more than just chief minister and architect to

the queen) built Hatshepsuts beautiful mortuary temple, which

stands on the banks of the Nile to this day. 

Har-Moses instrument had three strings and a plectrum suspended from the neck

by a cord. The soundbox was made of beautifully polished cedarwood and had a

rawhide "soundboard". It can be seen today at the Archaeological Museum in

Cairo.

 

Queen Hatshepsut

What is a guitar, anyway?

To distinguish guitars from other members of

the tanbur family, we need to define what a

guitar is. Dr. Kasha defines a guitar as having

"a long, fretted neck, flat wooden soundboard,

ribs, and a flat back, most often with incurved

sides”.

The oldest known iconographical

representation of an instrument displaying all

the essential features of a guitar is a stone

carving at Alaca Huyuk in Turkey, of a 3300

year old Hittite "guitar" with "a long fretted

neck, flat top, probably flat back, and with strikingly incurved-sides".

The Lute (Al'ud, Oud)

The Moors brought the oud to Spain. The tanbur had

taken another line of development in the Arabian

countries, changing in its proportions and remaining

fretless. 

The Europeans added frets to the oud and called it a

"lute" - this derives from the Arabic "Al'ud" (literally "the

wood"), via the Spanish name "laud".

A lute or oud is defined as a "short-necked instrument with many strings, a large

pear-shaped body with highly vaulted back, and an elaborate, sharply angled

peghead".

Renaissance lute by Arthur Robb

Beautiful instruments!

It is hard to see how the guitar - with "a long, fretted neck, flat wooden

soundboard, ribs, and a flat back, most often with incurved sides" - could possibly

have evolved from the lute, with its "short neck with many strings, large pear-

shaped body with highly vaulted back, and elaborate, sharply angled peghead".

The Guitar

The name "guitar" comes from the ancient Sanskrit word for "string" - "tar". (This

is the language from which the languages of central Asia and northern India

developed.) Many stringed folk instruments exist in Central Asia to this day which

have been used in almost unchanged form for several thousand years, as shown

by archeological finds in the area. Many have names that end in "tar", with a

prefix indicating the number of strings:

Dotar

two = Sanskrit "dvi" - modern Persian "do" -

dotar, two-string instrument found in Turkestan

three = Sanskrit "tri" - modern Persian "se" -

setar, 3-string instrument, found in Persia (Iran),

(cf. sitar, India, elaborately developed, many-stringed)

four = Sanskrit "chatur" - modern Persian "char" -

chartar, 4-string instrument, Persia (most commonly known

as "tar" in modern usage)

(cf. quitarra, early Spanish 4-string guitar,

modern Arabic qithara, Italian chitarra, etc)

five = Sanskrit "pancha" - modern Persian "panj" -

panchtar, 5 strings, Afghanistan

Indian Sitar

The Indian sitar almost certainly took its name from the

Persian setar, but over the centuries the Indians developed it into

a completely new instrument, following their own aesthetic and

cultural ideals.

Persian Setar

Chartar ("Tar")

Tanburs and harps spread around the ancient world with travellers, merchants

and seamen. The four-stringed Persian chartar (note the narrow waist!) arrived in

Spain, where it changed somewhat in form and construction, acquired pairs of

unison-tuned strings instead of single strings and became known as

the quitarra orchitarra.

From four-, to five-, to six-string guitar

As we have seen, the guitar's ancestors came to Europe from

Egypt and Mesopotamia. These early instruments had, most

often, four strings - as we have seen above, the word "guitar" is

derived from the Old Persian "chartar", which, in direct translation,

means "four strings". Many such instruments, and variations with

from three to five strings, can be seen in mediaeval illustrated

manuscripts, and carved in stone in churches and cathedrals, from Roman times

through till the Middle Ages. Right: Roman "guitar", c:a 200 CE.

Mediaeval psalter, c:a 900 CE.

 

Angel with guitar, St. Stephen's church, 1591

.

By the beginning of the Renaissance, the four-course (4

unison-tuned pairs of strings) guitar had become dominant, at

least in most of Europe. (Sometimes a single first string was

used.) The earliest known music for the four-course "chitarra"

was written in 16th century Spain. The five-course guitarra

battente (left) first appeared in Italy at around the same time,

and gradually replaced the four-course instrument. The

standard tuning had already settled at A, D, G, B, E, like the

top five strings of the modern guitar.

In common with lutes, early guitars seldom had necks with

more than 8 frets free of the body, but as the guitar evolved,

this increased first to 10 and then to 12 frets to the body.

5-course guitar by Antonio Stradivarius, 1680

A sixth course of strings was added to the Italian "guitarra battente" in the 17th

century, and guitar makers all over Europe followed the trend. The six-course

arrangement gradually gave way to six single strings, and again it seems that the

Italians were the driving force. (The six-string guitar can thus be said to be a

development of the twelve-string, rather than vice versa, as is usually assumed.)

In the transition from five courses to six single strings, it seems that at least some

existing five-course instruments were modified to the new stringing pattern. This

was a fairly simple task, as it only entailed replacing (or re-working) the nut and

bridge, and plugging four of the tuning peg holes. An incredibly ornate guitar by

the German master from Hamburg, Joakim Thielke (1641 - 1719), was altered in

this way. (Note that this instrument has only 8 frets free of the body.)

 

At the beginning of the 19th century one can see the modern guitar beginning to

take shape. Bodies were still fairly small and narrow waisted.

6-string guitar by George Louis Panormo, 1832

The modern "classical" guitar took its present form when the Spanish maker

Antonio Torres increased the size of the body, altered its proportions, and

introduced the revolutionary "fan" top bracing pattern, in around 1850. His design

radically improved the volume, tone and projection of the instrument, and very

soon became the accepted construction standard. It has remained essentially

unchanged, and unchallenged, to this day.

Guitar by Antonio Torres Jurado, 1859

 

Steel-string and electric guitars

At around the same time that Torres started making his breakthrough fan-braced

guitars in Spain, German immigrants to the USA - among them Christian Fredrich

Martin - had begun making guitars with X-braced tops. Steel strings first became

widely available in around 1900. Steel strings offered the promise of much louder

guitars, but the increased tension was too much for the Torres-style fan-braced

top. A beefed-up X-brace proved equal to the job, and quickly became the

industry standard for the flat-top steel string guitar.

At the end of the 19th century Orville Gibson was building archtop guitars with

oval sound holes. He married the steel-string guitar with a body constructed more

like a cello, where the bridge exerts no torque on the top, only pressure straight

down. This allows the top to vibrate more freely, and thus produce more volume.

In the early 1920's designer Lloyd Loar joined Gibson, and refined the archtop

"jazz" guitar into its now familiar form with f-holes, floating bridge and cello-type

tailpiece.

The electric guitar was born when pickups were added to Hawaiian and "jazz"

guitars in the late 1920's, but met with little success before 1936, when Gibson

introduced the ES150 model, which Charlie Christian made famous.

With the advent of amplification it became possible to do away with the soundbox

altogether. In the late 1930's and early 1940's several actors were experimenting

along these lines, and controversy still exists as to whether Les Paul, Leo

Fender, Paul Bigsby or O.W. Appleton constructed the very first solid-body

guitar. Be that as it may, the solid-body electric guitar was here to stay.

American Guitar: The guitar came to America in the mid 1500s and was brought

to the country by the early Spanish explorers and missionaries.

Arch-Lute: This lute has a long neck, which was designed to accommodate two

types of strings, and was used during the Renaissance period in Italy and Britain.

Archtop Guitar: The archtop guitar is a guitar used frequently in blues and jazz

music. The guitar is strung with steel strings and falls into the acoustic guitar

category. This guitar can be traced as far back as 1896.

Bandora: This strung instrument was most likely build in England by John Rose

in the 1560s. This guitar instrument has six or seven string pairs. The Bandora

was sometimes compared to the folk instrument from the Ukraine known as the

bandura.

Baroque Guitar: The Baroque Guitar is a guitar from the baroque era (1600-

1750) that is smaller than the modern classical guitar which is similar in style.

Chitarra Battente: The name of this guitar means the “beating guitar.” This guitar

is larger than the classical guitar and uses four strings made of steel.

Cittern: Also known as the Cither, this instrument emerged during the

Renaissance and is believed to be descended from the Cytole. This guitar

contains metal strings which come in four courses containing one two or three

strings each.

Classical Guitar: The classical guitar became popular in the 19th century and was

regarded as the National instrument in Spain. This guitar contains six strings and

falls into the instrument category known as “chordophones.”

Cytole: The Cytole dates back to the 13th century. It is somewhat boxlike in shape

compared to modern guitars but has been known to have been modified by

Queen Elizabeth I so that she could use it as a violin.

English Guitar: The English guitar evolved in the second half of the 18th century.

The guitar had a pear shape, a short neck, ten strings, and a flat base.

Five-Course Guitar: A five course guitar is a guitar that contains five sets of

strings (courses of strings). These strings come can be single, paired, or tripled.

Four-Course Guitar: The four course Guitar dates back to the 15th century and

was believed to have been created by the people of Malaga.

Guitarra Latina: This stringed instrument evolved from hunting bows and gained

popularity around 200 B.C.

Guitarra Moresca: This four course instrument has an oval shaped structure and

was used around the 13th century.

Guiterrn: The Guitern dates back to the 13th century and was brought to Europe

by the Spanish.

Latin American Guitars: This large guitar was used during the 1600s and was

believed to have evolved from the Americas, and later was found in the Spanish

colonies.

Lute: The lute’s history dates back to the Arab Oud. It has a pear-shaped

structure with a curved back.

Oud: The Oud can be traced to the biblical age. It was first used somewhere

around1600- 1150BC and had an oval shaped structure.

Parlor Guitar: The parlor guitar was believed to have evolved during the

19th century and early 20th century. It was compact in structure and was usually

played in homes.

Six (Single) String Guitar: This form of guitar was used around the 1650s; its

features include tuning heads and multi-level rosettes.

Theorbo: This form of guitar evolved during the 1580s in Florence. It was

designed with a long neck.

Twelve-String Guitar: This guitar arrived in the United States from Mexico. It has

6 courses containing a total of twelve strings.

Vihuela De Mano: The Vihuela De Mano is a 16th century stringed instrument.

The instrument usually contains 12 strings and is popular with mariachi bands.

HOW TO PLAY GUITAR

1. Identify the parts of the guitar. Whether you're playing an electric or an

acoustic guitar, the instrument is essentially wood and metal. Copper-wound

strings vibrate to create sound. The wooden body resonates that sound to create

the warm tones we associate with a guitar.

The strings run between the headstock of the guitar, where they are

affixed totuning pegs that can be rotated to tighten and slacken

them, and the bridge, where they're fixed to the guitar's body. On

an acoustic guitar, the strings are fixed to the bridge with removable

pegs, and on an electric guitar the strings are generally strung

through a eyelet.

The neck of the guitar is the long wooden piece of wood, flat on one

side (this is called the fretboard) and curved on the other. The

fretboard is inlaid with metalfrets that demarcate the different notes.

An acoustic guitar will have a sound hole in the body where the

sound will resonate, while an electric guitar will have as many as

three magnetic pickupswhich will channel the sound through an

amplifier.

2. Hold the guitar correctly. Before you start wailing like Hendrix, make sure

you're holding your guitar right. If you're right handed, you'll play the guitar

by strumming about halfway between the sound hole and the bridge with

your right hand and fretting the strings on the neck with your left hand.

To play your guitar, sit up in a straight-backed chair or stool. When

you orient the guitar to your body, the smallest string should be

pointed toward the ground and the thickest string should be pointed

up at the ceiling. Hold the back of the guitar so it touches your

stomach and chest and rests on the leg of your strumming/picking

hand.

The guitar should be held mostly with your leg and by cradling it in

your body. Your left hand is used to stabilize the neck and fret the

strings. Hold the neck in the V created by your thumb and

forefinger. You should be able to smoothly move your left hand up

and down the neck without having to hold it up.

Even if you hold the guitar correctly, you may experience some

discomfort while getting used to playing. Do not become

discouraged if your shoulder hurts in addition to your neck, arms

and hands. You will eventually get used to it.

3.Tune the guitar. It's no fun to play a guitar that's not in tune and can lead to

some bad habits when you're first starting out. Tuning regularly will also

familiarize you with which string and fret combinations correspond with which

notes.

First learn the name of each string. From the lowest to highest pitch

(thickest to thinnest strings) the strings are named E, A, D, G, B,

and E (after the note played when the string is plucked with no

fingers touching it). Use a mnemonic to remember this order, such

as Eddie Ate Dynamite Good Bye Eddie.

Electric tuners are easy to use and very accurate. Hold it to the

guitar and pluck the high E. The tuner will tell you if the guitar is

"sharp" (too high) or "flat" (too low). Pick each note and tighten the

string to make it go higher, or give it some slack to lower it. Make

sure the room is quiet when using a tuner because the microphone

on the tuner can pick up other sounds.

If you cannot afford a tuner, you can also tune your guitar without

one by matching each note to the corresponding note on the piano.

4.Practice fretting the strings. The frets are the metal strips that run perpendicular

to the strings that mark each note. To play a note, press your finger down

between the metal strips, not on them. To say that you're playing the third fret

means that you place your finger on the string in the gap between the second

and third fret. Hold the string down firmly so that it only vibrates between your

finger and your strumming hand, with the tip of your finger doing the pressing.

Every time you move from one fret to another, the resulting pitch

will be half a step higher as you move toward the body and a half

step lower as you move toward the headstock. Practice moving up

and down the fretboard, pressing the frets and getting a feel for the

pressure you need to use to play a note.

5.Hold the pick. A pick, or plectrum, is a small tear-shaped piece of plastic used

for picking out individual notes and strumming the guitar. They're cheap and

available at any music retailer. While it's not essential to learn to play guitar with

a pick, it's most generally the way to start.

Make a fist with your picking hand and your thumb flat on top of

your curled fingers. Hold the pick by grasping it perpendicular to to

your fist between your thumb and index finger, with no more than a

few centimeters of the smaller end sticking out of your hand.

Part 2 of 3: Playing Chords

1.Learn first position chords. A chord is a harmonic group of at least three notes.

For beginning guitar, there are two basic chord types: first position chords, and

barre chords. First position chords can be played with a combination of open

strings and pressed strings in the first three frets of the guitar.

Commonly major chords are C Major, A Major, G Major, E Major, D

Major.

When you've got the shapes down, practice switching between

them as quickly as you can. Write out more or less random

arrangements of the chords you want to play and switch between

them, strumming once.

Make sure you play the appropriate notes. In A Major, for example,

the low E string is not strummed. They'll be marked on the tablature

with an "X". Develop good habits now for success in the long run.

2. Practice getting a clean sound. After you had placed all your fingers on the

fretboard, play through each of the strings of the chords. Make sure that the

strings that are supposed to ring are not muffled or muted.

If the notes are not ringing out properly, chances are that you are

not pressing hard enough or parts of your fingers are touching that

string which prevents it from sounding out clearly. Are any unused

fingers touching strings?[1]

Keep the fretting fingers curled at all times they're touching the

strings, as if you had your fingers resting over an imaginary glass

ball, or a marble in the knuckle of each finger.

3.Strum correctly. Strumming consists of downstrokes and upstrokes in various

combinations, striking all the notes of the chord evenly and rhythmically. Keep

your elbow in tight to the guitar, and sweep the pick down all the strings as you

form a first position chord, like a G chord. Your elbow should not move as you

strum mostly from the wrist. [2]

3. Learn barre chords. Barre chords, or movable chords, are extremely

useful for starting to play songs. In a barre chord (sometimes shortened to

"bar chord"), the index finger of your fretting hand "bars" all the notes at a

single fret. To play an F, which is the barre chord in first position, you bar

all the notes on the first fret with your index finger and play what is

essentially the shape of the E chord moved one step up the neck, with

your middle, index, and pinkie.

That same claw-like finger positioning on the second fret is a B

chord. On the third fret, a G chord. It's a difficult and sometimes

painful finger positioning, to learn, but you can start playing the

chords to any punk song relatively quickly when you learn to strum

and play barre chords. The Ramones used nothing but barre

chords to great effect.

Part 3 of 3: Sticking With It

1. Manage the finger pain. There'll be a point at which things will seem bleak:

you can't quite get to each chord as fast as you want, your fingers are

killing you, and it seems easier to put the thing back in its case. The

reason most guitar players stop playing a few weeks in is that it hurts.

After a couple of months and years of playing, callouses will build up on

the fingers of your fretting hand that will greatly reduce the pain of pushing

down the strings for long periods of time. Learning to get past this barrier

though, makes all the difference in the world. Everyone who learns to play

the guitar has to deal with sore fingers at the beginning. It's worth it. Just

keep playing regularly, follow these tips, and you'll get past this stage in no

time at all. Learn to love the pain and associate it with everything that you

love about music and the guitar.

Ice your fingers after playing or soak them in some apple cider

vinegar to alleviate some of the pain.

It's mostly mental. Try picturing your favorite guitar player

encouraging you along like a weightlifting coach when your

fingertips are sore. "One more! One more!"

Dipping your fingers in rubbing alcohol after playing can speed up

callus build up. Just don't do it before you play.

2. Learn to play some songs. It's a whole lot more fun to play when you're

playing a song that you can recognize and not just a set of chords or

notes, and there has been a whole world of music written with the chords

G, C, and D. Some old folk and country songs like "Tom Dooley" or

"Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash can be great ways to start. It's just

three chords and the truth, as songwriter Harlan Howard once famously

put it.

Start off slow and speed up gradually, singing along (if you want to,

and if it helps) and pay particular attention to the rhythm. It can be

kind of frustrating how mechanical it will sound at first, but don't

worry. The more comfortable you get switching between the

chords, the closer you'll be to rocking out on stage.

As you master easier songs, move on to more complex pieces. "Sweet Home

Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd is basically a repetition of D, C, and G in that order,

but it sounds much more complex on the record, because of the cool-sounding

lead guitar licks the guitar player throws in.

3. Learn how to read guitar tabs. Guitarists have their own system of music

notation called guitar tablature, or guitar tabs for short. The basic idea is to

look at each line in the "staff" of the tab in the same way you look at your

guitar; each line really corresponds to a string, and each number tells you

which fret to hold down when plucking that string.

E|-------------------------------------------------||

B|-------3---------3----------3--------------------||

G|---------2---------0--------0---------------2p0--||

D|-0-0------------------------0--0----0h2p0--------||

A|------------3-3-------------2---0p2-------0------||

E|-----------------------3-3--3--------------------||

To play this tab-notated lick from the Lynyrd Skynyrd song "Sweet

Home Alabama," you would play two notes on the open D string,

the B string at the third fret, the G string at the second fret, etc.

Switching between lead-style licks and chords is exciting. You'll feel

like you're really making music and not just "learning guitar." But

don't rush it, make sure you've got your chord shapes down

correctly and that you're not losing the rhythm entirely when you

play a quick lick.

2 MAIN TYPES OF GUITAR

Could you imagine modern music without the guitar? Probably not!

It’s certainly one of the most popular musical instruments played around the

world today. Its popularity stems in part from the fact that the same instrument

can be used to create many different types of music, from rock to country to

classical to jazz to flamenco!

You’ve probably noticed that there are all sorts of different guitars. Although they

can vary in size, shape and color, guitars can be widely classified into two basic

types: acoustic and electric.

Although there are major differences between acoustic and electric guitars, they

also have several things in common. Both have six strings strung along a long

neck that’s divided into sections by pieces of metal called

“frets.” Acoustic and electric guitars are also both tuned using tuning pegs.

Acoustic guitars have large hollow bodies with a sound hole just below the

strings. The wooden front of the guitar — called the “soundboard” — is made of

thin wood, often spruce or red cedar, which is chosen for its sound quality.

When the strings of an acoustic guitar are strummed, their vibrations transmit

through pieces of wood, called the “bridge” and “saddle,” to the soundboard.

The soundboard transfers the energy of the vibrating strings to the air within the

guitar body, which then amplifies the sound and makes it loud enough to hear.

The sound hole helps to project the amplified sound from within the hollow body.

If you’d like to be able to use guitar anywhere-indoors or outdoors with a

minimum fuss, an acoustic guitar would fill the bill. As these have hollow bodies

to project their sound, they don’t require external electronics like amplifier and

loudspeaker to be heard. Most sometimes acoustic and classical guitars are

being classified as one, but do not be confused because they are really two

different guitars. Acoustic guitars has steel rings while classical has nylon,

classical guitars are often called as Spanish guitars. Classical guitars tend to lack

the bright sound and powerful tone that’s needed for most pop and rock.

 Electric guitars have thinner, solid bodies without sound holes. As a result, the

body of an electric guitar does not transmit and amplify the sound of its strings

when they are strummed. If you strum the strings of an electric guitar that isn’t

plugged in, you’ll barely be able to hear any sound.

Instead of a hollow air cavity, electric guitars use transducers — called “pickups”

— to convert string vibrations to an electric signal, which is then sent to speakers

that amplify the signals and turn them into the sounds we hear.

The pickups on an electric guitar consist of bar magnets that are wrapped with

more than 7,000 turns of fine wire. Vibrating strings cause vibrations in the

magnets’ magnetic fields. The coils of wire then turn these vibrating currents into

an electric signal that can be sent to an amplifier to produce sound via a speaker.

Of course, just when you think you understand the difference

between acoustic and electric guitars, we should mention that there are also

guitars known as acoustic-electric   guitars ! These guitars look like

regular acoustic guitars, but they also have electronic components that can

transfer sound to an external amplifier.

These guitars are popular in settings where an acoustic sound is preferred but

most of the other accompanying instruments are amplified.

 

REFERENCES

Books

Learn To Play Guitar, 2010

Web

http://en.wikipedia.org -Guitar

http://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-are-acoustic-guitars-different-from-electric-

guitars/#sthash.FOdI1eU7.dpuf - Types of guitar

http://www.guyguitars.com/eng/handbook/BriefHistory.html

http://www.roadreadycases.com/history-of-the-guitar.html -History of guitar

http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Guitar -How to play Guitar

Wikipedia.org -Parts of Guitar

CONCLUSION

Over-all in this research we have gone to so many things that offers us, some

were new to us and some were just “oh I already knew it” thing. This research

greatly contribute to those who are musically inclined people who have this talent

to play guitar not only to them but also to those amateur who still wants to know

how to play such thing. Guitar are very versatile in a sense that they many uses

and can be used for many reasons from just personal enjoyment down to live

shows. Guitar is a very enjoyable instrument to sit around and play, people who

are bored are more often find themselves playing guitar just for the sake of killing

boredom. Guitar is very unique instrument and has been around for a long time,

they are a great instrument to have. There are so many things to come in the

world of guitar, it is hard to tell what will come next but it will make it much better.

Therefore I can say that this research is very helpful in guiding students in their

journey to the world of guitar.

INTRODUCTION

Guitar has always been a part of our lives ever since we were born. It is an old

instrument brought down by our ancestors that create sounds and makes people

relax, with just a simple strum, each string delivers a perfect and unique

combination of harmonies, and may it be loud or soft! Well of course someone

must’ve the ability to play it well otherwise the upshot would be out-of-tune and

definitely ruins the beat. Guitar is not just a mere instrument but also an aid to

someone’s loneliness, some even consider it as a company, friend or best

friends. Some people prefer to play guitar when they’re alone and lonely most

especially if they’re bombarded with unbearable problems, because the solitude

effect of the sounds triggers their brain to form mental image and divert into the

world of imagination. On the other hand some people played it by group either 2

or more just for the sake of entertainment and fun. Emotional people usually

have this certain connection with guitar because they believed that when they’re

into the emotional-mode, they create a masterpiece or so-called “Song”. Guitar

allows people to connect and share the love of music. We may have these

individual differences but as long as we have the same goal, we’re on the same

spot.

SUMMARY

A wide variety of information has been given to us on this research paper. 1st is

we’ve tackled on its origin or history on how it came to be what is now called

“Guitar”. 2nd we’ve discussed its basic parts on electric and acoustic guitar. 3rd is

we talked about how to play guitar especially to the beginners. We’ve also

discussed on the difference between acoustic and classical guitar because some

of us were a little bit confused and mistakenly think that acoustic and classical

are the same, well gladly we’ve been corrected and now we know their

differences. So that’s it!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This research paper is made possible through the help and support from

everyone, including: parents, teachers, family, friends, and in essence, all

sentient beings. Especially, please allow me to dedicate my acknowledgment of

gratitude toward the following significant advisors and contributors:

First and foremost, I would like to thank GOD for his unconditional guidance and

wisdom as I make my research.

Second, I would like to thank our instructor for her most support and

encouragement for giving us this research. This gives us the experience on how

to cooperate and engage ourselves in a serious project.

Finally, I sincerely thank to my parents, family, and friends, who provide the

advice and financial support. The product of this research paper would not be

possible without all of them.

Thank You

Republic of the Philippines

Naval State University

Naval, Biliran

Submitted by: Jilton Daño

Student

Submitted to: Mrs. Nova P. Jorge

Instructor

Resear

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Paper

on

Human

ities

Table of Contents

1. Acknowledgement---------------------------------------------------------------p.1

2. Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------p.2

3. Guitar-------------------------------------------------------------------------------p3-5

4. History of Guitar------------------------------------------------------------------p.6-22

5. Parts of Guitar--------------------------------------------------------------------p.23-26

6. How to play Guitar---------------------------------------------------------------p27-37

7. Two Main Types of Guitar-----------------------------------------------------p38-40

8. Conclusion------------------------------------------------------------------------p.41

9. Summary--------------------------------------------------------------------------p. 42

10.References------------------------------------------------------------------------p.43