Getting to know your guitar
Parts of the guitar, how to hold it… getting started!
The Parts of your Guitar
The first step in learning how to play the guitar is getting to know about its parts and how to hold it. In this chapter we will discuss the absolute basics, beginning with the parts of the guitar. Figure a, labels the most basic, structural parts of the guitar.
Many of these guitar parts have similar names to the human body. The guitar’s largest portion is called the body which in simple terms is made up of the guitar’s front, back and sides.
It connects to the neck which protrudes from the body and leads to the headstock.
The guitar produces sound from its strings which are suspended from the bridge at one end and run to the headstock at the other end. The acoustic guitar amplifies the sound of these strings naturally with its body, also known as its resonance chamber.
Guitar Parts in Detail
Figure b, outlines some of the more intricate parts of the guitar. Getting to know these parts will help you to find your way around the guitar in future lessons.
This more detailed diagram allows us to understand more completely how the guitar works. For example, the fretboard, which is considered to be a part of the neck, is in fact a separate piece of wood (on most guitars) specifically chosen for its tonal characteristics, whereas the neck wood is usually chosen with tone, strength and support in mind.
Although the strings of the guitar are connected at both the bridge and the headstock, the saddle and nut suspend the strings at a very specific height above the frets which controls the guitar’s playability. If the strings are suspended too high then the strings are difficult to depress against the frets, too low and the strings will buzz. The tuning pegs allow the strings to be tensioned precisely in order to keep the guitar in tune.
Frets are small metal bars embedded into the fretboard which allow the guitarist to reduce the length of the string by pressing the string against the frets. The sound hole assists in the role of the resonance chamber discussed earlier, and the soundboard, although being considered a part of the guitar’s body, is a piece of wood specifically chosen for its tonal characteristics (on most guitars).
Figure a
Figure b
Essential Accessories
In addition to your acoustic guitar or electric guitar amp package, you will need several other accessories in order to get started. Guitars seem to have an unlimited number of accessories and add-ons, especially if you want to experiment with sounds and do your own servicing. To keep things simple, we will list the items which are considered essential to learning the guitar, establishing good practice habits and keeping the instrument clean.
If you have an electric guitar and amplifier, you will need a guitar lead to plug the guitar into the amplifier. Most electric guitar ‘starter packs’ will come with a lead but often these are cheap and fail after a short time. Generally, good quality leads are sold separately at any good music store and have steel plugs which can unscrew for servicing.
You will also need a plectrum to strum and pluck the guitar, a guitar tuner for keeping the guitar in tune, a strap for practising standing up or jamming with friends, and a music stand to place your books on while you practise. Your guitar should have a case of some description, either a soft or hard case and a guitar stand. While a guitar stand may not seem necessary, many students comment on how much their practice regime improves when the guitar is set up on display and easy to access within their living spaces.
Most beginner guitarists will probably need a capo (short for capodaster) at some point. Capos are used to clip onto the fret board and essentially make some songs easier to play for beginners. While professional guitarists pride themselves on playing even the most difficult material without a capo, they are very useful for students, as they generate more enthusiasm among students by giving them access to songs normally too difficult to play. Generating more enthusiasm for students to play their instrument and encouraging them to practise is a strong argument for using them with your teacher’s direction.
A constant companion for the student and experienced musician alike is the metronome. This device will help you to play in time by producing a continuous clicking sound at whatever speed you require. Metronomes can be purchased at any good music store, or you can download one as an app’ for your smart phone.
You will need to keep your guitar clean, for which there is a huge range of products on the market. We recommend you start by purchasing a simple guitar polish and appropriate cloth. You will also need a plectrum (known as a pick) and a guitar tuner, all of which are pictured here.
Figure d
Figure e
How to Hold Your Guitar
Now that you know the parts of your guitar, you’re ready to learn how to hold it. In Figure d, you see the most common method for holding a guitar. It won’t make any difference if you’re holding an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar (like in this illustration), the technique is the same. It’s important to note that the method illustrated here is typical for a contemporary guitarist. If it is your intention to learn in the classical style, then you should seek advice from an alternative publication.
In Figure d, the guitar is held by a right handed guitarist. Being a right handed guitarist is defined by holding the fretboard with your left hand and strumming with your right hand. In such a case, you will be resting the guitar on your right thigh. In this illustration, the guitarist has his right leg elevated by a foot stool. While this is not considered essential for a contemporary guitarist, it assists with good technique, especially in the early stages of learning.
Throughout this book we will refer to your hands as either your fret hand or strumming hand, as opposed to your right or left hand. Students who are left handed sometimes choose to use right handed guitars, but it is possible to order left handed guitars from your music shop. If you choose to play a left handed guitar, the position illustrated in Figure d,e and f, is reversed.
The guitar should be held so that the headstock is elevated, allowing your fret hand to have plenty of access to the instrument. The guitar is held steady by applying opposing forces with each hand. Your strumming arm comes down over the top of the guitar’s body, keeping it pressed against your body, while the fret hand grips the neck of the guitar, thusly keeping the instrument in place. As a result, the guitar’s headstock will angle away from your body. A good representation of this can be seen in the aerial view in Figure f.
In Figure e, you can see that the guitarist sits with his torso straight. This, in turn, keeps the guitar itself almost completely upright. A slight angle is usually considered acceptable to allow the guitarist to see what is happening on the fretboard.
For the best support, the thighs should be parallel to the ground and the knees bent at close to right angles, with the feet as flat on the floor as is possible.
In Figure e, you can get a better perspective of how the guitar’s headstock is angled forward from the guitarist’s body to give the elbow sufficient room to maneuver.
Positioning Your Music Stand
Your music stand is an essential tool for learning how to play the guitar. Just as you need a desk while reading in a chair or to work on a computer, a music stand is required for learning how to play the guitar.
When you’re learning from a book, how you position the material will greatly affect how well you learn.
In Figure f, we have an aerial view of the recommended way to position your music stand. Many people are tempted to position the stand directly in front them, just as they would position themselves in front of a desk. The reason we position our stand to one side is to create a good line of sight.
One of the hardest things to do when playing the guitar is reading what you are supposed to be playing and seeing what you are playing at the same time. As you can see in Figure f, positioning the music stand in this way enables you to keep an eye on the music stand as well as your fret hand, without moving your head. Once you get playing you will find that this will greatly assist with the speed of your chord changes and the accuracy of your playing in general.
Figure f
Figure g
Using the Plectrum
In this section we will be learning how to strum the guitar. You can strum your guitar either with your fingers/thumb or with a plectrum, commonly known as a pick (Figure g).
We recommend that you start by strumming with a pick, but whichever way you prefer, you should spend some time experimenting with both.
Let’s begin by taking a look at how to hold a pick. Figure h, shows the most commonly accepted technique for holding a pick. Form a circle with your thumb and pointer finger, then place the pick between them. Position your pick so that its point is 90 degrees from the line of your thumb.
Keep in mind that everyone’s hand is a little different. Some people will need to vary from this technique slightly. If your technique varies heavily from the one illustrated here, seek advice from your teacher.
As you get more familiar with holding a pick, you’ll notice that your technique will change slightly. If this isn’t causing you any problems, don’t be concerned as it’s natural for your technique to develop over time. The most common change is usually that guitarists leave less of the pick protruding from the thumb. Hitting the string with a smaller portion of the pick often improves your tone.
A Word About Picks
Picks come in a huge range of sizes, thicknesses, shapes and textures. Picks are a great source of debate among learning guitarists, and teachers are often asked which is the best pick to buy. The simple answer is that you must find the pick which is best for you. That doesn’t mean just getting used to the first pick you get a hold of. We advise trying a range of different picks.
For a beginner guitarist, we recommend asking for any standard sized pick with medium thickness. Figure g. shows the approximate shape and dimensions of a standard sized pick. Your first pick should probably have a medium thickness which would be between 0.6 and 0.7 mm.
Picks can make a big difference to how you sound and how well you play, which is why we recommend you invest in buying a small range of picks and start experimenting.
Figure h
Figure i
Your First Strum
Now that you’re holding your pick correctly, it’s time to start using it to strum the guitar. Your strumming arm will rest on the body of the guitar as pictured in Figure i. The exact part of your arm that rests on the guitar may vary depending on your size and the guitar you’re using. Typically it is the part of the forearm closest to the elbow. The contact point is circled in Figure i.
Position your forearm parallel to the strings of the guitar as seen in Figure j. The position of the wrist is also parallel to the strings. This, combined with the 90 degree angle of the pick discussed earlier, gives us the most common position for strumming the guitar. Keeping your forearm and wrist parallel to the strings will minimise the effort required to strum.
Figure j
To perform a down strum, you start by holding the pick above the strings and gently run the tip of the pick through all six strings, angling the tip of the pick upward as if you were painting with a brush. This will minimise resistance against the strings. See Figure k.
An up strum works in exactly the same manner except you start with your pick below the strings and gently run the tip of the pick upwards through all six strings, angling the tip of the pick downwards as seen in Figure l.
Try to keep your strum refined, there’s no need to move further than the width of the strings. Excessively broad strumming movements will prove slow and clumsy. The arrow in Figure m, demonstrates the range required for a normal strum.
Figure k
Figure m
The motion of strumming is produced from a combination of small movements from the elbow, the rolling of your forearm and some small sympathetic movements from your wrist and fingers to help maintain the angle of the pick. Avoid strumming from only your elbow as this will be slow and lack the precision needed for more expressive playing in the future. The arrows in Figure n, illustrate the rolling of the forearm and range of the elbow movement.
Figure n
Rotating the Pick
To further improve our tone and make the guitar easier to play, we often rotate the pick on its axis. While pick rotation is used for strumming, it will become even more important as we learn lead guitar and strike only one string at a time.
By rotating the pick, we reduce how much force is required to drive the pick through the strings. This has a number of benefits, such as improved tone, speed, volume control and energy expenditure.
It’s important to note that, while learning good technique is useful, not everybody’s hands work the same way. Some examples of drastic variations to this technique can be seen in people with double-jointed thumbs or fingers. Sometimes guitarists intentionally play with less accepted techniques to achieve a specific tone or sound.
Examine Figure o, to see an example of rotating a pick on its axis during a downstroke. Some guitarists rotate their pick in the opposite direction. Such variations are not necessarily wrong but may be due to differences in the structure of their hands.
Students are encouraged to consult their guitar teacher when considering variations. Ease of playing, low energy expenditure and good tone should also be considered as guiding principles for refining your technique.
String Resistance
Rotating the pick will alter the amount of string resistance you will have on your pick. This can improve the ease of playing, reduce pick noise, stop the pick from moving in your fingers while playing and reduce the frequency of the pick falling from your fingers while playing.
Figure p, illustrates the difference in pick surface area that contacts the strings. If the pick is not rotated, as seen in figure p, you will have a larger contact area and high string resistance. Alternatively a small amount of rotation will reduce the contact area and produce lower string resistance.
Figure o
Figure p
No Rotation
Larger Contact Area
High Resistance
Small Rotation
Smaller Contact Area
Low Resistance