Thursday, March 19, 2009

Beginning Guitar Lessons - Different Parts of Guitar

By Harley Hamilton

Learning to play the guitar has been revolutionized by the Internet. It is easier than ever before to learn online with products like Jamorama, which covers all the bases. From reading music and tablature to playing by ear, Jamorama is a complete educational boon for the beginning player as well as intermediate players.

But before you get to all that stuff and start your beginning guitar lessons, you need to learn the parts of the guitar. That's where I come in. Listed here are the parts of the guitar in relation to a right handed player. If you are left handed, just turn the guitar over and reverse the strings.

So, you are holding the guitar on your knee. The body is resting under your right hand. From the bottom of the body going towards the neck, the parts of the guitar are:

1. The tailpiece. This holds one end of the strings. It is usually metal, sometimes has a whammy bar attached to it and is either bolted or glued to the body.

2. The body. This is that pretty colored, shaped part that is just under your right hand. This is the largest part of the instrument and controls the sound of the instrument. Usually made of some type of wood but sometimes other materials are employed.

3. The pick ups or sound hole. On an acoustic guitar, there will be a sound hole under the strings in the center of the body. On an electric guitar, there will be between one and three electronic pickups there (no hole). Both of these have the same function, which is to transfer sound and make what you play audible.

4. The neck. This is sticking out to your left there and is about 2 ? feet long. Necks are made of different types of materials. Most common are rosewood and basswood. Higher quality guitars can use mahogany here.

5. The frets. These are the little metal bars running across the neck. The nearer they are to the body, the closer they are together. These make the different tones possible and your fingers will be placed just behind them.

6. The nut. This is where the neck joins the headstock. It is a hard nylon and has grooves that act as guides for the strings.

7. The headstock and tuning keys. This is the uppermost part of the guitar and has the tuning keys attached to it. The strings will be held by the tailpiece and then threaded through the tuning keys and pulled tight to be tuned. The tuning keys can be anything from plastic to gold.

All these parts are explained more thoroughly in Jamorama, the online guitar course that is taking the Internet by storm. Not only will you learn these parts of the guitar but more about what their purpose is and how to use them to tweak your sound.

You will see how to properly hold the guitar, use the fret board, strum and tune the instrument properly. Hell, the course even includes a FREE tuner. You can't go wrong. These are the best beginning guitar lessons anywhere online, hands down!

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