Guitar Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
strings.]] strings and more guide dots on the fretboard.]]A guitar is a stringed musical instrument played with the fingers or a plectrum (guitar pick). The sound is produced by vibrating strings.
Guitars have a body (which is hollow for acoustic guitars, and solid for most electric guitars) and a neck or fingerboard. At the extremity of the neck is generally a machine head for tuning.
Guitars may be acoustic, or electric (with electrical amplification), or a combination.
Guitars are used in a wide variety of musical styles. They are made and repaired by luthiers.
History
Instruments like the guitar have been popular for at least 5,000 years; murals in Egypt show women playing instruments like the guitar from the time of the Pharaohs, but the name "guitar" appears first in Spain in the 13th century. It was probably a deriviation of the Arabic word qitara, the name of an instrument that was brought into Spain by the Moors after the 10th Century.
The Spanish vihuela appears to be an intermediate form, with lute-style tuning and a small guitar-style body, but it is not clear whether this represents a transitional form or simply a design that combined features from the two families of instruments.
Guitars usually have six strings, although there are variations on this, the most common being a twelve-string guitar, the seven string guitar, the ukulele, which has four strings, and the bass guitar, which usually has four strings but also exists in five, six, eight, and twelve-string versions. There are also more exotic models involving multiple necks and pickups. The vihuela was a guitar variation with six double strings made of gut, which emerged in 16th century Spain.
A variety of different tunings are used. The most common by far, known as "standard tuning", is (low to high) 'E-A-D-G-B-E'. Standard tuning has evolved to provide a good compromise of both simple fingering for many chords, and the ability to play common scales with minimal left hand movement.
Additionally, the separation of all adjacent string pairs,
except one (g-b), by the same interval: a perfect fourth
(equivalent to 5 frets' distance), yields a symmetry and
intelligibility to fingering patterns in this tuning.
The major third (four frets' distance) between the g and b
strings, though undermining this clarity, facilitates the
playing of many chords and scales as mentioned above, and,
more generally, provides some diversity in fingering
possibilities: many figures which are difficult to play
on strings tuned a fourth apart are easy to play on strings
tuned a third apart and vice versa.
Some common alternate tunings
This is an Article on Guitar. Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Guitar Parts of the guitar
Headstock
The headstock is located at the extreme end of the guitar, and often contains the tuners, the nut, and some kind of decoration. This decoration usually indicates the maker or model of the guitar.Machine head or tuners
Tuners are sometimes gear driven and sometimes held in place by friction. Their function is to adjust the tension on each individual string, allowing the guitar to be tuned. These can be basic wood pegs as found on some classical guitars, and some can be very well engineered and ornate.Nut
The nut is a small strip of ivory, plastic, graphite, or other medium-hard material. The nut maintains the spacing of the strings at the headstock end of the fretboard, and also helps determine the height of the strings above the fingerboard. Frets
Frets are used to separate the neck into individual notes. They are made of metal, usually a nickel alloy, and imbedded into the fingerboard. Proper spacing and installation are critical to the intonation, playability, and quality of the guitar. Frets are usually the first part to wear out on an often played guitar. They can be re-shaped to a certain extent, but if they are too worn, they can be replaced.Fingerboard
Sometimes called the fretboard, the finger board is the mostly flat surface that the hand selects notes and chords on, as seen by the audience when facing a guitar player. The predominant woods used in fingerboards are rosewood, ebony, and maple. The fingerboard is actually what allows the guitarist to play notes properly. On a correctly set up guitar, the string, once pressed down behind the fret, should touch the fingerboad, and play a tone that is in tune with the rest of the instrument. Truss rod
The truss rod allows a slim piece of wood to be used as the neck. Steel strings exert a lot of pressure, and plain wood at the thickness used in necks would warp or even break without reinforcement. The truss rod is a threaded steel rod that runs from the body to or past the nut. On many guitars, these can be adjusted to straighten out the neck after minor damage or environmental changes.Inlays
These dots, diamond shapes, or letters and numbers found on the neck of the guitar. They are often done in plastic on guitars of recent vintage, but many older and newer high end instruments can have inlays made of mother of pearl, abalone, ivory, or any number of exotic materials. On some low end guitars, they're just painted.
There are single inlays on 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 15th, 17th, 19th and 21st frets, and double inlays on 12th and (if present) 24th frets.Neck
The neck consists of the frets, tuners, headstock, truss rod, and fingerboard. The assembly of all of these items is considered the neck.Neck joint
This is the point at which the neck connects to the body of the guitar. Some instruments may not have a joint here, as they are carved out of a solid piece of wood, incuding the neck. This is usually found on high end instruments. Body (acoustic)
The body of the instrument is a major determination of the overall sound for acoustic guitars. Often made of maple or spruce, the acoustic guitar top is a finely crafted and engineered element. The back and sides are made out of a variety of woods, each chosen for particular sound qualities desired by the player. It is strengthened by internal bracing, decorated with inlays and purfling, and subjected to a lot of abuse. The use of a rounded plastic back on the body of the instrument has been successfully introduced by the Ovation company. Body (electric)
Most electric guitar bodies are made of wood. This wood is rarely one solid piece, as laminating hardwoods in the proper way can produce a body of exceptional strength and superior tone. The most common woods used for electric guitar body construction include maple, ash, poplar, alder, and mahogany. Many bodies will consist of good sounding but inexpensive woods, like ash, with a "top", or thin layer of another, more attractive wood (such as maple with a natural "flame" pattern) glued to the top of the basic wood. Guitars constructed like this are often called "flame tops". The body is usually carved or routed to accept the other elements, such as the bridge, pickup, neck, and other electronic components.Sound hole
Usually on acoustics, the sound hole allows the acoustic guitar to be played without amplification. It is normally a round hole in the top of the guitar, though some may have different shapes or multiple holes. This allows the vibrations from the back and sides of the guitar to be pushed forward, toward the listener.Pickups
Usually the electric guitar, when played without an amplifier, is not very loud. The pickups allow the vibrations of the string to be amplified. Some acoustic guitars have microphones or pickups built into them as well for stage work. See pickups for a full explanation.Electronics
These components and the wires that connect them allow the player to control some aspects of the sound like volume or tone. These at their simplest consist of passive components such as potentiometers and capacitors, but may also include specialized integrated circuits or other active components requiring batteries for power, for preamplification and signal processing, or even for assistance in tuning. In many cases the electronics have some sort of magnetic shielding to prevent pickup of external interference and noise.Purfling
This is the decorative edge found around the body of an acoustic guitar. It's purpose is not merely decorative, however. Because of the construction methods, the edges of the body are typically the weakest point of the acoustic guitar. There is not much wood there, as the sides have to be thin to allow for bending, and the top and back have to be thin to allow the string vibrations to resonate. Trying to connect two thin pieces of wood at a 90 degree angle is an engineering challenge. So to help, the purfling is used. The corners are overbuilt, using a triangular piece of scored wood (called a kerfed lining) on the interior of the instrument to allow it to follow the contours, and is glued in place. During final construction, a small section of the outside corners is carved or routed out and then filled in with the purfling material. Today, it is almost exclusively high quality plastic. Once the purfling is glued in place, it is an intregal part of the guitar, and contributes greatly to it's durability, since plastic tends not to split as wood does when impacted.Bridge
The main goal of bridge is to hold the other end of the string. From there, the variations are astounding. There is usually some method of adjusting the height of the string, and also for fine-tuning the intonation of the instrument. Some allow for different tunings, some allow the player to pull the strings completely slack, then back up (also known as tremolo), and some allow for alternate tunings at the touch of a button. But at its basic, it holds the other end of the string.Pickguard
Often a piece of plastic or other laminated material that protects the finish of the top of the guitar. In some electric guitars (i.e. Stratocasters), the pickups and most of the electronics are mounted on the pickguard itself.Strings and tuning
Guitars have frets on the fingerboard to fix the positions of notes and scales, which gives them equal temperament. Consequently, the ratio of the widths of two consecutive frets is , whose numeric value is 1.059463. The twelfth fret divides the string in two exact halves and the 24th fret (if present) divides the string in half yet again. Every twelve frets represents one octave.
There are also tenor guitars, baritone guitars tuned ADGCEA (or GDGCDG, GDGCEA, GCGCEG, ...) a fifth lower than a normal guitar, treble guitars tuned a fourth higher than a standard (prime) guitar, and contrabass guitars, which are tuned one octave lower than prime guitars.Acoustic and electric guitar
Broadly speaking, guitars can be divided into 2 categories:
Hybrids of acoustic and electric guitars are also common. There are also more exotic varieties, such as double-necked guitars, all manner of alternate string arrangements, fretless fingerboards (almost always reserved for bass guitars, meant to emulate the sound of a stand-up bass), and such.
These guitars are normally played in a seated position and used to play classical music. Flamenco guitars are almost equal in construction, have a sharper sound, and are used in flamenco. In Mexico, the popular mariachi band includes a range of guitars, from the tiny requinto to the guitarron, a guitar larger than a cello, which is tuned in the bass register.The father of the modern classical guitar was Antonio Torres Jurado.
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