The document describes the basic parts of acoustic and electric guitars. It begins by outlining some key parts found on both guitar types like the headstock, neck, frets, and body. It then details parts unique to electric guitars like pickups and controls. The summary provides an overview of the main components and their functions discussed in the document.

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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:

5. 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 ق ي ثارة 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. 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".

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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.)

18. 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

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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.

25.  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.

26. 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 gui tar 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.

27.  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.

28. 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.

29.  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.

30. 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

31. 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!"

32.  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,

33. 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--------------------||

34.  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.

35. 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.

36. 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

37. 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.

38. 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

39. 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.

40. 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. 

41. 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!

42. 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 

43. Republic of the Philippines
Naval State University
Naval, Biliran
Submitted by: Jilton Daño
Student
Submitted to: Mrs. Nova P. Jorge
Instructor

45. 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