Step 1 of How to hold a guitar: Getting to know the guitar…

Anyway, on with what you need to know about how to hold a guitar. You are just getting to know this guitar. So, like any new friend you want to just check it out. You need to get a feel for it. I know this sounds all corny and everything but it is true. I’ve been there. Holding a guitar at first can feel very awkward. So, just take your time with learning how to hold the guitar. If you are right handed you’ll want to sit down and put the guitar body over your right leg. Check out that there is a dip in the body that is cut out just for that. Then, you’ll take your left hand and put it around the guitar neck with your right hand over the front of the guitar. Just like in the picture below. If you are left handed you do the exact opposite.

Step 2 of How to hold a guitar: Getting comfortable with the guitar…

Now that you know how to hold the guitar you need to get comfortable with it. Its going to feel odd at first sitting against your body. That’s natural. But, I want you to just strum the strings with your right hand (or left hand if left handed) so you get the feel for it. It doesn’t matter if the guitar is acoustic or electric. Try to get used to how it should feel in your hands. This is very important. It’s the foundation of what is to come. You can’t drive a car without adjusting the seat to make it comfortable. Same thing with this.

How to hold a guitar the right way

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Parts Of The Acoustic Guitar: The Body…

So, if you look at the image below we will start with the body of the guitar. Since it’s an acoustic guitar the body will usually be hollow with a hole usually under the strings called a sound hole (There are some exceptions with solid body acoustic guitars where it uses a solid piece of wood instead of one hollowed out). You’ll notice that the strings go right over the sound hole. When you pluck or pick a string it will vibrate. That vibration will go into the sound hole causing it act like an amplifier making the noise louder when it comes out. That way you can hear it clearly. If you look at where the strings stop on the body you’ll see what is called the bridge or as it is sometimes called the tail-piece. The end of the guitar strings have a small ball on them that goes into the holes on the bridge. They are held in place by bridge pins that just push into the bridge. You’ll notice that most guitars will have what is called a pick guard. In our example below it is a red color. It’s attached to the front of the body just below the strings. This just keeps the guitar body from getting scratched up.

Parts Of The Acoustic Guitar: The Neck…

Now we’ll look at the neck related parts of the acoustic guitar. First we’ll look at the side of the neck where the strings sit over the top. That wood is called the fret board. It holds the guitar frets which are the metal strips on the neck. Under the fret board inside the neck is a metal rod called a truss rod that keeps the neck straight and allows for adjustment of it.

Then at the end of the neck you have the headstock which has the tuning keys or tuners as they are usually called on it. They allow you to tune the guitar. Right between the fretboard and the headstock is a little strip of plastic or bone that the strings sit on. That is called the nut. The nut keeps the strings spaced apart so that they are at the right distance for easy playing. Finally you have a little metal button at the bottom of the body and either on the back of the headstock or where the neck meets the body. Those are the strap buttons that will allow you to use a guitar strap.

That covers it for the parts of the acoustic guitar. Take a look at the picture below and you’ll be able to see clearly all of the parts I talked about.

The Parts Of The Acoustic Guitar

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When selecting a guitar pick it really depends on the type of guitar and your style of playing. For instance, if I were playing an acoustic guitar and doing a singer songwriter kind of thing I would go with a really thin pick. Really thin! It not only allows you to more freely strum the strings but it also gives a brighter sound when strumming.

Let’s say I’m playing electric guitar and doing rhythm or lead guitar. I lean toward a very thick or heavy pick. Very heavy! Also, I personally like the small Dunlop Jazz III style picks. Especially the little red ones and black ones. But, my absolute favorites are the Dunlop Tortex Jazz picks. The purple ones. They get a little darker tone which takes any harshness out of the tone and it doesn’t give at all enabling you you to play faster more solid sounding leads. You can’t dig in like you need to for leads sometimes unless you use a thicker pick. I’ve been using those picks for years now. They have a nice sound. Especially for the heavy stuff. People don’t realize just how much a guitar pick can change the sound of the guitar itself.

Red Dunlop Jazz III Guitar Picks For Lead/Rhythm Electric Guitar

Red Dunlop Jazz III Guitar Picks

Black Dunlop Jazz III Guitar Picks For Lead/Rhythm Electric Guitar

Black Dunlop Jazz III Guitar Picks

Dunlop Thin Nylon Guitar Picks For Acoustic Rhythm Guitar

Dunlop 4420 Nylon Standard Guitar Picks

If you click on the picks above it will open a new window so you can order them online. Again, these are the picks I’ve used for years and they’ve served me quite well. You might like something different. It’s all personal preference.

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Parts Of The Electric Guitar: The Body…

So, if you look at the image below we will start with the body of the guitar. Since it’s an electric guitar the body will usually be solid wood (There are some exceptions with hollow body electric guitars where it uses a hollow body with f shaped holes on the sides of the strings) with what looks like bars under the strings on the body. Those bars are called pickups. You’ll notice that the strings go right over the pickups. When you pluck or pick a string it will vibrate. That vibration will go will get picked up by the magnetic poles on the pickups that will go through various electrical components and into the amplifier. That way you can hear it clearly. If you look at where the strings stop on the body you’ll see what is called the bridge or as it is sometimes called the tail-piece. Electric guitars will also often have a tremelo bridge. When you use the tremelo bar, or whammy bar as it’s sometimes called , you can make the notes raise in pitch or sound like they are diving down. Just like the acoustic guitar the end of the electric guitar strings have a small ball on them that goes into the holes on the bridge. They will either latch on to the tailpiece or come up from the back of the guitar on the bottom of the bridge plate. You’ll notice that most guitars will have what is called a pick guard. In our example below it is a white color and covers most of the body. It’s attached to the front of the body just below the strings. This just keeps the guitar body from getting scratched up. Also, on guitars like the fender stratocaster shown below, the pickguard holds the electronic controls for the guitar.

Parts Of The Electric Guitar: The Neck…

Now we’ll look at the neck related parts of the electric guitar. First we’ll look at the side of the neck where the strings sit over the top. That wood is called the fret board. It holds the guitar frets which are the metal strips on the neck. Under the fret board inside the neck is a metal rod called a truss rod that keeps the neck straight and allows for adjustment of it.

Then at the end of the neck you have the headstock which has the tuning keys or tuners as they are usually called on it. They allow you to tune the guitar. Right between the fretboard and the headstock is a little strip of plastic or bone that the strings sit on. That is called the nut. The nut keeps the strings spaced apart so that they are at the right distance for easy playing. Finally you have a little metal button at the bottom of the body and the top part of the guitar body. Those are the strap buttons that will allow you to use a guitar strap.

Parts Of The Electric Guitar: The Electronics…

The final parts of the electric guitar that we’ll talk about is the electronics. The electric guitar has pickups as can be seen below. These take the vibration of the string and turn them into electrical charges or currents. These charges then pass from the pickups to the volume knob or potentiometer. This is the knob that allows you to control the volume of the guitar that goes to the amplifier. Before going to the amplifier though it passes through a tone knob or pot (Short for potentiometer). That allows you to make the pickups have more of a bass sound or have more treble or high end sound. There is also a switch that is called a pickup selector switch. It lets you choose the pickup or pickups that you want to use. Each will have a different sound so it’s good to just play around and see how each sounds. You aren’t going to break anything so just plug into the amplifier and strum the strings while turning knobs and switching through pickups. That’s the best way to figure out the sounds you can get.

That covers it for the parts of the electric guitar. Take a look at the picture below and you’ll be able to see clearly all of the parts I talked about.

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Sure you can be the life of the party or someone who is really adored by music lovers or, the list goes on and on. You can play really cool music on your guitar. Get the chance to hear people scream out “Encore!” You like the idea of that? So, here they are…the top 5 reasons to play guitar.

Reason #1

Playing a guitar enhances the synchronization of your brain to work and to initiate such signals that command your hands on mentally memorizing where to put your finger on a particular fret, pressing on the right chord and engaging in the proper manner of strumming. Right…I mean it helps train your mind to work better.

Reason #2

It boosts your self esteem. A psychology book once said that men have to satisfy basic needs to be able to advance himself to the highest level which is the self-actualization. Basically, it makes you feel good about yourself.

Reason #3

Let’s face the fact that a guitar is one of the most convenient instruments there are. You can’t bring your drums wherever you go. And who thinks it’s cool to hear someone play bass without other instruments? (Besides Bass Players) But, with a guitar you could play music anywhere at anytime.

Reason #4

In times like these with the economy being so bad you could always be a street performer right?!? All you need is a guitar and some dirty clothes…

Reason #5

People love people with talent for some reason or (chicks dig it). Nothing says “I’ve got to ask that guy out” like black leather pants and a guitar!

That’s just my top 5 reasons to play guitar but there are so many more. Really it is a blast to be able to pick up a guitar and play even if no one is around. Just the sense of accomplish is something. Let alone if you get into the artistic aspect. It’s really a lot of fun. So, give it a shot. Online Guitar Lessons are available as well so you don’t even have to leave your house to learn guitar.