The parts of a guitar

Hi there Guitarrista!

Today, we will be learning about the parts of a guitar. 

Birds, whether it's a dove, an owl, or an eagle, are considered birds because they share common characteristics like wings, beaks, have only two legs, and so much more. Just like birds, all guitars, no matter what type it is, also share their common physical characteristics that make them behave like guitars.

Guitars come in two basic types: Acoustic or Electric.

If you put these two guitars side by side, you can easily see that an electric guitar has more components compared to an acoustic guitar. An acoustic guitar just looks very simple while an electric guitar looks very complicated to use. But, did you know that an acoustic guitar is harder to make than an electric guitar? That's right and that's simply the reason why an acoustic guitar cost just like an electric guitar.

Despite their differences, these two things are still called guitars.

So, there must be physical characteristics that are common to both of them. Let's try to look into that.

I have with me here an image showing the two basic types of the guitar with labels on them.

The green colored labels on the center indicate the parts that are common to both of them.

The blue colored labels on the left indicate the parts specific to an acoustic guitar.

The red colored labels on the right side of the image indicate the parts specific to an electric guitar.

Let’s go over them one by one:

• Headstock. This is an area at the end of the neck which is used as a placement for the tuning machines. It often comes in different layouts. Traditional layout has 3 tuning machines on each side of the headstock. Some layouts are six-in-line, like what you see on most electric guitars, and others are "4+2". And there are even guitars out there that don’t have a headstock at all. Also, this is where guitar makers commonly put their brand logo. 
• Tuning gears. Some would call these tuning machines, tuning keys, tuning pegs, or simply tuners. This is where the strings tightly wrap around and each of the strings has their own respective post. These are mechanisms which can draw the strings to different pitches by adjusting its tension.
• Nut. The nut is a small strip of bone, plastic, brass or other medium-hard material, found at the joint where the headstock meets the fret board. It is one of the endpoints of the strings' vibrating length. Its grooves guide the strings onto the fret board. This small part is very important and must be accurately cut or else you'll encounter tuning problems.
• Frets. These are metal strips that run across the fret board perpendicular to the strings. When you press down a string on a fret, its vibrating length is shortened and produces different pitches. Let's take for example the sixth string. Without pressing any fret, its standard tuning is "E". If we press the 6th string on the 3rd fret, we produce a different pitch and that's a "G". 
• Strings. These are the six wires that produce the notes of the guitar. Electric guitars and steel-string acoustic guitars use metal strings. While classical guitars use nylon strings. Strings also come in different lengths and thickness. Just be sure that you are using the right one. 
• Neck. This is a long wooden extension which connects the headstock to the body. As you can see in my guitar, the almond colored part is the neck while the ivory colored part is the fingerboard.
• Strap pin. This is where the front end of the straps connects. Some acoustic guitars don’t have this. If your guitar is missing one, you can simple tie the other end of the strap to the headstock.
• Body. It's the biggest of the parts of an acoustic guitar. It provides an anchor for the neck and bridge and creates the playing surface for the right hand. On an electric, it consists of the housing for the bridge assembly and Electronics which includes the pickups and the tone and volume controls. On an acoustic, the body includes the amplifying sound chamber or sound hole that produces the guitar’s tone.  The sound bounces around inside and comes out of the sound hole.
• Bridge. This one here is the bridge and this is the plate that anchors the strings to the body. This is made of wood for acoustic guitars or metal for electric guitars. It is in the bridge where the other end of the string is attached.
• End pin. This is simply the part where the rear end of your strap connects.

The parts specific to an electric guitar:

• Bar. This is a metal rod attached to the bridge that enables the player to quickly vary the tension of the strings, changing the pitch to create a vibrato or pitch bend effect. This is also often referred to as whammy bar, tremolo bar, or the vibrato bar.
• Output jack. This is where you insert the guitar cord to connect it to an amplifier or other electronic devices. My guitar is an acoustic-electric guitar and it also has an output jack over here.
• Pickups. Pickups are bar-like magnets attached to a guitar that detect (or "pick up") string vibrations and convert the mechanical energy of the string into electrical energy. The electric energy or current is then converted by an amplifier into a musical sound.
• Pickup selector. This small switch over here is called the pickup selector switch. This simply determines which of these pickups is active.
• Volume and tone control. We use these knobs over here to vary the loudness of the guitar, its treble frequencies, and also its bass frequencies. Some modern acoustic-electric guitars also have volume and tone controls. It is usually found at the top side of an acoustic guitar.

The parts specific to an acoustic guitar:

• Back. An acoustic guitar has a back, which is also a part of its body, and it holds the sides in place.
• Sides. An acoustic guitar also has its sides. These are curved wooden pieces that simply join the top and the back of the body.

There you have it. Those are the parts that make up a guitar and I hope you learned a lot from our lesson today. In my next blog post, we will look into how the parts come together and learn how the guitar works. Watch out for that!

And if you enjoyed this article and found it helpful, simply share this post.

That's it for now. Thank you and have a great day guitarrista!

Start playing the guitar quickly

In continuation to my previous post, I would also assume that YOU WANT TO START PLAYING THE GUITAR QUICKLY!

Thus, this blog would try to do so without a lot of messing around with technical explanations about reading notes, time signature, clefs, and etc.. Although these kind of things can really help you a lot in moving on to the next level after you have mastered the basics, these aren't really necessary to play basic music.

Moreover, feel free to skip some topics that you already know and jump right to the one that you are looking for.

The Six String

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During one summer, me and my family went to Paradise Island, a beach resort in Samal Island, Davao. As we were eating our dinner, a group of musicians came to our table and played pleasing music. All of us were amazed by their performance. Some of my relatives even sang together with them.

Their band was composed of five members. One woman and four men.

The woman was the lead singer and each of the men was holding a different kind of guitar.

One was using an ordinary acoustic guitar just like what we have in our house.

The other one was using a very big guitar taller then he was.

The third one was using a very small guitar and it looks very cute.

The last one was using a unique sounding guitar. The shape of its body was round and it has no sound hole.

I never knew that there are different kinds of guitars way back then.

Few weeks later, I caught sight of the very small guitar, like the one i saw in the beach, hanged on one corner of school's music ministry office. I was very excited to get my hands on it. As it was handed to me, I stared at it for quite some time.  It really got me wondering why it only has four strings. 

"How do I play this thing?", I asked myself.

Seeing the way I stared at the tiny guitar, the office in charge, a nun, then asked me, "My child, so you know how to play a ukulele?"

"What do you call this guitar, sister?", I asked again. "It's a ukulele." She replied with a smile.

I guess, she already knew that i was expecting the six string variety of the guitar.

Knowing very well that I was new to the guitar world, she taught me how to use it.

As there are different kinds of fruit, there are also different kinds and variations of guitar.

It comes in different forms and produces different sounds as well. This blog assumes that you, just like i was before, are new to the guitar world and want to play a guitar, not a banjo, ukulele, or mandolin, and we concentrate on using the six string variety like this one:

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In addition to that, this blog also DOESN'T assume that:

• You already have your guitar(I'll talk about how to buy your guitar in one of my upcoming posts).
• You already have a preference on what kind of guitar to use (Electric or acoustic).
• You already favor a certain particular style of playing (Rock, Jazz, or Country).

Stay with me and let's make cool music with your six string!

I'll teach you how to play the guitar

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Okay guys. Let me get this straight.
As I've told you in one of my previous posts, I made this blog in order to help aspiring guitarists learn how to play the the guitar.
Of course, I can start right away and just feed you with bunch of reading materials that you can read but I'd be pretty sure you probably won't even bother doing so at all.
That would be boring, don't you think so?
Who cares if your the brightest professor in the University, with a mind like that of Einstein (probably with same hair too), if you're so boring that students would often fall asleep when you teach. Right? (can you picture out someone?)

"So, how do you plan to pull this off?"


The following list tells you how The Online Guitar Lessons Blog will teach you about guitars:

1. Fun with Photos. You can simply look at these photos and form your hands as shown.
This is very useful in helping you visualize different fingerings that you need to know.

2. Audio/Video Clips. You can listen or watch these materials in order to figure out the exercises presented along with the topics. Once you begin to play, you can refer to these clips

3. Guitar Tablature (or Tab for short). Guitar Tabs are guitar-specific shorthand for reading music that actually shows you what strings to strike and what frets to hold down on the guitar for creating the sound that’s called for. Guitar tabs are much easier to read than the standard form of musical notation.

Guitar + Photos + Audio/Video Clips + Tabs = Awesome guitar teaching methodology!

What do you think? haha...

I'm just so excited about this!

Watch out for my next post. See you!

Why you should learn to play the guitar

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It is often said that, in the music world, it is the guitars that set the standard for cool.

Since the 1950s, there were already a lot of great performers from different genres worthy of note. Among them were Chuck Berry who's know for his "duck walk" while perfoming his hit "Johnny B. Goode", Jimi Hendrix, the right handed guitarist, who made his Stratocoaster guitar scream, B.B. King who plays a lot of bends and vibratos on his guitar named "Lucille".

During 1960s, of course, no one can ever forget The Beatles and their musical era domination. Eric Clapton whose works greatly influenced the Reggae music and the list just goes on and on.

When camping or in the beach, no one can shine better than the acoustic guitarist jamming on his guitar while entertaining the group. And when a band performs, the fans would go crazy when electric guitarists roam around the stage and make their guitars sing in front of the crowd.

Playing the guitar simply brings out the music within you and sets your soul on fire and it can become a valued and COOL lifetime hobby.

What's this blog all about

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Few days ago, I was reading about some guitar stuff over the Internet when a friend of mine chatted over facebook.
In the course of our conversation, he asked about what keeps me busy these days.
"I'm blogging", I answered.
"Oh really? What's your blog all about?", he immediately asked.
I told him that it's all about guitars and I gave him the link to this blog.
"Wow! That's Interesting, Van.", my dear friend replied.

It was already late and I wanted to keep my eyes open for a couple of hours more.
And so, after reading his reply, i went out to the pantry to make some coffee.
When i got back to my desk, my friend already signed-off and he left me with a question:

"Why did you make this blog?"

Too bad I wasn't able to answer his last question right away. But, for everyone to know why I made this blog, the following are my answers:

1. I want to help others learn to play the guitar - Whenever I play my guitar, a lot of people would often ask me questions - How did you learn playing? How young did you start learning? Was it hard? How can i play like you? Can you teach me how? For me, I really can't say that I'm good at playing the guitar. But, the thing is, a lot of people admire the way I play. Now, it suddenly came to me that it wouldn't bring any good keeping my talents only to myself. Thus, I want to share my talents and skills with you to help you learn to play the guitar too through this blog.

2. Online guitar lessons - As as self-taught guitarist, I already read vast amount of books and resources about guitars since I started learning how to play it. Some were good and very easy to understand but some weren't and too complicated for beginners to comprehend. I want to share with you the things I learned and continually learning in a manner which is easily understandable even for those who recently entered the guitar world. Moreover, this blog will serve as my review notes as well as yours wherein you can browse to look for a specific topic that you might have missed or just wanted to go back to.

3. A tribute to my father - My musical life was greatly influenced by my father and I wanted to honor him through this blog. He is my idol, my inspiration, and the unsung hero of my musical life. Learning the guitar needs a lot of dedication and perseverance. It always feels good when you know you are doing it for someone.

There you have it.

My Guitar Mentor

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23736608@N08/3775976810

My guitar mentor was born from an ordinary Filipino family and was raised as a typical farmer. 

Together with his older brothers, they would wake up very early in the morning and perform their tasks while the sun is not yet out.

Back at their place, only the upper class citizens can affor to buy television sets.

All they have was a radio in which they would listen to news, dramas, and music.

And so, the common recreation of the kids his age during night time was to gather around a pyre and sing songs.

Of course, there's a guitarist among the group and it happened to be his older brother.

When they grew up a little older, his brothers became hearthrobs at their place because they were guitarists.

My mentor was very amazed with how his brothers would play the popular songs at that time. Perhaps, songs by The Beatles.

He wanted to learn how to play the guitar too and so he asked his brothers to teach him.

He became in love with the guitar, and he practiced everyday or whenever he gets a chance to.

Whenever there is a song he wanted learn, he would patiently wait for it to be played in the radio and he would listen very carefully.

He would play his guitar while listening to the song. He would then write down the chords which seemed to sound in tune.

He would usually do these many times in a day just to get the right rhythm and melody.

Few years after, because of his diligence, he became known as one of the best guitarist in their locality.

He was usually hired to play for amateur singing contests and he was still around 19 years old at that time.

He can play the songs at different starting keys, transposing the chords to match the singer's pitch.

For that, a lot of people admired his unquestionable talent.

He used to play by "Oido". Oido is a spanish word which means "ear".

He would listen to a song for a couple of times and he would immediately be able to play its rhythm.

Funny thing is that, when he was asked about the name of the unusual chord he used, most of the time he wouldn't be able to answer.

He didn't take any formal lessons about guitar and he didn't know how other chords, aside from the basic, were called.

That's the story of my very first mentor - my Father.

How I Learned To Play The Guitar

It was one dark evening and i was looking at the stars up in the sky.
They were very bright and colorful.
I was sitting in our old hammock at the porch and I can feel the cool breeze in the air.
As i was looking to other stars at a distance, i caught sight of a weird thing that was blinking and it was very close.
"Oh! It's firefly!"
But suddenly, without loosing my focus on the beautiful scene up above, i saw a falling star.
We used to say our wishes when we happen to see a falling star.
I immediately closed my eyes and clasped my hands and wished that I would be given the skills to play a guitar.
I happened to have a big crush on this girl and wanted to impress her ever since.
And when I opened my eyes, i saw the blinking bug transformed into a very beautiful fairy right in front of me.
She said "My dear Ivan, since you are a good boy, I hereby grant your wish..."
and lo and behold, after that moment, I started playing the guitar like a pro...

What a nice story, right? I was often asked how I learned to play the guitar and I think of that magical story every time. I just like to think about it that way. Some would buy it especially kids in our neighborhood. But, most of the time... well, you know...

The real story was...

It was still one of those dark evenings.
Back in our small town, we usually experience power outages in the evening for about one to two hours.
That is why it was indeed dark. It would usually occur two to three times in a week.
Most of the households used pressurized paraffin lamps or what is commonly known as kerosene lamps to provide lighting.
As there are only few sources of light, bugs would usually flock unto it.
There were a lot of fireflies in our area way back then and I was very amazed on why they were blinking.
I really can't remember what date is was. All i know is that I was 6 years old that time.
I was sitting in a small chair in our porch right beside my dad who is lying down in the hammock playing with his guitar.
I was the youngest in the family and I was often called "daddy's boy"
Out of curiosity, I would ask a lot of questions about what he was doing.
And while he was playing some of his pieces, i would strum the strings with my little fingers and make a different rhythm.
Or sometimes, i would turn the tuning keys and the guitar would go out of tune.
I would even break the skinniest string sometimes.
I remembered one time i got hit when the string was broken and it flew very close to my left eye.
Yes, I was a great disturbance to my father but he never made me feel that way.
Instead, he would pick me up and allow me to play with his guitar.

One night, he asked me a question. "Van, do you want learn how to play the guitar?"
Without any delay, I nodded my innocent head and said "YES" with a smile on my face.
I thought it was another play time with my dad.
He immediately placed the guitar on my lap and held my cute little fingers.
We picked the open strings together and played the melody of a local nursery rhyme entitled "Manoy Manoy".
After playing few lines of the song, he clapped and praised me for the beautiful performance.
I really didn't know if it was good or he was just trying to make me feel good. I guess, it was the latter.
But that was the starting point. I became interested with the guitar right after that.
And he always gave me time to play the same melody over and over again until i was able memorize it and do it on my own.
Just a year after, I was able to play my very first piece with real chords.
And the rest was written in history...

Girls like guitarists

Do you think so too?

To clear out my thoughts I interviewed some of my girl friends regarding the matter.

Question: Do girls really like guitarists?

Jelian - "For me, It's more of admiration rather than attraction. I admire guitarists because, as far as I know, playing guitar is not that easy and being able to play one is kinda cool."

Aleen - "I guess so. I'm just amazed with how those guys do all the tricks with their fingers. Of course, it was thru their hardwork and discipline but not all guys out there are willing to give it their time. I appreciate them for their efforts."

Jane - "Uhm, I think so... But generally, a guy who knows how to play any musical instrument is cute."

Ivy - "Not exactly. As a girl, i prefer a drummer rather than a guitarist."

Nica - "I'm not really into musicians. I like dancers better."

As you can see, girls have their own personalities and preferences. So, in short, the clear answer would be "It doesn't apply to all".

As for me, I think girls like guys that have some sort of skill whether it'd be in music, carpentry, painting, cooking or even dancing, as opposed to someone who is very lazy and doesn't know anything. Of course, it would help a lot if your have something up your sleeve that you can use to become romantic or surprise your girl. But again, it only helps because it is still the personality that matters. A guitarist is often described as someone who is talented, versatile, disciplined, and confident and those are just some of the traits a girl would usually look for in her checklist.

Bottom line, you can never please everyone but it is always cool to know something especially if you become good at it. It is still more about you and what you turn out to be in the process.

I am a guirarist

But wait... What is a guitarist anyway?

From wikipedia:

A guitarist is synonymous to a guitar player and is a person who plays the guitar. A Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar by singing or playing the harmonica

Well, if playing with the guitar is all that it takes to become a guitarist, then i guess i am fit to be called one. When I was a kid, i know a lot of ways how to play with almost anything (breaking them most of the time). hehehe...

But seriously...

What kind of guitar am i playing?

I started learning with an acoustic guitar. My father used to own a guitar store way back then selling different kinds of guitars. By the time I was 7 years old, our store was not operational anymore but my dad had a couple of acoustic guitar left at home. One was Gibson and its color was black and the other one was brown and I forget its brand. It was through those guitars that I learned some basic stuff. I did play a lot with those and as you might have guessed and I broke the brown one. The black guitar however was my Father's favorite but unfortunately it fell off when we were hit by an earthquake.

Other guitar experts would say that the nylon stringed classical guitar is easier to start with compared to a steel stringed acoustic guitar. But for me, It doesn't matter what type of guitar you start learning with as long as your comfortable with it.

I also got the chance to play classical, bass, and electric guitars. Each has its own different feel but I am more comfortable with an acoustic guitar.

What kind of music genre am i into?

I am fond of listening to jazz, bossa nova, and classical music for the reason that it was those kind of music that I grew up with. Also, I find those type of music very relaxing and amazing being able to use chords with altered notes and produce unique sounding (off-key) melody. I find it very artistic and challenging.

To end this post, here's a video of me performing a rough cover of Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Wave":

The good mood

It was already 5 in the afternoon and everyone was getting ready to go home.
I packed my things up and hurried out the door together with my office mates.
Everyone was wearing a smile after calling it a day and one by one they went on their way home.
Few more minutes passed and I realized I was the only one left outside of the office.

Am i waiting for someone? No, not at all.

I checked on my watch and remembered that it was already Friday.
No wonder why everyone's getting excited to go home.

But, why was I not feeling that way?

It was one of those times were I travel out of town to one of our branch offices and perform some corporate duties.
I was already there for 2 weeks and still counting.
I was staying in a hotel just a few blocks away from the office and I'm thinking of what to do when I get there.
Well, I already tried to do a lot of things just to get out of boredom.

For the most of us, having a chance to travel and stay at a new place is fun especially when you are with your friends. But, i guess, it doesn't apply when you are alone.

With nothing in my mind, I went off and grabbed a dinner in the nearby fast food chain.
I stayed there for a couple of hours sipping  my cold juice while trying to ease the loneliness i felt with the sight of busy people.

When I was on my way to the hotel, i happened to pass by this bistro.
A small poster on the door said - "Live acoustic band during Fridays"
"Oh! I love acoustic band!", I said to myself.
And out of curiosity and excitement, I entered the establishment.

The place had a good number of guests and the ambiance was great.
The acoustic band was already playing their first set when I got in.
And as I was listening to the music they were playing,
I found myself humming to the melodies of the songs I knew.

The guitarist was very expressive and it felt good just listening to the sound of his guitar.
It was very relaxing...
And out of nowhere, I began to remember a lot of different things whenever certain songs were played.

One of my favorite songs, "Terminal" by Rupert Holmes, was played that night.
My dad and I used to play that song too way back home when I was still in my teenage years.

After they played their last song, they received a good number of claps from the crowd.
I believe they highly deserved it.
It was only then that I noticed that the place was almost full.
I guess, there are also a lot of people who appreciate the simplicity and elegance of the acoustic music.
I had a great night and I went home with a smile on my face and still humming to the melody of the songs that were played..."La la la la, la la la la..."

Whenever I think of that time, i really admire the thought of how my mood was lightened up while listening to the sound of the guitar.
Truly, a guitar is a great instrument for expression and one's emotions can even blend with the music that it makes.