Music Tools Selection

The working place for learning piano consists of a computer connected to an electric piano keyboard or digital piano. If you are short of space, the portable piano keyboard has an advantage in being smaller, and easily movable to be installed before a lesson, and put away after practice to save some space. However, if you can afford it, it is much better to organize a permanent place. Our experience shows that your children or you will practice more often if the piano keyboard is always available without any additional hustle.
A learning place with a portable piano keyboard

Computer
To run the Soft Way to Mozart software, you may use any modern, the cheapest on the market, computer, or even 5-year-old one, if it has a decent graphics card and enough memory. We recommend using a good computer monitor for piano practice. It will add enjoyment to the practice, and spare student's eyes.

Piano
You may use any electronic piano keyboard or digital piano that has MIDI functionality (nowadays, most of them do). The main criteria of choosing a piano are the price and the quality of its sound.

Piano to computer connection
To use the interactivity of our software, you must connect your electric piano to your computer. Basically, there are two kinds of connections - the MIDI cable and MIDI interface, depending on your computer.


Tables and stands
You may put the piano and computer monitor on the same table, use a special table or a stand for the piano keyboard, or put the computer monitor or laptop on the top of the digital piano. Be sure that the foundation for the piano and monitor is stable. Many keyboard stands, especially folding ones, lack this quality. Such stands have the ability to fall down after any accidental move, which is inevitable when working with children. For a piano keyboard, we recommend using an adjustable table or stand, that is lower than the monitor table.
A learning place with a digital piano

Chair
It is very important to match the height of the keyboard with the height of the chair to achieve a correct posture of a student. If the student puts her palms on the piano keyboard, her relaxed forearms must be parallel to the floor. It is helpful if you can adjust the height of the chair, the piano, or both.

Placing the monitor
During the piano practice, the monitor will play the role of the music sheet, so put it behind the piano keyboard, or on the top of the digital piano. If it is not possible to place it in the center of the piano because of a sheet stand, you may shift the monitor to one side of the piano. It doesn't matter if the student must turn his head a little while reading and playing.

Computer keyboard
We usually place the computer keyboard right on the top of the piano keyboard or digital piano.

To connect the computer to an electronic piano keyboard or digital piano, most common is one of the three configurations:



Connections of piano keyboard to computer

1. A computer with 15-pin MIDI connector (is provided with a sound card on many desktop computers, and usually called as "Game/MIDI" port) and a cable to connect this port with 5-pin MIDI output/input sockets of a piano/keyboard. This cable is usually called as Sound card to MIDI cable.
Or
2. A USB MIDI Interface to connect the USB computer port with 5-pin MIDI output/input sockets of a piano/keyboard. You will need to install on your computer a device driver on a CD supplied with this MIDI Interface.
Or
3. Some of the digital pianos and electric piano keyboards can be directly connected to the USB port of the computer using a USB cable, but you still have to install a device driver from a special CD coming together with this piano keyboard.

The piano keyboard has to be General MIDI compatible! To find it out, read the piano keyboard manual. Check for the word "MIDI" on the piano keyboard front, or look for a pair of round 5-pin sockets, "MIDI In" and "MIDI Out", at the back of the keyboard.

Order Sound card to MIDI cable
Order USB MIDI Interface

Attention: M-Audio Uno MIDI interface is not compatible with Yamaha piano keyboards!

* Connection Tips: If not directly specified, connect cable In plug to the Out MIDI socket of the piano keyboard. Connect cable Out plug to the In MIDI socket of the piano keyboard
* For a stable MIDI connection, we recommend to connect all MIDI cables and devices before you switch on your computer and piano keyboard. Also, we recommend to switch your computer on at first, and then the piano keyboard.
* If your desktop doesn't have a MIDI port, you can install an inexpensive sound card which includes a MIDI port. It is a little bit less expensive than buying a MIDI Interface. For laptops this will not work, so USB MIDI Interface may be the best solution to connect the computer to a MIDI keyboard.

http://www.doremifasoft.com

The Soft Way to Mozart software will work with, practically, any electric piano existing on the market - digital pianos, electronic piano keyboards or MIDI keyboard controllers. The only condition is that this digital piano or piano keyboard has to be General MIDI compatible, which is true for most of the modern electric pianos. To find out if a particular keyboard is MIDI compatible, check for the word "MIDI" or "General MIDI"on the piano keyboard front, or look for a pair of round 5-pin connectors, "MIDI In" and "MIDI Out", at the back of the keyboard (or at the bottom for some digital pianos), or, the most challenging, read its manual.MIDI connectors of an electric piano

To fully use the advantage of the "Soft way to Mozart" interactive teaching software, you need to connect your electronic piano keyboard to your computer. Please read more in Computer to piano MIDI connection. Any solution is good till the digital piano, piano keyboard, or MIDI controller may be connected to the computer, and you can start practicing to acquire basic piano skills.

Our recommendations:

1) Size. We recommend to purchase a piano keyboard with at least 61 keys. Very soon you will find that a piano keyboard with less than 61 keys is just a toy, and you will be able to play only simplest songs. The full 88 keys keyboard is the best choice for more advanced students that are going to play any classical or contemporary compositions.

2) Piano keyboard against MIDI controller. We would recommend to purchase a piano keyboard that includes sound system rather than just a MIDI keyboard controller, that has no built-in sound, and that can be used only together with a computer. Usually, the sound of even the cheapest piano keyboard is better and more powerful than the computer sound, or the computer sound card and speakers must be quite expensive. Also, you can use this keyboard independently, move around, and even travel with it. The price difference between a piano keyboard and a MIDI controller is small, but, as said previously, you can use both variants.

3) Sound. One of the most important features of any piano is the quality of sound. The more closely the piano keyboard reproduces the natural piano tones, the more enjoyment you or your child will experience during your practice and piano performance. On other hand, at some level, even small improvement of sound may increase the price of a digital piano in thousand dollars. We believe that nowadays even the cheapest on the market piano keyboard has decent sound for learning and practicing the piano playing. You may select your price category, and choose a piano relying on your ear. Switch all pianos to the "Grand Piano" tone, and press piano keys, trying to understand which piano sound you like better. Usually, it will be a piano with less noticeable "electric" tones in its timbre.

4) Additional features. The touch-sensitive piano keys are a plus, as also are the loaded keys that simulate the resistance of real piano keys, though these features are not needed for beginners, and especially for small children. Also, in cheap models, these features may be bound with the decrease of sound quality.

Our piano software does not need additional built-in functionality that some of electric piano producers try to add to the modern piano keyboards, like lightning of piano keys, complicated piano teaching attachments, and multitude of music tones and effects. Keeping in mind, that any additional functionality makes the use of the piano more difficult, distract attention, and makes the whole device less reliable, we would recommend to go after a piano with better sound and less gadgets.

Again, the cheapest piano keyboard which you constantly use for improving your playing skills is much better than nothing, and better than the best piano collecting dust without any use.

http://www.doremifasoft.com

Are you searching the Internet for a piano keyboard but not sure which of the many models and features are right for you? The key to buying the right keyboard lies in understanding the 5 power piano player styles and the one that defines your playing style.

One of the 5 piano player styles will be instantly recognizable to you. It will resonate with you.. It describes you, your style of playing and evokes emotions that will urge you to yell out, "yes, yes... thats me!

Although there are a bewildering array of keyboards most can be classified into 5 pianist categories which I'll talk about throughout this site.

Once you know which of the 5 piano categories you belong to, you will be able to shop with confidence for the digital keyboard that is right for you.

If, by the way, you do know which keyboard you definitely want then I certainly recommend that you visit ZZounds because they are quite simply well...to be blunt, the best online digital piano retailer.

ZZound's customer service, free delivery on most items and lowest prices make them the most competitive keyboard retailer on the net. But don't take my word for it, just visit and read the customer reviews.

So why would you buy a keyboard online? Simply because ZZounds can supply a larger inventory of digital pianos and selection than any phsyical retail store can carry (there are no space limitations on the net) because it is online. That means lower prices on keyboards for you. Also ZZounds has been in the business for a long time and has a great reputation.
What Marketers Know About Your Buying Habits

Marketers are a savvy bunch. They know their markets and keyboard buyers. They have classified keyboard players into 5 market segments and these segments mirror exactly the 5 piano player profiles we alluded to earlier. We will explore these segments and the type of digital piano products that are designed and manufactured to meet the needs of the 5 player styles.

Where You Fit In

Once you understand the 5 distinct categories, it becomes much easier to find the right piano keyboard that meets your needs regardless of the myriad of keyboard features available. We'll help demistify the process for you. Armed with this new found knowledge you will be able to find the right keyboard that is within your budget. First of all you need to know which of the 5 categories your piano playing style fits into, this is the key to your purchase satisfaction.
So What Qualifies Me to Talk About Piano Marketing?

I've been a pianist for ove 42 years and have worked in piano sales. I also have a University degree in Marketing and have been working in International marketing and business development for large corporations and government for many years. And of course you're on my piano web site. My skill set lends itself well to help you gain insight into the piano marketing world. But before we begin talking about the 5 piano segments lets debunk a common myth that has been circulating for some time now. Which is better, an acoustic piano or digital piano?
Acoustic Piano vs Digital Piano Keyboard

Ah...the seemingly contestable debate rages on. But there really is no need for it quite frankly because both are equally good in their own right, it is a matter of which you prefer or what attributes are important to you. Without a doubt, digital pianos today perform very well but would never replace an acoustic piano. But the digital piano provides features that simply cannot be found on an acoustic piano. Features such as additional sampled instruments, midi sequencing and portability if you are on the road. Quite simply it is a matter of choice and you will need to make a decision as to which features and benefits are right for you.
Benefits of Owning a Digital Piano or Midi Keyboard

There are, of course, many piano keyboards, prices and their value to choose from but despite that, you are bound to find one that meets your needs and personal taste.

When I was a young musician back in the early 1980's, choosing a keyboard was simply a matter of selecting either a Hammond organ (bulky and not very transportable), an electric piano for example, Wurlitzer and Fender Rhodes or Korg's analog synthesizer with its many varied patch cords and inputs that more resembled a telephone switch board than a keyboard.

One fine day in the mid 1980's I bought a Korg M1 workstation, which was a true revolution in digital sampling technology for its time. Today, there are a bewildering array of digital pianos, workstations, midi keyboard and samplers to choose from not to mention the range of piano keys or piano notes size formats to choose from in each product category and brand. Sizes are listed below:

*
Korg keyboards in 61, 76, 88 piano keys
*
Roland keyboards 61, 76, 88 piano keys
*
Kurzweil keyboards in 76, 88 piano keys
*
Yamaha keyboards in 61, 76, 88 piano keys

But how do you know which is right for you? That depends on what you want to do with your keyboard. For example, if you are:

*
a pianist learning to hone your craft and require a weighted-key piano that takes little room, consider a digital piano. All digital pianos offer great sound and most offer a select group of instruments to choose from
*
if you are a studio or performing keyboard player or a one-man band playing the local scene you may want to consider a midi keyboard. Midi keyboards are great because they allow you to record an ensemble of musical instruments that make you sound like a complete band and orchestra.
*
If you are a composer then a workstation and sampler are your best bet.

Of course, these are only guidelines. Some keyboards are extremely versatile in that they combine many of the noted features (midi, workstation, sampler etc.) into one unit. There are so many keyboards out there that cater to every need not the least of which - 88 key portable pianos, mini keyboards with less than 61 notes and even an online piano keyboard that allows you to play virtually using software.

You've come to this web site because of your interest in researching digital pianos and other keyboards. I have done significant research on merchants and I highly recommend ZZounds because of the vast array of keyboards and other instruments. But you don't have to take my word for it, just go to their site and read the feedback and testimonials. ZZounds offers guaranteed lowest prices and free shipping on most piano keyboard instruments.

http://www.piano-keyboard-reviews.com/

In western music, china type cymbals are cymbals manufactured to produce a dark, crisp, trashy, and explosive tone. Their origins can be traced back to the gong in both sound and shape, and thus they are given their name 'china'.
China type cymbals from three continents

China type cymbals typically have a bell that is cylindrical or shaped like a truncated cone with its base the top of the bell, an outer rim that is turned up in the reverse direction to the main bow of the cymbal, little or no taper (change in thickness) from bell to rim, and an area including the inside of the bell that is unpolished. However some china type cymbals have only some or in some cases none of these distinguishing characteristics. The distinguishing feature of a china type cymbal is the one that is hardest to define: its sound. China cymbals are those whose sounds are derived from the Chinese, rather than the Turkish, tradition of cymbal making.

There are two or three tonal families of cymbals: Turkish, Chinese, and some would say European, although others would include the European family of tones as a development of the Turkish sounds. The best Turkish (and European) cymbals have a rich, swelling tone that some describe as "sweet". To western ears, the best china types have an abrasive, cutting sound that is described by western drummers as "trashy".
Detail of a conical bell

The families do to some extent overlap. Notably, pang and swish cymbals have some characteristics of china types, and some characteristics of traditional Turkish cymbals. On the other hand, the Sabian roctagon cymbals and some Ufip models are considered china types while having none of the physical characteristics of the normal china type, while the Paiste crystal crash is considered a European cymbal despite its squarish bell.

Cymbal making in China is claimed to predate the development of the art anywhere else in the world. The most universally acclaimed cymbal alloy, bell bronze, appears to have been independently developed in China. Today in China a wide range of cymbals are manufactured of both traditional and imported patterns. Traditional Chinese types with distinctive names and sounds include chung, jing and water cymbals and many other types. In Western music these are all referred to as china type cymbals.
China clash cymbals

China type cymbals are available in a wide range of sizes from 27" down to 6", most types singly but some in pairs. Those of 12" or smaller are normally referred to in Western music as china splash cymbals. When used in a drum kit, they are regarded as effects cymbals and are used to give colour and variety.

In a drum kit, china type cymbals are sometimes mounted bell up, similarly to other cymbals, but more often bell down. When mounted bell down, the upturned rim becomes a downturned rim, allowing a normal stick technique to be used for both ride and crash patterns. This assumes that the bell is formed in the typical direction; Some china type cymbals (e.q. the Paiste 2002 Novo china) have an inverted bell and an upturned rim, and so must be mounted bell up to achieve this downwards rim orientation.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_cymbal"

The best way to start learning is playing scales. That's the notes in a specific key. In the key of G, for example, it would be G-A-B-C-D-E- F# (F sharp) and G. Practice this using the chart, at the bottom on the neck at first. You'll see it flows easily from the bottom string to the top. Now try it in the key of C, going C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. Use the chart and try those scales starting higher up the neck. Try to move smoothly from one note to the next, keeping an even rhythm.

An even rhythm is really the key to playing bass. The bass take the role under the lead instruments, as part of the rhythm section along with drums or percussion, so it underpins everything. What it plays will be a mix of melody and rhythm.

As you begin to play, you'll find that after a while the fingertips of your left hand, holding down the notes, begin to hurt. The same will be true of your right hand if you use your fingers to pluck the strings. After a while they'll harden up - please be patient.

Unlike the guitar, the bass is a single-note instrument - you don't play chords (some bassists do, but that's very advanced). As such, each note counts. You might play just the emphasised notes of the music (which in 4/4 or common time are the first and third beats of each bar), or your role might be to offer a "walking" bass line to propel the song (the type heard on many old blues records), or even a counter melody.

Improving
Don't expect to be a genius overnight. It takes years of practice to become an excellent musician. Listen to your favourite bass players and they way they approach a song or tune. As a beginning, you can do a lot worse than try to copy others. It will open you to new ideas, and your playing will improve as you emulate professionals.

If you can't do it all immediately - and you won't be able to - don't become too frustrated. Practice and perseverance are important.

Amplification
Having a bass guitar is fine, but unless it's an acoustic bass guitar (or guitarron, as they're called in Mexico), you'll need to amplify it. In the beginning, you'll only need a small practice amp, as the only person who needs to hear the sound is you.

Once you've mastered the basics, however, you'll want to play with others - by nature the bass isn't a solo instrument - and you'll need a louder amp and large speakers for the sounds. There are many available. Whilst those large bass cabinets with 18" speakers might look good, remember that they have to be moved, and you'll be the one moving them. It's worth the expense of the best equipment you can afford, which also applies to your instrument.

There are no guarantees you'll become a great bassist. But you will be able to hold your own in a band, and eventually develop your own bass style. Along the way you'll also find a great deal of fun.

Tablature (or Tabulature), tab or tabs is a form of musical notation, which tells players where to place their fingers on a particular instrument rather than which pitches to play.

The first known existence in Europe is around 1300. In Asia there exist much older tablature notation

Guitar tab consists of a series of horizontal lines forming a staff (or stave) similar to standard notation. Each line represents one of the instrument’s strings therefore standard guitar tab has a six-line staff and bass guitar tab has four lines. The top line of the tablature represents the highest pitched string of the guitar. By writing tablature with the lowest pitched notes on the bottom line and the highest pitched notes on the top line of the tablature follows the same basic structure and layout of Western Standard Notation.

Go To Guitar Tab for Larger Printable Versions:

Here is a diagram that might help explain it……followed by the guitar tab symbols that you will need to know.

Learning how to read guitar tabs is something that will not take up a lot of your time. It can be a great tool if you are just learning to play.

If you don’t have the time or patience to learn to read standard notation, which can take years of practice……or if you don’t have a teacher to take guitar lessons from, then you will find this a quick way to learn to play the guitar.

Guitar Players Center will make learning how to read guitar tabs easy to understand.

Tablature can not convey precise information about timing and duration. The system counts on you to listen to the piece of music so that you are familiar with the rhythmic structure of the piece and the timing of the individual notes.

Standard music notation can take years to learn in entirety. In most cases a teacher most likely would show you how to read the notation, not necessarily understand the theory behind it. What I mean to say is, for instance, a person may be able to actually learn to read chinese, but that doesn’t mean you understand what your saying. Standard music notation is a universal language that all musicians from anywhere in the world would understand. The best thing about reading standard music notation is that you don’t need to listen to the piece of music before you play it.

Bass (pronounced /ˈbeɪs/ as in base), when used as an adjective, is used to describe tones of low frequency or range. Played in an ensemble/orchestra, such notes are frequently used to provide a counterpoint or counter-melody, in a harmonic context either to outline or juxtapose the progression of the chords, or with percussion to underline the rhythm. In popular music the bass part most often provides harmonic and rhythmic support, usually playing the root or fifth of the chord and stressing the strong beats.


Instrument or singer

As a noun, a bass is a musical instrument or singer with a low range: see: bass (vocal range) and bass (instrument). In a jazz or orchestral context, the term may refer to the double bass, the largest and lowest pitched bowed string instrument. In a popular music context, the term often refers to the bass guitar, a four-stringed instrument from the guitar family that is used to perform basslines in rock and pop. In electronic music, programmed bass is used to fill out the frequency range and add more bottom-end to the song in order for it to sound more full and drive the song.

Tips on buying "Used" Drums / Drumsets

Make sure both top and bottom heads are on the drums.

Make sure none of the tuning lugs on the drums are missing.

Make sure the laminate or exterior drum finish is in good condition

Hardware should appear relatively sturdy and all locking mechanisms secure.

Drumheads should be in relatively good shape. (It's expensive to replace them all at once).

You're often safer buying from an older player that takes better care of his drumkit and drum hardware..

Don't know what type of used drumset to buy? Well, see what you like in new drums and then search for that drumset in your local trading post or drum classifieds.

Like buying a used car, you often get more for your money with a used kit.

Try to take an experienced drummer with you to check out a used drum set.

Trust your gut instinct. If it doesn't "feel" right, it probably isn't.

What does their house look like? If it's not clean and kept, then they probably didn't take care of the drumset you're about to buy either

Drums Buying Guide
A guide to help you purchase a drumset. What is the best drumset for you?
Do you need help buying a drumset? This drumset buyers guide will help!

How much to spend on a Drum Set?
What you pay for a drumset depends on the quality of the drumset but for a beginner, anywhere between $200 and $500. Much of this will depend on whether it's and used drumset or a brand name drumset.

What drums are the best, or "What are the best drumsets?"
After you have the facts (above) it's really just a matter of
individual preference. Like buying a car, some swear by Ford and
others swear by Chevrolet. (We're actually fond of Toyotas ;).

Do I need a 5 piece drumset or will less pieces do?
A beginner can learn efficiently on a ride (or hi-hat), a bass drum,
and a snare drum. Young students will appreciate a full 5 piece drumkit
however as it makes it more fun to play drumfills down the drums.

1. Headstock
2. Nut
3. Machine heads (or pegheads, tuning keys, tuning machines, tuners)
4. Frets
5. Truss rod
6. Inlays
7. Neck
8. Heel (acoustic or Spanish) - Neckjoint (electric)
9. Body
10. Pickups
11. Electronics
12. Bridge
13. Pickguard
14. Back
15. Soundboard (top)
16. Body sides (ribs)
17. Sound hole, with Rosette inlay
18. Strings
19. Saddle
20. Fretboard (or Fingerboard)

1. Headstock
2. Nut
3. Machine heads
4. Frets
5. Truss rod
6. Inlays
7. Neck and fretboard
8. Neck joint
9. Body
10. Pickups
11. Electronics
12. Bridge & Stop Tailpiece
13. Pickguard

Guitars can be divided into two broad categories, acoustic and electric:

Acoustic guitars

An acoustic guitar is one not dependent on an external device to be heard but uses a soundboard which is a wooden piece mounted on the front of the guitar's body. The acoustic guitar is quieter than other instruments commonly found in bands and orchestras so when playing within such groups it is often externally amplified. Many acoustic guitars available today feature a variety of pickups which enable the player to amplify and modify the raw guitar sound.

There are several notable subcategories within the acoustic guitar group: classical and flamenco guitars; steel string guitars, which include the flat top or "folk" guitar; twelve string guitars and the arch top guitar. The acoustic guitar group also includes unamplified guitars designed to play in different registers such as the acoustic bass guitar which has a similar tuning to that of the electric bass guitar.

Renaissance and Baroque guitars
These are the gracile ancestors of the modern classical guitar. They are substantially smaller and more delicate than the classical guitar, and generate a much quieter sound. The strings are paired in courses as in a modern 12 string guitar, but they only have four or five courses of strings rather than six. They were more often used as rhythm instruments in ensembles than as solo instruments, and can often be seen in that role in early music performances. (Gaspar Sanz' Instrucción de Música sobre la Guitarra Española of 1674 constitutes the majority of the surviving solo corpus for the era.) Renaissance and Baroque guitars are easily distinguished because the Renaissance guitar is very plain and the Baroque guitar is very ornate, with ivory or wood inlays all over the neck and body, and a paper-cutout inverted "wedding cake" inside the hole.

Classical guitars
These are typically strung with nylon strings, played in a seated position and are used to play a diversity of musical styles including classical music. The classical guitar's wide, flat neck allows the musician to play scales, arpeggios and certain chord forms more easily and with less adjacent string interference than on other styles of guitar. Flamenco guitars are very similar in construction, but are associated with a more percussive tone. 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. In Colombia, the traditional quartet includes a range of instruments too, from the small bandola (sometimes known as the Deleuze-Guattari, for use when traveling or in confined rooms or spaces), to the slightly larger tiple, to the full sized classical guitar. The requinto also appears in other Latin-American countries as a complementary member of the guitar family, with its smaller size and scale, permitting more projection for the playing of single-lined melodies. Modern dimensions of the classical instrument were established by Antonio Torres Jurado (1817-1892). Classical guitars are sometimes referred to as classic guitars. In recent years, the series of guitars used by the Niibori Guitar orchestra have gained some currency, namely:

* Sopranino guitar (an octave and a fifth higher than normal); sometimes known as the piccolo guitar
* Soprano guitar (an octave higher than normal)
* Alto guitar (a 5th higher than normal)
* Prime (ordinary classical) guitar
* Niibori bass guitar (a 4th lower than normal); Niibori simply calls this the "bass guitar", but this assigns a different meaning to the term than other parts of the community use, as his is only a 4th lower, and has 6 strings
* Contrabass guitar (an octave lower than normal)

The modern Ten-string guitar

The Modern/Yepes 10-string guitar (a classical guitar) adds four strings (resonators) tuned in such a way that they (along with the other three bass strings) can resonate in unison with any of the 12 chromatic notes that can occur on the higher strings; the idea behind this being an attempt at enhancing and balancing sonority.
Main article: Ten-string guitar

Portuguese guitar

In spite of the name, it is not a guitar, but rather a cittern.
Main article: Portuguese guitar

Flat-top (steel-string) guitars
Similar to the classical guitar, however, within the varied sizes of the steel-stringed guitar the body size is usually significantly larger than a classical guitar and it has a narrower, reinforced neck and stronger structural design. This allows the instrument to withstand the additional tension of steel strings. The steel strings produce a brighter tone, and according to many players, a louder sound. The acoustic guitar is used in many kinds of music including folk, country, bluegrass, pop, jazz and blues.

Archtop guitars
These are steel string instruments in which the top (and often the back) of the instrument are carved in a curved rather than a flat shape. Lloyd Loar of the Gibson Guitar Corporation introduced the violin-inspired f-hole design now usually associated with archtop guitars, after designing a style of mandolin of the same type. The typical archtop is a deep, hollow body guitar whose form is much like that of a mandolin or violin family instrument. Nowadays, most archtops are equipped with magnetic pickups and are therefore both acoustic and electric. F-hole archtop guitars were immediately adopted upon their release by both jazz and country musicians and have remained particularly popular in jazz music, usually with flatwound strings.

Ellis 8 string baritone tricone resonator guitar.

Resonator, resophonic or Dobro guitars
Similar to the flat top guitar in appearance, the sound of the resonator guitar is produced by a metal resonator mounted in the middle of the top. The physical principle of the guitar is therefore similar to the banjo. The original purpose of the resonator was to amplify the sound of the guitar. This purpose has been largely superseded by electrical amplification, but the resonator guitar is still played because of its distinctive sound. Resonator guitars may have either one resonator cone or three resonator cones. Three-cone resonators have two cones on the left above one another and one cone immediately to the right. The method of transmitting sound resonance to the cone is either a "biscuit" bridge, made of a small piece of hardwood, or a "spider" bridge, made of metal and larger in size. Three-cone resonators always use a specialized metal spider bridge. The type of resonator guitar with a neck with a square cross-section – called "square neck" – is usually played face up, on the lap of the seated player, and often with a metal or glass slide. The round neck resonator guitars are normally played in the same fashion as other guitars, although slides are also often used, especially in blues.

12 string guitars
The twelve string guitar usually has steel strings and is widely used in folk music, blues and rock and roll. Rather than having only six strings, the 12-string guitar has six courses made up of two strings each, like a mandolin or lute. The highest two courses are tuned in unison, while the others are tuned in octaves. The 12-string guitar is also made in electric forms.

Russian guitars
These are seven string acoustic guitars which were the norm for Russian guitarists throughout the 19th and well into the 20th centuries. The guitar is traditionally tuned to an open G major tuning.

Acoustic bass guitars
Have steel strings or gut strings and often the same tuning as an electric bass guitar.

Tenor guitars
A number of classical guitarists call the Niibori prime guitar a "Tenor Guitar" on the grounds that it sits in pitch between the alto and the bass. Elsewhere[citation needed]the name is taken for a 4-string guitar with a scale length of 23" (585 mm) – about the same as a Terz Guitar. The tenor guitar is tuned in fifths, C G D A, as is the tenor banjo and the cello. It is generally accepted[citation needed] that the tenor guitar was created to allow a tenor banjo player to follow the fashion as it evolved from Dixieland Jazz towards the more progressive Jazz that featured guitar. It allows a tenor banjo player to provide a guitar-based rhythm section with little to learn. A small minority of players (such as Nick Reynolds of the Kingston Trio) close tuned the instrument to D G B E to produce a deep instrument that could be played with the 4-note chord shapes found on the top 4 strings of the guitar or ukulele. The deep pitch warrants the wide-spaced chords that the banjo tuning permits, and the close tuned tenor does not have the same full, clear sound.

Harp guitars
Harp Guitars are difficult to classify as there are many variations within this type of guitar. They are typically rare and uncommon in the popular music scene. Most consist of a regular guitar, plus additional 'harp' strings strung above the six normal strings. The instrument is usually acoustic and the harp strings are usually tuned to lower notes than the guitar strings, for an added bass range. Normally there is neither fingerboard nor frets behind the harp strings. Some harp guitars also feature much higher pitch strings strung below the traditional guitar strings. The number of harp strings varies greatly, depending on the type of guitar and also the player's personal preference (as they have often been made to the player's specification).[15] The Pikasso guitar; 4 necks, 2 sound holes, 42 strings] and also the Oracle Harp Sympitar; 24 strings (with 12 sympathetic strings protruding through the neck) are modern examples.

Extended-range guitars
For well over a century guitars featuring seven, eight, nine, ten or more strings have been used by a minority of guitarists as a means of increasing the range of pitch available to the player. Usually, it is bass strings that are added. Classical guitars with an extended range are useful for playing lute repertoire, some of which was written for lutes with more than six courses.

Guitar battente
The battente is smaller than a classical guitar, usually played with four or five metal strings. It is mainly used in Calabria (a region in southern Italy) to accompany the voice.

This Fender Stratocaster has features common to many electric guitars: multiple pickups, a whammy bar, volume and tone knobs.

Electric guitars
Main article: Electric guitar

Electric guitars can have solid, semi-hollow, or hollow bodies, and produce little sound without amplification. Electromagnetic pickups convert the vibration of the steel strings into electrical signals, which are fed to an amplifier through a cable or radio transmitter. The sound is frequently modified by other electronic devices or the natural distortion of valves (vacuum tubes) in the amplifier. There are two main types of pickup, single and double coil (or humbucker), each of which can be passive or active. The electric guitar is used extensively in jazz, blues, and rock and roll, and was commercialized by Gibson in collaboration with Les Paul, and independently by Leo Fender of Fender Music. The lower fretboard action (the height of the strings from the fingerboard), lighter (thinner) strings, and its electrical amplification lend the electric guitar to some techniques which are less frequently used on acoustic guitars. These include tapping, extensive use of legato through pull-offs and hammer-ons (also known as slurs), pinch harmonics, volume swells, and use of a tremolo arm or effects pedals.

Seven-strings were popularized in the 1980s and 1990s in part due to the release of the Ibanez Universe guitar, endorsed by Steve Vai. Other artists go a step further, by using an 8 string guitar with two extra low strings. Although the most common 7-string has a low B string, Roger McGuinn (of The Byrds and Rickenbacker) uses an octave G string paired with the regular G string as on a 12 string guitar, allowing him to incorporate chiming 12 string elements in standard 6 string playing. in 1982 Uli Jon Roth developed the "Sky Guitar", with a vastly extended amount of frets, which was the first guitar to venture into the upper registers of the violin. Roth's 7-string "Mighty Wing" guitar features an altogether 6-octave range.

The electric bass guitar is similar in tuning to the traditional double bass viol. Hybrids of acoustic and electric guitars are also common. There are also more exotic varieties, such as guitars with two, three,[16] or rarely four necks, all manner of alternate string arrangements, fretless fingerboards (used almost exclusively on bass guitars, meant to emulate the sound of a stand-up bass), 5.1 surround guitar, and such.

Some electric guitar and electric bass guitar models feature Piezoelectric pickups, which function as transducers to provide a sound closer to that of an acoustic guitar with the flip of a switch or knob, rather than switching guitars.

Guitar construction and components

1. Headstock
2. Nut
3. Machine heads (or pegheads, tuning keys, tuning machines, tuners)
4. Frets
5. Truss rod
6. Inlays
7. Neck
8. Heel (acoustic) – Neckjoint (electric)
9. Body
10. Pickups
11. Electronics
12. Bridge
13. Pickguard
14. Back
15. Soundboard (top)
16. Body sides (ribs)
17. Sound hole, with Rosette inlay
18. Strings
19. Saddle
20. Fretboard (or Fingerboard)

General

Guitars can be constructed to meet the demands of both left and right-handed players. Traditionally the dominant hand is assigned the task of plucking or strumming the strings. For the majority of people this entails using the right hand. This is because musical expression (dynamics, tonal expression and colour etc) is largely determined by the plucking hand, while the fretting hand is assigned the lesser mechanical task of depressing and gripping the strings. This is similar to the convention of the violin family of instruments where the right hand controls the bow. A minority, however, believe that left-handed people should learn to play guitars strung in the manner used by right-handed people, simply to standardise the instrument.

Headstock
Main article: Headstock

The headstock is located at the end of the guitar neck furthest from the body. It is fitted with machine heads that adjust the tension of the strings, which in turn affects the pitch. Traditional tuner layout is "3+3" in which each side of the headstock has three tuners (such as on Gibson Les Pauls). In this layout, the headstocks are commonly symmetrical. Many guitars feature other layouts as well, including six-in-line (featured on Fender Stratocasters) tuners or even "4+2" (Ernie Ball Music Man). However, some guitars (such as Steinbergers) do not have headstocks at all, in which case the tuning machines are located elsewhere, either on the body or the bridge.

Nut
Main article: Nut (instrumental)

The nut is a small strip of bone, plastic, brass, corian, graphite, stainless steel, or other medium-hard material, at the joint where the headstock meets the fretboard. Its grooves guide the strings onto the fretboard, giving consistent lateral string placement. It is one of the endpoints of the strings' vibrating length. It must be accurately cut, or it can contribute to tuning problems due to string slippage, and/or string buzz.

Fretboard
Main article: Fingerboard

Also called the fingerboard, the fretboard is a piece of wood embedded with metal frets that comprises the top of the neck. It is flat on classical guitars and slightly curved crosswise on acoustic and electric guitars. The curvature of the fretboard is measured by the fretboard radius, which is the radius of a hypothetical circle of which the fretboard's surface constitutes a segment. The smaller the fretboard radius, the more noticeably curved the fretboard is. Most modern guitars feature a 12" neck radius, while older guitars from the 1960s and 1970s usually feature a 6-8" neck radius. Pinching a string against the fretboard effectively shortens the vibrating length of the string, producing a higher pitch. Fretboards are most commonly made of rosewood, ebony, maple, and sometimes manufactured or composite materials such as HPL or resin. See below on section "Neck" for the importance of the length of the fretboard in connection to other dimensions of the guitar.

Frets
Main article: Fret

Frets are metal strips (usually nickel alloy or stainless steel) embedded along the fretboard and located at exact points that divide the scale length in accordance with a specific mathematical formula. Pressing a string against a fret determines the strings' vibrating length and therefore its resultant pitch. The pitch of each consecutive fret is defined at a half-step interval on the chromatic scale. Standard classical guitars have 19 frets and electric guitars between 21 to 24 frets (though Ibanez has issued guitars with as many as 36 frets.)

Frets are laid out to a mathematical ratio that results in equal tempered division of the octave. The ratio of the spacing of two consecutive frets is the twelfth root of two. The twelfth fret divides the scale length in two exact halves and the 24th fret position divides the scale length in half yet again. Every twelve frets represents one octave. In practice, luthiers determine fret positions using the constant 17.817, which is derived from the twelfth root of two (21/12). The scale length divided by this value yields the distance from the nut to the first fret. That distance is subtracted from the scale length and the result is divided in two sections by the constant to yield the distance from the first fret to the second fret. Positions for the remainder of the frets are calculated in like manner.[17] Actual fret spacing does not use this exact value; the fret spacing on the fretboard was also done by trial and error (testing) method over the ages.

There are several different fret gauges, which can be fitted according to player preference. Among these are "jumbo" frets, which have much thicker gauge, allowing for use of a slight vibrato technique from pushing the string down harder and softer. "Scalloped" fretboards, where the wood of the fretboard itself is "scooped out" between the frets allows a dramatic vibrato effect. Fine frets, much flatter, allow a very low string-action but require other conditions such as curvature of the neck to be well maintained in order to prevent buzz.

On steel-string guitars, frets are eventually bound to wear down; when this happens, frets can be replaced or, to a certain extent, leveled, polished, recrowned, or reshaped as required.

Truss rod
Main article: Truss rod

The truss rod is a metal rod that runs along the inside of the neck. It is used to correct changes to the neck's curvature caused by the neck timbers aging, changes in humidity or to compensate for changes in the tension of strings. The tension of the rod and neck assembly is adjusted by a hex nut or an allen-key bolt on the rod, usually located either at the headstock, sometimes under a cover, or just inside the body of the guitar underneath the fretboard and accessible through the sound hole. Some truss rods can only be accessed by removing the neck. The truss rod counteracts the immense amount of tension the strings place on the neck, bringing the neck back to a straighter position. Turning the truss rod clockwise will tighten it, counteracting the tension of the strings and straightening the neck or creating a backward bow. Turning the truss rod counter-clockwise will loosen it, allowing string tension to act on the neck and creating a forward bow. Adjusting the truss rod affects the intonation of a guitar as well as the height of the strings from the fingerboard, called the action. Some truss rod systems, called "double action" truss systems, tighten both ways, allowing the neck to be pushed both forward and backward (standard truss rods can only be released to a point beyond which the neck will no longer be compressed and pulled backward).

Classical guitars do not require truss rods as their nylon strings exert a lower tensile force with lesser potential to cause structural problems. However their necks are often reinforced with a strip of harder wood, such as an ebony strip running down the back of a cedar neck. There is no tension adjustment on this form of reinforcement.

Inlays
Main article: Inlay (guitar)

Inlays are visual elements set into the exterior surface of a guitar. The typical locations for inlay are on the fretboard, headstock, and on acoustic guitars around the soundhole, known as the rosette. Inlays range from simple plastic dots on the fretboard to intricate works of art covering the entire exterior surface of a guitar (front and back). Some guitar players have used LEDs in the fretboard to produce a unique lighting effects onstage.

Fretboard inlays are most commonly shaped like dots, diamond shapes, parallelograms, or large blocks in between the frets. Dots are usually inlaid into the upper edge of the fretboard in the same positions, small enough to be visible only to the player. These usually appear on the odd numbered frets, but also on the 12th fret (the one octave mark) instead of the 11th and 13th frets. Some older or high-end instruments have inlays made of mother of pearl, abalone, ivory, coloured wood or other exotic materials and designs. Simpler inlays are often made of plastic or painted. High-end classical guitars seldom have fretboard inlays as a well trained player is expected to know his or her way around the instrument.

In addition to fretboard inlay, the headstock and soundhole surround are also frequently inlaid. The manufacturer's logo or a small design is often inlaid into the headstock. Rosette designs vary from simple concentric circles to delicate fretwork mimicking the historic rosette of lutes. Bindings that edge the finger and sound boards are sometimes inlaid. Some instruments have a filler strip running down the length and behind the neck, used for strength and/or to fill the cavity through which the trussrod was installed in the neck.

Elaborate inlays are a decorative feature of many limited edition, high-end and custom-made guitars. Guitar manufacturers often release such guitars to celebrate significant or historic milestones.

Neck
Main article: Neck (music)

A guitar's frets, fretboard, tuners, headstock, and truss rod, all attached to a long wooden extension, collectively constitute its neck. The wood used to make the fretboard will usually differ from the wood in the rest of the neck. The bending stress on the neck is considerable, particularly when heavier gauge strings are used (see Tuning), and the ability of the neck to resist bending (see Truss rod) is important to the guitar's ability to hold a constant pitch during tuning or when strings are fretted. The rigidity of the neck with respect to the body of the guitar is one determinant of a good instrument versus a poor one. The shape of the neck can also vary, from a gentle "C" curve to a more pronounced "V" curve. There are many different types of neck profiles available, giving the guitarist many options. Some aspects to consider in a guitar neck may be the overall width of the fingerboard, scale (distance between the frets), the neck wood, the type of neck construction (for example, the neck may be glued in or bolted on), and the shape (profile) of the back of the neck. Other type of material used to make guitar necks are graphite (Steinberger guitars), aluminium (Kramer Guitars, Travis Bean and Veleno guitars), or carbon fiber (Modulus Guitars and ThreeGuitars).

Double neck electric guitars have two necks, allowing the musician to quickly switch between guitar sounds.

Neck joint or 'Heel'

This is the point at which the neck is either bolted or glued to the body of the guitar. Almost all acoustic guitars, with the primary exception of Taylors, have glued (otherwise known as set) necks, while electric guitars are constructed using both types.

Commonly used set neck joints include mortise and tenon joints (such as those used by CF Martin & Co. guitars), dovetail joints (also used by CF Martin on the D28 and similar models) and Spanish heel neck joints which are named after the shoe they resemble and commonly found in classical guitars. All three types offer stability. Bolt-on necks, though they are historically associated with cheaper instruments, do offer greater flexibility in the guitar's set-up, and allow easier access for neck joint maintenance and repairs.

Another type of neck, only available for solid body electric guitars, is the neck-through-body construction. These are designed so that everything from the machine heads down to the bridge are located on the same piece of wood. The sides (also known as wings) of the guitar are then glued to this central piece. Some luthiers prefer this method of construction as they claim it allows better sustain of each note. Some instruments may not have a neck joint at all, having the neck and sides built as one piece and the body built around it.

Strings

Modern guitar strings are constructed of metal, polymers, or animal or plant product materials.

Instruments utilising "steel" strings may have strings made of alloys incorporating steel, nickel or phosphor bronze. Classical and flamenco instruments historically used gut strings, but these have been superseded by polymer materials, such as nylon and fluorocarbon materials. Bass strings for both instruments are wound rather than monofilament.

Body (acoustic guitar)

In acoustic guitars, string vibration is transmitted through the bridge and saddle to the body via sound board. The sound board is typically made of tone woods such as spruce or cedar. Timbers for tone woods are chosen for both strength and ability to transfer mechanical energy from the strings to the air within the guitar body. Sound is further shaped by the characteristics of the guitar body's resonant cavity.

In electric guitars, transducers known as pickups convert string vibration to an electric signal, which in turn is amplified and fed to speakers, which vibrate the air to produce the sounds we hear. Nevertheless, the body of the electric guitar still performs a role in shaping the resultant tonal signature.

In an acoustic instrument, the body of the guitar is a major determinant of the overall sound quality. The guitar top, or soundboard, is a finely crafted and engineered element made of tonewoods such as spruce and red cedar. This thin piece of wood, often only 2 or 3 mm thick, is strengthened by differing types of internal bracing. The top is considered by many luthiers to be the dominant factor in determining the sound quality. The majority of the instrument's sound is heard through the vibration of the guitar top as the energy of the vibrating strings is transferred to it.

Body size, shape and style has changed over time. 19th century guitars, now known as salon guitars, were smaller than modern instruments. Differing patterns of internal bracing have been used over time by luthiers. Torres, Hauser, Ramirez, Fleta, and C.F. Martin were among the most influential designers of their time. Bracing not only strengthens the top against potential collapse due to the stress exerted by the tensioned strings, but also affects the resonance characteristics of the top. The back and sides are made out of a variety of timbers such as mahogany, Indian rosewood and highly regarded Brazilian rosewood (Dalbergia nigra). Each one is primarily chosen for their aesthetic effect and can be decorated with inlays and purfling.

The body of an acoustic guitar has a sound hole through which sound is projected. The sound hole is usually a round hole in the top of the guitar under the strings. Air inside the body vibrates as the guitar top and body is vibrated by the strings, and the response of the air cavity at different frequencies is characterised, like the rest of the guitar body, by a number of resonance modes at which it responds more strongly.

Instruments with larger areas for the guitar top were introduced by Martin in an attempt to create louder volume levels. The popularity of the larger "dreadnought" body size amongst acoustic performers is related to the greater sound volume produced.

Body (electric guitar)

Most electric guitar bodies are made of wood and include a plastic pick guard. Boards wide enough to use as a solid body are very expensive due to the worldwide depletion of hardwood stock since the 70's, so the wood is rarely one solid piece. Most bodies are made of two pieces of wood with some of them including a seam running down the centre line of the body. The most common woods used for electric guitar body construction include maple, basswood, 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. Most electrics have a polyurethane or nitrocellulose lacquer finish. Other alternative materials to wood, are used in guitar body construction. Some of these include carbon composites, plastic material (such as polycarbonate) and aluminium alloys.

Pickups

Pickups are transducers attached to a guitar that detect (or "pick up") string vibrations and convert the mechanical energy of the string into electrical energy. The resultant electrical signal can then be electronically amplified. The most common type of pickup is electromagnetic in design. These contain magnets that are tightly wrapped in a coil, or coils, of copper wire. Such pickups are usually placed right underneath the guitar strings. Electromagnetic pickups work on the same principles and in a similar manner to an electrical generator. The vibration of the strings causes a small voltage to be created in the coils surrounding the magnets; this signal voltage is later amplified.

Traditional electromagnetic pickups are either single-coil or double-coil. Single-coil pickups are susceptible to noise induced from electric fields, usually mains-frequency (60 or 50 hertz) hum. The introduction of the double-coil humbucker in the mid-1950s did away with this problem through the use of two coils, one of which is wired in a reverse polarity orientation.

The types and models of pickups used can greatly affect the tone of the guitar. Typically, humbuckers, which are two magnet–coil assemblies attached to each other are traditionally associated with a heavier sound. Single-coil pickups, one magnet wrapped in copper wire, are used by guitarists seeking a brighter, twangier sound with greater dynamic range.

Modern pickups are tailored to the sound desired. A commonly applied approximation used in selection of a pickup is that less wire (lower DC resistance) = brighter sound, more wire = "fat" tone. Other options include specialized switching that produces coil-splitting, in/out of phase and other effects. Guitar circuits are either active, needing a battery to power their circuit, or, as in most cases, equipped with a passive circuit.

Fender Stratocaster type guitars generally utilize three single-coil pickups, while most Gibson Les Paul types use humbucker pickups.

Piezoelectric, or piezo, pickups represent another class of pickup. These employ piezoelectricity to generate the musical signal and are popular in hybrid electro-acoustic guitars. A crystal is located under each string, usually in the saddle. When the string vibrates, the shape of the crystal is distorted, and the stresses associated with this change produce tiny voltages across the crystal that can be amplified and manipulated.

Some piezo-equipped guitars use what is known as a hexaphonic pickup. "Hex" is a prefix meaning six. In a hexaphonic pickup separate outputs are obtained from discrete piezoelectric pickups for each of the six strings. This arrangement allows the signal to be easily modified by on-board modelling electronics, as in the Line 6 Variax brand of electric guitars; the guitars allow for a variety of different sounds to be obtained by digitally manipulating the signal. This allows a guitar to mimic many vintage models of guitar, as well as output alternate tunings without the need to adjust the strings.

Another use for hexaphonic pickups is to send the output signals to a MIDI interpretation device, which determines the note pitch, duration, attack and decay characteristics and so forth. The MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) interpreter then sends the note information to a sound bank device. The resulting sound can closely mimic numerous types of instruments.

Electronics

On guitars that have them, 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 shielding to prevent pickup of external interference and noise.

Lining, Binding, and Purfling

The top, back and ribs of an acoustic guitar body are very thin (1-2 mm), so a flexible piece of wood called lining is glued into the corners where the rib meets the top and back. This interior reinforcement provides 5 to 20 mm of solid gluing area for these corner joints. Solid linings are often used in classical guitars, while kerfed lining is most often found in steel string acoustics. Kerfed lining is also called kerfing (because it is scored, or kerfed to allow it to bend with the shape of the rib).

During final construction, a small section of the outside corners is carved or routed out and then filled with binding material on the outside corners and decorative strips of material next to the binding, which are called purfling. This binding serves to seal off the endgrain of the top and back. Purfling can also appear on the back of an acoustic guitar, marking the edge joints of the two or three sections of the back.

Binding and purfling materials are generally made of either wood or plastic.

Bridge

The main purpose of the bridge on an acoustic guitar is to transfer the vibration from the strings to the soundboard, which vibrates the air inside of the guitar, thereby amplifying the sound produced by the strings.

On both electric and acoustic guitars, the bridge holds the strings in place on the body. There are many varied bridge designs. There may be some mechanism for raising or lowering the bridge to adjust the distance between the strings and the fretboard (action), and/or fine-tuning the intonation of the instrument. Some are spring-loaded and feature a "whammy bar", a removable arm which allows the player to modulate the pitch moving the bridge up and down. The whammy bar is sometimes also referred to as a "tremolo bar" (see Tremolo for further discussion of this term – the effect of rapidly changing pitch produced by a whammy bar is more correctly called "vibrato"). Some bridges also allow for alternate tunings at the touch of a button.

On almost all modern electric guitars, the bridge is adjustable for each string so that intonation stays correct up and down the neck. If the open string is in tune but sharp or flat when frets are pressed, the bridge can be adjusted with a screwdriver or hex key to remedy the problem. In general, flat notes are corrected by moving the bridge forward and sharp notes by moving it backwards. On an instrument correctly adjusted for intonation, the actual length of each string from the nut to the bridge saddle will be slightly but measurably longer than the scale length of the instrument. This additional length is called compensation, which flattens all notes a bit to compensate for the sharping of all fretted notes caused by stretching the string during fretting.

Pickguard
Main article: Pickguard

Also known as a scratchplate. This is usually a piece of laminated plastic or other material that protects the finish of the top of the guitar from damage due to the use of a plectrum or fingernails. Electric guitars sometimes mount pickups and electronics on the pickguard. It is a common feature on steel-string acoustic guitars. Vigorous performance styles such as flamenco, which can involve the use of the guitar as a percussion instrument, call for a scratchplate to be fitted to nylon-string instruments.

Tremolo arm
Main article: Tremolo arm

Many electric guitars are fitted with a vibrato and pitch bend device known as a "tremolo bar (or arm)", "sissy bar", "wang bar", "slam handle", "whammy handle", and "whammy bar". The latter two terms led stompbox manufacturers to use the term 'whammy' in coming up with a pitch raising effect introduced by popular guitar effects pedal brand "Digitech".

The tremolo arm is common enough that there is a technical term, hard tail, for a guitar without one.

Leo Fender, who did much to create the electric guitar, also created much confusion over the meaning of the terms "tremolo" and "vibrato" by the naming the "tremolo" unit on many of his guitars and also the "vibrato" unit on his "Vibrolux" amps. In general, vibrato is a variation in pitch, whereas tremolo is a variation in volume, so the tremolo bar is actually a vibrato bar and the "Vibrolux" amps actually had a tremolo effect. However, following Fender's example, electric guitarists traditionally reverse these meanings when speaking of hardware devices and the effects they produce. See vibrato unit for a more detailed discussion, and tremolo arm for more of the history.

Another type of pitch bender is the B-Bender, a spring and lever device mounted in an internal cavity of a solid body electric, guitar that allows the guitarist to bend just the B string of the guitar using a lever connected to the strap handle of the guitar. The resulting pitch bend is evocative of the sound of the pedal steel guitar.

Guitar Strap

Strip of fabric with a leather or synthetic leather piece on each end. Made to hold a guitar via the shoulders, at an adjustable length to suit the position favoured by the guitarist.

Self-tuning guitars

Self-tuning guitars are computerized guitars programmed to tune themselves. The Gibson Robot guitar, released in 2007, is often mistaken as the first of this kind, but was preceded by the Transperformance system by at least 20 years. Gibson is currently working on a new self-tuning model called the Dark Fire.[citation needed] [18]

Tuning
Main article: Guitar tuning

The guitar is a transposing instrument. Its pitch sounds one octave lower than it is notated on a score.

A variety of different tunings may be used. The most common tuning, known as "Standard Tuning," has the strings tuned from a low E, to a high E, traversing a two octave range – EADGBE.

The pitches are as follows:
String Scientific pitch Helmholtz pitch Interval from middle C Frequency
first E4 e' major third above 329.63 Hz
second B3 b minor second below 246.94 Hz
third G3 g perfect fourth below 196.00 Hz
fourth D3 d minor seventh below 146.83 Hz
fifth A2 A minor tenth below 110 Hz
sixth E2 E minor thirteenth below 82.41 Hz

The table below shows pitch names found over the six strings of a guitar in standard tuning, from the nut (zero), to the twelfth fret.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
E F F♯ G A♭ A B♭ B C C♯ D E♭ E
B C C♯ D E♭ E F F♯ G A♭ A B♭ B
G A♭ A B♭ B C C♯ D E♭ E F F♯ G
D E♭ E F F♯ G A♭ A B♭ B C C♯ D
A B♭ B C C♯ D E♭ E F F♯ G A♭ A
E F F♯ G A♭ A B♭ B C C♯ D E♭ E

A guitar using this tuning can tune to itself using the fact, with a single exception, that the 5th fret on one string is the same note as the next open string; that is, a 5th-fret note on the sixth string is the same note as the open fifth string. The exception is the interval between the second and third strings, in which the 4th-fret note on the third string is equivalent to the open second string.

Standard tuning has evolved to provide a good compromise between simple fingering for many chords and the ability to play common scales with minimal left hand movement. Uniquely, the guitar's tuning allows for repeatable patterns which also facilitates the ease in which common scales can be played. There are also a variety of commonly used alternate tunings – most of which are open tunings that create entire chord voicings without fretting any strings. Many open tunings, where all of the strings are tuned to a similar note or chord, are popular for slide guitar playing. Alternate tunings are used for two main reasons: the ease of playing and the variation in tone that can be achieved.

Many guitarists use a long established, centuries-old tuning variation where the lowest string is 'dropped' down a whole tone. Known as Drop-D (or dropped D) tuning it is, from low to high, DADGBE. This allows for open string tonic and dominant basses in the keys of D and D minor. It also enables simple fifths (powerchords) to be more easily played. Eddie Van Halen sometimes uses a device known as a 'D Tuna,' the patent for which he owns. It is a small lever, attached to the fine tuner of the 6th string on a Floyd Rose tremolo, which allows him to easily drop that string's tuning to a D. Many contemporary rock bands detune all strings by several semi-tones, making, for example, Drop-C or Drop-B tunings, However this terminology is inconsistent with that of "drop-D" as "drop-D" refers to dropping a single string to the named pitch. Often these new tunings are also simply referred to as the "Standard" of the note in question e.g. – "D Standard" (DGcfad').

Some guitarists tune in straight fourths, avoiding the major third between the third and second strings. While this makes playing major and minor triads slightly more difficult, it facilitated playing chords with more complicated extended structures[citation needed]. One proponent of the straight fourth tuning (EADGCF) is Stanley Jordan.

As with all stringed instruments a large number of scordatura are possible on the guitar. A common form of scordatura involves tuning the 3rd string to F♯ to mimic the standard tuning of the lute, especially when playing renaissance repertoire originally written for the lute.

Guitar accessories

Though a guitar may be played on its own, there are a variety of common accessories used for holding and playing the guitar.

Capotasto

A capo (short for capotasto) is used to change the pitch of open strings. Capos are clipped onto the fret board with the aid of spring tension, or in some models, elastic tension. To raise the guitar's pitch by one semitone, the player would clip the capo onto the fret board just below the first fret. Their use allows a player to play in different keys without having to change the chord formations they use. Because of the ease with which they allow guitar players to change keys, they are sometimes referred to as "cheaters" or the "hillbilly crutch." Classical performers are known to use them to enable modern instruments to match the pitch of historical instruments such as the renaissance lute.

Slides
Main article: Slide Guitar

A slide, (neck of a bottle, knife blade or round metal bar) used in blues and rock to create a glissando or 'Hawaiian' effect. The necks of bottles were often used in blues and country music. Modern slides are constructed of glass, plastic, ceramic, chrome, brass or steel, depending on the weight and tone desired. An instrument that is played exclusively in this manner, (using a metal bar) is called a steel guitar or pedal steel. Slide playing to this day is very popular in blues music and country music. Some slide players use a so called Dobro guitar.

Some performers that have become famous for playing slide are Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Ry Cooder, George Harrison, Bonnie Raitt, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Duane Allman, Muddy Waters and Rory Gallagher.

Plectrum
A variety of guitar picks

A "guitar pick" or "plectrum" is a small piece of hard material which is generally held between the thumb and first finger of the picking hand and is used to "pick" the strings. Though most classical players pick solely with their finger nails, the "pick" is often used for electric and some acoustic guitars. Though today they are mainly plastic, variations do exist, such as bone, wood, steel or tortoise shell. Tortoise shell was the most commonly used material in the early days of pick making but as tortoises became more and more endangered, the practice of using their shells for picks or anything else was banned. Tortoise shell picks are often coveted for a supposedly superior tone and ease of use.

Picks come in many shapes and sizes. Picks vary from the small jazz pick to the large bass pick. The thickness of the pick often determines its use. A thinner pick (between .2 and .5 mm) is usually used for strumming or rhythm playing, whereas thicker picks (between .7 and 1.5+ mm) are usually used for single-note lines or lead playing. The distinctive guitar sound of Billy Gibbons is attributed to using a quarter or peso as a pick. Similarly, Brian May is known to use a sixpence coin as a pick. David Persons is known for using old credit cards, cut to the correct size, as plectrum.

Thumb picks and finger picks that attach to the finger tips are sometimes employed in finger-picking styles.