Choosing the right type of strings

Not any type of strings can be put on any guitar.
Steel-stringed guitars have iron bar in the neck, which prevents bending of the neck. This is because steel strings have more power when strung, so a classical guitar's neck wouldn't survive long if steel strings are on it. Although some guitars without iron bar can have steel strings, but they must be thinner, commonly 0.10 are used. Most common sizes of strings are 0.10, 0.12, 0.13, 0.15 and 0.16. The smaller the size, the easier is to fret the strings. Sound is different at every size. For beginners, best choice are 0.10 strings.

Nylon strings are used with classical guitars, as I said before. They are used on guitars that doesn't have strong necks, because they can't bend them. Well, they can, if the neck is made out of paper...

Bying a guitar

Now that you know all that absolute beginner needs to know, it's time to buy (or borrow) your first guitar (if you don't have one). The main factors you need to pay attention when buying a guitar for a beginner are:

1. Strings are supposed to be soft. That means that player must be able to easily fret strings.
2. Fretboard must be wide enough just to fit into player's hand. If it's too wide, player will have some difficulties when playing barre chords, and it will generally be more difficult to play. If it's too narrow, string will be too close, and it will be difficult to be accurate when playing.
3. When buying a guitar, it's good to have someone experienced with you, so when you see the guitar you want, he could try it immediately. This is useful because experienced player will notice if there is something wrong with guitar.

Remember that every guitar is different, so a player should try many of them before choosing right one for himself. Because beginners aren't very comfortable with guitars, three factors written here are most important. With these, you can rarely buy wrong guitar.


Acoustic or electric?
Now, many beginners are questioning about type of guitar they will buy. Here, things are a little bit complicated. Acoustic guitars are harder to play than electric. But if you want to play both acoustic and electric, then you should start with acoustic one. Why? Because when you learn to play on acoustic guitar, you will easily transfer to electric one, because electric is softer than acoustic.
Now, here are main differences between guitar types.

• Electric guitar

If you're planning to play heavier types of music (rock, metal, etc.), then probably the best choice for you is a electric guitar. But even for other music genres, such as blues and jazz, it's a good choice. Amplified electric guitars sounds different than acoustic ones, even without distortion. Parts that define guitar's sound are pickups and amplifier.
Pickups are very important par of electric guitar's sound. There are two types of pickups: passive single-coil pickups and humbuckers, with two magnetic coils. Passive single-coils are usually found on Stratocasters.
Passive single-coil pickups produce more cleaner sound than humbuckers, and are a little bit better for jazz and blues.
Humbuckers, thanks to two magnetic coils, produce generally heavier sound, and are more suitable for harder music.

• Acoustic guitar

Acoustic guitar doesn't need amplifier nor pickups to produce sound. Its hollow body makes the sound.
There are two types of acoustic guitars: classical, with nylon strings and steel-stringed guitar.

• Classical guitar is usually played with fingers, instead of using a pick. It have softer sound than steel stringed, so it's ideal for classical music. Its fretboard is wider than on steel-stringed.
  
• Steel-stringed guitars have larger body than classical. They are often named "folk guitars". Picking is harder than on classical, so it's recommended to use a pick when playing. It have sharper sound than classical guitar, so it's widely used in jazz, blues and early rock.
  

Basics of guitar playing

Guitar is, and has always been a portable stringed instrument for public hearing. There is nothing better than sitting at the campfire and playing some songs with friends. If you just started to play the guitar, then you can play many songs with just a few learned chords. But playing the guitar isn't just strumming some half-recognizable songs. There are many things that make playing easier and more "professional like", if you know what I mean.

- HOLDING
When you hold guitar, you need to find a middle between holding the guitar technically right and holding it comfortable (since almost all beginners finds it difficult to hold the guitar right and comfortable). Holding an guitar is a personal matter, but clear guidelines exists:

• The physical stability of the instrument
• You need to ensure that both of your hands are free to play, without supporting the instrument. This is very important when playing something tricky.
• You need to eliminate most of the muscular tension in playing position

Many beginners turn fretboard towards themselves, so they can see frets more clearly. This is wrong, because if you do that, you must curl your fist to fret the strings. This can be very painful. Trust me, I tried that. It's a lot easier to learn to correctly hold the fretboard. It's more difficult in the beginning, I know, but it will pay back later, when your friends guitarist will start to moan "Oh, my hand, how they hurt!", and you will laugh... ;).
It may take a few weeks to start feeling comfortable when holding the guitar, so don't be discouraged in the very beginning.

- SITTING
When you want to play guitar, sit normally on chair or something and put your guitar's waist on your leg. Rest your forearm on the wide part of guitar's belly, so when you strum, your fist strums strings at the soundhole. This way you will get the best sound on acoustic guitar. There are many discussions on how player should sit, but the best thing to do is to sit in position most comfortable to you.
Remember: no tension should be in your muscles. Your body needs to be totally relaxed.
WILL BE CONTINUED

Introduction to the second part

With brands, we concluded first section of this blog. Of course, there will always be something to add, correct, and so. In second part, you will learn basics of guitar playing. By that I mean scales, main chords and riffs (for harder music). We will try barre chords, but trust me, in the beginning, it will end like a try. You will also learn correct positioning of fingers when playing, because you don't want to make a knot out of your fingers in the middle of playing, do you? When you finish with this, you gonna play the guitar like this pro from the picture.
Just kidding ;)

Famous Brands

When it comes to brands, situation with guitars is rather simple. Fender and Gibson are on the top. While Fender guitars have clean sound, Gibson ones have little more distortion by default, so they are more useful for unexperienced players, because errors are less noticeable.
The fact that Fender and Gibson are on the top doesn't mean that all other guitars are trash. There are many guitar manufacturers that make really good guitars. Here will be listed some most notable guitar manufacturers.

The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation is de facto most famous guitar manufacturer in the world. It was founded in Fullerton California, by Clarence Leonidas Fender (Better known as Leo Fender) in 1946. He was most important because of its role in bringing solid body electric guitars to the masses with its low price. Electric guitars were made since the late 1920s, but nobody made such a commercial success than Fender. Other guitar manufacturers made hollow-body electric guitars, but Fender was first who made solid-body versatile guitars. First, other manufacturers laughed at Fender, calling his guitars "shovels" and similar names. But later they realised that Fender's design ain't that bad, so they accepted it. Most known Fender's guitar is Stratocaster.

Fender Stratocaster

The Gibson Guitar Corporation is the second most popular guitar manufacturer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Top of Gibson guitars is not like standard electric guitar tops, but it's more like acoustic guitar top. The most popular Gibson guitar is Les Paul, named by famous guitarist. Later, for some reasons, the body design of Les Paul was changed, and new guitar was named Gibson SG. The Les Paul returned to the Gibson catalogue in 1968 due to the influence of players such as Eric Clapton and Peter Green.

Both Les Paul and Gibson SG later became very popular with hard rock and heavy metal guitarists: Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Joe Perry (Aerosmith) and Ace Frehley (Kiss) preferred Les Paul, while Angus Yound (AC/DC), Tony Iommi and Frank Zappa of Mothers of Invention preferred Gibson SG.

Gibson Les Paul, most known guitar from Gibson

The Epiphone Company is another guitar manufaturer. It was bought by Gibson in late 1950s. 'Till then, Epiphone was actually main Gibson's rival in archtops. Their professional archtops, including the Emperor, Deluxe, Broadway and Triumph, rivaled Gibson ones. Sadly, company's weakness after WWII allowed Gibson to buy it.
Most known Epiphone guitar was Epiphone Casino VT. This rythm guitar was most famous for being used by The Beatles.

Gretsch is a U.S. musical instruments manufacturer, mainly known for electric guitars and drums. It's most famous electric guitar is White Falcon. After many years of tough times, in 2003 Gretsch and Fender reached an agreement, giving Fender most control over production, although the Gretsch family still owns Gretsch Guitars.

Types of guitars

Various types of guitars

Two most often seen guitars are acoustic and electric.

-Acoustic guitars

Acoustic guitar is made of hollow wooden body, a neck with frets on it and a headstock. Its strings are most often made of steel, because they give “sharper”, louder sound than nylon ones. Acoustic guitar is not dependent on an external device to be heard. It’s quieter than other instruments commonly found in bands, so it’s often externally amplified. 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.

1.

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

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

The headstock is at the end of the guitar neck. It's furthest from the body. It is fitted with machine heads that adjust the tension of the strings, which makes tone different (tuning). Classic tuner layout is "3+3" in which each side of the headstock has three tuners. In this layout, the headstocks are commonly symmetrical. Many guitars feature other layouts, including six-in-line (Fender Stratocasters) tuners or even "4+2". However, some guitars do not have headstocks at all, in which case the tuning machines are located somewhere else, either on the body or the bridge.

2. Nut

The nut is a small piece of bone, plastic, graphite, stainless steel, or other medium-hard material, at the place 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.

4. Frets

Frets are metal strips embedded along the fretboard and located at exact points that divide the scale length in accordance with a specific math 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. Frets worn down from heavy use can be replaced or, to a certain extent, re-shaped as required. Frets are available in different gauges. Every twelve frets represents one octave. In practise, luthiers determine fret positions using the constant 17.817, which is derived from the twelfth root of two. 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.

5. 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. 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. Classical guitars do not require truss rods as their nylon strings exert a lower tensile force with lesser potential to cause structural problems.

6. Inlays

Inlays are visual elements set into the exterior surface of a guitar. They are used to mark various frets on guitar, so the player could more easily find it. Usually, inlays start on third fret and from there every second fret is marked. So, it would go this way: 3, 5, 7, 9... Inlays are usually placed on the fretboard and on the side of the neck, so that only the player could see them.

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 mimicing the historic rosette of lutes. Bindings that edge the finger and sound boards are sometimes inlaid.

8. 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.

7. Neck

A guitar's frets, fretboard, tuners, headstock, and truss rod, all attached to a long wooden piece, 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, and the ability of the neck to resist bending 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. 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, aluminium, or carbon fiber.

9. 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 which is further shaped by the characteristics of the guitar body's resonant cavity.

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 3mm 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. 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 characterized, like the rest of the guitar body, by a number of resonance modes at which it responds more strongly.

-Electric guitars

Electric guitar is most popular in rock and metal, but it's used in almost all music genres today. It cannot work without amplifier.

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 coil and double coil (known as humbuckers), 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 together with Les Paul and independently by Leo Fender of Fender Music. The lower fretboard action (the height of the strings from the fingerboard) and its electrical amplification lend the electric guitar to some techniques which are less frequently used on acoustic guitars. These techniques 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.

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

Now, most parts on electric and acoustic guitars are the same, so here are described only parts that are different on electric guitars, or missing on acoustic guitars

9. 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 center line of the body. The most common woods used for electric guitar body construction include maple, basswood, ash, poplar, alder, and mahogany. The body is usually carved or routed to accept the other elements, such as the bridge, pickup, neck, and other electronic components. Other alternative materials to wood, are used in guitar body construction. Some of these include carbon composites, plastic material and aluminium alloys.

10. 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. 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 susceptable to noise induced from electric fields, usually mains-frequency (60 or 50 hertz) hum. The introduction of the double-coil humbucker in the mid 50's did away with this problem through the use of two coils, one of which is wired in a reverse polarity orientation.

The type and model 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 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.

11. 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. In many cases the electronics have some sort of shielding to prevent pickup of external interference and noise.

12. Bridge

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.

13. Pickguard

A.k.a. a scratchplate. This is 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.

-Archtop guitars

Archtop guitars are steel-stringed acoustic or semi-acoustic guitars with a full body and a distinctive arched belly. Their sound is very popular in blues and jazz. Archtop guitars were invented by Orville Gibson, founder of Gibson Guitar Corporation, in 1890s.
The archtops are generally equipped with thicker strings than acoustic guitars. They have rich sound unamplified, but in many cases, they use some kind of amplification. Largest manufacturers of archtops are Gibson and Epiphone.

Elementary about guitars

There are many types of guitar. They all have very different sound compared to each other. The only true way to understand the difference between types of guitars is to (try to) play them. There are many styles of guitar playing too. Since many people play many different styles, one type of sound that is great to one person, may be horrible to other.

Guitars are recognized as one of the primary instruments in rock, metal, blues, country, and in many forms of pop music. Guitars are played either acoustically, where the tone is produced in hollow body by vibration of the strings, or they may be created in amplifier, that electronically manipulates tone (electric guitars). Electric guitars were introduced in the 20^th century and have powerful influence in modern music, primary in rock, metal and pop.

Traditionally guitars have been constructed of combination of some types of wood and had strings made of animal guts. Today, strings are made of nylon (mostly classical guitars) or steel (acoustic or electric guitars) strings. Guitars are made and maintained by craftsmen named luthiers.

Guitar, that magical piece of wood...

INTRODUCTION

One of the rare instruments for which you can say that have magic, is guitar. Long time ago, some guy stretched some strings across a piece of wood, and made a sound with them. Thanks to that idea, we today have one of the most fantastic instruments ever made – the guitar. Through history, guitar changed form and name. It’s used in wide variety of music genres, from classic music to wildest metal songs. Now, that’s wide, right? This blog will have three sections : First (where you will find most of “Guitar theory”, i.e. some elementary things you should know about guitars, like types, brands, and so), Second (where you will find lyrics, tabs, guitar pro tabs, tips and tricks, some impressive videos of guitar masters playing their guitars, and more) and Third (Dedicated to famous rock and metal bands, as for famous guitarists themselves). Now, hierarchy will be something like this:

First part

· Introduction (you’re reading it right now)

· Elementary things about guitars

· Types of guitars

· Brands

Second part

· Introduction to the second part

· Basics of guitar playing

· Guitar playing

· Guitar playing

· More guitar playing

Third part

· History of metal

· History of rock

· Famous bands

· Famous guitarists

· GuitarPro Tabs

· Videos of really good players

· Tabs

·