Chuck Berry

Many people says that Chuck Berry is the father of Rock&Roll.
Chuck had great performance on stage, thanks to his famous "duck walk", that became his trademark. Chuck performed first "duck walk" in New York, in 1956. He says he did that to hide the wrinkles in his rayon suit. He recalls: "It got an ovation, so I did it again and again".

Famous "duck walk" performed by Chuck Berry. Later, Angus Young, guitarist of AC/DC used it in his performances.

In December 1959 following an appearance in El Paso, Chuck and band visited nearby Juarez, Mexico. There he invited a 14 years old Apache waitress Janice Escalanti to work as a hat chech girl at his nightclub, Berry's Club Bandstand in St. Louis. According to Berry, when he refused her advances she left in a fit of anger. On December 21, Janice was arrested for prostitution at local hotel. Because of this, Berry was charged with violation of the Mann Act. This federal statue forbid the transporting a person across state lines for the purpose of prostitution. Berry was convicted to five years in prison and fined $5,000. An appeal was made based on racial comments made by the presiding judge and a new trial began in October, 1961. Most of the original verdict was upheld and Berry received 3 years at the Indiana Federal Prison and fined $10,000. Two months later he was transferred to Leavenworth Federal Prison in Kansas. He completed his sentence at the Federal Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri and was released on his birthday October 18, 1963. Chuck Berry was never the same person again. He felt he had been betrayed.

Angus Young --AC/DC

Most rock worshipers will agree that Angus Young, guitarist of famous AC/DC band, is one of the most energetic performers ever. He and his wild acrobatics on stage became trademark of AC/DC, and you can't imagine this band without them. In addition to his crazy stage persona, he is one of the best rock guitarists of rock history.

Angus is born on March 31, 1955 in Glasgow, town in Scotland. Young and family moved to Australia in the '60s. Older brother of Angus, George, become famous in Easybeats, inspiring his younger brothers, Angus and Malcolm to begin learning guitar. Angus became fascinated by Chuck Berry, who influenced his playing style.

Gibson SG played by Angus

Angus and Malcolm formed first band in the early '70s, naming it AC/DC. Because band rehearsals were right after school, Angus often practiced in his school uniform. This look became such a hit so Angus decided to wear it on stage. He also began playing a Gibson SG, and that was the only guitar model that he played through his entire career. The Young brothers haven't been influenced by popular musical trends of the '70s (progressive rock, disco...), and played raw and simple three-chord rock. When singer Bon Scott arrived in the band, AC/DC became a worldwide sensation.

With massive worldwide success, AC/DC overcame a tragedy in 1980, when Bon Scott died from unknown reasons. Pretty soon, a replacement, Brian Johnson was in the band. Shortly after, AC/DC issued their biggest hit in the career: Back in Black.

Barre chords

Barre chords are the top of the mountain in beginner's guitar playing. When you master these, then you are ready for some really advanced techniques.

So, what's the difference between open chords and barre chords?
When making barre chord, you need to press entire fret with your index finger. It seems easy, but try it - you won't make it first time. Nor second time. Even 50th time. It takes most practice. But it's worth of it.

So, how do these chords look like?
Let me show you the F chord. It looks like this:
e|---------1----------------------|
B|---------1----------------------|
G|---------2----------------------|
D|---------3----------------------|
A|---------3----------------------|
E|---------1----------------------|

This seems pretty weird, right? Now, put your finger 3 on the 3rd fret of the 5th string, finger 4 on the 4th string, finger 2 on the 3rd and with your index finger (finger 1) fret strings 1,2 and 6. Put your finger over entire first fret and try to fret them. This requires lots of practice. So try it over and over again. By learning the F barre, you basically learned 12 new chords. This is because you just need to move your current finger formation one fret lower, and you gonna get a new chord.

I won't show barre chords here now, because there are many of them, and it's hard to pick important and most used ones.

Open chords

After learning tabs and riffs, it's time to get to the more serious work, learning chords. There are two main types of chords: open chords and barre chords. Open chords are pretty easier, because when playing barre, you need to press one entire fret with your index finger. But it all takes practice, and isn't very hard.

Open chords are very good and logical choice for the guitar beginner. Most of these are pretty easy. First chords you should learn are E, Em, A, Am, C and G. With these chords learned, you will be able to play many songs you know. You first need to learn to switch fast between the chords, until you are comfortable with that. Then, when you practiced enough, you can learn some simple songs, like Knocking on the Heavens doors. After that, learn barre chords, and the rest depends on practice, practice, and more practice.
Teaching your fingers to remember chords position is the hardest part of guitar learning. When you teach that, you can start more interesting part of guitar playing - learning songs. On this site, you will later find plenty of material. Especially if you like rock and metal...
Now, here are the tabs for open chords:

- E chord

e|-------------------------------|
B|------------------------------|
G|---------1---------------------|
D|---------2--------------------|
A|---------2--------------------|
E|------------------------------|

So, you fret second frets of 5th and 6th strings, and first fret of 4th string. For this, use first 3 fingers, no matter in what order, because many players use different positions. Use the way you feel most comfortable.


- Em chord
e|-------------------------------|
B|------------------------------|
G|------------------------------|
D|---------2---------------------|
A|---------2--------------------|
E|------------------------------|

The Em chord is almost the same like E chord, but here you fret only 5th and 6th strings. Same rules for fingers like in E chord.


-A chord
e|------------------------------|
B|----------2-------------------|
G|----------2-------------------|
D|----------2-------------------|
A|------------------------------|
E|------------------------------|

Here, fret 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings like in the tab above. Use finger 1 for 4th string, finger 2 for 3rd, and finger 3 for 2nd string.

-Am chord
e|-------------------------------|
B|---------1--------------------|
G|---------2--------------------|
D|---------2--------------------|
A|------------------------------|
E|------------------------------|

Use finger 1 for 2nd string, finger 3 for 3rd string and finger 2 for 4th string.


-C chord
e|-------------------------------|
B|------------------------------|
G|-------1-----------------------|
D|-------0-----------------------|
A|-------2-----------------------|
E|-------3-----------------------|

Use 3rd finger for 6th string, 2nd finger for 5th string and 1st finger for 4th string.


-G chord
e|----------3-------------------|
B|------------------------------|
G|------------------------------|
D|------------------------------|
A|---------2-------------------|
E|---------3-------------------|

Use finger 2 for 6th string, finger 1 for 5th string, and finger 3 or 4 for 1st string.


Now when you know how to play these chords, practice them! Practice fast-switching between them, and try to play them with as less mistakes as possible.

Power chords

Power chords are essential for playing heavy metal, hard rock, and, generally, every type of rock.

To begin, first we need to make a rough definition of heavy metal.
Heavy metal have roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, and it's characteristics are thick, heavy sound, with guitars and drums in the first plan. Guitars are played with highly amplified distortion.
That was really rough definition of heavy metal.



This lesson will introduce you to the most common chords used in heavy metal. Fingers will be referred to by numbers:
1 - Index finger
2 - Middle f.
3 - Ring f.
4 - Pinky f.


Now, I won't get into definitions of power chords, because they are really confusing, and aren't very necessary.

The primary chord used in HM is the "Power chord". This is done like this:

e|-------------------------------------------------------| B|-------------------------------------------------------| G|------------------------------------------------------| D|------------------------------------------------------| A|-3----------------------------------------------------| E|-1----------------------------------------------------|

This chord would be called an F Power chord, which means that you will hear an F note, but there will be a harsh sound, created by the C note (third fret, fifth string).
This chord formation can be moved anywhere on the fretboard, allowing almost infinite possibilities... Practice it a bit, it's fun!
Default fingering for this type of power chord is to put finger 1 on the first fret of the first string, and finger 4 on the other string. There are some other ways to do this, but this is the most used one.



Inverted Power Chords: These chords are similar to the aforementioned chord,
except that these chords switch around the ordering.

e|----------------------------------|
B|----------------------------------|
G|----------------------------------|
D|----------------------------------|
A|-1--------------------------------|
E|-3--------------------------------|


This chord type is the opposite to the above chord. This is also not a F, but G (3rd fret, 6th string). Most common fingering for this one is just like the previous chord - but inverted too. That means that finger 4 will go on the higher string, and finger 1 on the one below.
These chords aren't common as the regular power chords. These chords surely doesn't sound like standard power chord. It even sometimes sounds like two strings randomly fretted and played. But still, they are used pretty often.



Another type of chord, follows this formation, and is very easy to remember:

e|--------------------------------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------|
G|--------------------------------------------|
D|--------------------------------------------|
A|---2----------------------------------------|
E|---2----------------------------------------|

This type of chords produces really dark sound, and it is very "throaty". As you can see, it's very simple to produce. There are two ways to do this:

1) Lay finger 1 across two desired frets
2) This involves two fingers, usually 1 and 2.

Way 2 is better in situations when you need to change to another chord quickly.


The last type of power chord that will be shown here is a little bit odd. It's rarely used, and when used, it's mostly by Metallica.

e|-------------------------|
B|-------------------------|
G|-------------------------|
D|-----4-------------------|
A|-----5-------------------|
E|-------------------------|


This one is most easily formed with two fingers. Fingers are 1 and 2. When you play this chord first time, it will sound like your guitar is out of tune. But don't be confused: It's really meant to sound that way!
If you play them often (but I see no reason for that), they will start sound OK to you. But if you're used to the power chords, this one will be pain in the a**...

A little slow-down

I must inform you that, due to personal matters, I will have to make a pause for a couple of days. Don't worry, this blog will continue as soon I resolve those matters.
Bye!

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

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