The
guitar is a musical instrument of the
chordophone family. The standard guitar has six
strings but
four-,
seven-,
eight-,
nine-,
ten-,
eleven-,
twelve-,
thirteen- and
eighteen- guitars are also available. The
two primary families of guitar types are the
electric guitars and the
acoustic guitars. The three main types of
acoustic guitar are the
classical
guitar, the
steel-string flattop
guitar, and the
archtop
guitar.
Guitars are recognized as one of the primary instruments in
flamenco,
jazz,
blues,
country,
mariachi,
rock
music, and many forms of
pop. They can
also be a
solo classical
instrument. Guitars may be played
acoustically; the tone is produced by the
vibration of the strings which is amplified by the body of the
guitar which acts as a large hollow resonating chamber, or they may
rely on an
amplifier that can
electronically manipulate tone. Such
electric guitars were
introduced in the 1930s, and they have continued to have a profound
influence on
popular culture since
then.
Traditionally guitars have been constructed of various woods and
strung with animal gut, or more recently, with either nylon or
steel strings. Guitars are made and repaired by
luthiers.
History
Before the development of the electric guitar and the use of
synthetic materials, a guitar was defined as being an instrument
having "a long, fretted neck, flat wooden soundboard, ribs, and a
flat back, most often with incurved sides". The term is used to
refer to a number of such related instruments that were developed
and used across Europe in the modern era. Some types of guitars,
which are themselves related to these European instruments,
originated in the Americas. origin of stringed instruments once
known in
central Asia and
India. For this reason guitars are distantly related to
contemporary instruments from these regions, including the
tanbur,
setar and
sitar, among others. The oldest known iconographic
representation of an instrument displaying the essential features
of a guitar is a 3,300 year old stone carving of a
Hittite bard.
The modern word, guitar, was adopted into English from Spanish
guitarra (German
Gitarre, French
Guitare), loaned from the medieval
Andalusian Arabic qitara, itself
derived from the Latin
cithara, which in turn came from
the earlier Greek word
kithara, a
descendant of Old Persian
sihtar (
Tar means
string in
Persian).
The guitar is descended from the
Roman
cithara brought by the Romans to
Hispania around 40 AD, and further adapted and
developed with the arrival of the four-string
oud, brought by the
Moors after
their
conquest of
Iberia in the 8th century. Elsewhere in Europe, the indigenous
six-string Scandinavian
lut (
lute),
had gained in popularity in areas of Viking incursions across the
continent. Often depicted in carvings c. 800 AD, the Norse hero
Gunther (also known as Gunnar), played a lute with his toes as he
lay dying in a snake-pit, in the legend of Siegfried. By 1200 AD,
the four-string "guitar" had evolved into two types: the (Moorish
guitar) which had a rounded back, wide fingerboard and several
soundholes, and the (Latin guitar) which resembled the modern
guitar with one soundhole and a narrower neck. In the 14th and 15th
centuries the qualifiers "moresca" and "latina" were dropped and
these four course instruments were simply called guitars.
The Spanish
vihuela or (in Italian) " ", a
guitar-like instrument of the 15th and 16th centuries, is often
considered a major influence in the development of the modern
guitar. It had six courses (usually), lute like
tuning in fourths and a guitar-like body, although
early representations reveal an instrument with a sharply-cut
waist. It was also larger than the contemporary four course
guitars. By the late 15th century some vihuelas began to be played
with a bow, leading to the development of the
viol. By the sixteenth century the vihuela's
construction had more in common with the modern guitar, with its
curved one-piece ribs, than with the viols, and more like a larger
version of the contemporary four-
course guitars. The vihuela enjoyed only a
short period of popularity in Spain and Italy during an era
dominated elsewhere in Europe by the
lute; the
last surviving published music for the instrument appeared in 1576.
Meanwhile the five-course
baroque
guitar, which was documented in Spain from the middle of the
16th century, enjoyed popularity, especially in Spain, Italy and
France from the late 16th century to the mid 18th century.
Confusingly, in Portugal, the word
vihuela referred to the
guitar, whereas
guitarra meant the "
Portuguese guitar", a variety of
cittern.
Types of guitars
Guitars can be divided into two broad categories, acoustic and
electric:
Acoustic guitars
There are several notable subcategories within the acoustic guitar
group: classical and flamenco guitars; steel-string guitars, which
include the flat-topped, or "folk," guitar;
twelve-string guitars; and the arched-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.
- 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.
- 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 the Spaniard Antonio de Torres Jurado
(1817-1892). 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 flamenco guitar is similar to the
classical guitar, but of lighter construction, with a cypress body
and spruce top. Tuning pegs like those of a violin are traditional,
although many modern flamenco guitars have machine heads. A
distinguishing feature of all flamenco guitars is the tapping
plates (golpeadores) glued to the table, to protect them
against the taps with the fingernails that are an essential feature
of the flamenco style.
- Many modern soloists (following the lead of Paco de Lucía) play what is called a
flamenca negra, a hybrid of the flamenco and classical
guitar constructions
- 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.
- In spite of the name, it is not a guitar, but rather a cittern.
- 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. The robust X-bracing typical of the
steel-string was developed in the 1840s by German-American luthiers
of whom C. F. Martin is the
best known. Originally used on gut-strung instruments, the strength
of the system allowed the guitar to withstand the additional
tension of steel strings when this fortunate combination arose in
the early 20th century. 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. Many variations are possible from the roughly
classical-sized OO and Parlour to the large Dreadnought and Jumbo. Ovation makes a modern variation,
with a rounded back/side assembly molded from artificial
materials.
- These are steel-string instruments in which the top (and often
the back) of the instrument are carved from a solid billet in a
curved rather than a flat shape; this violin-like construction is
usually credited to the American Orville
Gibson (1856-1918). Lloyd Loar of the
Gibson Mandolin-Guitar
Mfg. Co 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
guitar has a large, deep, hollow body 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.
- These are usually played by those who follow the style of
Django Reinhardt. It is an
unusual-looking instrument, distinguished by a fairly large body
with squarish bouts, and either a "D"-shaped or longitudinal oval
soundhole. The strings are gathered at the tail like an archtop
guitar, but the top is formed from thin spruce (like a flat-top or
classical) forced into a shallow dome. It also has a wide
fingerboard and slotted head like a nylon-string guitar. The loud
volume and penetrating tone make it suitable for single-note
soloing and it is frequently employed as
a lead instrument in gypsy swing.
- All three principal types of resonator guitars were invented by
the Slovak-American John Dopyera
(1893-1988) for the National and Dobro (Dopyera
Brothers) companies. Similar to the flat top
guitar in appearance, but with a body which may be made of brass,
nickel-silver or steel as well as wood, the sound of the resonator
guitar is produced by one or more aluminum resonator cones mounted
in the middle of the top. The physical principle of the guitar is
therefore similar to the loudspeaker.
The original purpose of the resonator was to produce a very loud
sound; this purpose has been largely superseded by electrical
amplification, but the resonator guitar is still played because of
its distinctive tone. Resonator guitars may have either one or
three resonator cones. The method of transmitting sound resonance
to the cone is either a "biscuit" bridge, made of a small piece of
hardwood at the vertex of the cone (Nationals), or a "spider"
bridge, made of metal and mounted around the rim of the (inverted)
cone (Dobros). Three-cone resonators always use a specialized metal
bridge. The type of resonator guitar with a neck with a square
cross-section – called "square neck" or "Hawaiian" – 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.
- 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
course 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.
- 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.
- These have steel strings or gut strings and often the same
tuning as an electric bass guitar.
- The guitarrón is a very large, deep-bodied Mexican 6-string
acoustic bass played in mariachi bands. It is fretless with heavy
gauge nylon strings, and is usually played by doubling notes at the
octave, which is facilitated by the unusual tuning of A D G C E
A.
- 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 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 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 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). 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. A typical example is
the modern 11 string archguitar, invented and played by
Peter Blanchette.
- 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.
Electric guitars
Electric guitars can have solid, semi-hollow, or hollow bodies, and
produce little sound without amplification.
Electromagnetic pickup 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. The first successful magnetic
pickup for a guitar was invented by
George Beauchamp, and incorporated into the
1931 Ro-Pat-In (later
Rickenbacker)
"Frying Pan" lap steel; other
manufacturers, notably
Gibson, soon began to install
pickups in archtop models. After World War II the completely
solid-body electric was popularized 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.
The first guitarist of note to use a seven-string guitar was jazz
guitarist
George Van Eps, who was
noted as a pioneer of this instrument.
Solid body seven-string 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 and 33 fret "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, 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. Those that combine
Piezoelectric pickups and magentic pickups are
sometimes known as hybrid guitars.
Guitar construction and components
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
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
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. To reduce string friction in the nut, which can adversely
affect tuning stability, some guitarists fit a roller nut. Some
instruments use a zero fret just in front of the nut. In this case
the nut is used only for lateral alignment, the string height being
set by the zero fret.
Fretboard
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
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 Caparison Guitars issue guitars with as many as 27
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 (2
1/12).
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. 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
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
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
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 steel-string guitars,
with the primary exception of Taylors, have glued (otherwise known
as set) necks, while electric guitars are constructed using both
types. Most classical guitars have a neck and headblock carved from
one piece of wood, known as a "Spanish heel."
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 all electric, acoustic and original 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
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.
Whammy Bar (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 has also released a second, self-tuning
model called the Dark Fire.
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:
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 retune 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 . 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. Its use allows players 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
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,
Rory
Gallagher, and
George
Thorogood.
Plectrum
A variety of guitar picks
"
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.
Notes
- Kasha, Dr. Michael (August 1968). "A New Look at The History of
the Classic Guitar". Guitar Review 30,3-12
- Wade, Graham A Concise History of the Classic Guitar
Mel Publications, 2001
- [A Brief History of the Guitar
http://www.guyguitars.com/eng/handbook/BriefHistory.html]
- Kithara appears in the Greek New Testament four times
(1 Cor. 14:7, Rev. 5:8, 14:2 and 15:2), and is usually translated
into English as harp. Strong's Concordance Number: 2788
[1]
- Summerfield, Maurice J. (2003). The Classical Guitar, It's
Evolution, Players and Personalities since 1800 (5th ed.)
Blaydon on Tyne: Ashley Mark Publishing. ISBN 1-872-63946-1.
- [Viking Art & Architecture
http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/vikings/vikart.htm]
- [A Look At The History Of The Guitar
http://www.thejazzfestival.net/showarticle?id=109580]
- Tom and Mary Anne Evans. Guitars: From the Renaissance to
Rock. Paddington Press Ltd 1977 p.16
- "The first incontrovertible evidence of five-course instruments
can be found in Miguel Fuenllana's Orphenica Lyre of 1554,
which contains music for a vihuela de cinco ordenes. In
the following year Juan Bermudo wrote in his Declaracion de
Instrumentos Musicales: "We have seen a guitar in Spain with
five courses of strings." Bermudo later mentions in the same book
that "Guitars usually have four strings", which implies that the
five-course guitar was of comparatively recent origin, and still
something of an oddity". Tom and Mary Anne Evans Guitars: From
the Renaissance to Rock. Paddington Press Ltd 1977 p.24
- "We know from literary sources that the five course guitar was
immensely popular in Spain in the early seventeenth century and was
also widely played in France and Italy...Yet almost all the
surviving guitars were built in Italy...This apparent disparity
between the documentary and instrumental evidence can be explained
by the fact that, in general, only the more expensively made
guitars have been kept as collectors' pieces. During the early
seventeenth century the guitar was an instrument of the people of
Spain, but was widely played by the Italian aristocracy." Tom and
Mary Anne Evans. Guitars: From the Renaissance to Rock.
Paddington Press Ltd 1977 p.24
- http://www.oddmusic.com/gallery/om23350.html
- The Official Steve Vai Website: The
Machines
- Hybrid guitars
- Caparison Horus-HGS
- http://www.gibson.com/Products/DarkFire.aspx
See also
External links
featuring many historic guitars from the Museum's
collection
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