The Guitars Neck and Headstock

By James DuClos

When you get your new guitar you might know how to hold it because you've seen countless guitar players on tv or just people you know. But after that you might not know what to do next. This is the start of a series of lessons that will help you start playing guitar. These are the very basics of playing and guitar knowledge that will help you to get on your feet and start learning guitar.

The Guitars Neck and Headstock

Now you can just learn chords and how to play them, but there is a ton of information to know before you can become a great guitar player. GLI has fine tuned these lessons to include all the information you need to know in order to dissect other peoples music and make your own sound. You will be able to play other peoples music as well as come up with original compositions.
The first thing you need to know is what all the different parts do, you didn't just start driving a car without knowing what pedals do what. These are the bare essential parts that most every guitar has. Your guitar may be slightly different but will contain most of these parts.

Tuning pegs - Tuning pegs lengthen or shorten the length of the string; these tune your guitar to the correct open pitches.

Tuning Posts - These wrap the strings to make them higher or lower in pitch.

Truss Rod - Truss rods counteract the string tension that would otherwise cause the neck to curve. With a truss rod your neck is strait.

Nut - The nut keeps the strings spaced at even intervals so that you will know where the strings are without looking.

Fret - Frets are metal pieces that change the length of the string when the string is pressed against it.

Fretboard - The fretboard holds the frets at specific intervals so the guitar is playable. The fretboard is glued to the neck and is NOT the actual neck of the guitar.

Headstock - The headstock contains the tuning pegs, posts, truss rod adjustment, and nut. This is where your guitar's brand and name are placed.

Fret Marker - Fret markers help to provide a quick reference point to certain frets so you don't have to count 1, 2, 3 and so on.

The Guitar's Body

Single Coils - These are arm pickups, which 'pick up' the vibration of the strings with magnets and convert it to an electrical signal that is sent to the amplifier.

Humbuckers - Humbuckers look like two single coils put together. These give a fatter sound because the pickups read a bigger portion of the string compared to single coils.

Bridge - The bridge holds the strings to the body and sets intonation, spacing and the action of your guitar.

Whammy Bars - Whammy bars attach to the bridge, and when pressed, move the bridge so that string tension is decreased and the pitches are lowered. Whammy bars are detachable and you may have to put yours on before you use it.

Strap Button - Strap buttons hold your strap to the guitar.

Pick Guard - This is a sheet of plastic that prevents your hand or pick from scratching the guitar's finish.

Pickup Selector - This switch selects which pickups are on or off, often a 5 way switch.

Ton and Volume Knobs - These knobs adjust the Volume and Tone. If you have two tone knobs, each will control a different pickup.

Input - Ironically called the input in many cases, this is where the signal of your guitar is sent to the amplifier. But you do plug a cable from your amp into this jack.

Make sure you know what parts perform which function. Some you will use frequently and others you might not want to touch or adjust. However, with this information under your belt, you should be able to move on to basic playing and tuning.

James DuClos is a professional guitarist who creates tons of free online guitar lessons at Guitar Lesson Insider. You will also find reviews of top product reviews like Learn and Master Guitar and Jamorama.