Guitar for Beginners
Guitar Guide
Guitar for Beginners – Guitar Guide
Guitar for Beginners – Introduction to Guitar Parts
Guitar for beginners is about introducing you to what makes up a great guitar. The many small parts that make up the guitar all have are part to play in making it playable and sound great. This will be a great help when you first start playing guitar so you know what you need when your looking to buy.
Guitar for Beginners – The Guitar Neck
The guitar is made up of lots of important parts. Some parts are small and some are obviously larger but the small ones like the nut and frets can be the most important. They help enormously playability and the guitar staying in tune.
The guitar starts with the neck which houses the Frets, Tuners and the nut. These are important to keep the guitar in tune. There is nothing worse than a guitar that wont stay in tune when being played. The quality of the tuners ensures they hold the string securely. The string is constantly moving in the nut and if it gets caught in it goes out of tune.
Guitar for Beginners – Truss Rod
The neck also holds the magical truss rod, this ensures the neck is set up correctly. The truss rod is under the fret board and can be adjusted to bend or straighten the neck. A lot in how a guitar feels to play is in the neck setup controlled by the truss rod. The relief is the amount the neck is bent when the truss rod is adjusted. Its desirable to have a very slight bow in the neck to get the best playability and each guitar has basic set up parameters from the manufacturer.
Necks are separated by their radius which is how flat they are or how much curvature they posses. You can see a slight curve in the top of the fret board in the picture to the right. The fret board on the neck can be profiled so it is nearly flat or have a slight roundness to it.
Guitar for Beginners – Neck Profiles
The back of the neck can have many profiles from a deep round feel to a flat shallow C profile and then a V is also possible. You will love some and hate others. It is very personal when it comes to buying a guitar and how it feels to each player.
The scalloped guitar neck is also another oddity that a very few like to use like Yngwei Malmsteen. He plays a rock style with a very classical music background. It enables the lightest of touches to get crisp clean and very fast notes but not that great for string bending. Its there if you want it.
Guitar for Beginners – The Body
The body is made up of many different woods and constructions regardless of how it looks. If your looking for a guitar for beginners then you likely won’t notice the differences a great deal initially.
If you have been playing and listening to many different guitars over time you may then find a personal preference. Often it is just that. How you perceive a wood combination in a guitar.
Guitar for Beginners – Woods & Tone
The types of woods are attributed to a particular sounding guitar. These woods comprise the most common types of woods used. Bass wood, maple and mahogany are some very popular options for bodies as well as necks. One of the most beautiful finishes the the flame maple tops found on many top end guitars.
Quality maple has a beautiful finish that you can see in the Les Paul opposite. The more affordable guitars will give you a mahogany body but the cap will be a lesser quality maple then a beautiful veneer to give you the great finish.
The guitars with mahogany bodies as well that have maple tend to be a heavier than those with bass wood. The wood is said to be the most important factor in the guitars sound and sustain or the time a note continues to be heard when played.
When you are considering a guitar for beginners then pickups are a very important dependent on what the student is wants to hear. It is a very important component and really will govern the overall tone of a guitar.
The single coils pickups are bright sounding, with clear hi end notes and good mid tones as well as base. They are used in many styles of music and found on popular brands like Fender on their Stratocaster (Strat) and the Telecaster (Tele).
In the world of pickup manufacturers, there is a lot of after market replacement pickup options should you decide you don’t like the sound you have. It is possible to change them yourself or you can go to your local guitar shop and they will help you.
The top pickup makers are, but not limited to Symore Duncan, EMG, DiMarzio plus Fender and Gibson. All make great pickups for all styles of music. They all produce single coils and Humbucker pickups in combinations you will love.
There are also passive & active pickups available in most guitars. The passive pickups are most common in guitars today. The active pickups are often found on heavy metal guitars. These players tend to want higher output pickups which the active powered pickups supply. The choice of pickup you use is quite personal so experiment at your local shop and listen to the differences from each guitar you try.
Humbucker Pickups
P90 Pickups
Humbucker pickups are beautiful and warm in tone. If your looking for a guitar for beginners with better mid tones and fuller bass these are the choice. They can also bring screaming top end notes. The main advantage is they don’t make a noise when not being played. The two coils cancel out the hum from power often heard on single coil pickups, hence the name humbucker.
They may not be quite as clear as the single coils on a clean sounding guitar that’s true. A single coil guitar will always have that clear clean sound. A clean guitar is one not using any effects but normally no overdrive that gives a guitar that classic rock sound.
You will find these in many rock and metal guitars, but they are versatile enough to also be used in some blues guitars.
In the case of Gibson pickups the magnets can be changed and you can go to a more classic rock tone to a powerful hi output metal sound pretty quickly. They are referred to by numbers. Alnico 2 is the classic rock sounding magnet but you can get up to Alnico 4 or 5 now. These are much more powerful pickups. The choice is yours in which path you would like to take.
They come uncovered as in the picture or covered with a solid metal or plastic cover. The cover makes no difference with performance generally. It is just ascetic.
These are called P90 pickups and were created by Gibson back in 1946. They are a single coil guitar pickup but have a wide construction giving them a more mid range tone without the sharpness of the narrow wound Fender variant.
The Fender pickup is wound taller and narrower. These are very versatile and have the best of both worlds in tone sharing the characteristics of the single coil and Humbucking pickups. These are often overlooked and generally only found on a limited number of guitars.
Guitar Bridges – Fixed and Tremolo styles
Fixed Bridge
Fixed Bridges on guitars do come in a few different styles. They are simple and easy to adjust. Intonation is part of tuning and makes sure that the whole fret board remains in tune. If the intonation is wrong then notes along the fret board can be out of tune. Starting at the nut to the 12th fret may be fine but if the intonation is out the frets after the 12th fret become out of tune.
The solid bridge is where I would recommend any new electric guitarist to start. The floating styles can be a handful to new players. You can rest your hand on the bridge without any issue which is quite convenient when playing.
There are also through body designs that don’t need the tail stop at the back. The strings simply pass through the guitar body from the back of the guitar. Players report better tone and sustain with these guitars. There are a lot of claims about what is and does not effect tone.
I recommend taking all claims with a pinch of salt as they say till you test it for yourself. Fender Strats often have this or a simpler style of tremolo system which is also fine for beginners. The fixed bridge gives great tone and you can upgrade to roller types that have small wheels where the string goes over the bridge. This would be my recommendation for new players.
Tremolo Bridge
Tremolo systems come in semi and floating configurations. Fender Stratocaster and some Paul Read Smith guitars have these semi floating or even roller style tremolo’s in older guitars. These can normally only loosen the strings when played.
Fully floating bridges can be pushed and pulled so you can make engine and horse noises among the magnificent bends during solos. They also enable you to add a shimmer to notes and chords simply by tapping them and the springs that hold them in place will vibrate till the string stops.
They can be a handful to keep in tune especially when changing strings I personally found it a challenge. There are some great YouTube tutorials out there if your desire is to have a floating bridge. Changing temperatures also effects guitars as well as moisture so if your planning to play somewhere, put your guitar on stage in the lights where it will be or in its case on stage so it gets to the local air temperature then tune it. This makes sure the tuning of the guitar is likely not to move.
If you have a good guitar shop that can guide you and you want one then get advice. Know how to tune and maintain it.
Frets
Frets are the wire that is set into the neck across its width. When you push down on a string on the fret board the distance from the fret to the bridge gives you your desired note.
There are a few different designs which start at small also known as fret less wonders on old Gibson guitars. Again if your really just looking for a guitar for beginners then I would recommend medium frets or larger. It makes general playing and especially string bending a breeze.
The original guitars had smaller frets. These were small and very low and made famous by Les Paul himself. They allow fast runs and single note playing. This was a trait of Les Paul’s playing but he never really used string bending in his playing. His wife Mary Ford was also an amazing player. Check them out on you tube.
If your into string bending then you need something a little bigger in the fret department so we also have large, medium and jumbo frets. You may not take much notice when you pick up a guitar but they will govern your playing style to a point along with the necks profile.
If they wear out and they can after years of use they can be replaced by a luthier. Normally most home guitarist will likely never need to replace them. Again when considering a guitar for beginners.
The Nut
Guitar nuts come in a number of varieties and in a different materials. The traditional nut style of nut is made of plastic in a inexpensive guitar. In better quality guitars better quality moving to nylon then bone or metal is used. I would say a guitar for beginners still could use a decent quality nut primarily for tuning performance. These are so important to tuning stability and play ability as well as the sustain of a guitar.
Sustain is the amount of time a note or chord can be heard. If you play a chord and the sound stops quickly then things are not good and truss rod adjustment is likely needed to prevent strings touching the fret board and frets when played. If a note or chord rings out for a long time then the sustain is very good. This is desirable in a guitar.
The string slots for the strings to fit inside and have to be cut correctly. This is a job you can do with the right tools but if your not confident a luthier can do it for you. The strings should sit in the slot and also be able to move freely in the slot. The strings are constantly moving and to keep good tuning stability the string must be free to move. This is one of the best and cheapest upgrades to a good guitar a much better one.
A locking nut is commonly used with a floating bridge or tremolo like the ones we discussed earlier. These lock the string solidly in place and the bridge is used to tune the guitar unlike the traditional nut where the tuning machines are used to tune on the head. The bridge can move as well as the strings passing over the bridge.
It is a real necessity to use these with a floating bridge or the guitar will never be in tune with a floating bridge. Fender Stratocasters and others where the bridge does not float but sits against the body will only allowing it only to loosen the strings making a lower one than normal.
Machine Tuners
Tuners are the last big item on a guitar to consider. There are two types being the standard types where the string passes through a hole and you have to wind the string on to make it stay in place. These are found on most guitars.
Locking tuners are very nice to have and these allow you to feed a string through a hole then use a key or a nut to lock it in place. Fantastic if you play a lot and require to replace strings regularly. They really make the whole string changing chore a breeze.
There are many types on the marked in both regular and locking varieties. The better machine heads you have the better tuning stability you will often have. If your not happy then check your specifications and find a replacement set for the guitar you want to upgrade and it will all be done in just a few minutes. Often money well spend upgrading a good guitar to make it great.
Conclusion
Guitars are just fantastic instruments to play but you need good gear. Upgrading components is often a quick job for the most inexperienced or a quick job for someone with some more experience. I hope this quick explanation of what the parts of the guitar and its parts will make the guitar easy for you to play, upgrade and understand.
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