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GUITAR
 Acoustic Guitar |  Electric Guitar |  Hands on Guitar Strings |
|---|---|---|
 Spanish Guitar |  Guitar Strings |  guitar close up |
 Man Playing Guitar |  Girl & Guitar |  Girl playing guitar outside |
 Vintage Electric Guitar |
The guitar is a stringed instrument made out of wood and can be acoustic, electric, or both. it is over 4000 years old, and believed to be a modern variation of the ancient lute or Greek 'kithara'. It belongs to the chordophone category, meaning that it is a stringed instrument.
Acoustic guitars can have nylon strings, which is common for classical players, or steel strings. A guitar has 6 strings, although custom guitars can have even more.
The electric guitar requires the use of an amplifier, and was introduced in the 1930s. Below is a comparison of the typical look of both an acoustic and electric guitar.
Acoustic Guitar
Electric Guitar
The guitar has several parts to its construction, with the main three being the head, neck and body. Extra attachments include the strings, pickups and tuning knobs.
HEAD
Tuning keys
Frets
NECK
Soundwhole
BODY
Acoustic Guitar
Strings
Tone toggle
Pick-ups/
Humbuckers
Controls e.g. volume, treble, etc.
Electric Guitar
The guitar uses the treble clef and many notes in the bottom two strings use ledger lines. The strings of the guitar are called E B G D A E (from top to bottom). This is the same for both acoustic and electric guitars. A bass guitar, however, is a little different.
A guitar has a fretboard, which is the board on the neck part of the instrument. The lines are known as frets and the number differs for guitars. Most electric guitars have 22-24 frets.
THE BASS GUITAR
A bass guitar works in the same way as any other guitar, however it's general role in a band is more rhythmic and often plays music that reflects the drum beat. The strings are the same however a bass guitar only has 4 - E A D G (bottom to top). The bass guitar is like an electric in that it requires an amplifier, however acoustic basses also exist. The bass guitar, as its name suggests uses the bass clef to read and write music. The frets are generally larger than that of the other guitars, and the strings are much thicker. Some players use a plectrum to play, but most use their fingers to pick the notes. Some basses have 5 strings, however the standard is 4.
Below is a picture of a bass guitar.
Famous guitarists include Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Eddie Van Halen, B.B. King, Joe Satriani, Jeff Beck, Slash, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmy Paige, Yngwie Malmsteen, Les Paul, Angus Young and Steve Vai.
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