http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitars
Definition: a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. Consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, usually 6, are attached. They are repaired by people called luthiers.
Different Types
Acoustic Guitars
-Has hollow bodies, been in use for over 1000 years
-3 main types: classical guitar(nylon string guitar), steel-string acoustic, archtop guitar.
Electric Guitar
-Introduced in the 1930s
-Relies on an amplifier to manipulate tone
-Early amplified guitars had a hollow body, but a suitable body was found to be better. Electric guitars have a major influence on pop culture. The electric guitar has been used in the following genres of music: blues, bluegrass, country, flamenco, jazz, jota, mariachi, metal, reggae, rock, soul, many forms of pop
Acoustic Guitars
Renaissance/Baroque
-These are the ancestors of the modern classical guitar
-Smaller, more delicate, produces a much more quiet sound
Classical
-Strung with nylon strings
-Played in a seated position
Extended-range classical
-No more than 6 strings, up to 13
-Classical guitar
Flamenco
-Made of lighter construction, with cypress body and spruce top
-Has tapping plates glued to the table, to protect against taps with the fingernails
Flat-top
-Significantly larger than classical guitar
-Has a narrower, reinforced neck, stronger structural design
Archtop
-Steel string in which the top and back of instrument are carved from solid billet in a curved shape than flat
-Mostly used by jazz and country
Selmer-Maccaferri
-Unusual looking, distinguished by a fairly large body with squarish bouts and a D or oval shaped soundhole
-Strings gather at the tail, but top is formed from thin spruce and forced into a shallow dome
Resonator
-May be made from brass, nickel-silver or steel, as well as wood.
-Sound is produced by the aluminum resonator cones mounted in the middle of the top
12 String
-Has steel strings usually, and is widely used in folk, blues, rock
-Has 6 courses made up of 2 strings each
Russian guitars
-This usually is tuned to open G major
-Has 7 strings, used by the guitarists of the 19th and 20th centuries
Acoustic Bass
-Has steel strings or gut strings
-Often the same tuning as an electric bass guitar
Guitarron
-Large, deep bodied, Mexican 6 string acoustic bass played in mariachi bands
-Has heavy gauge nylon strings, and is usually played by doubling notes
Tenor Guitars
-4 string guitar
-Evolved from Dixieland jazz
Harp Guitars
-Very difficult to classify as there are many types of this guitar
-Considered very rare and uncommon in music
Extended-range
-Typically has 7, 8, 9 or 10 strings
-Bass strings can sometimes be added
Guitar battente
-Smaller than a classical guitar, usually played with 4 or 5 metal strings
-Mainly used in Calabria to accompany the voice
Electric guitars
-Can have hollow, solid, semi-solid bodies and produce little sound without amplification
-Electromagnetic pickups convert the vibration of strings into signals which get fed into an amplifier
-The sound is frequently modified by other electronic devices or natural distortion of waves.
-The electric guitar is frequently used in rock, jazz, blues, R&B
-After WWII, solid body electrics were popularized by Gibson in collaboration with Les Paul, and independently Leo Fender of Fender Music.
-The first electric guitarist to use a 7 string guitar was a jazz guitarist named George Van Eps.
- Headstock
- Nut
- Machine heads (or pegheads, tuning keys, tuning machines, tuners)
- Frets
- Truss rod
- Inlays
- Neck
- Heel (acoustic)–Neckjoint (electric)
- Body
- Pickups
- Electronics
- Bridge
- Pickguard
- Back
- Soundboard (top)
- Body sides (ribs)
- Sound hole, with Rosette inlay
- Strings
- Saddle
- Fretboard (or Fingerboard)
Guitar Accessories
Capotasto
-Used to change the pitch of open strings
-Clipped onto fret board with aid of spring tension
-To raise guitar pitch, one would clip a capo on to the fret board below the first fret
Slides
-Mainly used in blues music, and rock music
-Creates a glissando or Hawaiian music effect
-Types of this include pedal steel, steel guitar
-Famous slide players: George Thoroughgood, George Harrison, Muddy Waters, Rory Gallagher
Plectrum
-AKA a guitar pick
-Held between the thumb and first finger to "pick" the strings
-Mostly used for electric and steel string acoustic guitars
