Understanding Guitar Lingo - The Language of the Guitar

[Doris Edward]

It is very hard when you are learning something new, there are so many
things to remember in the process of learning the guitar, but it is
important to get to know the lingo. Those words that everyone seems to
know what they mean except you. Don't feel bad, this has happened to
everyone when they started learning, it will just take a little time
and you will feel comfortable with the guitar lingo.
Guitar lingo starts with the names of the guitar parts and includes
the other words that relate to the music, chords and notes.
Here we go, read, learn and inwardly digest guitar lingo.
Body
The largest part of the guitar is the Body, also known as the sound
box and you will find it comes in various shapes and sizes. The body
of an acoustic guitar is hollow while an electric guitar body is
mostly solid or semi solid.
Headstock
This is the top of the guitar and holds the keys where you tune the
guitar and is connected to the neck of the guitar.
Nut
There is a small rod with indents that hold the guitar strings in
place, it is situated between the guitar neck and the head.
Neck
The long section holding the fret board between the headstock and the
body is the neck.
Fret board
There are small metal rods dividing the fret board into different
notes. It depends on the type of guitar as to how many frets in the
fret board. The fret board on a modern electric guitar usually has
20-22 frets.
Bridge
The bridge is found on the guitar's body, it elevates the guitar
strings to enable them to produce a vibration that help with the sound
resonance, this is important to the way the guitar sounds.
Pick-up
Usually found on electric guitars, it is an electronic device, acts as
a microphone to pick up the strings vibrations converting them into
electric impulses.
Amp
This is the speaker box that magnifies the electric guitar sounds.
Capo
A Capo is the device which is attached to the fret board allowing a
chord to be played in a different key.
The above relates to the guitar itself, below are some of the words
you will find that relate to the guitar music, chords and notes. You
may have heard the words but don't know where they fit in.
Riff
Parts of a song, musical pieces are referred to as guitar riffs.
Reverb
This comes about through what is called an effects box or can happen
through amplifiers, so that the sound is heard as more natural.
Tablature
You may have heard of this as guitar tabs. These are music written
especially for the guitar translating the notes and other music
symbols to guitar frets. This is one you should quickly become
familiar with and it is very useful in learning to play the guitar.
Vibrato
When the guitar string is bent slightly at a fast rate the sound it
produces is a longer resonating sound, this is known as vibrato.
Arpeggio
This is a technique used to create an adlib lead or add to the song's
rhythm by removing notes from a certain chord.
Pick
This is a small plastic device that is used to play the guitar
strings.
Whammy bar
You may have heard a guitarist make his guitar "cry". if you did then
he was using a whammy bar. This bar is attached to the bridge of
electric guitars and bends the pitch of the notes.
Plucking
When the strings are hit one by one with either the fingers or a pick
this is called plucking. This technique gives a more definite note and
can be much a softer sound.
Palm mute
When a player wants to be able to get a distinct tone he may mute the
strings with his picking hand while strumming. The punk rock world
like this one.
There are many other words relating to the guitar, the above are the
most common, the other ones you will learn as you go along. For
starters, master these and you will be a long way in front.
So there you are, a good start to learning guitar lingo. Write them
down, print them out but most importantly, get to know them and enjoy
learning to play the guitar.