Guitar Anatomy

In this lesson you'll learn what the main parts of a guitar are called - the anatomy of a guitar.

Guitar Anatomy Pictures:

Headstock:	Nut:	Fretboard:	Fret Wire:

Electric Guitar Body:

Switch:	Neck Pickup:	Bridge Pickup:	Bridge:	Jack:

String Names & Picking

Make sure your guitar is in tune and you have a basic understanding of how to read guitar TAB before you start!

There are 6 guitar strings that run low to high:

E (6th string, thickest string) A (5th string) D (4th string) G (3rd string) B (2nd string) e (1st string, thinnest string)

Once you can hold your pick comfortably, lets begin picking the strings starting with all downstrokes, then all upstrokes, and finally with alternate picking (down-up strokes) for each string as demonstrated in the video.

Starting on the E string we have:

Note: when a string is picked open (not fretted) it appears as a 0 in TAB.

 

TAB for A String, D String, G String, B String, e String:

Pick each string as shown in the video, just like the E string example, starting with down picking, up picking, then alternate picking (down-up strokes). Alternate picking is the most important style of picking as it will eventually allow you to play fast guitar riffs, as you'll see from the next amazing lessons!

Chromatic Finger Warm-up

The chromatic scale finger warm-up is a great way to coordinate your picking and fretting hands. A chromatic scale involves all twelve notes picked in consecutive order. You will learn about the twelve notes in the next lesson.

First, the Ascending Chromatic Scale:

Followed by the Descending Chromatic Scale:

Variations of this warm-up should also be played, such as fretting backwards while ascending the scale, and fretting forwards while descending the scale. Remember to use alternate picking for all of these!

Ascending with backwards movement:

Descending with forwards movement:

Notes on E and A Strings

In Western music theory there are 12 notes in total. Your guitar contains only 12 different notes over a range of octaves. An octave is simply the same note, but at a higher or lower pitch. You will learn more about octaves soon, but first lets learn the notes as they run across the E and A strings.

Notes on the E String:

Notes on the A String:

 

Don't get worried about memorizing everything at first! If you're having troubles try to remember that on the E string, the 3rd fret is G, 5th fret is A, 7th fret is B. Similarly, remember that on the A string the 3rd fret is C, 5th fret is D, 7th fret is E.

 

A Quick Note About Notes:

In Western music theory there are 7 natural notes: A B C D E F G, plus 5 notes that lie in between, known as the sharps (#) or flats (b). Sharp and Flat are actually 2 different names for the same note!

The sharps are: A#, C#, D#, F#, G# (# is pronounced sharp). The flats are: Bb, Db, Eb, Gb, Ab (b is pronounced flat).

A sharp occurs when we move up a note, and a flat occurs when we move back a note. Since A# = Bb, C# = Db, D# = Eb, F# = Gb, G# = Ab, we only need to talk in terms of one or the other, but not both at the same time. Ace guitar lessons uses the sharp naming convention for almost all lessons.

A Minor (Am) Pentatonic Scale

A Pentatonic Scale is a 5 note scale. The minor pentatonic scale is probably the most widely used scale by guitarists, as it fits well into blues, country, rock, and metal playing. You will learn this scale first in the key of A, which gives us...

A Minor Pentatonic Scale:

Here we play the scale through 2 octaves, but there are only 5 different notes: A C D E G.

Easy-To-Follow Scale Diagrams:

Scales and chords are also represented by "box diagrams" in addition to TAB. A box diagram shows the shapes that scales and chords make on a guitar fretboard, viewed from a vertical perspective.

Scale box diagram for the Am Pentatonic Scale:

Notice how the 5 shows that this scale shape starts on the 5th fret of the E string (an A note).
Normally, the string names (E A D G B e) are not shown like they are in this example.

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