Guitar Glossary

Action

Height of the strings from the fret board to the string itself.

Amplify

Increasing the volume of an instrument.

Bar

A sub division of time in music.

Barre Chord

A barre chord gets its name from the role of the 1st finger of your left hand. This finger acts as a "bar" across the fretboard, depressing all six strings. By using your 1st finger as a "bar", you can move open chords up and down on the fretboard.

Bridge

The bridge is located on the body of the guitar and transfers sound from the strings to the body. The bridge is held in place by screws or by string tension.

Body

The main part of the guitar.

Bolt-on neck

This is a type of guitar neck, in which screws or bolts are attached with a neck plate in the back of your guitar.

Capo

A capo is a clamp-like device that acts as a barre across the strings shortens the guitar's scale and thus raises its pitch.

Cutaway

A cutaway refers to the back of the body of a guitar, where it is been carved out or cutaway.

Fret board or Fingerboard

This is the top surface of the neck. Its the area that you would press the string upon to create a note or frequency.

Fret

The metal strips along your fretboard. They come in a variety of sizes. For example, small, medium, medium-jumbo, or jumbo.

Fretless

A fretboard with no frets. Mainly found on basses and gives a distinct smooth sound. Check out Pink Floyd's song 'Hey You' for a good example of this.

Hardware

Refers to different parts of a guitar including jacks, bridge, tuners, and more.

Head Stock

Top of the instrument where the tuner knobs are located.

Humbucker

2 single-coil pickups, side-by-side.

Inlay

These are markers on your fretboard that give players with a frame of reference. Most are dot inlays, but can be a variety of shapes or designs.

Mother of Pearl

Type of inlay that looks like a iridescent shellfish material.

Neck

This is where the strings are stretched over the fretboard.

Nut

Piece of plastic or metal between the headstock and fretboard that guides the strings from the headstock over the fretboard.

Pickguard

This is a piece of material that sits on the body under, the strumming area of the guitar to protect the guitar from pick scratches.

Peghead

Top of the instrument where the tuners are located.

Pickup

Device that transforms string vibration to an electronic signal.

Saddles

Piece of bridge that holds the string in place.

Set Neck

When a neck is glued into the neck pocket of the body of a guitar.

Single Coil Pickup

Usually thinner sound than humbucker, used in most Fender guitars.

Stop Tailpiece

This piece has slots in it to hold the string balls in place.

Tremelo or Vibrato system

This device includes a whammy bar to stretch the strings by pressing down on the bar.

Truss Rod

A long rod inside your guitar neck used for stabilizing a wooden neck.

Whammy Bar

Used to stretch the strings on a tremolo or vibrato system.