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Getting to know one's instrument is part of the basics of all guitar lessons. Every musician should know the different parts of his instrument of choice in order to become a true virtuoso in his craft. The acoustic guitar is one of the classiest instruments out there and it's usually the very first instrument that a guitarist handles.

The acoustic guitar is so named due to acoustic sound board that resonate the music created by the guitar strings as opposed to the pickups found in an electric guitar. There are several types of acoustic guitars ever designed by craftsmen in the world. Among the nylon stringed guitars we have the romantic guitar, flamenco guitar, classical guitar, and baroque guitar to name a few. On the side of the steel stringed guitars there's the archtop, resonator, country, lap steel, and parlor guitar.

Knowing the Parts

Every guitarist should know the parts of an acoustic guitar, which should be part of all fundamental guitar lessons. The first part - and the most visible one too - is the body. As mentioned earlier, it has an acoustic sound board and a sound hole that captures the music being played using the six strings. The sound board is the part of the body of the guitar that has the sound hole.

The sound hole, of course, is where the music from the strings enters the main cavity of the guitar. Notice that many acoustic guitars have rosettes that are beautifully crafted around the hole. This speaks volumes about the artistic side of this instrument.

The next part of the acoustic guitar that students should become familiar with is the bridge. This can be easily located on the exterior of the guitar since this is the strip of wooden hardware where one end of the strings is attached. The strings can be attached to the bridge in a variety of ways depending on the type of guitar that one owns. Replacing the strings of one's guitar is also part of the fundamental guitar lessons that every beginner should know.

Extending from the body of the acoustic guitar is a long thin board with one flat side and the other side rounded off smoothly. This is called the neck and its flat side is known as the fingerboard. A huge part of the guitarist's job is to master the fretboard. His skill level greatly depends on how much he understands the intricacies of chord formation, scales, and the application of various techniques of the left hand.

The fretboard is divided into various segments called frets. Metallic strips are used to divide the fretboard, which are also known as frets. A guitarist will press on designated spaces in between two metallic strips in order to create various notes. As one presses closer to the body of the guitar, the notes tend to go higher. Conversely, when one presses frets away from the body, the notes go lower.

From here, a beginner will learn the first guitar lessons of notes, chord formation, and scales among others. Continuing, the other end of the neck is terminated by a plastic strip (sometimes it is made of bone) called the nut. This strip has grooves on it one for each of the strings.

The nut serves as the point where the neck connects to the headstock, which is the part of the guitar that has all pegs where strings are attached. The headstock is one of the most visible parts of the guitar and it usually contains the manufacturer's logo.

The pegs or machine heads are used to get the strings in tune. After properly placing the strings from the bridge all the way to the each machine head, guitarists are to tune the strings accordingly. This is also one of the fundamental guitar lessons that every budding guitarist should learn.