Get to Know Your Guitar
Before you play a single note, spend one short session getting comfortable with the instrument itself. Knowing the parts of the guitar and how to hold it will make every later lesson easier.
The parts that matter
- Body: the large wooden part you rest on your leg. On an acoustic guitar it makes the sound; on an electric it holds the pickups and controls.
- Neck: the long part you grip with your fretting hand. The metal strips across it are frets.
- Headstock: the very top, where the tuning machines (tuners) live. You will use these in Lesson 2.
- Strings: six of them. The thickest string is called the 6th string (low E); the thinnest is the 1st string (high E).
- Sound hole / pickups: where the sound comes out on an acoustic, or where it is captured on an electric.
How to sit and hold it
- Sit on a chair without armrests, feet flat on the floor.
- Rest the curved waist of the guitar on your right leg if you are right-handed (left leg if you are left-handed and playing a lefty guitar).
- Keep the neck pointing slightly upward, not flat or drooping down.
- Hold the guitar lightly against your body with your strumming arm. Your fretting hand should not be holding the guitar up - it needs to move freely.
- Sit up straight. If you have to hunch to see the fretboard, the guitar is too low or too far to the side.
Tip: Your fretting-hand thumb rests roughly behind the middle of the neck, not wrapped over the top. That grip comes later; for now, keep it relaxed.
Practice for this lesson
Hold the guitar for five minutes. Run your fretting hand along the neck and feel the frets. Name the strings out loud from thickest to thinnest: E, A, D, G, B, E. That is all - you are ready for Lesson 2.