There are many examples of where learning about a guitar is more important than learning guitar. There is a subtle difference between the two terms that can make a world of difference in the way a guitar is played. Understanding a musical instrument can sometimes be more important than understanding the mechanics of playing it.
When a certain guitarist got a white Supro Ozark from his dad, turned it upside down, and then strung it for his left hand, a new generation of electric guitar music was born. Add to that a wah-wah pedal, a unique use of feedback and a strong set of teeth, and a sensation was born.
This guy didn't learn music but listed to records and watched others play while he practiced continually, first on a broom handle and then on a one-stringed ukulele until he got his first real guitar. However, do you think that this guy would have been the sensation he was had he learned to play chords from a book? Perhaps, and perhaps not, because one thing was sure about this guy: you never knew what Jimi Hendrix would give us next.
What he did show us was that you didn't have to understand how to read music to learn how to play a guitar, but you did need to know your instrument and the sounds it could make with a little help. By watching others play and listening to those records, Jimi Hendrix was unwittingly demonstrating the importance of audio and video in learning guitar.
So what is there to learn about a guitar. How do you learn about guitar as opposed to learn guitar? Let's check over the five most important parts of your instrument and how they can be used to make your own unique sound. There are over 200 parts to a guitar, and the five being discussed very briefly are the five you should know most about because they are the ones that can have most influence over the sound you make using them.
1. The guitar body. The shape of a guitar body is as much influenced by the science of acoustics as by appearance, and with acoustic guitars even more so. The curved shape of the guitar can determine the range of frequencies that it can produce, although with electric guitars the pickup is more important than the shape of the body.
2. The neck. The neck is the long part of the guitar than contains the frets, and the part of the strings that you finger to determine the notes being played. The rigidity of the neck is very important, particularly in electric guitars with steel strings under high tension, so a steel truss rod is generally inserted down the top of the neck to the body. Not only does this give rigidity, but can often be rotated to change the angle of the neck, and so change the tone for different playing styles. Learning guitar properly involves knowledge of how the truss rod can be used in this way.
3. The head of the guitar is the part where the strings are wound and tuned, and is one of the first things you do when learning guitar. Although the design of the guitar head is largely irrelevant, the resonance of the note is passed through the head, and it helps to sustain the note. Without a head, notes would be sustained for a shorter period. The tuning pegs are rotated to change the tone of the strings, and a guitar can be loosely or tightly strung. You need to understand this part of your guitar and how the tightness of the strings gives different sounds, apart from just the tuning. This can also be done during play to provide a form or tremolo effect on individual strings.
4. The strings. You must get to know your strings when learning about your guitar. Strings differ according to the type of guitar and music being played. Electric guitar need stings made of ferromagnetic materials since the pickups depend on the magnetic properties of the strings. Acoustic guitar strings can be made of gut, nylon or any of a number of alloys and metals: even titanium is used. Many new players buy pickups to fit to their acoustic guitar and wonder why they don't work when all they have to do is to change to the right strings. Apart from that, different types of string can give different sounds, but generally the more you pay then the better sound you get, particularly with an acoustic or classical guitar.
5. The frets. The string has to lie tight against the fret to avoid vibration, and the design of the fret can also change the sound the guitar makes. Wide jumbo frets can be used for strong vibrato effects, or the frets can even be formed by carving away the wood of the neck between the fret positions. The very narrow frets can tend to buzz unless the string is very tight against it, so narrow frets should generally be used only on a neck designed for them, where the fretboard is curved back to ensure a tight fit against the string.
6. Pickups. The pickups convert string vibrations into an electrical signal that is sent to an amplifier. The position of a pickup on your guitar has a very significant bearing on its sound - more so than the type of pickup. The various pickup types can be combined on a guitar, with the hotter ones used nearer the bridge, and when learning guitar you should also be taught the importance of the pickups.
A good guitar player must know all of these parts of his guitar, and how to use them to get the right sound or even to change the sound when needed. Learning about a guitar is just as important as learning guitar from the aspect of playing it, and if you could say one thing about Jimi Hendrix it was that he knew his guitar.
For more information, not only on the importance of audio and video in learning guitar, but also for a website where you learn about your guitar while learning to play, check out iJamplay where all of these aspects of learning guitar are combined to provide the ultimate in guitar tuition.
Read "Learning About a Guitar" and other articles on my blog.
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