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The Acoustic Guitar
"The beginner's guitar with
a long and interesting
history"
The acoustic guitar has a
long and interesting history over which it has evolved into
the familiar instrument we know today.
The guitar, a fretted and
stringed musical instrument, is used in a wide variety of
musical styles, and is also widely known as a solo classical
instrument.
It is most recognised in
popular culture as the primary instrument in blues, country,
flamenco and rock music.
The guitar usually has six
strings, but guitars with seven, eight, ten, eleven, twelve,
and eighteen strings also exist.
Parts of Typical Classical
Acoustic Guitars
1. Headstock
2. Nut
3. Machine heads (or pegheads, tuning keys, tuning machines, tuners)
4. Frets
7. Neck and fretboard
8. Heel
9. Body
14. Back
15. Soundboard (top)
16. Body sides (ribs)
17. Sound hole, with Rosette inlay
18. Strings
19. Bridge
20. Fretboard
The traditional guitar does not depend on any
external device for amplification. The design shape and
resonance of the guitar itself creates acoustic amplification. However, the
non amplified guitar is not a loud instrument; it cannot compete with other
instruments commonly found in bands and orchestras in terms
of sheer audible volume. Many acoustic guitars are available
today with built-in electronics and power to enable
amplification.
There
are several subcategories within the acoustic guitar group: steel
string guitars, which includes the flat top, or "folk" guitar, the
closely related twelve string guitar, and the arch top guitar. A recent
arrival in the acoustic guitar group is the acoustic bass guitar,
similar in tuning to the electric bass.
Renaissance and
Baroque Guitars
 These are the
ancestors of the modern classical guitar. Much smaller and
more delicate than the classical guitar, they generate a much quieter sound.
The strings are paired as in a modern 12 string guitar, but they
only have four or five courses of strings rather than six.
They
were more often used as rhythm instruments in ensembles than
as solo instruments, and can often be seen in that role in
early music performances. Renaissance and Baroque guitars are easily distinguished because
the Renaissance guitar is very plain and the Baroque guitar is very
ornate, with inlays all over the neck and body, and a paper-cutout inverted
"wedding cake" inside the hole.
Classical Guitars
Classical guitars are sometimes
referred to as classic guitars, which is a more proper translation from
the Spanish.
These are typically strung with nylon strings, played in a seated
position and are used to play a diversity of musical styles including
classical music. The classical guitar is designed to allow for the
execution of solo polyphonic arrangements of music in much the same
manner as the pianoforte can.
Flamenco guitars are very similar in construction, have a
sharper sound, and are used in flamenco.
In Mexico, the popular
mariachi band includes a range of guitars, from the tiny requinto to
the guitarron, a guitar larger than a cello, which is tuned in the bass
register.
In Colombia, the traditional quartet includes a range of
instruments too, from the small bandola (sometimes known as the
Deleuze-Guattari, for use when travelling or in confined rooms or
spaces), to the slightly larger tiple, to the full sized classical
guitar.
Modern dimensions of the classical instrument were established
by Antonio Torres Jurado (1817-1892)
Flat-top (steel-string) Guitars
 Similar to the classical guitar, however the body size is usually
significantly larger than a classical guitar and it has a narrower,
reinforced neck and stronger structural design, to sustain the extra
tension of steel strings which produce a brighter, and according to
some players, a louder tone. The acoustic guitar is a staple in folk,
Old-time music and blues.
Archtop Guitars
 Archtop
guitars are steel string instruments which feature a violin-inspired
f-hole design in which the top (and often the back) of the instrument
are carved in a curved rather than a flat shape.
Lloyd Loar of the
Gibson Guitar Corporation invented this variation of guitar after
designing a style of mandolin of the same type.
The typical Archtop is
a hollow body guitar whose form is much like that of a mandolin or
violin family instrument and may be acoustic or electric. Some solid
body electric guitars are also considered archtop guitars although
usually 'Archtop guitar' refers to the hollow body form.
Archtop
guitars were immediately adopted upon their release by both jazz and
country musicians and have remained particularly popular in jazz music,
usually using thicker strings (higher gauged round wound and flat
wound) than acoustic guitars.
Archtops are often louder than a typical
dreadnought acoustic guitar. The electric hollow body archtop guitar
has a distinct sound among electric guitars and is consequently
appropriate for many styles of rock and roll. Many electric archtop
guitars intended for use in rock and roll even have a Tremolo Arm.
 Similar to the flat top guitar in appearance, but with sound produced by a metal resonator mounted in the
middle of the top rather than an open sound hole, so that the physical
principle of the guitar is actually more similar to the banjo.
The
purpose of the resonator is to amplify the sound of the guitar; this
purpose has been largely superseded by electrical amplification, but
the resonator is still played by those desiring its distinctive sound.
Resonator guitars may have either one resonator cone or three resonator
cones. Three cone resonators have two cones on the left above one
another and one cone immediately to the right. The method of
transmitting sound resonance to the cone is either a BISCUIT bridge,
made of a small piece of hardwood, or a SPIDER bridge, made of metal
and larger in size. Three cone resonators always use a specialised
metal spider bridge.
The type of resonator guitar with a neck with a square cross-section --
called "square neck" -- is usually played face up, on the lap of the
seated player, and often with a metal or glass slide. The round neck
resonator guitars are normally played in the same fashion as other
guitars, although slides are also often used, especially in blues.
12 String Guitars
These usually have steel strings and are widely used in
folk music, blues and rock and roll. Rather than having only six
strings, the 12-string guitar has pairs, like a mandolin. Each pair of
strings is tuned either in unison (the two highest) or an octave apart
(the others). They are made both in acoustic and electric forms.
Russian
Guitars
These are seven string acoustic guitars which were the norm
for Russian guitarists throughout the 19th and well into the 20th
centuries. The guitar is traditionally tuned to an open G major tuning.
Acoustic
Bass Guitars
These guitars also have steel strings, and match the tuning of the
electric bass, which is likewise similar to the traditional double bass
viol, the "big bass", a staple of string orchestras and bluegrass bands
alike.
Harp
Guitars
 Harp Guitars are difficult to classify as there are many
variations within this type of guitar. They are typically rare and
uncommon in the popular music scene. Most consist of a regular guitar,
plus additional 'harp' strings strung above the six normal strings.
The
instrument is usually acoustic and the harp strings are usually tuned
to lower notes than the guitar strings, for an added bass range.
Normally there is neither fingerboard nor frets behind the harp
strings. Some harp guitars also feature much higher pitch strings
strung below the traditional guitar strings. The number of harp strings
varies greatly, depending on the type of guitar and also the player's
personal preference (as they have often been made to the player's
specification)
Extended-range
Guitars
For well over a century guitars featuring seven, eight, nine,
ten or more strings have been used by a minority of guitarists as a
means of increasing the range of pitch available to the player. Usually
this entails the addition of extra bass strings.
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