Learning the Parts of the Guitar (diagram)

Headstock

The headstock is the head of the guitar.  Headstocks come in different shapes and contain the tuning pegs.  Some headstocks have three tuners on both sides, others have all the tuners on one side

Tuners

There is one tuner for every string on the guitar.  Tuners turn pegs, which tighten and loosen the strings, thereby raising and lowering its pitch.

Nut

The nut is located at the top of the neck, it has grooves to hold each string in the right location.  The nut is usually made of either plastic or ivory.

Fingerboard

The fingerboard or fretboard is made of wood, usually maple or rosewood.  It holds the frets and often contains plastic or tortoise shell inlays.

Frets

The frets are metal inserts that mark the different pitches on the fretboard.  Generally guitars come with either 22 or 24 frets.

Guitar Strap Button

The guitar strap button is to connect your guitar strap to your guitar

Pick Guard

The pick guard is located under the pick-ups and protects the guitar from pick scratches.

Pick-ups

Pick-ups are magnets that pick up vibrations from the strings.  Different pick-ups generate slightly different tones.  Two kinds of pick-ups are single coil pick-ups and humbucker pick-ups.  The pickups in the example above are humbuckers.  There are usually at least two pickups on a guitar,  the neck and the bridge pick-ups.  Pick-ups can also be active and passive.  Active pick-ups use a battery to boost the signal from the pick-ups.

Pick-up Toggle Switch

This is a selector switch, that switches between pick-ups or uses both at the same time.

Volume and Tone Control

These dials control the signal volume from each pick-up.  The tone controls can slightly brighten or darken the tone of each pick-up.

Bridge

The bridge adjusts the pitch, height, and harmonics of each string