Outline of guitars

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to guitars:

A guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Most guitar necks have metal frets attached (the exception is fretless bass guitars). Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with either nylon or steel strings. Some modern 2010-era guitars are made of polycarbonate materials. Guitars are made and repaired by luthiers. There are two primary families of guitars: acoustic and electric. An acoustic guitar has a wooden top and a hollow body. An electric guitar may be a solid-body or hollow body instrument, which is made louder by using a pickup and plugging it into a guitar amplifier and speaker. Another type of guitar is the low-pitched bass guitar.

Instrument classification

A guitar can be described as all of the following:

• Musical instrument
  • Chordophone
  • Rhythm section instrument

Types and varieties of guitars

Standard guitar variations

• Acoustic guitar
• Acoustic-electric guitar
• Archtop guitar
• Classical guitar
• Electric guitar
• Flamenco guitar
• Flat top guitar
• Fretless guitar
• Hybrid guitar
• Parlor guitar
• Resonator guitar
• Selmer guitar (Maccaferri)
• Semi-acoustic guitar
• Silent guitar
• Steel-string acoustic guitar
• Tailed bridge guitar

Pitch-based variations

• Alto guitar
• Baritone guitar
• Bass guitars
  • Contrabass guitar
  • Acoustic bass guitar
  • Bass guitar
• Niibori guitars
• Octave guitar
• Requinto
• Soprano guitar
• Tenor guitar
• Terz guitar

Steel guitars

• Lap steel guitar (aka Hawaiian guitar)
• Pedal steel guitar

Courses

• Single course
• Double course (e.g., 12-string guitar)
• Triple course (e.g. Tiple Colombiano)
• Four or more strings per course (e.g. Guitarron Chileno)

Extra strings

• Seven-string guitar – Russian guitar and electric guitar
• Eight-string guitar
• Nine-string guitar
• Ten-string guitar
• 11-string guitar
• Twelve-string guitar
• 13-string guitar
• Extended-range bass – Covers bass guitars with 5 or more strings

Fewer strings

• Three-string guitar
• Four-string guitar
• Five-string guitar

Misc

• Harp guitar
• Gittler guitar
• Lyre-guitar
• Nano guitar
• Portuguese guitar
• Prepared guitar
• Vintage guitar

Models

6-strings

Acoustic guitar models

• CF Martin & Company Dreadnought
• Gibson J-45
• Ovation Roundback

Semi-acoustic models

• Gibson ES-335
• Rickenbacker 360 (Both 12-string and 6-string models)
• Gretsch White Falcon

Solid body electric models

• Fender Stratocaster
• Fender Telecaster
• Gibson Les Paul
• Gibson SG
• Gibson Flying V
• Superstrat
• Steinberger
• PRS
• Red SpecialBrian May

Bass guitars

Bass guitars are also called "electric basses".

• Fender Jazz Bass
• Fender Precision Bass
• Violin Bass
• Alembic Bass

Parts

• Body: The solid body of an electric and the hollow sound box of an acoustic
• Bridge
• Fingerboard (fretboard)
• Frets
• Wiring and electronics (including volume and tone controls)
• Headstock (peghead, head)
• Inlay
• Machine heads (tuners)
• Neck
• Neck joint: see
  Neck-thru
• Nut
• Pickguard
• Single coil (including P-90), Humbucker) (Acoustic – Piezoelectric
  )
• Sound board (Acoustic)
• Strings
• Truss rod

Guitar accessories

Miscellaneous

• Capo
• Guitar pick
• Fingerpick
• Neck-thru-body
• Slide
• Vibrato systems for guitar ("Tremolo arm")
• Electronic tuner
• Patch cord
  (Electric, some acoustics)

Guitar amplifiers

Guitar amplifier

• Distortion (guitar)
• Power attenuator (guitar)
• Preamplifier
• Stack: A guitar amplification setup consisting of one or more speaker cabinets and a "head" (amplifier), rather than a self-contained unit.

Guitar effects

Effects unit (also known as "Stomp Box")

• Compression (electric guitar)
• Chorus effect
• Delay (audio effect)
• Fuzz (electric guitar)
• Flange (electric guitar)
• Phaser (electric guitar)
• Reverb (Reverberation)
• Sustain
  • Infinite guitar
• Ebow
• Overdrive/distortion terms
  • Brown sound
  • Crunch
  • Gain
  • Distortion (guitar)
  • Overdrive (music)
• Clean/Dirty
• Wah-wah pedal

Guitar software

• Guitar Pro
• G7 (guitar software)
• Power Tab
• RiffWorks Guitar recording and online collaboration software. Free version.
• TuxGuitar Guitar free software.
• Games
  • Guitar Freaks
    An arcade game featuring playing guitars
  • Guitar Hero
    Like Guitar Freaks, except for home use
  • GNU GPL
    .
  • Rockband
    A multi-platform game for PlayStation 2, 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii which includes a guitar element similar to that of Guitar Hero/Freaks along with a Karaoke-like vocal element and a drum element.