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 Set-in neck, Bolt-on neck and Neck-thru
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
Frets on Fire A cross-platform Guitar Hero clone licensed under 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.
Guitar use
Guitar music
Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra
Classical guitar music
Instrumental guitar
Tablature notation ("Tab")
Guitar tunings
See Guitar tunings and List of guitar tunings.
Standard tuning
Alternate tunings
Drop tunings
Open tuning
New standard tuning
Regular tuning
Major thirds tuning
All fourths tuning
All fifths tuning
Repetitive tuning
English guitar
Russian guitar
Guitar playing styles
The difference between guitar playing styles and guitar techniques (below) is that a style is a collection of techniques
3rd bridge
Classical guitar techniques
Downstrokes picking
Extended technique
Flamenco
Guitar solo
Guitar showmanship
Jazz guitar
Lead guitar
Prepared guitar
Rhythm guitar
Shred guitar
Slack-key guitar
Slide guitar
Guitar technique
Main Category: Category:Guitar performance techniques
Fretting hand technique
Dampening
Hammer-on
Pull-off
Guitar chord
Barre chord
String skipping
Bridge (Right) hand techniques
See also the following from List of musical terminology: sul porticello (plucking/strumming near the bridge), sul tasto (plucking/strumming above the fingerboard)
Tapping
Palm mute (known as pizzicato in Classical guitar terminology)