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Lesson 1 of 11 · 8 min · The instrument

Guitar string names and the parts of the guitar

Before the first chord, a map. Learn what each part of the guitar does, the names and numbers of the six strings and how to sit with the instrument, then find every open string in the exercise below.

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The parts of the guitar

A guitar has three main parts. The headstock, at the end of the neck, carries the tuning pegs: turning a peg tightens or loosens a string and raises or lowers its pitch. The neck carries the fretboard, divided by thin metal frets. Pressing a string just behind a fret shortens the part that vibrates and gives a higher note: each fret is one half step higher than the one before it. The white bar where the neck meets the headstock is the nut.

An acoustic guitar seen from the front, lying sideways with the headstock on the left: the headstock with six tuning pegs, the nut, the neck and its fretboard divided by metal frets with dot markers, the body with its round soundhole, and the bridge with its saddle where the six strings end.HeadstockTuning pegsNutFretsNeck and fretboardSoundholeBodyStringsBridge and saddle
The parts of an acoustic guitar. An electric guitar has the same headstock and neck, with pickups instead of a soundhole.

The body makes the sound. On an acoustic guitar it is a hollow wooden box: the strings make the top vibrate, and the soundhole lets the sound out. The strings end at the bridge, where they rest on a thin strip called the saddle. On an electric guitar the body is usually solid, and magnetic pickups under the strings send the sound to an amplifier. The dots on the fretboard, at frets 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12, are markers to help you find your place.

The six strings: E A D G B E

A standard guitar has six strings, tuned from the thickest to the thinnest to the notes E, A, D, G, B and E. A sentence helps to remember them: Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie. The two strings called E are two octaves apart: the thickest one is the low E, the thinnest one the high E.

Strings also have numbers, and they count from the thinnest: the high E is the 1st string, then B (2nd), G (3rd), D (4th), A (5th) and the low E, the 6th string. So when a book says "play the 5th string", it means the A string, second from the thickest.

The first five frets of a guitar neck, drawn with the thinnest string at the top. The open strings are marked at the nut: from the bottom, E A D G B E, numbered 6 to 1 on the right.E6A5D4G3B2E112345EADGBE
The six open strings. Drawn like tablature, with the thinnest string at the top: the low E is the 6th string, at the bottom, and the high E the 1st, at the top.

Low and high: why the diagrams look upside down

When you hold the guitar and look down at it, the low E is the string closest to your face, at the top. Tablature, most diagrams and the guitar on this page draw it the other way round, at the bottom, because the lowest note sits lowest. Both are the same string. "Low" and "high" always describe the sound, never the position: the low E is the thickest string and the lowest note, wherever it is drawn.

How to hold the guitar

Sit on a chair without arms, with your back straight. For a right-handed player, the waist of the guitar rests on the right leg, the back of the body against your stomach, and the neck points to the left, slightly upwards. Your right forearm rests on the top edge of the body, so your hand falls over the strings between the soundhole and the bridge. The left hand holds nothing: the thumb rests behind the neck and the fingers press the strings with their tips.

  • Keep the guitar upright, not tilted back to see the strings: lean your head a little instead.
  • Relax the shoulders. The neck should not need your left hand to stay up.
  • Left-handed? Everything is mirrored: neck to the right, strings in reverse order. The guitar on this page has a Left-handed button that flips the neck.

Practise: find the open strings

In the exercise, the page names a string and you pluck it open, meaning without pressing any fret. Click it just left of the nut, the white bar of the neck, or press its key: on a QWERTY keyboard, Q, W, E, R, T and Y pluck the six strings from the low E to the high E. Say the name of each string out loud as you play it.

Then do the same on your own guitar: pluck each string from the thickest to the thinnest saying E, A, D, G, B, E, then in a random order. Move on when you can name any string without counting from the top. The next lesson tunes them, so each name matches its note.

Exercise

Find the open string

The page names a string; pluck it open, without touching a fret. Click the string just left of the nut, the white bar, or use the first six letter keys of the top row: Q plucks the low E, Y the high E on a QWERTY keyboard.

Practise it: Online guitar →

Questions

Frequently asked

What are the names of the guitar strings?

From the thickest to the thinnest: E, A, D, G, B and E. The thickest is called the low E and the thinnest the high E; they are two octaves apart. Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie is a common way to remember them.

Which guitar string is the 1st string?

The thinnest one, the high E. Strings are numbered from the thinnest to the thickest, so the 6th string is the low E, the thickest and lowest-sounding one.

Why is the low E string at the top when I hold the guitar?

Because "low" describes the pitch, not the position. Held normally, the thickest string is nearest your face. Tablature and most diagrams draw it at the bottom, so the lowest note sits lowest on the page.

What are the frets on a guitar?

The thin metal bars across the fretboard. Pressing a string just behind a fret makes the vibrating part shorter and the note higher; each fret raises the note by one half step, so twelve frets make an octave.

What does open string mean?

A string played without pressing any fret, so it vibrates over its full length from the nut to the bridge. In tablature an open string is written 0, and on chord diagrams it is marked with a small circle.

Learn guitar course

All the lessons

  1. A risograph poster of a whole acoustic guitar with its six strings in six colors, map pins pointing at the headstock, neck, sound hole and bridge Guitar parts and string names Headstock, neck, frets and body, the six strings E A D G B E, and how to sit with the guitar. 8 min
  2. A risograph poster of a yellow guitar tuning peg turning on its gear, its string sending out pink sound waves, beside a clip-on tuner with the needle in the center How to tune a guitar Standard tuning, a tuner in the browser, the fifth-fret method by ear, and why strings drift. 9 min
  3. A risograph poster of a guitar chord diagram with six strings, finger dots and open-string circles, beside a six-line tab with yellow dots Reading chord diagrams and tabs Chord boxes and tablature, the two pictures every guitar book uses, and your first melody in tab. 10 min
  4. A risograph poster of a guitar fretboard near the nut where pink, cyan and yellow fingertip dots press three strings for an open chord Your first guitar chords Em, Am, C, G, D and E: the six open chords behind thousands of songs, and how to make them ring. 10 min
  5. A risograph poster of a pink pick sweeping across the strings over a guitar sound hole under a row of down and up strumming arrows Strumming patterns Down on the beat, up on the "and": four strumming patterns from the simplest to the classic. 10 min
  6. A risograph poster of a guitar fretboard where curved yellow arrows carry a pink chord shape over to a cyan one Changing chords smoothly Anchor fingers, moving all fingers together and the one-minute change drill. 10 min
  7. A risograph poster of a bar of yellow light pressed across all six strings of a guitar fretboard, pink and cyan finger dots beyond it Barre chords One finger across all six strings: F, Bm and the two shapes that give you every chord. 12 min
  8. A risograph poster of an acoustic guitar resting against a log by a campfire, an open songbook at its feet and notes rising with the sparks Your first song on guitar Amazing Grace in G: four chords, a waltz strum and the whole song from start to finish. 12 min
  9. A risograph poster of a pink electric guitar plugged into an amplifier that blasts yellow lightning bolts and rings of sound Power chords Two fingers, one movable shape: the rock chord on the low E and A strings, and a first riff. 10 min
  10. A risograph poster of an acoustic guitar with six colored strings, four glowing fingertips plucking them over the sound hole and ripples of notes Fingerpicking for beginners Thumb on the bass, fingers on G, B and E: three patterns from an arpeggio to Travis picking. 12 min
  11. A risograph poster of a guitar fretboard under a stage spotlight, a box of pink and cyan scale dots and notes streaming out of it Your first guitar solo The minor pentatonic at fret 5, bends and slurs, a first lick and how to improvise over a chord. 12 min
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