Guitar anatomy · Infographic

This sheet brings together the main parts of the guitar: headstock, tuners, nut, fingerboard, frets, inlays, neck, body, soundhole, bridge, saddle and strings. Knowing what each piece is called helps you follow any explanation, tune up and understand where the sound comes from.

Headstock — Holds the tuners; its angle keeps string pressure on the nut.
Tuners — Tighten or loosen each string to tune it.
Nut — Slotted piece that guides the strings and marks the start of the fretboard (fret 0).
Fretboard — The wooden surface where you fret notes.
Frets — Metal bars: each one raises the pitch a semitone.
Inlays — Position markers on frets 3, 5, 7, 9, 12…
Neck — Joins headstock and body; usually contains an adjustable steel truss rod.
Body — Amplifies the sound (acoustic) or holds the electronics (electric).
Soundhole or pickups — The soundhole projects sound on an acoustic; on an electric, pickups capture the vibration.
Bridge — Anchors the strings to the body and transmits their vibration.
Saddle — The strings' last support point; it sets the intonation.
Strings — Six on a standard guitar; from the 6th (low) to the 1st (high).

How to use it

Go through the numbers in order, from headstock to bridge: it's the same path the string follows.
Find each part on your own guitar. If it's electric, swap the soundhole for the pickups.
Come back to the sheet whenever a topic mentions the nut, the saddle or the 12th fret.
To see how the string vibrates between nut and saddle, continue with the string-vibration animation.

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