From the early days of music, when cowboys roamed the west herding cattle and avoiding Native Americans, to the melodic sounds of the Dave Matthews Band from today's generation, one thing still remains the same, the acoustic guitar. Acoustic guitars have always played a major role in the music of every time period. It often amazes people how an instrument that appears similar throughout history can have such a wide array of sounds. It started with the twanging sounds of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, and has become today a driving force in a rock atmosphere today, through the likes of the Goo Goo Dolls and John Mayer. Although people's familiarity with the acoustic guitar is rather high, many of them do not understand how a plethora of wooden parts can be thrown together to make a sound as versatile as many other instruments. One can gain a better knowledge of acoustic guitar by breaking them down into its three most simplistic pieces: the neck, the body, and the head.
The largest wooden part of the guitar is known as the body. This piece is the most important part in the actual sound processing of an acoustic guitar. The body consists of a piece known as the soundboard, which is the part of the guitar that is typically recognized by the large hole in it, known as the sound hole. The soundboard's job is to amplify the resonating strings at a level in which is audible to the listeners. Acoustic guitars can be played with no amplification in small rooms and such, however usually require some sort of secondary amplification to play clubs and/or churches. Usually to serenade one's girlfriend with an arousing rendition of "How Deep Is Your Love," no amplification is required as long as one can avoid the large objects being heaved in one's general direction. Attached to the soundboard is typically the bridge. The bridge holds one end of the string down to allow tension to be created to produce different ranges of sounds.
