g/g/
Raise the back of your tongue to touch the soft palate. Add vocal cord vibration, then release.
How to pronounce guitar in American English
guh·TAR
Start here
Americans pronounce guitar as guh-TAR (/gəˈtɑr/). Stress falls on the second syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Can you play that tune on the guitar?" or "She's learning how to play the guitar" — more examples below.
Now you try.
Record yourself saying "guitar" and play it back. The mic stays on your device — nothing's uploaded.
Sound by sound
Every sound in "guitar".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
uh/ʌ/
Relax your lips, jaw, and tongue completely. Drop your jaw slightly and keep the tongue neutral.
t/t/
Touch the tip or front edge of your tongue to the roof of your mouth just behind your teeth. Keep your jaw relaxed. Stop the air, then release with a puff.
ar/ɑr/
Open wide for the 'ah' vowel. Lift the tongue back and up while flaring the lips for the 'r'.
In real conversation
Hear "guitar" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Can you play that tune on the guitar?"
kuhn yoo PLAY dhat TOON ahn dhuh guh·TAR
"He enjoys hiking, reading, and playing the guitar."
hee uhn·JOYZ HAHY·kuhng REE·duhng and PLAY·uhng dhuh guh·TAR
"He plays the bass guitar in a local funk band."
hee PLAYZ dhuh BAYS guh·TAR ihn uh LOH·kuhl FUHNGK BAND
"He wants to learn how to play the guitar."
hee WAHNTS tuh LURN HOW tuh PLAY dhuh guh·TAR
"She's learning how to play the guitar."
sheez LUR·nuhng HOW tuh PLAY dhuh guh·TAR
"He writes his own lyrics and composes the melody on his guitar."
hee RAHYTS hihz ohn LEER·uhks and kuhm·POH·zuhz dhuh MEH·luh·dee ahn hihz guh·TAR
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the second syllable, not the others. Stretch TAR — keep everything else short and quick.
GUH·tar→guh·TAR
02
Pronouncing the first syllable too fully.
Don't pronounce the first syllable too fully. The unstressed syllable reduces to a schwa — the lazy "uh" sound — in casual speech.
GUH·TAR→guh·TAR
03
Pronouncing the "R" too clearly.
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R — the tongue curls back rather than rolling. The R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it, not two separate sounds.
… (no R)→… r (curl the tongue)
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "guitar" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the second syllable — say "TAR" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "guh-TAR" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Why does the first syllable in "guitar" reduce to "uh"?
Unstressed syllables in American English collapse toward a schwa — a lazy, neutral "uh" sound. The full vowel is what textbooks teach, but in actual American speech every unstressed vowel reduces. The respell "guh-TAR" shows the reduced form so you can hear the casual rhythm directly.
How do I pronounce the R in "guitar"?
Americans use a relaxed retroflex R: the tongue curls back rather than rolling, and the R is one continuous sound with the vowel before it — not two separate sounds. Don't try to pronounce a separate vowel followed by a separate R. Treat them as a single shape.
Is the American pronunciation of "guitar" different from British English?
American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "guh-TAR" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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