Hey Friend,

After yesterday’s email about tube versus solid state guitar amplifiers, I received an email from Mercy, a new subscriber.

Everyone say “Hi, Mercy!"

I think she was a little worried that our conversations would primarily be about electric guitars as opposed to acoustic, so I wanted to address that in case any of you had the same question floating about your grey matter.

Learn To Play Rock Guitar does have “rock guitar” in the title, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to electric guitar. Acoustic and electric guitars are nearly identical in how they produce sound, and the only one thing that makes them different is the way they emit sound.

Both types of guitars create sound by string vibration - you pluck a string and it vibrates back and forth, moving the air surrounding it, which produces a sound wave.

An acoustic guitar has a hollow body that amplifies those sound waves so we can hear them.

An electric guitar has “pickups,” basically magnets that convert the sound waves into electric signals. These signals get sent to your amplifier, which then converts the signals back to sound and pushes them out through the speakers.

Yeah, that’s a WAY oversimplified explanation…

Other than that, you play acoustic and electric guitars the same way. 

The notes and chords work identically, and the necks, tuners, bridges and strings all serve the same function. You’re going to learn and be able to apply the same scales, chords and techniques whether you have an acoustic or an electric guitar.

I will say acoustic guitars are physically more challenging to play than electric guitars. It takes longer to be able to play well because you have to be strong enough to press the strings down to get the desired sound, and that can be extremely frustrating.

We don’t want our fingers to be sore and for our notes to buzz or sound muffled because the strings won’t cooperate. We want our playing to sound good NOW!

Acoustic guitars use higher gauge strings than electrics, which means the strings are thicker and harder to press down on the fingerboard. These strings also don’t bend as easily, making string bending techniques tougher.

So it’s a fight to beef up your finger strength and tame those strings.

On the plus side, you do develop stronger fingers and more endurance on acoustic, simply because you have to work harder to produce the same sounds. But I think that’s a good thing and everyone should try to start on acoustic.

Makes you strong and puts hair on your chest…

Er, well, maybe that’s NOT a good thing for everyone!

Anyway, don’t be too concerned when I geek out on a Les Paul or an amplifier or effect. I love acoustics, too!

Peace~

Dave