First of all, let’s congratulate you for making the best decision of your life – or at least one of the best decisions of your life! Yes, playing the guitar is one of the most unique gifts in todays world, and not many people can do it! We could talk hours about the benefits of playing guitar from stress relief to memory enhancement and creativity flow….and heaps more but let’s get to the real deal.
Much like every other beginner, making the decision to learn guitar was your first choice, and now comes making the decision of which guitar to play – acoustic or electric?
If only there was a simple answer to that question! But don’t worry, we promise you that by the time you finish reading this article you’ll be sure of which type of guitar you want to play. So get ready, and lets dive into our guitar journey!
Acoustic Guitar
As seen in the name, an acoustic guitar produces the notes and sounds you hear acoustically, without any electric amplification. That’s basically the only different between an acoustic and electric guitar – which then branches off into different tones, volumes, and other small changes.
The common myth is that if you want to be good at electric guitar, you should learn acoustic guitar first, however hear it from us right now that that’s complete baloney! The acoustic and electric guitar come from two very similar yet different worlds, so learning one does not impact or interfere with the other one as much as you think it does!
Generally, here are some popular styles you can play with acoustic guitars:
- Country
- Blues
- Bluegrass
- Indie
- Fingerstyle
- Pop (chords)
Another type of acoustic guitar which is known as the classical guitar or the nylon string guitar is good for playing some more styles including:
- Classical (obviously!)
- Spanish / Flamenco
- Contemporary (fingerstyle)
- Jazz
If any of those styles sound interesting, then it’s a good idea to consider trying out the acoustic guitar (or classical guitar). We know how confusing deciding can be at first, which is why our guitar teachers in Adelaide offer you a first free lesson to come and try out the different types of guitar and see which one fits you best! Click here to book your first free lesson now.
Acoustic Guitars – Pros and Cons
Before we move on to the electric guitar, lets look at a quick rundown of the pros and cons of the acoustic and classical guitars.
Pros
- Easy to take places – Since you don’t need an amplifier or anything else to play, you can easily take your acoustic/classical guitar places, maybe even travel with it!
- More affordable – Once again since you don’t need an amplifier, an acoustic or classical guitar is much more affordable (plus usually the body of an electric guitar is more expensive)
- No extra equipment needed – You can get started straight away since all you need is just your guitar and no extra ad ons.
- Lightweight – The hollow body makes the guitar lightweight, making it easier to play for kids (and adults!), and easier to carry around.
Cons
- Fragile – due to the hollow body an acoustic or classical guitar can easily crack, break, or get damaged, so you need to be extra careful!
- Less range (volume and frets) – An electric guitar usually has 22 frets whereas an average acoustic or classical guitar has 20 frets, giving you a less range of sound to explore (as well as the limitation of volume due to no amplification).
- Wide neck and fretboard – If you’ve got small hands playing an acoustic or classical guitar might be a little difficult for you; however you can always consider a smaller size guitar*.
*You can purchase acoustic guitars in different sizes – quarter, half, three quarters, and whole sizes.
Electric Guitar
If you’re still reading, first of all congratulations on making it this far! And now, without further ado, its time to get into the rock and roll side of things. You guessed it right, its time to do what we just did for acoustic guitars and break down different aspects of the electric guitar to help you make a decision which will serve you well down the track.
First things first, the major difference here is that the sound of the electric guitar works something like this: A number of pickups built into the guitars body pick up the vibrations when you pluck a string and turn it into an electric current, of course played through your amp, giving you that electric shred.
Here’s a rough list of the styles which you can jam to best on the electric guitar:
- Rock and Roll (or just plain rock!)
- Heavy metal
- Jazz
- Blues
- Funk
- Electric Fingerstyle
- Punk Guitar
Before we move on, don’t forget that you can start your electric guitar lessons in Adelaide off with a free lesson at Kia Music Academy, book your lesson now whilst the offers available! Click here for booking.
Electric Guitars – Pros and Cons
Now its time to weight out the pros and cons of the electric guitar, before we come to the final stages of making your decision.
Pros
Variety (in every aspect!) – One of the best parts about electric guitars is the variety that comes along, from every single aspect! Colour, shape, you name it! As well as this, when you have a guitar and an amp, you can make hundreds of different combinations to get different sounds from your guitar, much more than a normal acoustic guitar that is!
Durable and not so fragile – In comparison to acoustic guitars, electric guitars are much less fragile, meaning that they’ll probably last you a lot longer. The fragile nature of acoustic guitars is mainly due to the fact that they’re hollow inside, and of course made of wood.
Easy to play – With a thinner neck and smaller fretboards than an acoustic guitars, electric guitars are much easier to get up and down on, especially for our friends out there who have smaller hands!
Cons
More expensive – With the benefits, of course come the downsides of electric guitars too. And one main one is the price bump when you add an amp, a lead, a strap, and maybe a pedal if you’re budget allows! In this case, acoustic guitars are much more cost effective, with the only extra equipment being a tuner and sometimes a capo and a strap.
Hard to carry around – Once again, your amp and other extra equipment are probably going to get in your way of travelling around with your guitar, especially if you don’t have a car. However, this issue is manageable most times with smaller (box) amps, and compact
Extra gear (lots of it!) – Not to double up on what we just mentioned, but its important to know that you’re going to be dealing with a lot more gear for an electric guitar, in comparison to an acoustic guitar. This isn’t an issue for most, but some people do just prefer a more simple and hassle free approach.
Conclusion
Your brain must be going insane right now…don’t worry ours was too the first time we found out about all this fascinating information! Now luckily, no one is going to point a gun to your head and force you to decide right now, so you have some time to take everything in and weigh out the options, concluding that will serve you a lifetime!
Even you do decide to take up one and regret it down the track, who’s stopping you from learning a second type of guitar? What we’re really trying to say here is that yes your choice is important, but it’s never late to make changes down the track, in fact it will be easy to learn the other type of guitar once you’ve learnt one…after all they’re all guitars!
Start for free with Kia Music Academy
Finally, before we let you go, we want to give you a little gift on behalf of Kia Music Academy to ease the beginning of your guitar journey.
Our guitar classes in Adelaide come with a complimentary first FREE lesson for you to come and try the types of instruments out and get some advice before you start, making the journey a lot easier!
Since we don’t want you to miss out, we encourage you to claim your free guitar lessons in Adelaide now by clicking here before you go.
Other than that, good luck, and happy playing!
