Types of Guitars: Acoustic Guitar vs. Electric Guitar

If you have experienced learning and playing the guitar at any point in your life, you're probably aware of how unique and exhilarating the experience can be. There's nothing like the journey of learning how to play the chords of your new favorite song, and by the end, performing the whole piece alone or in front of an audience. If you still don't know the difference between the chords A and E, it's never too late to learn to play. One essential thing to start you off is learning the two types of guitars—the acoustic guitar and the electric guitar.

Acoustic Guitar

For beginning guitar students, there is an ongoing debate whether to buy an acoustic guitar or electric guitar as a first guitar. However, there is no fixed answer to this dilemma. The best solution is to learn as much as you can about each type and determine if it's what you want for your musical journey ahead.

You've probably seen the acoustic guitar being played by country and folk singers. The acoustic guitar is made of wood and sports a hollow body. This hollow body actually helps to amplify the sound when the strings are strummed. Although they may all look the same, acoustic guitars are differentiated by the strings they use. Some acoustic guitars use steel strings while others use nylon strings. Steel strings tend to produce a louder sound. Country, blues and folk musicians usually prefer this type of acoustic guitar. Meanwhile, the nylon-stringed acoustic guitar is closest to the original Spanish guitar. Nylon strings are better for plucking.

Electric Guitar

The electric guitar was born in the period of the music industry when the guitar needed to be heard over other instruments. This became crucial since most jazz bands were increasing in size. Today, the electric guitar is also used in almost all types of rock music. While the acoustic guitar is strictly hollow-bodied, the electric guitar can have a hollow body as well as a solid body (without the hole used to echo vibration). Some electric guitars combine the two types through a semi-hollow design. Perhaps the biggest difference of the electric guitar from the acoustic guitar is that the electric guitar is almost always played with an amplifier, so you need to consider this portability issue before you buy.

So Which Type is Best?

As mentioned above the real answer is obviously which guitar type best fits your needs, but that really doesn't help much. The acoustic guitar is simpler less complicated, but not necessarily easier to play. For the beginner initially playing the acoustic guitar can cause soreness in your fingers whereas with the electric guitar is not as much of an issue. Primarily because the strings are lighter and easier to press down.

So which one is best for you it depends on the type of music you want to play and your particular taste as well.