Guitar Types - Understanding the Different Types of Guitars

By Drew Peterson

Right now a very wanted instrument is the guitar. Naturally there are many different types available, as with any instrument. There are guitars that look different, sound different, and some that even play differently. Now have a look at some of the different types that you can select among.

If you are looking for a good place to start, it would probably be best to start with acoustic. These aren't electric, and rely only upon themselves for any sort of sound. The body resonates vibrations that you make by playing the instrument, and these are normally made of wood, and the types of wood that are used may be different for each guitar.

There are many different acoustic guitar types. One type of an acoustic guitar is a classical guitar. Usually these are great guitars for beginners to start playing on. They produce beautiful sounds and come with nylon strings in most cases. Flamenco guitars are very close to classical guitars, but they sound a bit thinner and have a crisp sound.



Another guitar that you will find out there is the 12 string. It is called this for obvious reasons and belongs in the acoustic family of guitars. Each string has a sister string which makes the same note, but is tuned to a slightly higher octave. This is done so that more sounds can be produced when playing the guitar.

One additional sort of acoustic guitar which you can look into is what is known as the steel top guitar. These are a lot like the classical guitars, though are built with reinforced bodies and are a tad bigger than classical guitars. You will find that they have a warmer tone which generates a mellow sound.

Acoustic base isn't a bad choice. It's a bass guitar that doesn't feature any sort of electric pick ups. It has a great body which gives off a sound agreeable to anyone, and has four strings. You can pick up models which have more strings, five or six if you so desire.

Of course you also have electric guitars as well. These guitars have electronic pick ups that take the vibrations made by the strings, and they amplify these vibrations. Usually they must be connected up to a good amplifier. They come with solid bodies or sometimes semi-solid bodies and without an amplifier they don't make much sound at all.

Many such guitars come standard with control knobs that can control volume, tone and other aspects of the guitar. There are even a few that come equipped with whammy bars that allow you to shift notes without changing your finger positioning. Bars like this are generally utilized to produce the guitar sound called 'crying.'

These are just a few of the guitar types that you can find. Of course while you may want to learn to play a different type of guitar later on, it is best to start out on a classical acoustic guitar. Then when you learn the basics you can go on to experiment with other types of guitars to find what you really enjoy playing. - 31872

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