The Electronic Guitar Site

For a beginning guitarist, the difference between and acoustic and an electric guitar may not appear to be so obvious. I mean, they both have six strings and frets right, so why should you have to choose?Well, the main difference between the two instruments is that making your decision will set the course for whatever style of music and career you may engage in from then on. Here are some detailed differences between acoustic and electric guitars.1. There’s a difference in playing precision needed.With electric guitars, due to the distortion and effects available, the amount of precision to make a guitar riff sound good is less. When playing on an acoustic guitar, the tones are very pure and mistakes can be heard much easier. Acoustic guitars are good to start with since they allow the player to know what skills and talents need to be improved upon.2. Obviously, they’re made of different materials.With acoustic guitars, the instrument is usually made up of mostly wood. There might be a plastic back depending on the model, but the amount of electronics used is minimal or non-existent.For electric guitars, the materials used can be wood, metal, and quite a few electronic pieces installed throughout. Either way, you should keep some consistent maintenance on the instrument you choose.3. The craftsmanship of the instrument varies.Personally, I believe that in order to make an instrument that requires a very delicate and powerful natural reverberation like an acoustic guitar, a certain amount of audio physics and engineering is required. For that reason, I believe the acoustic needs a better craftsman to produce, whereas electric guitars can be poorly made but output decent tones due to the accompanying equipment and accessories.4. One is slightly more difficult to play chords over the other.Certain electric guitars are made to be played very easy and fast. The frets are lower and the strings are placed very close to the guitar neck.However, acoustic guitars are known to really “whip your fingers into shape” with how much effort needs to be used for pressing down chords. I’m not saying it’s unbearable, but there’s definitely a difference between the two guitars.5. Playing by yourself for a crowd can either be enjoyable or somewhat of a nuisance.If you’ve gone to an open mic night and heard someone playing an acoustic guitar, you may have thought of it as decent or quite enjoyable. Oppositely, if you heard someone in the same place playing an electric guitar by him or herself, you may have thought it to be very annoying.Acoustic guitars are more desirable to hear for solo musicians over electric guitars any day.6. There’s a difference in the amount of equipment you’ll need to perform.Sure, electric guitars can really rock, but you also need an amp, some cables, and any pedals that you desire to alter your guitar tone. With acoustic guitars, you need the guitar, a pick, and maybe a tuner and you’ll be set.7. Each guitar is best for different genres.Of course you can play any genre you want on either instrument, but the truth of the matter is that one will be better than the other. Metal or hardcore is best played on the electric guitar, while folk and classical can be heard differently on the acoustic.I’m sure that there are tons of other differences to these two instruments that I haven’t attempted to cover, but these should probably give a beginner some sort of direction on where to go. Whichever guitar you decide to begin with, promise yourself that you’ll try the opposition eventually to understand the full circle of music that you can be experiencing.

Is this your first guitar purchase? When you are new to playing the guitar, it is only natural to be anxious about which guitar should you purchase and how much you should shell out for it. Most important issues rest on the quality and playability of your instrument. The type of guitar you choose depends on the kind of music you want to play. If you want to sound like Bob Dylan or Jack Johnson, you probably want an acoustic guitar. On the other hand if you want to play folk, alternative, jazz, flamenco, etc.  your choice would be a classical guitar. Electric guitars are differentiated by their pickups, one is a single coil pickup and the other is a humbuckers. Humbuckers sound great with distortion, so they’re the pickups of choice for the hard rockers, while the single coil pickups have a brighter tone and thus preferred for un-distorted guitar playing.

What should be the size of my guitar? It is very important to be, as well as look comfortable while you hold a guitar. Most children up to their teen years may want to start on a ¾ size guitar. A quality ¾ size guitar will normally sound very good, but have a less “full” tone than a full-size guitar. Most adults will choose a full-size guitar. Most full size guitars will be 37 to 38 inches in length and have a fret board with 21 frets. One must ask a salesperson to help you decide if your guitar fits.

Some technicalities you should look into before choosing the right guitar: Tuning machine keys should operate smoothly. The fingerboard should be level with the top of the guitar. Most guitars should have an adjustable truss rod. A functional truss rod will usually make slight changes in a neck with as little as a 1/4 to 3/4’s of a turn. Neck angles that are too far forward or backward will tend to have or develop adjustment problems. A helpful visual indicator of a good neck angle is a bridge that is about as high off the top or soundboard of the guitar as the fingerboard. String height or action at the nut should be low at the first fret, which results in all six strings being easy to play.

How much should you spend on your first guitar purchase? A good beginner acoustic guitar will range from Rs.2500/- to 7000/- Average price of acoustic guitar for beginners can be around Rs.3500/-

Higher the price the better is the wood quality and craftsmanship that makes it a good sounding acoustic guitar. As acoustic guitar does not have any amplification it is very necessary that it sounds good!

If it’s your electric guitar, choices are more as many brands are available in different shapes and specification. A starting range of electric guitar is from Rs 4,000/- onwards; of course a branded one starts from around Rs.8000-9000/- onwards. Many Indian stores have a good websites now-a day’s which gives complete details of their product range and even specifications for all their guitars which can help one to choose the right guitar for himself. So you can always check the product reviews before you actually check them.

When choosing a guitar for beginners you’re faced with the alternatives of buying an electric of an acoustic guitar. Which one is best to learn on? Which will you get more use from during your time as a guitar player? Which will cost more? These are all questions you should be asking yourself before you spend a dime on a guitar, and I’m going to help you evaluate each of those question in this article.After reading this you’ll know which type of guitar, electric or acoustic, will be better suited to your expectations as a guitar player, budget and style of play. Know Your Type of MusicAre you a hard rock or metal fan? Or do you prefer the quieter sounds of a singer songwriter style? This isn’t going to matter right away as you learn how to hold, tune and strum your guitar, but it is going to make a difference once your start playing chords.For those of you who enjoy harder rock you’re going to want that gritty sound you get of a distorted over driven electric guitar. It’s the sound you enjoy, and likely the style of music you’re wanting to learn to play from your guitar lessons. It makes sense then that you’re beginner guitar be an electric with a small practice amp that has overdrive aka. Distortion capabilities.If you’re more into the mellow sounds of todays acoustic rock & pop tunes then an acoustic guitar is definitely the way to go. Some people make their decision only on price or what a friend tells them. How ever you can end up disappointed pretty quickly if after you begin to learn you realize you can’t play the sound you want to.What’s your Budget?It’s unfortunately impossible to avoid the price discussion here. In a perfect world we could all afford what ever guitar, or even two of them, that we want. Of course nothing is perfect and you must make a choice. 99% of the time hands down an acoustic guitar is less expensive for beginners. You don’t need an amp with it and you can often get a soft case thrown in.When buying an electric you can often get the case but you should also purchase a small practice amp and patch chord to get the most out of your new instrument. Apples to apples an acoustic and electric guitar is a similar price point. The amp is what puts the electric guitar in the higher price bracket.If you’re penny pinching to start learning guitar then an acoustic is the way to go. If you know you’re going to want to play harder music when you advance your lessons go on the cheaper side of an acoustic knowing that it’s just to start your lessons and you’ll be moving to an electric later on.What’s Easier to Learn on?Most teachers will tell you that an electric is easier for beginners. Why is that? Primarily because when you first start you don’t have an calluses built up on your finger tips. As you learn to play guitar you’re going to harden the ends of your finger tips from pressing down the strings. Until this happens your fingers are going to be quite sensitive and you won’t be able to play for long.The strings on an electric guitar are lower to the neck and a lighter gage. This means easier on the fingers. Of course the because of these lighter gage strings an electric guitar not played through an amp is very flat sounding and quiet.In contrast the strings on an acoustic guitar are a heavier gage (thicker) and are raised higher from the neck (higher action). This gives a fuller sound that’s also louder.For a new beginner an electric will be easier to get started but after about the 3 month mark of practicing religiously you’ll be good with either or. If you start with an acoustic just consider yourself in the beginner guitar school of hard knocks. You’ll feel a bit more pain now, but your fingers will be tougher in the long run.

Most guitar tuning problems on a Stratocaster, arise from the old style whammy bar or “vibrato bar” as it’s correctly called. And altho’ a wonderful, fun, fantastic, and great invention, does have it’s shortcomings. Newer Strat designs and double-locking systems have mostly overcome these annoying side-effects, but they do have a very different feel to them.

But if you set an old one up properly, and keep it well lubricated (use sewing machine oil), you can reduce your guitar tuning vibrato-bar problems to a minimum.

It’s well worth your while learning all you can about your guitar and music gear, as regards keeping it serviced and running smoothly. If you don’t do it yourself, it means taking it to a repair guy or someone else, every time the slightest thing goes astray. I have a mountain of books like this for reference and it’s another interesting side of playing. Guitar mags such as the excellent and long running Guitar Player, or try Guitar One Magazine, Guitar Amps and so on are also a mine of information. I’m sure I’m not alone there.

An important point to remember when it comes to choosing strings is don’t “Cheat on the Cheese”. This too is a major source of Guitar Tuning problems even nightmares! Try a few different brand types out, and only buy from recognized and reputable guitar-string makers. Different players, styles and guitars have different needs. Always go with a respected brandname such as “Ernie Ball” or “Fender”.

I like 9’s on a Strat and something heavier on an electric guitar with no whammy bar. You can experiment with gauges yourself, find one you like and stick to it, especially on a guitar with an old style hand-vibrato on it, ok whammy-bar. If you intend to play slide on electric or acoustic guitars, use heavy gauge for the best tone and tuning. In general the heavier the string the heavier the tone, but they are harder to play and control. Try bending a g string on a heavy set and you’ll see what I mean. Strings are your guitars lifeblood, and as mentioned elsewhere, no Lee Chang or Red Dragon 50c Specials!

Sometimes you might hear a pinging sound when you use the whammy. This is caused by stored tension in the Nut being released as you dip the bar, and then bam, your out of tune. If it’s an emergency, i.e. it happens in the middle of a song during a gig, try pulling the bar up a bit and depending on how far you’ve slipped out of tune, this might just get you back in. At least to the end of the song. Hallelujah…

To solve this annoying and interfering nuisance, some good ol’ lubrication is needed here. The best thing to lubricate the nut-end of things, is graphite. An easy way to do this, is to use an ordinary pencil, and literally write onto the nut underneath where the strings slot in (lifting it up first, loosen if necessary), and give it a coating of lead. Then the strings just glide along the grooves instead of sticking there until you “ping” and release them.

This simple little trick works wonders for Strat guitar tuning dilemmas. Depending on your style and how often you gig, once a week of this treatment should be fine. Vaseline is also recommended for this task but I think it’s a bit messy and more suitable to nappy rash .

Remember Guitar Tuning is half the battle as they say, so it’s seriously worth getting right at an early stage. Good or excellent guitar tuning skills, will automatically improve your musical ear and this also helps you play better. There’s nothing worse or more unprofessional than a “lazy ear” player, who flies around on the guitar no problem, but the guitar is constantly out of tune. So pay attention to your strings and look after them and you will be repaid back a hundred times.

Next we’re under the bridge and checking out the nut, plus we’ll be having a look at the all important guitar-neck massage.

My Dad said I could use his guitar and if I learnt to play they would buy me one. I found this product on line that teaches kids to play guitar with on line gaming, videos, guitar lessons by real famous people. I did not know what it would be like – I am 14 so not really a kid but it was cool, not childish at all.

The ultimate online guitar training program http://www.guitarsuperstar.info

I am into loads of different music styles but I am especially into hard rock and playing electronic guitar meant I could join my buddies in a band we were forming, we had the drummer, lead singer one guitarist and me. I was going to be the other guitarist but I would have to learn fast.

I knew some chords already so I was not totally new to this, and my older brother also plays guitar and drums.

Surfing the net I came across Guitar Superstar and it is awesome! I can use it all the time so I do not have to wait for a guitar instructor to be available, or if I am late from school it is ok because it is all on line.

All my guitar training, guitar lessons, guitar tutoring is done on line and it is so funky and easy to use.I have been using Guitar Superstar for about 3 months and this weekend my Mum has agreed to buy me my new electric guitar, I might get a Fender but I do not know know yet.

Dad is happy because it means I stop using his electric guitar all the time – thanks Dad!!

Below is the link I used to get my Mum to go on to buy Guitar Superstar for me, it is the best!

The ultimate online guitar training program http://www.guitarsuperstar.info