Introduction to acoustic guitars- Part one

This primer will help anyone to get started, and also to understand my own point of view. In the following posts I will dig deeper and cover more specific issues. I hope you find this useful.

The acoustic guitar is probably the most popular musical instrument in the world. It is a harmonic instrument with a pleasant full voice. It is also portable, relatively small and you don’t have to use your mouth to play it. All of these makes it ideal for the accompaniment of singing. No wonder that a lot of the great singer-song writers of our time have used an acoustic guitar as their main instrument. Oh yeah– one more thing, it is also my favorite instrument.

The big advantage of an acoustic guitar is that it sounds “right” and complete on its own, while other instruments such as an electric guitar, bass can only reach their full potential in a band situation.

I have always liked to sing and considered myself as a singer first, so learning how to play the acoustic guitar was a natural choice for me (I moved to electric guitars much later).

Although there are amazing musicians out there who use an acoustic guitar as a solo instrument for instrumental work (such as Tommy Immanuel or Bluegrass players like Tony Rice), I have always felt that acoustic guitar should be used primarily for accompanying singers and my personal admiration goes more to singer song writers such as Neil Young, James Taylor, Paul Simon or Nick Drake (Yes I know, I am all about the 60’s and 70’s). These guys made an excellent use of their acoustic guitars to make their songs so beautiful and to create their magic.

The way I see it, there are two main techniques for acoustic guitar accompaniment playing. First is strumming- Playing chords and rhythms usually with a pick, and the second is finger style which consists of plucking each individual string with a finger.

If you can master these two techniques and their nuances well, as far as I am concern, you are a good acoustic guitar player. Soloing on the acoustic guitar for me is luxury. (When I want a guitar solo, I go electric).

Now let’s discuss the gear, playing style and tone aspects (The fun part)

I will limit myself here to the standard acoustic guitar (and by that I mean a six steel string guitar leaving out 12 strings, classical guitars and other freaks). There are two main physical factors that affect acoustic guitar tone and its suitability for a specific playing style:

Body style and size

There are a few generic body styles:

1. Dreadnought- The most popular design of an acoustic guitar. It has a large body and a boxy shape. Tone wise, dreadnoughts have a strong full sound and big bass response. Dreadnoughts are powerful and require stronger touch– usually they are more suitable for playing with a pick rather than finger style. They are the ideal choice for a singer in a band who strums chords and use it as a rhythm guitar.
2. Jumbo- There are numerous variations of sizes and shapes referring to this term but generally speaking it is a large bodied guitar with a more rounded body and round shoulders and narrower waist than the dreadnought. They too have big sound but somewhat less boom-y than dreadnoughts. The smaller Jumbos like a Gibson J-45 are very versatile and can handle strumming and finger picking very well.
3. OM- Grand auditorium, Grand concert, OOO. These have smaller bodies than jumbos and dreadnoughts. There tone is usually “smaller” and less resonant. They are very balanced and are great for finger picking but can also handle strumming very well. They tend to have faster response, are very fun to play and good for minimalistic folk. They also record extremely well.
4. Concert, OO- These have even smaller waists than the previous category. They make great instruments for finger style but usually don’t have enough volume and bass as a rhythm strumming instruments.
5. Parlor, O These are very small guitars and I don’t think they should be taken seriously (joking).

Types of wood

1. Top – All the classic acoustic guitar models have tops that are made from some kind of Spruce. Spruce gives the guitar a lot of resonance, harmonics and shimmer. Other options for top wood are Cedar and Mahogany which usually gives a mellower sound.
2. Back and sides – The two main woods for back and sides are Rosewood and Mahogany. Rosewood usually gives a more “wet” sound rich with harmonics, overtones and metallic shimmering while Mahogany produces more “dry”, “airy” and woody type of tone. Mahogany guitars are usually easier to record while Rosewood guitars have a fuller sound and more impressive when are heard live.

So far these are the basics of the Acoustic guitar world as I see it. In Pt. 2, I discuss famous acoustic guitars brands, models and artists.

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