Acoustic or Electric

Hi all,

Ive recently decided to take up the guitar, but am not sure which one to learn on. Is it the same principles for both acoustic and electric and which of the 2 would you recommend I learn on. Ive have no experience what so ever.

Many thanks

I would suggest learning on an acoustic. If you become more serious about it you can always buy an electric. Generally... acoustics are better beginner tools because they play differently than electics. Acoustics will develop your hhand and finger strenght quicker and you will develop your dexterity a lot faster... making the switch to electric that much easier. Also, acoustics don't require amps and electricity... so you can play anytime, anywhere. Also... you will learn to develop your style to get the most out of the guitar. A lot of people that start out on electrics get caught up in using effects and distortion... then when someone flips there amp to a clean channel they don't know what to do. This is just my suggestion, I think it's beneficial for a guitar player to learn on acoustic first. Good luck

Thanks for the Advice. Could you recommend an acoustic guitar that is reasonably priced

I would suggest a Squire or Epiphone. They are the lower quality of Fender and Gibson... but they make great starter guitars. I still play my Fender DG-7 every now and then. It was my first guitar and it was only 100 dollars. You can check out www.musiciansfriend.com and go to the acoustic section and search for an acoustic by price. Fender also makes some fairly well priced acoustics in the 200 dollar range. Just have a look around.

Simon and Patrick!!! amazing guitar for the price (or any price for that matter). i have one, bought it for about £250. it is hand made in canada and all cedar, so it has a gorgeous earthy tone. When i went to get it i didn't have a set choice of what i wanted, so i played every acoustic guitar in my price range in 3 music shops untill i found the one that sounded best. All of the simon and particks i played sounded great. there are loads of good, cheap acoustics you just have to try a few and find one with a good sound and playability. take someone who has experience of playing acoustics and has an ear for what sounds good (it can take awhile before you notice the differences between what guitars sound like, but once you hear it it starts to dominate everything about what guitar you chose). thats it really, sure many people will give ya advice to get other brands, ive just found Simon and Patrick guitars to be damn good, and have the tone i look for in an acoustic.

yeah i agree with the person who gave their opinions....

i too am starting out soon, i too was debating over acoustic or guitar. But my friend said for either acoustic or classical. Cause electric is not recommended for beginners. Well I choose classical cause classical is better for solo's. I don't care for not being able to use a pick.

Guess I'm the blask sheep as usual.

I started with, and continue to play an electric. Sure, I've played with an acoustic now and then, but it's just easier to go clean and low on the pups and sound like an acoustic for me.


What really matters isn't the lectric vs soundhole debate; but what feels comfortable to you in your hands. Your axe should feel like an extension of your body. =)

[font=trebuchet ms]I started on a hollow-body electric, simply because it was easier to play than any of the acoustics I could get at that time for the same money. I've owned several acoustics and electrics over the years, and I offer this observation:

An acoustic guitar will help you learn how to get tone out of your instrument. There's no amplifier or effects to distract you with settings to adjust. Just your hands, your heart, and your guitar.[/font]

I started off on a electric guitar, a descent Stagg strat for it's price, then after a year I bought an Ibanez RG370dx and after that I bought an acoustic guitar, it was a Juan Salvador 2 Cedre Elite and I got it for 200euros, the guitar sounds awesome, doesn't go out of tune fast and plays great, my girl got the same guitar some months before I bought mine :)

basically,

at some point, your going to want both.

me, i started accoustic. and played with that 6 years before getting an electric.

playing accoustic all that time forces you to work harder than an electric to get the same approx. sound. for example, i wanted to improve my solo playing on my electric. and what i did was actually give myself an all acoustic diet... you have to work hard to get a full bend on an accoustic, you have to work really really hard to get a tapping sound out. it works on the same principle that baseball players use: put weights on their bats when warming up to make it harder, and when they actually go to bat they swing harder than they thought.
when you go all acoustic, and then go electric, you'll find playing electric was wayyy easyer than you would think.

so my advise is get a nice acoustic and totally perfect that before going electric.

I couldn't decide if I had to choose between acoustic and electric. Both offer such different sounds that I love so much in such different ways that if you took either one away I'd be out of luck. I need to get a classical guitar for pretty much the same reason. There are pros and cons to both because of the different timbre to each one, so to that I ask you, what do you want to play? Granted in the short run the acoustic will be cheaper since all you need is the guitar, where the electric will run you up for an amp and wires too. But either way, both are worth whatever you spend.

I agree with everyone who suggested starting on an acoustic. The skills learned on an acoustic guitar not only strengthen your fingers, but you also learn definition of notes and tone. Those skills will make you better especially on electric. You see the electric (and I'm not reffering to clean electric) can be very forgiving especially when effects are used.

Yeah, I'd probably suggest acoustic first too. I played acoustic for about 5 years before I switched to electric and all the stuff I'd learned on the acoustic came in really handy, like strumming and stuff. It's also better for strengthening the fingers on your left hand and getting into fingerpicking.
Plus you can play guitar anywhere you want without having to search for an amp.
Once you start getting into barre chords and learning leads tho, you'll know it's time to switch to electric. The main thing frustrating about acoustics after awhile is it's hard to play leads ...the strings are almost impossible to bend & sometimes it's a pain when you get up to the 12th fret but your lead has to be played on the 16th fret and ya can't reach it.

You should definetly start on an acoustic. They are much easier to learn on. I would suggest getting a cheap ovation. They have good quality of sound and also you can use it when you are beginning and after you play for a while. Ovations are good quality acoustics.

Only thing I'd add about Ovation guitars is try one for an hour or so before buying it. They're amazing guitars but one of my personal pet peeves is I can't handle using them because of the bowed shape and slippery material on the backs of the guitar.
I need to be able to lean over and rest on the guitar, or reach for a drink while I'm playing without the guitar constantly slipping out of my grasp. I've used Ovations in the studio and like I said, they sound amazing but by the end of the session, I've come so close to dropping it so many times that I feel like smashing it against a wall.

take a look http://www.MyGuitarWorkshop.com

i recently started the guitar too, and started on acoustic. I found it harder to press down the strings, and ended up having sore fingers for ages. After learning loadsa chords and music the hard way, i brought an electric, and its soo much easier. Maybe learning the acosutic is a better way of getting used to the guitar. Also you can learn it without being distracted by electrics and other things that complicate matters. I think acoustic is best personally, the sometime later you can learn the electric. It does depend on what kind of music you want to play aswell though!

I learned to play on an acoustic and worked my way up to the electric. I would also reccomend the acoustic guitar for beginners. It is something to learn on and now have the transferral so difficult from acoustic to electric or vice versa.
-IF you do wanna start on an acoustic I would reccomend a Taylor(I have one and its great) , Fender, Washburn, or Ovation guitar
-If you wanna start on electric (or work up to it), I would reccomend a Fender Stratocastor (I have one), a Gibson guitar, another Fender (telecaster maybe), Martin, if you want a very good quality (maybe expensive) guitar a Gibson Les Paul is very nice, a Flying Vs are very cool, and there are many other good quality brands out there.
**Don't be tricked by the crappy no-name copy cat brands