Thats a great question! THere are many trains of thought on this issue and the plain and simple fact is, the electric guitar promotes sloppy playing for beginners. Not true for everyone, but learning chords and scales on acoustic enables you to hear your mistakes and strengthens your hands. Don't get caught up in what's cool, like cranking up that new amp and ripping a a great riff, if your skills are weak, musicians can tell. Practice on both if your dying to play the electric but understand that an acoustic will not mask mistakes with heavy distortion. What you hear is what you play!!!