Is electric guitar necessary

I recently finished Fundamentals I and II. I am a complete “newbie” to guitar and hence I have nothing to compare with Guitar Tricks. However, I am very happy with the organization of the curriculum as well as the breadth of topics covered.

My plan is to complete the first parts of the Rock, Country and Blues introductory programs followed by the second parts of the Rock, Country and Blues programs. I currently own an acoustic guitar and plan to purchase an electric guitar at some point in the future. This may be as early as this upcoming Christmas (2018).

My first question is:

Which of the three (Rock, Country and Blues) are best to work on with an acoustic guitar? I ask this question because it appears as though the Rock and Country courses have specific electric sections in them.

The second question is:

Should I skip the electric sections until I have an electric guitar or simply work on them with my current acoustic guitar?

Keep up the great work Guitar Tricks”

Congrats on finishing GF 1&2!

Originally Posted by: kerwynjones2

Which of the three (Rock, Country and Blues) are best to work on with an acoustic guitar? I ask this question because it appears as though the Rock and Country courses have specific electric sections in them.

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The country course contains the most lessons explicitly using & approached with acoustic guitar. That style uses the acoustic as a specific, essential component more than the others.

[quote=kerwynjones2]

Should I skip the electric sections until I have an electric guitar or simply work on them with my current acoustic guitar?

You should work your way through as many parts of any course as possible. There might be technical challenges (string bending, certain chords, single note melodies, riffs & leads) that difficult to do on acoustic. But you should attempt to work through as much as possible because that's how the curriculums were designed to be used.

There's also the question of your goals & desire. Do you want to play country? What style do you want to play?

At a certain point an inexpensive electric might be worth the investment to help you achieve your musical goals.

Hope this helps!

That helps a lot. Especially the part about an inexpensive electric guitar. Now I can tell my wife that you recommend it.........Just kidding. I would never do that. My wife wouldn’t care if I do get an electric guitar. She is actually very supportive of everything I do.

As for goals and desires. I am 54 yo and simply have the goal of doing this as nothing more than a hobby. I enjoy making my own ‘music’ and have no goals of performing or even playing in a band. I enjoy many genres of music including rock, country and blues but I ultimately would like to focus on blues the most as this is my favorite guitar music.

Thanks for the advice. I’ll keep grinding away and I will check in later with you all.

Kerwyn

Glad my reply helped. Nice to hear your wife is supportive. :)

Originally Posted by: kerwynjones2

That helps a lot. Especially the part about an inexpensive electric guitar. Now I can tell my As for goals and desires. I am 54 yo and simply have the goal of doing this as nothing more than a hobby. I enjoy making my own ‘music’ and have no goals of performing or even playing in a band. I enjoy many genres of music including rock, country and blues but I ultimately would like to focus on blues the most as this is my favorite guitar music.

Good deal. Keep in mind that the end goal is to play music in the form of songs. So, think about what songs you like & would like to play or play along with. What kind of guitar is used or featured? There are plenty of acoustic blues songs. But there's also quite a bit of electric used especially in lead melodies, riff, licks.

Hope that helps! Have fun!

Christopher offers the greatest advice - and I especially love the part about checking in with yourself about your own goals. What is it that you would love to be able to play? Use the courses and lessons (and maybe a new guitar!) to keep you moving in the direction that your heart is calling out for.

Thanks for the advice Lisa. More importantly, thanks for giving me a great start to my guitar journey.

Originally Posted by: kerwynjones2Should I skip the electric sections until I have an electric guitar or simply work on them with my current acoustic guitar?

Though not alway true, there is so much that you can play on acoustic. Songs that were made on electric can often be played on acoustic. Like Chris said, it's not always as easy. I mean, for fun, I was figuring out the riffs for Runnin' with the Devil as well as just noodling on an old song we used to jam to (Maiden's Losfer Words..yes, I was noodling that on acoustic). Both definately not made for acoustic but I was just messing around so, there ya go.

There is quite a lot you can do on an acoustic. But it is a lot of fun to play an electric through an amp. I imagine if I had EVH's 'brown sound' amp tone, I'd probalby enjoy Runnin' with the Devil more!

Think of the guitar as tools. You have more than one kind of screw driver to accomplish goals. Same with guitars; they are tools and different types help you with different goals. But, I caution that you may end up with a 'toolbox' of guitars like me!

Originally Posted by: JeffS65Think of the guitar as tools.

I would identify that as the crux of the matter too.

I would say you can still go for it! You can play the same songs/licks on both electric and acoustic guitars as they both read treble cleff. Of course some songs will sound better on an electric and some songs sound better on an acoustic but overall you can play practically anything on either guitar.

Thanks to all of you for the continued support and advice.

I will suggest you the country one. The country course include the most lessons direct using & approached with acoustic guitar. You can also play a chord by strumming all the open strings or barring just your index finger across all six strings. That style uses the acoustic as essential component more than the others.

Originally Posted by: FriendlyGuitarist

I would say you can still go for it! You can play the same songs/licks on both electric and acoustic guitars as they both read treble cleff. Of course some songs will sound better on an electric and some songs sound better on an acoustic but overall you can play practically anything on either guitar.

I'm in a bit of a different situation, but it may be relevant here. I'm kind of a gear junky (not to mention a complete newbie) and have both an electric (Les Paul Studio) and an acoustic (Taylor 314ce). Now, before you think I'm nutz, my wife plays both beautifully. I've been trying and trying to learn this thing called guitar for several years and either life, work, or frustration gets in the way. Anyhow, I signed up for Guitar Tricks a couple of weeks ago and have made more progress in those two weeks with Lisa's core system than I had made in years! What I do is I start a lesson with the Taylor, then, if I have issues, I switch to the Les Paul...it is, in my opinion, easier to play. Finally, I make sure to come back to the acoustic. It has gotten me out of many issues! If you can, I'd go out and get an inexpensive electric and add a decent pair of headphones and a VOX AC30 headphone amp (plus a simple aux cable so you can listen to Lisa). Swap between the two. JMHO, but it is working for me....

I know it's an older post, so my reply is primarily directed to newbies, like myself. I'm doing exactly what Ron is doing. First I use my Taylor A12e acoustic, and once I'm comfortable with the practice, I switch to my Fender Stratocaster and try to do the same. However, based on my meaty fingers, I find it easier to play precisely on the acoustic than the electric, so switching from the former to the latter adds a step of difficulty for me.