Acoustic Guitars
Acoustic guitars and their types depend upon their structures and body shapes in resonating sounds. Acoustic guitars are generally made out of wood. The neck is usually made from mahogany and the fret board is made out of maple or rosewood.
Among the different kinds of acoustic guitars we can point out:
They are usually the choice guitar for beginners: strings from nylon, played in a standard sitting position and used in playing classical music. Classical guitars are generating think and whole sounds.
Flamenco guitars – almost similar to the classical guitars, but they produce crisper and thinner sounds.
Steel-top guitars are very similar to the classical guitar, but they are constructed to be more resilient. The parts of the steel-top guitar are reinforced and their bodies are significantly larger than the classical guitars. All this gives a warmer tone compared to the classical guitar.
A normal guitar usually has 6 strings, but the 12-string guitar – as you understand has 12 strings. Each string is accompanied by another string of the same note, typically tuned in a higher octave. This is done to create a semi-chorus effect.
This type of guitar is similar to the steel-top guitar, but there is one detail - the steel in the middle of the soundboard is used to resonate the sound from the vibration of the guitar strings. This is giving a very thin and distinct sound, usually used in playing the blues.
Among the variations of the resonator guitar it is possible to mention - the square-neck resonator guitar, played on the lap like a piano or organ, then the round neck resonator guitar, played like a common guitar.
An archtop guitar usually has the f-hole design, this kind of guitar is preferred by jazz players.
Acoustic bass guitars are bass guitars without electronic pick-ups. The body of the guitar is used to produce the sounds. This kind of guitars usually has 4 strings, but there are acoustic bass guitars which have 5 or 6 strings.
Electric Guitars
Electric guitars use electronic pick-ups to amplify the vibrations of the guitar strings. They are usually connected to electric amplifiers. Electric guitars typically have a solid or semi-solid body type. As they are not using the body for sound resonance they make very little or no sound when played without an amplifier.
Electric guitars usually have control knobs for changing the volume or the tone of the guitar. They also have pick-up selectors – many electric guitars use multiple pick-ups to achieve the best guitar sounds. With the help of these pick-ups different tones are produced from the guitar. The tone knobs are usually used to shift from a bass-intensive sound to a treble-intensive sound or vice versa.
Some electric guitars have whammy bars. These bars are attached to the guitar to shift notes without changing the finger positions in the fret board. Whammy bars are used to produce “crying” guitar sounds. The use of the whammy bar in less expensive guitars is not advised because it may cause the strings to go out of tune.
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