What is the difference between an acoustic guitar and an electrical one ?
Sunday, March 28th, 2010 at
11:22 pm
Does playing an acoustic guitar is the same as playing an electrical one without the distortions and stuff ?
of course I CAN tell de difference…jeez…I want to know the technical difference since I’m a beginner
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Filed under: Acoustic Guitar
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My GOD… just LOOK AT THEM… can you not SEE the difference? Acoustic and Acoustic electric are HOLLOW BODIED guitars… they don’t even LOOK like an electric guitar which is solid body and is really nothing more than a 2×4 PIECE OF LUMBER with strings on it… the ears are just for show… the basic ‘guitar’ is just a piece of shaped 2×4 LUMBER.
All 6 string guitars play the same, note and chord wise, but the similarity ends there.
Pretty much, same frets.
I don’t play guitar, but I reckon the act of playing it is the same, you still play it like an acoustic, but you can change the sound much more using the amp settings and my friend at school as a weird stick near the base of the guitar, he says whether it’s up or down it changes the sound somehow
acoustic guitar uses vibration of the soundboard to produce the sound you hear.
Electric guitar uses the vibration of the metal strings in an electric field (pickups) to produce a flow of electric current that can be amplified and played through a speaker.
Playing either guitar uses exactly the same skills.
yes and no.
technically, electric and acoustic guitars play on the same principle: the strings vibrates and being amplified to the point that it is audible to human’s ear. With acoustic, the amplification process happened on guitar body itself through the hole on the top. With electric, electric pick-ups detect the vibration, sending it as analog signal to the amplifier to get amplified further more.
The main differences between the two are sound quality and tone. Acoustics tonality and sound quality is determined by the type and quality of the wood that formed the body. Different woods give different feel or vibe to the sound acoustic guitar can produce. It’s just that simple.
With electrics, there are plenty factors that determined sound quality and tonality of the guitar. The type of wood still play prominent role, but other factors, like type of pick-ups and it’s configurations, electronic circuitry inside the guitar itself (noise gate, wiring quality, etc.), cable quality, the type/style of amplifier, sound effects/pedals being used, play huge difference in how electric guitar will sound.
Yes, an electrics can sound like acoustic guitar, and vice versa using current sound effect technology. but it will take most people years of experience to determine which sound and feel works better for him/her. Both types have their own ups and downs
huh
They both are same to play.
Acoustic tonality and quality of the sound produced vary. Also the wood they are made with is not the same.
Acoustic instruments use the chamber (the box in the guitar body)
to produce the sound vibration of the strings.
Acoustic guitars with an electric outlet to connect to a speaker
looses the “natural” sound produced by the resonating “box”
to the electric unit (speaker/amplifier) and for this reason the
quality of sound projected is going to be determined by the
quality of the speakers used.
Try a test with one guitar and two different-rated speakers and
you will notice the difference in sound.
An “electric guitar” is a flat (solid) piece of material
-wood or other laminated-like material- that does not
have a resonating cavity needs “help” from
electronic hardware and an exterior speaker to reproduce “sound”.
Use the same test listed above with acoustic-electric guitars
and you will notice the difference.
The quality of sound will be based on the quality of the speaker.
There is always a possibility of “distortions” on any unit that
depends on electrical signals for producing “sound”.
In my opinion ( I am Not an Expert) I rather play an
acoustic instrument (nylon or steel-strings)
without any “hook-up”.
if I need volume increment I will have a mike in “front” of
the instrument – not attached to it.
The sound will originate from the acoustic cavity not from
electronic hardware.
One has pickups the other one does not.
From your question it looks like you want to know the difference in how it FEELS to play the two guitars. If that is the case, then if you play an acoustic or electric for a long time you will need some adjustment when changing over. Swapping from an acoustic to an electric you will find the electric’s neck feels narrow and you might feel that your fingers are too stout to fit the frets. There is a small difference in the way strumming feels but I don’t find that as much of a difference as in the left hand. If you have both kinds of guitar lying around at home and you have the chance to play regularly on both then you will be able to make the change any time you like without problems.