If you or your child has found an interest in the acoustic guitar, you are not alone. Many people have simply fallen in love with this instrument and prefer it over the electric guitar. It is said that there is simply something more “real” about the sound being produced by nothing more that the strings, which is then projected by the acoustics. However, just how does this work?
It is true that the strings alone create the musical sound, but the problem is that the strings on their own cannot create a loud enough sound for everyone to hear and enjoy. The sound must be increased and this can be done through the use of an acoustic guitar by using a sound box, which is a resonant cavity and a soundboard. The soundboard is vibrated through the bridge, by the movement of the strings. Because the soundboard consists of a larger surface than the strings alone, more air volume is used which produces a louder sound.
Even with all of this, there are still some people that say that the acoustic guitar simply is not loud enough when compared to the electric guitar. If you know your music, you would know that this is simply an untrue statement. You can amplify the sound produced by the acoustic guitar even more by using microphones or pickups. There are magnetic and piezo pickups which are found to be the most commonly used. With the magnetic pickups, the mounting is generally on the sound hole while the piezo pickups are usually mounted underneath the bridge saddle. The piezo pickup can then be plugged right into an amplifier or a mixer.
Another reason so many people fall in love with the acoustic guitars is not just because of the sound or the old fashioned feel that some people get with them, is because they come in so many different varieties. In fact, there is a bigger variety of acoustic guitars than there are of electric guitars. To keep things simple enough, we will run through some them by the category of their strings.
Out of the nylon string selection (typically referred to as the Classical Guitar) of the acoustic, there is the Baroque, Flamenco, Romantic, Renaissance, Extended-Range Classical, and the Traditional classical guitar – which is in fact a more modern version of an original guitar but with the nylon strings instead. As you can see, if you love the nylon stringed version, you have a few options to pick from.
If you are more interested in working with a steel string guitar you will have many options as well. There is the Archtop, Lap Steel, Lyre, Resonator, Manouche, Twelve-String, and Steel-String acoustic guitar. Even though you might think that these are certainly enough to get you started, the long list of acoustic guitar varieties does not end there.
There is the Russian guitar, the Acoustic bass guitar and then there are the novelty guitars. The novelty instruments consist of the Harp, the Pikasso, the Banjo Guitar, and the Guitar Lute. As you can see, there should be plenty of options out there to keep your interest in the acoustic guitar for a long time to come.
Many people find that once they really start to explore all of the possibilities out there with the acoustic guitars that they want to become collectors. If you want to start collecting guitars, there is no better kind to start with than the acoustic since there are so many different versions and varieties out there. It would certainly take you a while to collect a good variety of everything, which means you should not find yourself bored any time soon.
Just start looking around your local instrument shop and before you know it, you will find the perfect guitar. It will be the one calling out to you. You will not be able to miss it. With enough practice, love, and care extended to your acoustic guitar, you will find yourself playing your favorite tunes for many years to come.