Acoustic Guitars – Variations on a Theme
An acoustic guitar does not have any electronic means of producing its sound. The music that comes out of it is a matter between the guitar and its player. Really, once upon a time, all guitars were acoustic. Nowadays they need to be distinguished from electric guitars and acoustic guitars that have pickups in them to provide electronic means of amplification.
To the beginner guitar player it could be a bolt from the blue that there is an giant range of sizes, shapes and equipment in acoustic guitars. To most acoustic guitar players who only play ordinary music, the main distinction is between nylon string and steel string acoustic guitars. Within the classification of acoustic guitars there’s the Baroque guitar, the classical guitar, the Renaissance guitar, the archtop guitar, the flamenco guitar and the twelve string guitar.
The classical guitar is the basic model for the acoustic guitar. Even though steel string acoustic guitars have been developed with a cutaway body to help the guitarist reach the high notes, the classical guitar retains the ordinary shape which was more or less chose upon a couple of hundred years ago. Classical guitar players use their fingers to pluck and strum the strings, on the rise the nails on their right hands slightly longer than the nails on the left hand. Even if it’s called a classical guitar, many guitarists from many genres have been seduced by the tone of the nylon string guitar. As a result you can find the nylon string sound in jazz, pop, folk or even blues music.
The flamenco guitar looks similar to a classical guitar but is lighter in color and weight. The flamenco guitar is traditionally much brighter in sound than the classical guitar even though in recent years many flamenco guitarists have been playing instruments with a more mellow sound similar to the classical guitar. A distinguishing characteristic of the flamenco guitar is the beating plate which is a piece of white or transparent fake attached to the body of the guitar just below the sound hole. You will sometimes find flamenco guitars that are fitted with wooden tuning pegs as a replacement for of machine heads. All guitars had these kind of tuning pegs once but now they are only retained since some flamenco guitarists prefers them since they keep the weight of the guitar to a minimum.
The twelve string guitar has six courses of strings, and it produces a much more complicated sound than the six string. The twelve string guitar is made for strumming rather than picking or plucking since the individual courses do not easily lend themselves to single note playing. The twelve string has proved to be very striking for guitarists who loved experimenting with open tunings. Back in the 70s the image of Jimmy Page playing his double neck guitar was a rock ‘n roll icon. One neck was fitted with twelve strings which allowable him to go between six and twelve string guitar for uncommon things.
Efforts to make the guitar heard above other instruments in jazz bands of the early twentieth century resulted not only in the production of the electric guitar, but also the resonator guitar. In the resonator guitar the sound is produced by metal cones as a replacement for of by the wooden body of the guitar. The resonator did not help much with amplification but its distinctive sound has made it a favorite with bluegrass and blues players.
Do you want to learn to play the guitar? Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free is a constantly updated blog which contains all the resources you need for: learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play simple acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, and how to learn guitar scales.
Author: Ricky Sharples
Condition Source: EzineArticles.com
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