Anyone here given up acoustics in favor of electrics?

[clintj]

I lean pretty heavily towards electric, and have spent a fair bit of time (literally) building a nice collection of amps and such for them. I still play acoustic though, and I find it a very nice change of pace from my band's material. After a couple of hours playing what can be some fairly heavy stuff, it's relaxing to sit back and strum a 12 string or fingerpick on a nice 6 string. We like to sit down and do our writing on acoustics with a little hand percussion, too. Much easier to talk over and sing along with.

I still lurk the acoustic sections here occasionally, but reading about so many amazing guitars tends to stoke the GAS fires. I've got a nice selection of acoustics, and am perfectly content with what I have at hand.

[Ed-in-Ohio]

Originally Posted by ghostnote

Play what you want to play. It's all guitar, after all.

Totally agree! Well said.

Originally Posted by ghostnote

I don't see why anyone would give up one for the other. I guess I can understand physical limitations; it is easier to make noise on an electric, but other than that, why do you need to make a choice?...snip...

A couple of years ago, I developed tinnitus in my left ear thanks to years of being a bass guitar player in a classic rock cover band. Dealing with the tinnitus (which is a forever condition) has been stressful and traumatic. After much consideration I decided to sell off all my electric guitars, and go straight acoustic in an effort to avoid loud volume. I've also decided to avoid loud live venues when it comes to gigging.

So, I have done the opposite...given up electrics in favor of acoustics. Unfortunately, though I think my acoustic playing is continually improving slightly, I am sure I am a better electric player, having a better natural feel and technique for an electric guitar.

As ghostnote says: Play what you want to play! The important thing is to play music and have fun!

[Song]

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Steel and wood

Like others, I'm a big fan of both. (Even if my Martin gets most of my attention these days).

+1. Can't ever see giving one up. I'll go through periods of time where I'm mostly playing one type though.

[muscmp]

no way! love them both! variety is the spice of life!

play music!

[gfsark]

Well I guess I was feeling a little guilty about spending so much time on my electric...because its the acoustic guitar sound that I love the most. Unlike many of my guitar playing colleagues, they spent decades learning to get a good classic rock/blues sound and have vast experience with amplifiers/pedals/sound effects of all types, and learned so many songs, riffs, techniques in those genres---and I spent decades trying to get the most best sound from my classical guitar, and in the past 8 years or so learning to play steel string acoustic.

So now I'm trying to learn the basics of rock and jazz, and for me, for now, its 90% electric guitar. I really do love the sounds of the rock/country world, but its a steep learning curve for me. An additional part of the challenge is that the sound requires a pick, and that's a whole new world of right hand technique. Not getting there very fast, but I'm persistent. Will report back in a few years. Cheers!

[Grantgreen42]

Originally Posted by gfsark

Well I guess I was feeling a little guilty about spending so much time on my electric...because its the acoustic guitar sound that I love the most. Unlike many of my guitar playing colleagues, they spent decades learning to get a good classic rock/blues sound and have vast experience with amplifiers/pedals/sound effects of all types, and learned so many songs, riffs, techniques in those genres---and I spent decades trying to get the most best sound from my classical guitar, and in the past 8 years or so learning to play steel string acoustic.

So now I'm trying to learn the basics of rock and jazz, and for me, for now, its 90% electric guitar. I really do love the sounds of the rock/country world, but its a steep learning curve for me. An additional part of the challenge is that the sound requires a pick, and that's a whole new world of right hand technique. Not getting there very fast, but I'm persistent. Will report back in a few years. Cheers!

Good luck! The beauty of the instrument is that learning to use a pic and playing blues and rock is like learning a totally new instrument if you come from a classical guitar or steel string guitar pedagogy. I started as a rock, funk player migrated to some classical and steel string and hardcore finger style. The interesting thing is you can fuse the genre and technique and build your own style.

Listen to players like Pasquale Grasso and watch their technique how they fuse classical and jazz guitar into a seamless technique.

https://youtu.be/P4u2wZlbVFI

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

My studio work probably calls for about 75% electric playing so it gets a pretty large amount of my attention, but I do love both. I'll admit that I find electric guitar an extremely expressive instrument and use it as a cathartic tool.

Bob

The expressiveness, cathartic element and acoustic/electrics, with 2 Yamaha FGX800Cs.

[mr. beaumont]

Oh my goodness, never!

But I've given up the idea of gigging acoustic. Too many variables...with my electric setip, I can sound the same in any room, any volume, anywhere on electric.

Acoustic gigging for the nobody special (me) is TOUGH.

[harpspitfire]

i play both- tell you the truth, i spend more on electric guitar (3) and amps (5), but actually play and enjoy my 1 only cheap acoustic more

[Yamaha Man]

Well tonight I sold my acoustic Taylor 12 string, and am keeping the Gretsch hollowbody 12 string as a replacement for it. The Gretsch is really a sweet guitar, plus I can record direct in with it. Plus it sounds great thru an amp.

[Davis Webb]

I think most of us had some kind of journey one way or the other.

I took it upon myself to play as much electric stuff as I could on the acoustic about 8 or 9 years ago and work on it daily. It took years to find the right guitar to match the expressivity of my Strat or Tele on just acoustic.

The first guitar to let me break through was the Ovation, where the neck let me move fluidly and up to the 15th fret...

I got my J-45 Rosewood 2 years ago and it changed my life. The short scale and responsiveness of Rosewood lets me find endless variations on tone, more than any other guitar I have tried..and believe me, I have not tried enough of them to know better...but..

I do Purple Haze, long country solos, some Satriani, tons of rock, metal, and what earns for me is just the country, but they love my left hand.

So you can crossover a ton if you find the right guitar. Guitars which did not lend themselves to electric style are;

a. Martins
b. Taylors
c. Larrivees
d. Japanese Brands

Its in the neck radius and shape, and the tonal pallete. Now that they are making J45 cutaways that might be something to try.

Just a different kind of reply to think about. Emulate electric speed, emotion, power, tonal pallette on an acoustic. It is a road less travelled. Not ONE youtube video on this. Acoustic rock is just strumming for most. Acoustic solo lead work with vamping one's own backup....thats a niche that not many live inside, it has taken me a long time...

[redir]

Those old Ibenez Pauls are great guitars.

I started off on acoustic but after about a year got an electric and play both now just about equally. I only play electric in my band. At home it's classical, steel string and even mandolin, tenor guitar and ukulele.

It's just so much fun plugging an electric guitar into various toys and cranking it.

[roylor4]

I haven't given up acoustic and never will, not by choice, anyways.

I am far more proficient on acoustic but I am currently spending 60-70% of my time working on electric skills.

I enjoy both and they require different mindsets to play - at least for me. I am finding that quite beneficial in building more varied skill sets.

[FrankHudson]

Like some others here, I'm a person who's gone back and forth over the years. I think of acoustic and electric (and for that matter MIDI guitar) as separate instruments that share a common fret board.

The timbre of acoustic is unreproducible on anything else. I don't think most MIDI sampled acoustic guitars get very close. I'd miss it terribly if I didn't have access to it. On the other hand, the expressiveness of single string work on an amplified electric guitar can't be duplicated on acoustic either. And MIDI lets me indulge my desire to write string parts using a closer analog to the real instrument and with neck positions and string intervals I have some familiarity with.

Funny thing, for the past few months I find myself playing electric bass on more stuff than any other single thing. Bass just sounds so good in most combinations of instruments: with acoustic guitar, with electric, with keyboards, even with bowed string arrangements.