Acoustic Guitar?

[Fretz67]

Just curious what you like or even love about acoustic guitars?I am a former electric guy thats been hooked on acoustic and never went back to electric

[backliner]

Welp, for myself there is a lot more harmonic content to the sounds of the notes on an acoustic.

While electrics are useful for venues where I need to be heard (especially over drums), and have their charms when I want sustain as part of a soloing style, I'm pretty sick of myself sounding that way after decades of club gigs.

The ability to get a decent acoustic sound at volume has improved over the years, but I still favor the pure mic'd up acoustic sound, OR an electric: for stage work.

At home I almost never play an electric. And it's getting to be less and less on gigs too. I always try to use my flat-top when I can get away with it. I'll live with the lack of sustain (hardly play any Santana anymore anyways).

The only problem so far is when the bar gets loud. And then even an acoustic/electric sound gets blown apart, so I'd rather just use an electric and part their hair at the bar.

[devellis]

There's an intimacy to playing an acoustic that I enjoy. The main sound comes from the guitar rather than an amp. I play sitting, so the guitar is supported by my body not just hanging from a strap. And most importantly, I like the organic sound of the resonating wood that an acoustic produces.

[GibbyPrague]

MTV Unplugged started my acoustic guitar love affair. For me there is nothing like rocking out to a great electric based track but on a ballsy acoustic. Makes my day. Probably also the reason why I love Gibsons. (the decent ones of course)

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Fretz67

...Just curious what you like or even love about acoustic guitars?I am a former electric guy thats been hooked on acoustic and never went back to electric guitar...

Hi Fretz…
The immediate feedback without need of an amp, and the sound and feel of the added tension (over electric) from the strings.

I'm sure there's more to it than that, but those are things I know on a conscious level.

[310Taylor]

Wood, ah the wooden things. I heard an english guy use that saying once. It was so perfect. Ah, the wooden things. So true.

[Hack Amatuer]

NO ELECTRICITY!!! I have lived here for a little over a decade and only had electricity for 3 yrs. I like the sound of acoustic and the fact that I can go anywhere to play it . . ..camping what ever.

[220volt]

Originally Posted by Hack Amatuer

NO ELECTRICITY!!! I have lived here for a little over a decade and only had electricity for 3 yrs. I like the sound of acoustic and the fact that I can go anywhere to play it . . ..camping what ever.

So you lived 7 years without electricity?

[Stringin Swing]

Originally Posted by 310Taylor

Ah, the wooden things.

That's great -- I agree. Somebody else here used the word organic -- that's part of it, too. ...And someone else mentioned that with acoustics there is not the need for electricity -- as, naturally, with electrics -- if one wishes to be heard.

Thirty-some years ago, I used to sit and look at the pictures on my Beatles albums as I listened. I particularly remember drooling over the Rickenbackers -- both John's six-string and George's sound-shaping 12-string. Funny thing was, though, that while I was responding visually to the appearance of the various electrics, it was John's pure acoustic sound on things like "This Boy" that really turned me on sound-wise -- and, after all, that's what matters most: the sound. I especially loved the stuff on "Beatles '65" and "Rubber Soul," because it seemed to be predominantly acoustic. I did go through a phase of being into playing electrics and putting effects on, but there came a point when I began to feel as if the boxes were playing instead of me -- that my reliance on or interest in effects made me lazy. The acoustic just seems so pure. My brother, also a guitar player, believes that electrics require greater technique than do acoustics. Maybe so. Who's to say? Still, it seems to me that part of the beauty of acoustic guitar, besides its inherent tone -- inherent to each guitar, based on a multitude of factors -- is its self-sufficiency: it's all right there -- no need for amps or effects. Place your right hand on the top of the guitar and take it off, with a chord ringing, a la Laurence Juber, and create your own effects, without pedals. The way I like to hear the instrument is just It and You -- no outside enhancement. What you hear is a person, some wood and some metal.

Seven years' playing of the trombone made me appreciate that
instrument's simplicity. When I moved back to guitar and realized that I was, indeed, an acoustic guitarist, I came to see a similar simplicity in the acoustic. Its sound has an unadulterated quality with which even an effects-less electric can't compare. Too, a part of me still wants to be the guitar-playing equivalent of The Pied Piper of Hamlin -- it just wouldn't be the same with an electric.

[seannx]

No amp to plug in, move around, adjust volume, tone, no cords, all self-contained, no worry about being too loud...when playing with 12 year old son, don't have to keep asking him to turn down, as he can only play my epiphone beater but so loud...beautiful natural wood, resonance, don't need a mic when singing, always ready to go with minimum effort...

[jmcphail]

Precisely!

Originally Posted by seannx

No amp to plug in, move around, adjust volume, tone, no cords, all self-contained, no worry about being too loud...when playing with 12 year old son, don't have to keep asking him to turn down, as he can only play my epiphone beater but so loud...beautiful natural wood, resonance, don't need a mic when singing, always ready to go with minimum effort...

[Fatstrat]

I love guitar..period. I like nearly any kind of guitar music. I love electric rock & blues and a screaming guitar. But my 1st love is the acoustic. I dabble in electric music, but I always come back to acoustic. To me there nothing better than an acoustic being played well.

[Scholar]

For me, it's the natural tonal richness, the organic quality, the actual vibrations of the instrument and the sense of immediacy when I play, the ability of really good players (not me) to pull incredible music out of the instrument with just their two hands -- and the sheer beauty of the woods and the craftsmanship of our luthier friends.

[Misifus]

I've been playing acoustic for more than 45 years. It's what I think of when someone says, "Guitar." Further, on many occasions, I've been able to play my guitar away from electric power, as others have said, but, mainly it's the sound I want when I play.

-Raf

[MRBABAR]

Feeling the vibrations against my body.
They work during black outs
They are super portable
They are made from wood
They force you to be a better player with no effects to hide behind