“Sometimes the nicest thing to do with a guitar is just look at it.” Thom Yorke
Did you know there are different types of guitar available today, each one having their own unique sound! Acoustic guitar and Electric guitar are the two most common guitars, but there are more including 12 string guitar, 7 and 8 string guitar, bass guitar, etc. Let’s take a look at some of the most common and main types of guitars.
Acoustic Guitar
Acoustic guitars produce the sound themselves, you don’t need an amplifier or any other device to play this type of guitar. Acoustic guitars are also called Dreadnaught guitar, folk guitar, flat-top guitar or steel string guitar (because of the kind of strings being used). The sound that this type of guitar produces is bright, brassy, deep and forceful which gives sheer pleasure to everyone’s ear. The guitar’s body is made of wood and the sound is produced from the vibration of the strings while the hollow wooden body acts like an echo chamber. These guitars are available in two variants, one is the steel-string and the other is classical. The steel-strings guitars produce a metallic sound that is a constituent of several trendy music styles while the classical guitars have a wide neck and utilize nylon strings. But know that steel-string guitar will be louder than the classical guitar. Whether steel-string or classical, playing acoustic guitars will strengthen your fingers as you press down on the strings to make chord shapes. So, it is one of the best guitars to start your guitar learning process. Music style acoustic guitar supports are folk, country, ragtime, blues, and pop.
Electric Guitar
It was 1931, when George Beauchamp and Adolph Rikenbekerom created the first electric guitar. Since then it has taken the music instrument industry like a storm. Play rock, blues, jazz or pop music using an electric guitar. Most guitarists will remember the first time they plugged in and played an electric guitar it, gives a breath-taking experience. This guitar has to be plugged into an electric amplifier for any noticeable sound to be heard as the sound is produced by the amplifier and not the guitar itself. Most of the electric guitars have a solid body; no sound holes, and uses steel-strings. The strings used in an electric guitar are markedly thinner than the acoustic guitar, as the sound is produced by the amplifier. These guitars can be heavy, so wearing a shoulder strap is recommended. The size, number, and shape of the pickups may differ for each electric guitar but they all fulfill the same result of being used for heavy metal, blues, rock, and jazz music.
7 and 8 String Guitars
Seven and eight-string guitars have one and two strings more than the usual six. The seven-string guitar is used to extend the bass range; it can also be used to extend the treble range of the six-string guitar. Some types of seven-string guitars are specific to cultures such as guitarists from Russia and Brazil. Eight-string guitars are less common than six and seven string guitars, but they are used by a few classical, jazz, and metal guitarists. However, eight strings guitars are typical for lap steel and pedal steel guitars. The eight-string guitar allows a wider range, or non-standard tunings, or both.
12 String Guitar
12 string guitar is a variation of the usual six-string guitar type. It has the normal six strings and another set of thinner strings. They are arranged in 6 courses in a set of 2 strings which are placed very close to one another. So, the strings form a pair and are played similar to a six-string guitar. The main effect of the 12 string is that it is louder than the six string guitar.
Bass Guitars
Bass guitars have wide scale-length and thick strings which produces a variety of notes that match the lowest four strings of the guitar. Both acoustic bass and electric bass guitars are available in the market. The difference when it comes to bass guitar is that majority has four strings as compared to acoustic and electric guitars which have six strings.
So, if you are looking to buy a guitar from San Ramon, then there are various shops around. Or you can contact us and Rex can help you learn guitar at your home and recommend the right guitar for you.
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