What Is An Acoustic Guitar? For starters, an acoustic guitar is a musical instrument that comes with frets and produces sound through its vibrating strings placed above a hollow chamber in its body. Unlike electric guitars, acoustic guitars can produce sound without the need for electrical amplification by creating vibrations that are carried through the air.
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Here are some of the types of acoustic guitars that you can find:
Steel String Acoustic Guitars
The usual acoustic guitar you may encounter is the steel-string acoustic guitars. This variation is widely used, making it more popular than other types. It is best to use for acoustic fingerpicking and strumming. However, using it to play classical and modern fingerstyle arrangements can be quite difficult since you need more strength to play steel strings.
Check out the varying body shape of acoustic guitars below:
- Dreadnought – This acoustic guitar body shape is the most widely available variety of this musical instrument. It offers the highest amount of bass frequencies and volume among the OM and Parlor acoustic guitars. The best thing about dreadnought acoustic guitar is its rich, wide tone that is ideal for playing in an ensemble.
- Parlor – What makes this acoustic guitar body shape unique is its focused high-end midrange sound. It is ideal for playing fingerstyle because of its smaller size.
- OM – This acoustic guitar variation is the middle ground between parlor and dreadnought acoustic guitar. It sounds fantastic both for fingerpicking and strumming, but you can’t reach your highest potential at either. The most famous example of this acoustic guitar variation is Martin OM-28.
Nylon String Acoustic Guitars
As its name suggests, nylon-string acoustic guitars are guitars that utilize nylon strings instead of steel strings. Usually, this acoustic guitar variation is called classical guitars.
Unlike steel-string acoustic guitars, this variation produces a warmer sound. Aside from that, nylon strings have much less string tension that helps to do complicated passages that are usually found in fingerstyle and classical guitar. The three main categories of nylon string acoustic guitars are classical, flamenco, and hybrid/crossover guitars.
Archtops Acoustic Guitars
Archtops have a very focused sound. But nowadays, this acoustic guitar type is not too in demand. This musical instrument is ideal for playing jazz or fingerstyle blues. It also has an appealing appearance that can complete your collection. Among the best Archtops, you can find today is the Godin 5th Avenue Kingpin P90.
This archtop features a rosewood fingerboard and silver leaf maple neck. It also comes with an adjustable Tusq Bridge that is developed with Graphtech.
Conclusion
To summarize, acoustic guitars come with a wide range of types and body shapes that are useful for different applications. Every type has its unique set of disadvantages and advantages, so make sure to choose the one that fits you the most. For all the beginners who are still figuring out how to play this musical instrument, parlor acoustic guitars are the best option they can have. For mid-level to professional guitar players, a steel-string guitar is the best.
