Monday, September 26, 2011

What Are The Main Types Of Guitar?

By Jack Wogan


Guitars represent the most versatile instruments you can select for your children as they will be able to play various types of music genre with them. In fact, most musicians have to learn how to play this instrument if they want to pursue a career in this domain. The first step before becoming a guitarist is to learn how many guitars there are and what the main differences between them are.

Acoustic and electric guitars are the main categories of these instruments; nevertheless, each category contains several other subtypes of models that are used with specific genres of music, depending on the sounds they make. The acoustic guitar is the basic model that we have all grown familiar with; it contains six strings and the body is usually hollowed because the sounds are produced through resonance. The electric guitar has the same components, but it is usually connected to various electric devices that can produce and alter the regular tone according to the needs of the performer. As you would expect, these models of instruments appeared much later than the first category, more precisely, in 1930s. Nevertheless, they have become very popular among rock bands, being now used more often than the classic models.

The acoustic guitar is in turn divided into three major categories of instruments: the classical, the steel-string and the archtop guitar. The classic guitar is the most common model; its hollow body is made out of wood and contains six nylon strings. There aren't too many differences between the classic and the steel-string guitar except for the fact that the second has a brighter and louder tone. The archtop guitar, on the other hand, is very different as the top and the back are arched, while the body has two F-holes similar to the ones of the violin.

Amplifiers enable guitarists to modify the tonality of their electric guitar without changing anything related to its shape; therefore these models are more practical and efficient than the previous categories. There may be electric guitars that have a hollow or a solid body, whereas others may have more than six strings; either way, the sound is not significantly modified. As a matter of fact, these electric guitars have to be connected to the amplifier to produce sounds or they can barely be heard.

All in all, the electric guitar is much more useful for a person who wants to become a musician because it enables him/her to practice different genres of music without spending too much money. You may even replace the band by getting a stomp box to create the rhythms that you like.




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