is there a difference in sound between acoustic guitars and electric-acoustic guitars?

Question

john mayer is in my mind the best guitar player out there. i know he uses a martin acoustic guitar but is it an acoustic or electric-acoustic? i am also looking for another acoustic guitar. is there a difference in sound between acoustic and electric-acoustic besides they can be plugged into an amp or not? any recommendations for a good guitar?

Answer 1

In the acoustic things I've seen with him he uses a combination of built in pick-up and a regular mike directed at the guitar neck/body (best of both worlds really).



In that respect he uses acoustic-electric guitars - although expensive ones which are great instruments to begin with.



Any guitar can be retrofitted with a pickup-system - under saddle, piezo element inside the guitar, built in dynamic mike, a regular pick-up - or any combinations hereof. If you take a great guitar and have a pick-up system added, it will still be a great guitar. Conversely, adding a pick-up system to a bad guitar does not make it good - only louder...



Which guitar you'd want to check out depends on your wallet and personal tastes. Personally, I like Takamine guitars for lower to mid priced guitars. Sturdy and good sounding.



The best thing you can do is to go to a well equipped and reputable dealer and try out various brands and models to find one that suites you. If you find one you like which hasn't got a pick-up already built in, you can always fit one later. Just remember to add the extra cost (approx. $100 and upwards) to have one fitted.



Its simple math really - the better the guitar is to begin with and the better the pick-up system is, the better and more natural sound you'll potentially be able to achieve. Depends on the sound rig also, of course.

Answer 2

There's no real difference in how they're played. The notes are all the same. Sure there are techniques that are better suited to electric guitar, but you can play anything on either. I do finger picking on my electric guitar and do hammer-ons and pull-offs on my acoustic sometimes, but finger picking is more suited for acoustic and playing fast leads with hammer ons and pull offs better suited for electric. You can't really use high gain and a lot of distortion on a plugged in acoustic guitar though because it will feedback. You really need an electric guitar for metal and hard rock for that reason. If you learn on an acoustic though, it's pretty easy to play an electric guitar later.

Answer 3

they are practically the same guitar. except the electric one has a pic-up, volume, and tone controls in it to allow the player to plug it into an amplifier. there are amps for acoustic electric guitars that are made specifically for acoustic electric guitars. they have a warm but yet acoustic twang to them. that is where the real difference is between acoustic and acoustic electric. martins are are great acoustic guitars.

Answer 4

All guitars produce sound through the mechanical vibration of strings. Acoustic guitars transmit the vibration of the string to the soundboard via the saddle and bridge. The combined resonance of the strings, saddle, bridge and soundboard are, in turn, "amplified" in the soundbox or body of the guitar. The design and quality of the strings, saddle, bridge and soundboard have a major impact on the sound. One weak link in the transmission chain--a cheap plastic saddle, worn out strings, etc.--degrades the sound considerably. In contrast, the vibrating strings of an electric guitar are read directly by a pickup and transmitted to a sound system for amplification.

Answer 5

acoustic-electrics are a lot of times, thinner. thats because of the feedback that the hollowness puts out through the amp. so straight acoustics have a deeper and usually fuller tone.