electric and acoustic guitar differences?

Question

ok so with an acoustic guitar you don't need an amp, with an electric you do, but what about an electric-acoustic?? can you play with and without an amp?
reason i'm asking is because i'm going to be taking a guitar class for my degree and most likely will need to get an acoustic guitar. but i live in an apartment so i most likely won't be able to practice as much or as late as i want out of consideration. so being able to plug a headphone into the amp would be nice. hence the reason i'm asking if your able to play with and without and amp for an electric acoustic.

Answer 1

Devon is a little fuzzy on the way the electronics work but his conclusions are essentially correct.



Acoustic guitar: The natural resonance of the body amplifies the sound.



Electric guitar: The body has little or no natural resonance. Uses electromagnetic pickups to convert the string vibrations into a signal that is sent to an amplifier. You must use some sort of amplification.



Acoustic-electric: An acoustic guitar with a transducer pickup mounted inside or under the bridge. The pickup senses the vibrations of the body rather than the individual strings. The object of the pickups is to capture an acoustic sound. Some have active pre-amps but most simply have passive volume and tone controls. No amplifier is necessary. You can play it just like an acoustic....it is an acoustic...but if you need to play on stage, it can be plugged into the PA or an amp. It will sound like an acoustic guitar, only louder.



You can plug either type of guitar into effect boxes, but an acoustic-electric is never going to sound like an electric guitar. Also, since they use slightly heavier strings, it's harder to do bends like on an electric. As far as practicing at night, if you use headphones, the electric guitar would actually be quieter than an acoustic.



If your class expects or requires you to use an acoustic, there really isn't a down side to an acoustic-electric except that they cost a tiny bit more than the same guitar without electronics. A friend of mine has a very nice Ibanez Artwood series acoustic-electric that cost under $400. Devon made another good point: you're buying an instrument, not a toy. Expect to pay as much as you would for any other instrument. If this is for a degree, I would assume they expect you to have a decent sounding guitar. Ibanez, Yamaha, Epiphone, Seagul, are good low-mid priced brands. If you can spend more, you won't regret buying a Taylor, Martin, or Gibson .

Answer 2

ignore helper monkey, he knows slightly more than you do, and its not all accurate.



Electric guitars use pick-ups which are transducers, that convert the vibrations from the strings into electric signals (which can be modified, w/ pedals), then converted back into audible sound through the amp.



Acoustic guitars use the hollowness of the body to amply the vibrations through the soundhole.



"Acoustic-electrics" (not the other way around), are acoustic guitars that have a build-in pre-amp (a little box to control the levels) which has a mic in it, which also you to plug it into an amp if you choose to do so.



If you by a acoustic-electric you shouldnt buy an amp. Its not like you're going to be doing any gigs or large performances. In actuality you should either buy a regular acoustic guitar, w/o a preamp. A acoustic-electric compared to a regular acoustic at the same price, which not be as good as the regular acoustic. Acoustic w/ a after-market pickup will sound better, and you can always mic the guitar. The only time you'll need headphones is if you have an electric guitar, even so I play my electric all through the nite w/ no amp. Unless its loud, you can play w/o an amp. Again if its for a class get an acoustic guitar w/o the electric components.



Good brands: (A nonshitty guitar is gonna be around $200, no less than $150. Remember guitar is a musical instrument not a toy, and instruments cost money. $200 is REALLY cheap when compared to other starting instruments)



Yamaha, Washburn, Alverez, Takamine, Seagull, Ibanez (I personally dont care too much for these, but not bad), Taylor (often expensive but on several occasions ive seen the Taylor Big Baby for $250)

Answer 3

Big D made great points. But I'll try to answer you a bit more simply..... It depends on what you mean by harder..... As far as the "feel" of playing, an electric guitar for the most part is easier to play on the fingers than a steel string acoustic. Although as as been said, really nice acoustics can play very easily. But with electrics it is a lot easier for string bends and you can really stretch them high. Acoustic strings tend to be a little thicker and you have to be pretty strong to bend them more than a half step. Also with electric guitar, guitar solos are usually an inherent thing to play, so you'd need more knowledge of scales to enable soloing. Also, you may need to learn to palm mute or selectively pick only two or three strings for "power chords" People solo on acoustic, too, but not as commonly. If you are talking "rhythm" guitar, then strumming and chords and all that kind of stuff is exactly the same. There are lots more possibilities to electric guitar playing than acoustic, so more knowledge is needed, that's all. With acoustic guitar, finger picking is more of an issue than with an electric. Although it can be utilized on the electric, it's just far less common. That's most of the major differences.

Answer 4

it really depends on what kind of music you're wanting to play.



Accoustic guitars are great for classical, spanish, and traditional guitar songs. If you're not wailing on it, it's not really that loud.



Electrics are for pretty much all kinds of rock, and the sounds will be based on effects pedals. You an play an electric completely unamplified, and it's virtually silent. You can also plug headphones in to most amps to really hear what it would sound like, and that is a great route if that's what you want.



As far as an "electric accoustic", I really think it's basically just an amplified accoustic. It's just going to make your accoustic louder. I think you can use effects pedals and such on it, but at that point, why not just get an electric. Even unamplified, you will get a lot more sound out of it than the electric anyway.



Me personally, I go accoustic. I just like the overall sound better, and I'm more into spanish and classical guitar.



Hope that helps.