You’ve made the decision to start playing guitar—you may already have a guitar, or are ready to purchase one. You love electric guitar, but you’ve also heard that acoustics are better for a beginner to learn on, and wondering if this is true. Let’s explore the electric vs. acoustic guitar question, and talk about some reasons why you might want to choose one or the other for your first guitar. We’ll focus on steel string flat top guitars and standard electric guitars.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Acoustic and Electric guitars are both guitars and everything you learn on one you can play on the other. Other than the technique adjustments that you’ll have to make—more on that later—you can easily switch between both. However, with estimates that 90% of beginner guitarists give up the instrument, it is beneficial to look more closely at the differences and see if there are advantages of one over the other.
Acoustic Guitar vs. Electric Guitar Basic Differences
The most fundamental difference between acoustic and electric guitars is the manner in which the sound is amplified. Acoustic guitars generate sound by amplifying the sound of a vibrating string through the soundhole.
Electric guitars rely on pickups to transmit the vibrations of the string so that they can be amplified by an external amplifier.
Keep in mind that many acoustic guitars today have very capable on-board pickups; these are known as acoustic electric guitars, and can be plugged in as well as played acoustically. In terms of an electric acoustic guitar vs an acoustic without a pickup, we encourage you not to be too concerned about this because there are numerous soundhole-mounted pickups of excellent quality that can be installed in a purely acoustic guitar. Remember: A good acoustic guitar should first and foremost be able to produce an appealing unamplified tone, regardless of whether it has a pickup installed.
The top of an acoustic guitar is typically made of Spruce, though other woods can be used. Since this amplification is strictly physical, the strings on an acoustic guitar must be of sufficient gauge to get the top to vibrate properly. This is why acoustic guitars typically have heavier strings. Heavier strings = greater tension.
In contrast, electric guitars have pickups, and as such are not entirely dependent on physical vibration to produce sound. Since the sound is transmitted through the pickups and amplified, it enables electric guitars to have lighter gauge strings. Lighter strings = lower tension.
Electric vs Acoustic Guitar String Tension
String tension is what your hands feel when you fret or bend a note, or hold down a chord. This translates into how we perceive how hard or easy it is to play the instrument. The two major factors that contribute to string tension are string type, and string gauge. String tension has a big effect on how we perceive a guitar’s playability because strings are what we interact with in the most tactile way on the instrument.
Electric guitars typically use have lower gauge strings, and therefore have lower tension and feel “easier” to play. Lower tension is not necessarily the goal for everyone, however, and a player’s preferences will be influenced by their hand strength, playing style, and type of music. Many players say they like the guitar to “fight” them a little bit, likening low string tension to making the strings feel like rubber bands. This is of course an exaggeration, but the effect is real: A player who is accustomed to higher string tension must adjust their technique to play guitar with lower tension, or they will find themselves playing out of tune a lot. In contrast, players who bend notes a lot often gravitate towards lighter gauge strings for this very reason.
Should you start with an Electric Guitar?
So then, if electric guitars are easier to play, the wise choice should be electric, right? Though this is a sensible conclusion, there’s more to it than that. When you first start playing guitar, the most important thing you need to understand is proper technique, and learn to execute the basics on the instrument. This is where a person’s relationship to how they play the instrument begins. That is why GK recommends that a beginner’s first guitar should be an acoustic guitar. Here is the reasoning:
- Hand strength: The higher string tension and string gauge of an acoustic guitar requires you to build stronger finger and hand muscles, which is beneficial in the long term.
- Fewer Distractions: The only thing you need to play an acoustic guitar is a pick, and you don’t even need that if you play fingerstyle. This translates into more time playing and less time thinking about gear, twisting knobs on your amp, swapping cables, buying distortion pedals, etc… None of that stuff makes you a better guitarist, and there’s plenty of time for that later, when you have a handle on the basic mechanics of playing.
- Simplicity: There is a beautiful simplicity and directness to an acoustic instrument. The tone is not proxied through an amp, pickups and wires, and therefore is the same every time you play it. Many people report that when they play an acoustic, their playing becomes more deliberate. I suspect the reason for this is that fewer distractions equate to increased focus, which equates to deeper listening, and ultimately better playing.
Your Second Guitar will be an Electric
Unless you are a committed acoustic-only player, you will eventually want to explore the sounds and textures of an electric instrument. The good part is that if you start with an acoustic, you will be grounded and ready to do so. All of the fundamentals that you learned will translate immediately, and you’ll be able to play things on an electric that weren’t possible on acoustic, which will juice your creativity and interest.
In my experience, those who started on an acoustic guitar and moved to an electric are typically better fundamental players, and areable to switch between the two more easily. Since acoustic guitar lends itself more naturally to rhythm playing, novice acoustic players tend to have better rhythm and strumming technique. Electric-only players will have a more difficult time adjusting to heavier gauge strings and increased string tension than the other way around.
Best of Both Worlds
The good thing about this question is that acoustic and electric camps aren’t as far apart as they used to be. The playability of beginner acoustic and electric guitars is at an all time high, and some of today’s acoustic guitars play almost as easily as an electric. And today’s acoustic pickup systems are so good that you can get natural acoustic tone even when amplified.
Whichever route you choose when starting, know that you can always have, and enjoy, both. As much as I love blazing licks and scales on my Strat, I find that acoustic playing brings a much needed sense of relief and naturalness, and I encourage all of you to experience this. When playing acoustically, the benefit is what you’re not thinking of: effects, amp settings, overdrive, etc… Instead, you start thinking more about the sound coming out of the guitar, and the music you are trying to make. We’ll talk about some great acoustic and electric guitar for beginners in another article.
Happy Playing!