What Guitar Should I Choose: Electric, Acoustic or Classical?

So you have decided to play the guitar? The first basic question to a new comer is what type of guitar I should choose.

There are a lot of different guitars but they all are basically combined in a three large groups: electric, acoustic, classical.

Acoustic guitars

Many people think that acoustic and classical guitars are one and the same thing. But they are not. First of all, acoustic guitars have steel strings when classical guitars have nylon strings. This is one of the major differences. If you like playing more modern music, the acoustic guitar is for you. Acoustic guitars are usually played with a pick (a piece of plastic which is strummed across the strings) while classical guitars are picked (picking = playing with fingers only). Acoustic guitars have narrower neck; this can be useful for one who has got small hands, because playing for example a F chord on a classical guitar can be a little tricky. Another thing is that acoustic guitars are louder than classical.

Classical guitars

Its' strings are nylon, which gives a softer and more "classical" sound. Classical guitars are usually played with fingers and without picks. It has a wider neck and more space between frets (raised portions of the neck. A finger is pressed in the middle of it to gain different pitch). If you like classical music, flamenco, you should go for a classical guitar.

Electric guitars

Electric guitars have similar properties as acoustic guitars. Electric guitars have got similar neck size and also steel strings. Remember that buying electric guitar alone is not enough. An amplifier is needed to produce sound. There are a lot of different amplifiers to choose from. If you need a simple clean sound you could get the amp alone but if you want to have various effects like distortion, overdrive, delay effect pedals or processors are needed. The electric guitar is usually played with a pick.

Still not decided?

It depends on what you want to play. If you want to play melodic, romantic, classic music you should go for classical guitar. If you want to play in a rock band you should definitely consider buying an electric guitar. But if you don't want to buy a lot of equipment, accessories and to deal with all the technical stuff, you just want to sit down and play? You should go for an acoustic guitar.