A Snapshot of an Acoustic Guitar

Sep 28
10:56

2009

melville jackson

melville jackson

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If you love country music and if you are serious about learning the art of playing guitars, you definitely need to start with an acoustic guitar.

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An acoustic guitar can be use to genres like bluegrass,A Snapshot of an Acoustic Guitar Articles jazz, blues, country, and folk. An acoustic guitar can be played without an amplifier. Made of fine wood like spruce, maple and mahogany, the tone of the wood is what defines a guitar and sets it apart. The wood from these trees are more resonant than the others and guitars makers refer to them as “tone woods”. The bracings inside the instruments vary from maker to maker. These bracings determine the quality of the tone.

The quality of an acoustic guitar can be tested in the following way. Hold a lit match in front of the sound hole and tap the top of the guitar. If the tap on the top of the guitar produces enough air to extinguish the match stick, the guitar is well made and is likely to produce a good tone.

There are various designs and types of acoustic guitars.

  1. Flat Top: This is a very popular kind of guitar. It has a flat back. The tones of these guitars depend on the method used to manufacture them.

  2. Classical: A classical guitar shares some of the features of a flat top guitar. These guitars have wider finger boards. As these guitars do not support steel strings nylon strings are used.

  3. Bass: This type of guitars is similar to flat top guitars but they produce deeper sounds.

  4. Archtop: This type of guitar has a curved top with a flat or rounded back. The curved shape of the top increases the amplitude of the sound waves by excluding the standing sound waves that are formed inside the body of the guitar. This increase the volume of sound produced by the acoustic guitars.

The variations in acoustic guitars are in terms of shape, size, tuning and the number of strings. You can choose from acoustic guitars with 12 or 6 strings, child size guitars for your kids etc. Value packages that include all the different accessories in one kit are available in markets. There are many well known brands to opt for. You can also shop through the internet and some websites allow you to browse through models so that you can choose the right guitar according to your personal preferences.