Guitar Terminology

[gateux]

Hey guys, im a total noob to the guitar world, so i have something i'd like to clarify. How do i term a guitar? Because when i say guitar, people assume im talking about the electric, when im talking about the wooden one. (idk how to refer the wooden guitar to)

so is there a term i can use to make myself clearer?

e.g. need help with guitar. <-- how do i make it clear people know which type im talking about. cos when i say acoustic or classical, it also can be referred to both types of guitar.

thanks.

 

[van_halen]

you answered your own question.

 

[bluelime]

ok firstly all guitars are wooden i suppose besides the acrylic and cool ones.
I guess wad u meant was Acoustic guitar? (6 steel strings)
Its the one the Jason Mraz or James Blunt wld play. u get it ?
It cld also be classical guitar. I suppose its with 3 nylon strings and 3 steel strings.

 

[gateux]

really? i have to refer to it as a wooden guitar? or acoustic? because when i say acoustic, people also can pm me assuming i meant electric. so the correct term is acoustic, am i right to say?

 

[dodgethis]

Acoustic/classical guitar

Electric guitar

And...

 

[gateux]

lol thanks for the effort of finding the pics for me. i know this much, but i was confused since even when i type acoustic, people still can think i meant electric. thanks anyway!

 

[dodgethis]

That effort should have been yours, kid. God invented Google for a reason.

 

[gateux]

hey chill man. i already said i knew ma. just confused because like i said, i mentioned acoustic, and people still talk to me as if i said electric. so i just had to clarify. thanks lah. haha.

 

[dmitry_a]

because when i say acoustic, people also can pm me assuming i meant electric.

you said acoustic... what is there to assume?.

 

[gateux]

yeah. and since im really new to this, i was confused. i talked to some people and said i learn the acoustic, then they got excited and started talking to me. and i didnt understand alot of the things they said, so i asked what you all talking about, and they said the electric guitar lah, duh. -.-

 

[imkeith]

took me a minute to understand the last part of your sentence.. erm anyway an easier way to tell the difference between an acoustic or classical guitar is to tell by it's neck, the classical guitar has a larger and thicker neck then an acoustic, and yea i doubt anyone would miss that out, and if you're already using an acoustic it's neck is pretty thin almost akin to an electric guitar's neck

 

[ImNotFish]

Since you are already mentioned that you are learning acoustic guitar (and they still talk about electric guitar), I guess its not the problem of yours?

 

[EugeneSmasher]

If you mention acoustic guitar and people talk about the electric, then either they can't hear/read properly or they don't know anything and you shouldn't listen to them.

 

[EugeneSmasher]

Oh, I forgot to add.

Yes, the correct term for it is acoustic guitar. The word 'acoustic' refers to producing the desired sound by itself naturally.

The electric guitar requires an external device to produce its desired sound, such as an amplifier.

Technically, all guitars are wooden, electric guitars included, though some may not look like it as they are finished in sparkle, solid colour, etc. There are some exceptions such as those high-priced carbon fibre guitars and those transparent acrylic guitars, but the vast majority are made of wood.

The classical guitar is basically also an acoustic guitar. The difference is that it uses nylon for the bottom three strings. Produces a different sound. And because it is designed for classical / fingerstyle, it has a smaller body, a wider neck and wider string spacing.

The type of acoustic guitar that James Blunt, Johnny Cash, Neil Young or Damien Rice plays has all steel strings, and are thus referred to as steel-stringed acoustic guitars. Classical guitars can also be called nylon-stringed acoustic guitars. Nylon-stringed acoustic guitars came earlier. Steel-stringed acoustic guitars were a later development.

 

[ymmak]

Ancient Confusius said:

When in doubt, Google.​

 

[loldude333]

Hmmmm actually classicals have thinner necks than MOST acoustics due to the wider string spacing. I play classical, acoustic, electric and bass and my classical definitely has a thinner neck than most acoustics i've tried. I don't look around at classicals, but if i'm not wrong the necks are mostly of the same thickness?