Thursday, October 18, 2012

The Three Most Popular Guitars

The guitar is the second most popular musical instrument in the world, outranked only by the piano.  It’s notes are one of the most recognizable sounds in music.  One thing that makes the guitar so popular is the fact that a person can learn to play simple songs in a few hours.  The other reason is that it’s so versatile in sound that it can be used to play many different types of music, everything from classical music to rock, country, the blues and more.  Guitars are so popular with people intrigued by them, video game developers created two well-known video games (Rock Band and Guitar Hero) around them.

While there are many different types of guitars, three models make up most of the guitars used around the world.  The acoustic guitar is the most popular of these three models followed very closely by the other two, which are the classic and the electric guitars.  These three models are further broken down into other models of guitars such as 12-string, parlor, bass, steel and more but today we are only going to talk about the three basics.

Most Popular

The acoustic guitar is the guitar version many people learn to play on.  It’s also what people picture when they think of sitting around a campfire, singing tunes to the sounds of a guitar.  Many musicians make beautiful music and sing songs accompanied only with an acoustic guitar for music.  The acoustic guitar stands apart from the other guitar models because of its steel strings played with the fingers or a pick.   The clear and wonderful sounds this guitar produces are from the vibrations of the strings, which echo and amplify through the body of the guitar.  While not needed in most settings, some acoustic guitars are paired with amplifiers for settings such as large arenas for better sound production.  The acoustic guitar is the “classic” guitar not to be mistaken for the classical guitar; another of the most commonly played guitars.

The Classical

The classical guitar is often mistaken as an acoustical guitar but is different in the kind of strings it uses.  The classical guitar uses two kinds of strings.  Three of the six strings are made of nylon and the other three are made of nylon wound with nickel.  Stroking the strings with the fingers is the traditional way of playing the classical guitar.  The sounds produced are much more mellow and quieter in sound than the acoustic guitar because of this string material.  Often called Spanish guitars because they are used to produce the beautiful clear silky guitar notes so well known in Spanish music.

Electricity at Its Best

The third most popular model of guitar is the electric guitar.  The electric guitar is easily recognizable because of its design, shape (or many shapes), sound and the volume it is played at.  One would hardly hear any of the notes of an unplugged electric guitar, but plugged into an amp; the world hears and knows the electric guitar.  The strings of the electric guitar are much thinner than the strings of the other two common models of guitars.  The reason being is the vibrations from the strings are converted into electric current, which translates into the sound being played.  Playing is by the player’s choice of using either a pick or the fingers.  Electric guitars are very unique from the other guitars in the aspect they can play many different sounds using guitar effects.  No rock band is complete without at least one electric guitar.

Guitar Lessons Your Way

Most people learn to play the acoustical guitar before branching out to the others but one should not be afraid to start out on the guitar of his or her choice.  Guitar lessons are offered in all three versions and in different styles of music.  Gone are the days of being limited to a few options for learning to play a guitar because the world of the Internet and technology has opened the doors for versatility.  Finding guitar lessons based on your guitar type, skills, schedule and learning style such as through private instructors, in classroom settings, online lessons both paid and free is now easy.

Guitar playing is a way of life for many, even for those who play as a hobby.  They love the feeling of producing beautiful music; the artistic freedom expressed when they make love to the strings.  Guitar playing is more than just learning to put together the notes and mechanics of it; it’s about allowing the soul to express itself.

Justin Miller is a professional blogger that writes for Jamplay.com. JamPlay is a leading online music educator offering 2,000+ online lessons from guitar teachers in HD.

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