Playing Guitar 10 - Different Guitars for Different Purposes
By Guglielmo Bill F. Franco
Have you ever noticed how famous/professional guitarists have lots of different guitars? There's a good reason for this - different guitars have different sounds and thus are used for different purposes. There are two main classes of guitar, acoustic and electric, and within these are various types of guitars that fill a specific purpose:
Acoustic
• Steel-string (eg: Dreadnaught)
The steel strings produce a brighter tone, and according to many players, a louder sound. The acoustic guitar is used in many kinds of music including folk, country, bluegrass, pop, jazz and blues.
• Classical (nylon-string)
These guitars have nylon strings and produce a warm, round sound. They're typically associated with Classical music, though they are used in everything from Jazz, Country, and some rock.
• 12-string
These produce a big, full sound by having octave strings for the low E, A, D and G strings and unison strings for the B and high E. It is fretted in the same manner as a standard 6-string guitar. It is used in just about every style of music except Jazz and Classical. There is a spin off of the 12-string, wherein a guitar is strung with only the complimentary (octave and unison) strings and then used to double another guitar part. It's known as "Nashville" tuning.
Electric
• Solid-body
The classic rock guitar. The solid body of this guitar allows one to play at the louder volumes preferred by rock musicians and their audiences without the uncontrolled feedback that can result in hollow and even semi-hollow body guitars. Because their structure and shape has little effect on sound quality as compared to acoustic or other hollow guitars, the shapes can be as radical as the owner or designer wants. Also, this structural stability allows for the extreme use of vibrato bars such as the Floyd Rose, without the damage that could otherwise occur with the changes in tension.
• Hollow-body
Most of these guitars are also known as archtop guitars because of the arched character or both the soundboard (or face) and back of the guitar. Typically they are strung with flat-would strings and used in more traditional Jazz music. The sound is very warm and smooth, as if the high-end has been rolled off.
• Semi-hollow body
This is a favorite of bluesier guitarists because it has the characteristics of both the fully hollow and the solid body guitar types. One can get the high-end scream of the solid body with the almost acoustic warmth and ring of the hollow body.
Remember, it's impossible to say that one kind of guitar can only be used for a certain kind of music. Also, within each of these general categories, there are a vast number of variations on the themes.
For example, Ted Nugent was famous for using a Gibson Birdland - an archtop usually used for Jazz - for incredibly high-volume rock. He made the resulting feedback (which he learned to control) a trademark of his sound. Also, Earl Klugh, a renowned Jazz Guitarist, used a classical guitar for his Jazz sound - which became instantly recognizable.
I hope this helps to give you a basic understanding of the guitars the players use, when they use them, and why.
Good luck to you and your future guitar adventures!
Touring and session guitarist Bill Franco is based in Clayton, MO and gives lessons throughout the St. Louis region. You may contact him at http://www.billfranco.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/billfrancomusic
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