geeky question for guitarists
 

Do you find your playing remains the same on both acoustic and electric? I'm asking because I often find that the same chords I play on my acoustic don't sound as good when I play them on the electric, no matter how clean the sound is.

I gravitate to a more fingerpicking style on acoustic. Playing chords I wrote for electric on my acoustic seem to ring too clearly.

I'm a guitarist; I doubt an amp will ever sound quite as good as a decent acoustic guitar. The more money you spend on your amp and electric guitar will equate to how good of a sound you achieve. I'm not trying to sound mean but you are probably playing through a shitty little amp, no?

Long-winded response, but I love to talk about playing music, since it's my greatest love in life, even if I'm not very good at it...

I play electric guitar extremely clean, but with a very trebly, bright tone. I'm not into distortion, so I only distort it/put JUST ENOUGH gain on it so when I play harmonics (which is very common in my playing style), they ring out properly. As an electric guitarist, I guess I'm inspired by Richard Bishop, early The Fall, Wire, Joy Division (!), Sonic Youth, Ikara Colt, TFUL#282... and Captain Beefheart.

I approach acoustic guitar as a completely different being, as it is. As an acoustic guitarist, almost nothing I play on electric sounds as good. If I play too fast, it gets muffled... like, it reminds me of "folk punk", like Against Me! and shit... so, playing lots of really fast chord changes kinda sounds ... eh ... to me, at least when I do it. The acoustic is such a different instrument to me, kinda like how I don't play bass the same way as I do other instruments. Acoustic usually sounds best when you play lots of single notes. So, I mainly just finger pick (in a very limited, Fahey-ish way) or tremolo pick single notes really fast. Just single note runs, no chord blocks or anything "avant garde" really. As I read in a book once, if you play "noisily" on electric guitar, it sounds cool (well, hopefully); if you play "noisily" on acoustic, it sounds like you don't know how to play.

Another thing about electric guitar is that I feel very comfortable playing in all sorts of wild tunings, letting it go out of standard tuning quickly, and putting it all sorts of made-up tunings, and open chords. I feel very comfortable playing in just about any tuning setup, because it's very easy for me to make (in my mind) decent riffs, no matter what -- my playing style allows for that to happen. On the other hand, I can't make anything other than standard sound good on an acoustic. I will occasionally tune to open for some slide stuff, but that's about it.

I guess I just view acoustic guitar usually as a completely different instrument than other guitars, in the scheme of things. They seem to invoke wilder different emotions, since they don't feed back, most people can't really fingertap on them (which is something I do a lot with my electric) in a meaningful way, and you "can't" (or, perhaps, "probably shouldn't") use too many effects with an acoustic. So, in a way, acoustic guitars offer a more limited range of ways to manipulate the sound, BUT at the same time, I think it can invoke more emotive responses. For example, the most beautiful "guitar songs" I've ever heard are acoustic-based.

I just tend to think all guitars, all timbres are different and in my playing, I try to treat them all differently. Lately, I've been playing LOTS of bass, and honestly, I'm about to give up guitar, since bass is the instrument I'm starting to feel really comfortable with. I've only been playing it non-stop for about 2 weeks, and I can play every Joy Division bassline no problem, and many Primus basslines.. by ear... I just "get" the instrument, and I am probably going to give up all other types of guitar and just focus on bass.

Sorry for the long response, but this is actually a cool thread and I'm eager to read others' thoughts... I guess my main point is that I find that even though all guitars are basically the "same", when I play them I approach them in completely different ways, depending on what I'm trying to accomplish. I think the thing is, just about anyone can pick up an electric guitar and coax interesting sounds of it, but I think it's usually better to have a better "understanding" of music to get good results with an acoustic.

I've written plenty of acoustic songs and one of the things I've noticed is that acoustic works really well as a "Stand-alone" instrument; acoustic has such a naturally dark atmospheric sound. For those who haven't heard the new scissor shock record, I improvised two 40 second acoustic songs on it:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/lh3a83
http://www.sendspace.com/file/bgftx8

which some of you might dig. Now, to make those links relevant to those thread, listen to those songs... then, just imagine those same songs on solo electric guitar instead of acoustic... it would sound like garbage (er, more like garbage than they already do).

One more thing... I've heard plenty of great bands with guitar interplay.. Fugazi, Q and Not U, Captain Beefheart, Polvo, tons of amazing bands trading guitar notes back and forth. I've never heard a band do this in any meaningful way with acoustic guitar. Interesting.

...Genteel, have you heard John Fahey's later albums, like Hitomi? I think you'd love them. They're almost all clean electric guitars -- with some delay -- and the playing style is COMPLETELY different than Fahey's acoustic stuff. On the other hand, I've noticed Derek Bailey's acoustic and electric stuff is usually pretty interchangeable (I prefer his electric stuff).

The best recent acoustic guitarist I've heard is Bill Orcutt... I haven't really heard anyone play that detuned and fucked-up and still be fucking amazing... I love how he constantly plays that open one note (C?) over and over. Great style.

I guess this thread is the same as asking if you play organ the same way as you play piano. Most people don't -- in fact, if you play lots of organ notes the same as a piano, it usually sounds like shit... in a way, they're extremely similiar instruments, but the timbre is so different and evokes completely different emotions, so most people approach them differently. There really aren't too many "upbeat" acoustic based songs; acoustic guitar seems like it always has a natural dark ambience, a disquieting unsettling sadness, no matter what. That's what makes it such a compelling instrument.

By the way, this reminds me, since we're talking about acoustic guitars, I should take pictures of the acoustic bass I made a few years ago. It appeared on the scissor shock acoustic song "proud of white blood cells" (d/l: http://freedownloads.last.fm/downloa...od%2Bcells.mp3... Genteel, even you'd like this song, it sounds nothing like any of the other SS stuff, it's very simple and ghostly, with organs and xylophones). I made it specifically for the song, and it is such a weird instrument. I broke an acoustic guitar's neck and put bass strings in the acoustic guitar, and it sounds like a stand-up bass, the only way to play it is to move the neck up and down or with a bow, so it gives it this weird ass wobbly acoustic sound. It's loud as fuck too and noisey. I've made a lot of instruments but I'm really proud of this one...

Oh, one more thing, Genteel, I highly reccomend playing acoustic guitar in open c tuning. It's probably the best tuning to get a dark (but not muffled) sound. It's probably the coolest tuning, it's nearly impossible to sound like shit on it.

Man, I wrote a lot, but geeky guitar questions rules. I always set aside 1-2 hours a day just to play guitar, and have done so nearly every day for 12 years. I'm not very good at it, but I think I can come up with some interesting melodies. Some of my favorite "guitar songs" I've done are the 58 second surf song PHANTOM TERROR GODDAMN from my old band (http://freedownloads.last.fm/downloa...amn %2529.mp3) and FAHEY GHOST (http://freedownloads.last.fm/downloa...y%2Bghost.mp3), my 1 minute Fahey tribute. Enjoy.

Utterly different instruments, for me. But then I tend to hold with the idea that every instrument has different ways of playing it. The difference between a Spanish nylon-string and a generic European classical nylon-string is massive.

In terms of actual playing, I think a good technique will stand you in good stead for either acoustic or electric. And I tend to think it's really important to work on actual technique, possibly more so than melody/ harmony. If you're playing garage rock, a 'sophisticated' approach isn't really necessary; similarly, if you're playing through a raft of effect, technique takes a bit of a back-seat. But if you're coming down on the side of treating the guitar as an 'instrument' (rather than sound source), technique (whether classically 'good' or more idiomatic) is inescapable.

I just had a funny thought: someone shredding on an acoustic guitar. How awful would that sound? And does anyone have any good examples?

Shredding on an acoustic guitar would probably sound jazzy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om6HDUKBbzE

Would this count?

hah, sure.

It just sounds like he's playing a Coltrane composition on guitar. It's interesting.

John McLaughlin is definitely shredding.

EDIT: This thread really makes me wish I could play guitar. :(

Anyone can play guitar. It's the simplest instrument in the world next to the triangle. I mean, you can play the complete Weezer discography with two fingers, you know? What got me playing guitat was CONFUSION IS SEX. I was just telling someone this the other day... I heard that album when I was 13, and it basically made me realize that, hey, I could do this stuff. I wasn't interested in "tuning", I wasn't interested in learning chords, or whatever. The guitar playing on that album is just so primal and visceral, and not concerned too much with "riffs" (besides the bass, wihch is simple). And yet it remains one of the greatest guitar albums ever, in my opinion. Now, playing the drums? That one can be hard. Then again, the fairly simple drumming on CiS is mindblowing, too.

Anyway, Joe, just pick up a guitar and dick around, it's fun. Hell, tune to drop d, and you can play all the "heavy" KoRn riffs (some of the weird sounds, and especially "Good God" are kinda challenging for beginners) with just one finger.

I think everybody would have to change it up a bit between acoustic and electric... what sounds good on instrument A might not transition well to instrument B, chords might sound better on one, etc.

Obviously your own style with playing would have similar elements for both, but it would still be different on both ends. For me, when I'm playing any guitar I hit (more so arpeggio) some extra open notes quickly while playing chords. This can work well for both acoustic and electric, and both have their own merits. On the other hand, I use a whammy bar a lot, which an acoustic does not have obviously.

I think your playing style will still have a strong effect, but you'll have to think a bit differently (Which is the same for ANY instrument, I agree with Glice 100% on that one).

~Jeremy~

It depends on whether I'm practicing/trying to maintain callouses or just playing acoustic for the sake of hearing a different sound than I get out of an electric. If it's the latter, then I tend to use more complex chords (not to say that complex chords don't sound good on electric) and not play as many lead parts above the 15th fret.

Really, all guitars have their own vibe and I almost unconsciously adapt how I play to them...a while ago, I tried playing heavy Helmet-like grooves on a Rickenbacker 360 through a cheapo Crate solid state amp, and while it sounded OK, it just didn't feel right. I played more open, ringing types of lines (actually not that easy on a Ric due to the narrow fretboard and close string spacing) and sounded and felt better. In those days, my thing was to try and get heavy tones out of things that weren't really built for it, often with disappointing results. I've found that it's better to play to an instrument's strengths instead of forcing it to be something it's not.

I remmeber watching a video of yngwie malmsteem doing exactly this.
will have a look if i find it

^^tenacious D?

one thing I've realized is that sometimes when i play my acoustic.. i come up with ideas i never wouldve thought of with my electric guitar. I've always been a fan of songs where it's just someone singing while playing his or her acoustic guitar. no drums or bass (etc.). i don't know why. i have always thought acoustic guitars were better for .. uh emotional songs i guess? or darker songs and i like to play more silent with my acoustic as well.

i haven't been playing for too long. about a year and a half or 2 years and i guess im not great at it. but i don't think you necessarily have to be outstanding like... Yngwie Malmsteen i suppose to write a good song or to play covers of certain bands. i have always liked guitarists who can write simple songs but make them seem effective. by adding certain twists or adding a great melody to it. i don't know... just random stuff that came to my head from reading this question.

so i personally think an electric guitar is different from an acoustic guitar. different vibes for me. but of course, it could be different for everybody depending on their style.

i try to develop my solo skills only on my electric guitar. probably because the action is very high on my acoustic and it's a pain. i play more finger picking on my acoustic.

This actually sounds like the time of my life. Wouldn't I wanna get an Ibanez 7-string though?

If you want to play them "right", then yeah, you'll need need an Ibanez 7-string tuned down a whole step (ADGCFAD) and heavy gauge strings.

I play Korn songs on a 6-string in A440 all the time, but I'm not seriously covering them or anything.