Discomonkey33

I was wondering if there is anybody who plays only acoustic instruments like guitar, mandolin, banjo, slide etc... I recently got a mustang III amp and strat and every time I plug in, no music comes out, no creativity whatsoever. All the effects and loud noises make me go "meh". Whenever I pick up my Guild D50, I can feel what I am playing and I feel a lot more comfortable experimenting with new ideas. Did anybody ever feel like this? Did you continue on and learn to play electric better, or did you just get better on acoustic?

I'm not bashing electric, I love the sound of it in music like zeppelin, Hendrix etc... But I just can't see myself playing that stuff, I love me some folk stuff too like dylan, cash, or young and that's the stuff that's been inspiring me lately. I'm just torn if I should sell all my electric gear and maybe further my skill on acoustic instruments.

Did any of y'all go through this phase too?

supersac

to be honest no i had been playing acoustic for about a yea and a half before i got an electric and when i plugged it in it wasnt as different as i thought it would be it was a couple adjustments and i was playing it like it owed me money

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sickman411

For me, I'd say electric guitar is nicer to play with other people (it almost begs for bass and drums), but acoustic is nicer to play alone.

supersac

also this

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i sound like one...im secretly a huge dick

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stepchildusmc

sickman's got it. i have a couple of electrics and am ordering another this spring. 99.9% of the time i use acoustics. most friday/sunday mornings i either go to a friend's studio to jam with a band or people come over to my house. we inevitably all end up on acoustics. we have a lot more fun being creative playing common songs transposed to acoustic.

Danjo's Guitar

I play my electric guitar acoustically mostly. Its good enough for me and I like the feels. Though I still play plugged in about a third of the time, whenever I'm really dedicating my time to playing. I don't think I've ever actually written a song on acoustic.

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If you are reading this you might need to chill out.

mrmojorisin420

i think im going through the same phase. i havent played my strat in days, always on my old acoustic

hollowskull100

Maybe it's dependent on what type of you play. Some won't feel like a strat is right, but an Ibanez gives them exactly what they want. The electric is a lot more complicated than you think, with different pickups, amps, etc.

That's just some type of theory I thought of though. Personally, I barely touched my acoustic ever since getting an electric, but I play mostly jazz/blues soloing and heavy metal. To each and their own. Sickman is absolutely right though. I find myself to be looking for the actual song to play with rather than playing alone.

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Tempoe

For me personally, It's just the opposite, I can feel and express much better with an electric with infinite sustain. Everybody is different, I truly love classical guitar, the tone cannot be beat. Just I find electric more expressive, good gear is pretty important though.

Discomonkey33

I don't know any other musicians besides a couple of old guys that play "their way" (aka too drunk to communicate musically with), so I play by myself almost 99% of the time.

Currently I have a mustang III and an American standard strat w/ fat 50's...I thinks that's a decent setup for most electric styles, no? Maybe I haven't explored the world of electric enough yet.

Prescott_Player

I think the sound of a good acoustic guitar is really rich and beautiful, while electrics sounds totally lame and crappy, coming out of a speaker. I used to have a Fender Stratocaster, because I though it played easier than an acoustic, but after I did an action job and adjusted my acoustic to the same specs as the Strat, it played exactly the same... and it sounded so much better that I got rid of the Strat, and will never waste my time with an electric guitar again.

bigfyt

100%

i don't do as much on electric (so far) as i do on my acoustic, as in notes and chords per minute type thing.

but you have to have the amp turned to 11 and feel the noise rattling the neighbours paintings off the wall.


but i do feel more musical on acoustic instruments, when i first got my electric i had it hanging off me thinking i don't know what to play

patticake

i've been playing acoustic guitar for decades, and i love playing and hearing it. i also play electric bass - my second love. but i absolutely suck at electric guitar, although i love listening to it.

btw, bigfyt, you really don't have to turn up, but you DO need the right amp and to figure out the right settings or it sounds kind of weak. my husband plays death metal and punk turned down, and it sounds great on his line 6 spyder - amazing, really, as he's the fastest guitarist i ever worked with, but played through his old ampeg v4 the same music/guitar didn't sound too good.

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BoyLilikoi

I play soley acoustic because I don't have an electric guitar. I've been flirting with the idea of buying one this year, but I'm afraid that I'll be like some of you guys and never play it so it'll be a waste of money. Personally I'm nowhere close to where I'd like to be on an acoustic guitar, so I'm not sure I see the point getting an electric because it'd just take time away from acoustic playing if I end up enjoying it.

Prescott_Player

I'm glad for anyone who enjoys electrics, but I personally don't want to spend time or money messing around with pick-ups, amps, or distorion gimmics. Some might feel a distortion device "enhances" things, but I feel it sounds very artificial and just has nothing to do with real playing skill. The most processing I can deal with is Tommy Emanual's stuff, LOL

Discomonkey33

I agree! I play a simple G chord and it's just a bunch of mush, I don't hear any music in there. It sounds too brutal while an acoustic G chord sounds melodic and beautiful (IMO). All the effects don't give me ideas, they overwhelm me. Hell, I was overwhelmed buying my first "real" acoustic. All the choices of tone woods, sizes 0 00 000 etc It was almost too much lol

But I tend to think of it like this, an electric guitar is like a keyboard, while an acoustic is like a grand piano. Even though the grand piano has only one tone, a keyboard can never replicate the rich, full sound of a grand piano.

WaltTheWerewolf

Most of the time I am just playing my acoustics, If i do play electric in a band I tend to just use the amp and guitar no effects etc. Grabbing an acoustic is alot easier for me if i'm working on song ideas, in the final product I will use an electric if I have to.

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Funk Monk

I think it's healthy to go through phases. I'm in an acoustic phase.

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theogonia777

I don't really like playing acoustic guitar because I really only play metal on guitar, but these days I spend most of my time playing bluegrass on banjo and mandolin. There's something nice about just picking up the instrument and just playing, and of course it's a lot more convenient to bring to places.

And like people have said, the banjo is definitely preferable for playing unaccompanied (not so much the mandolin) compared to plugging in my seven string and playing tech death riffs without any drums or synth backing me.



I would make the comparison of a piano and an organ. They both have the same sort of manual controls, but tonally they are different and as a result they are played differently, almost like two completely different instruments. Another similarity is that with an electric guitar and an organ, conjuring up different sounds is really an art in itself, where an acoustic guitar or piano is simply a "pick it up and don't fret (no pun intended) about having to calibrate your tone control or drawbars" type deal. In this way it's nice because you don't have to worry about setting up anything in terms of sound. It's already ready to go, so just play.

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