7 reasons to love the acoustic guitar

The acoustic guitar is my instrument of choice. Sure, the guitar in essence is my instrument of choice but given the choice between the electric and the acoustic I usually choose the acoustic. 

It's the sound and character of the instrument that appeals to me, although I do like plugging in and rocking out electric guitar solos.

So as to explain better why the acoustic guitar appeals so much to me, I'm giving you my 7 reasons for it. 

1. Thick strings, thick sound

I string my acoustic with pretty thick strings, so it has a pretty bassy and thick sound. So the bassy and full sounding guitar lends itself nicely to alone-in-bedroom playing, writing songs or just jamming out riffs. I restrung my guitar once with a slightly lower gauge and it just wasn't the same instrument after that. Strings have a lot to do with the character of the instrument so try finding the right gauge for your guitar.

2. Clean and self sustaining

The acoustic guitar is a clean instrument with a full-range sound. So with a singing accompaniment sometimes that's the only instrument you need. Some of my most favorite songs are by singer songwriters that only feature an acoustic and a vocal.

3. Good for all styles

I think it fits in every musical style. As a solo or a rhythm instrument it can be a part of any arrangement. Obvious styles include folk and country in popular music but it's invaluable in flamenco and other ethnic musical styles as well. Even metal bands like In Flames and Slipknot have great acoustic songs, so it definitely has a place in every style.

4. Good for microphone techniques experimentation.

Since it's such a full-range and full-bodied instrument different characteristics are more dominant at different parts of the instrument. Different microphone positions and techniques lead to different results so experimentation is a must.

Middle Side microphone technique is a favorite of mine, but moving mics around listening to where the instrument sounds the best is also very acceptable. Just be aware of the possibilities of phase problems when using non-coincident microphone techniques.

5. All the different tunings.

Sure, you can tune an electric guitar in all the same ways you can tune an acoustic, but there's something inherently acoustic-y about open tunings. Open-G, open-D, open weirdness whatever. 

A personal experimental favorite of mine is drop-d tuning with a capo on the 10th fret but only putting the capo on the top five strings. This tuning has this droning d but high melodic chord notes since your essentially capo-ing a part of the d-minor pentatonic scale.

6. Has a percussive element.

Using the body of the instrument you can get pretty cool percussive sounds out of it. Keeping in rhythm can sometimes be pretty hard when you're trying to play complex things at the same time but some of the stuff I've seen people do is just amazing. Below is a video of Andy McKee playing his song Drifting, which is an example of pretty complex rhythmical and percussive acoustic playing.

7. Just makes you look cool.

Personally, I just think the acoustic guitar makes you look cool. Sure, David Gilmour's 50 ft shadow playing the guitar solo to Comfortably Numb is cool but the simplicity of the acoustic guitar is what I think makes it one of the cooler instruments. Maybe I'm just biased, who knows.

So that's what I think. 7 reasons to love the acoustic guitar, I hope you agree with me on them, let me know what you think. Maybe you think the Ukulele is the king of instruments, let me know.

If you share my enthusiasm, share it with other people using the box below.

If you want to read a good recording technique for the acoustic guitar, click here.

Check out the mixing page for tips on mixing your acoustic.

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