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Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 795
Location: Texas | I have played guitar for more than 40 years. Started with a cheap nylon string as a kid, and ever since I can remember I wanted an electric guitar, a Strat.
Then graduated to an acoustic steel string and later on I got my Strat, then a Martin, then an Ovation, then a Les Paul, a Tele, then an Adamas, and more Martins, Gibsons, Adamas, etc...............and from then on many more of the greatest acoustic and archtop guitars available including also custom made flamenco guitars and boutique steel strings like Santa Cruz, Collings, Wechter, etc, etc.
And my main reason of getting and Ovation was because I was able to PLUG IT IN!!!!!!!!
So at this point in my life my question is:
How come electric guitars are way more fun to play than acoustic guitars?
And Strats are better than anything the competition makes!
Anyone else? |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | They aren't much fun the way I play them. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Mark in Boise said:
They aren't much fun the way I play them. I can Relate! :p |
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Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | I was just the opposite.
Played electric guitar and bass for 20+ years before diving more into acoustic.
Now 95% of my playing is on acoustic and I never cared for strats. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Originally posted by Country Artist:
And Strats are better than anything the competition makes! Uh? Have you played a Parker?
Or a BC Rich?
BTW-- I own many electrics, but my Acoustics (and A/E's) get much more play-time. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
Originally posted by Country Artist:
And Strats are better than anything the competition makes! Uh? Have you played a Parker?
Or a BC Rich?
BTW-- I own many electrics, but my Acoustics (and A/E's) get much more play-time.
But back to the question.... I think electrics are just so much more flexible and expressive. Forget any effects... just plug even a single pickup electric to a clean amp... like a Hamer Corina JR into really any nice little amp. The amount of expression you can get with very little work is just amazing. Oh sure you can get a LOT of expression out of an Adamas unplugged... but still... to really go from whisper to blast from one note to the next.. where someone will actually hear it.. you need an amp. The muting, hammer-ons, sustaining a note, even just finger picking... there is just so much more when an amp is attached. |
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Joined:
April 2008
Posts: 1851
Location: Newington, CT | I disagree with the premise. I love a good, fast run, and that's (for me) more breath-taking, satisfying, and just plain fun, on an acoustic...à la Al DiMeola or Tommy Emmanuel or John McLaughlin. Especially with just a hint of muting.
However, just about no one can pull more expression out of a guitar than Phil Keaggy (like: March of the Clouds) on an electric.
And, I DO love to rip through things on my Gretsch 6117 that are harder to do on some of my Ovation A/E's.
Bottom line: both are fun, but in different ways. Neither is appreciably more fun than the other. Or, otherwise stated: Either is more fun than the other depending on the mood of the moment. |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | ...could it be, that even though we won't easily admit it, we secretly imagine ourselves playing "God Save The Queen" on the roof of Buckingham Palace with a 9-unit Vox stack set to 11?
...methinks an acoustic just wouldn't have quite the same mojo..... |
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Joined:
June 2007
Posts: 3084
Location: Brisbane Australia | Tim......I agree.....that is freaking spectacular!!!
AJ |
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Joined:
September 2008
Posts: 1281
Location: Ohio | Personal preference? I've played both(never a Strat/Fender fan) Les Pauls, SG's, Melody Maker. Depending on the mood, dictates the instrument. Fast and loud is OK, put put an accoustic in the hands of someone like Rik Emmett, Eddie VanHalen and listen to the passion.... |
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Joined:
October 2008
Posts: 639
Location: NW of Philadelphia | For me its a mood thing. Do I want to play those acoustic songs I have come to know and love that relax me, or do I want to distort/overdrive the living hell out of the signal and take out some serious tension. That is the question.
Sadly, either way, my equipment out strips my ability to play... and thats not saying much. |
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Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13996
Location: Upper Left USA | Tim hit the Thumb on the Nail!
We enjoy the sense of power. Amplification is another God conceived miracle tossed to us by the Devil himself!
(Meant in fun, don't get carried away boys)
Wether it's Hendricks or Clapton we Mericans have that Idol/Power association thing going.
Would anybody ever kiss Kieth Richards if he didn't play guitar? |
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Joined:
January 2006
Posts: 5881
Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | I agree with Miles. Plugged in, I have flexibility in creating sounds that I can't obtain sans the amp. Although I prefer the tone of an acoustic plugged in, it just doesn't play dirty as well as an electric.
And with respect to the Strat, I tend to agree with Serge. The shape of a Strat just "fits" and feels right. There are hundreds of variations possible in the electronics and other features on a Strat. They're relatively inexpensive, hold up really well, and the design is the most widely copied electric guitar in history. I have three of them, and my favorite is a 1999 ash-bodied Olympic White American Standard with SRV Texas Specials. It was built for the blue-collar working musician who needed a guitar with reliability, durability and good tone that was affordable, and that could be easily rebuilt as parts wore out. Leo and his top technicians just got it right, and the timing of their invention in pop music, and pop culture for that matter, could not have been better. |
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Joined:
June 2005
Posts: 496
Location: California | I have played both and nylon strings. It all depends on the mood and my ability to execute the music for the right type of music style. |
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Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 382
Location: USA | I started out on an acoustic, got an electric because that was the cool thing to do. I found myself shredding away sounding like everyone else.
I eventually found my way back to the acoustic where it has been true love ever since.
I learned all my chops on the electric...then took that knowledge to the acoustic.
From time to time i will dabble with my electric but my weapon of choice is the acoustic guitar.
When i record i layer my songs with a touch of electric...but the main foundation is all acoustic. |
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Joined:
May 2003
Posts: 4389
Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I agree, electric (and electric acoustic) is more fun. The sonic palette is bigger. And louder. You can go from quietly poetic to riproaring armagedon in one fell swoop.
(I also play unplugged sometimes, and it has it's place too.) |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | I am primarily an electric guitarist.
although recently I mostly play acoustic it is the electric that is my first love.
there is NOTHING like the sound you get from an amp full up with the guitar squealing feedback. and YES it takes skill to do it correctly and not just annoy people.
Over the years I have settled on the zinky tru grit as my overdriver/distortion and manipulate my sound with any amp I plug into to.
Fun fun fun.
of course I also long for the clarity and subtlety of a good acoustic |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15680
Location: SoCal | I've always played acoustics, and while I own several electrics, I feel like I really don't know how to get a good sound out of them.... |
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6996
Location: Jet City | Originally posted by stephent28:
and I never cared for strats. +1
I would have to say I'm known more for playing electrics. Really, my acoustic phase started with my 1778LX bought back in 2003 |
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Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 2150
Location: Orlando, FL | I agree electrics are more fun. Sometimes you just can't beat cranking it up to eleven and making some noise. Play it dirty, play it clean, its all fun and makes you feel good!
There are lots of great electric guitars, but playing a good Strat is a bit magical because you can get all of those great sounds and tones you have heard on all your favorite recordings. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | I tend to be a memorizer, which is both good and bad. I've never learned enough to be able to ad lib, so trying to memorize solos note by note is tedious and sort of defeats the purpose of the solo. I also prefer to play songs I can sing along with, so that pushes me more toward the acoustic direction. I admire a good electric player, except for some of these shredders who are just obnoxious, but I haven't got to that point on the bucket list where I get good enough to enjoy it. I do crank them up and make weird noises every once in awhile though. |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 7247
Location: The Great Pacific Northwest | There seems to be a theme of electric = loud, screaming guitar, and Acoustic = soft and quiet.
1st, there's no reason you can't shred on an acoustic and it sounds pretty cool.. but my comparison was on the same playing field.
There is nothing like fingerpicking an Electric, maybe one like a VXT or DuoTone, or even a guitar with a humbucker as the neck pickups, or a big'O Jazz box, or 335 style guitar... through a high headroom, clean amp, with a decent preamp. Just a touch of reverb maybe... |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12761
Location: Boise, Idaho | If I could fingerpick like Knopfler, I wouldn't be Mark in Boise. He and Santana may be the top two electric players that I would like to emulate.
In another direction, is there a correlation between people who like Jazz and people who favor electric guitars? I appreciate the art of a Jazz guitar player, but really can't sit still and listen to it. |
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Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | Acoustic = sit down and perform
Electric = strap it on and groove
Grooving is way more fun.
P.S. I like my strat. There are few guitars better than a good strat. |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 3111
Location: Nashville TN. | I suck on electrics for me acoustics are more fun |
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How come electric guitars are way more fun to play than acoustic guitars?
