The Different Types of Guitars

By Bill McRea

There are different types of guitars. There are acoustic guitars, electric acoustic guitars, semi-hollow guitars, electric guitars, twelve string guitars, four string bass guitars, five string bass guitars, the list goes on.

I will take some time here to give a brief overview of some of the guitar types listed above...

Acoustic guitars: They are those guitars that produce big enough sound for a very small audience without any form of amplification. They are popularly used in country music and classical music. They come in different shapes and sizes. However, they all have the following in common: A hollow body, a sound hole, a bridge, a neck and a tuning machine.

Electric guitars: These do not produce loud volumes without amplification. In fact, you'll hardly hear it even with the slightest background noise. They usually have solid bodies, usually have longer necks than their acoustic counterparts and also have in-built pick ups for sound amplification. They are very popular in pop and rock music.

Electric acoustic guitars: These are basically acoustic guitars with special amplification. The amplification is such that you can't achieve with a regular acoustic guitar mic'ed without having feedback problems. This one comes with a special pick up that amplifies the sound without compromising the acoustic character of the guitar. The very good ones are usually very expensive.

Electric Bass guitars: These are special guitars that are built to produce those deep notes. They are specially built to handle the stress and strain of the pull by those big strings. They are mostly built with solid bodies. Although there are a few that have semi-hollow bodies.

They are usually the longest of all guitars (I mean their necks). The standard electric bass guitar is the four-string bass guitar. However, five string bass guitars are also becoming very popular. There are also six string bass guitars.

There are other types of guitars like I mentioned at the beginning. However, they are all variations of, or a blend of, the three I've described here.

Bill McRea is the publisher of Guitar Warehouse the best place to buy a guitar We specialize in electric guitars. Best Price Guarantee and free guitar lessons too.

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Gibson double neck

This is from http://www.theblueguitar.com/
The Gibson double neck does not have much place in today's world of digital effects, but it's looks are unmistakable for anything else. It has been played by Steve Howe (Starship Trooper) Alex Lifeson (Xanadu), and most famously Jimmy Page (Stairway to Heaven). In the age of early heavy metal and prog rock, philosophically, it fit in well. A complicated guitar for complicated music. Today however, it looks quite silly to play such an instrument.

The Standard SG was made famous by Angus Young from AC/DC. One day I would really like to own an SG.

ES 335 in 1979

A rare video of rush playing in 1979. I wonder how they got this one out. What a find!

The Legendary Les Paul.

This is the most expensive guitar I have ever purchased. A Epiphone Les-Paul. I got for around $500CDN in around 1993. It was made in Korea, but looks great, and plays very well.

The Les Paul was created by Les Paul, but who made it famous for the younger generation. Again, that would be Jimmy Page. One of my personal favourites, Steve Hackett played a gold top. More recently players like Slash have added to the legend. A great looking guitar indeed.

This is called a "Legend", a copy of a strat. I actually picked this one out of the trash from a place I was staying in Japan. Of course, it did not come with the Roland syth pickup. I guess somebody in my guest house did not want to pay to have it shipped when they moved back home. Overall, I am very happy with the guitar. I saw them selling brand new for 10,000 yen, about a hundred dollars.

Cheap Electric Guitars

By Henry Genry

If you are looking for cheap electric guitars there is a lot of choice out there. You can buy a cheap electric guitar from as little as £70 and there are a number of brands making cheap guitars.

Don’t spend under £90 on a guitar
If you are buying your first electric guitar, I wouldn’t recommend spending under £90. Most of these guitars are built with very cheap materials to bring the production costs down, hence the retail price. The guitar’s sound will be compromised with this lower quality and the finish will also look a bit rough. You will usually find that the guitar strings are the cheapest ones you can buy, they will sound twangy.

The other downside of these cheap electric guitars due to the low build quality is the durability. You will be lucky if you can play it for more than 1 year and not have a problem with the guitar parts. You will end up with a cheap electric guitar (cheap meaning the quality this time and not the price).

Spend £90-£150 on a guitar
My advice is to spend between £90 and £150 on your first electric guitar. You will get some reasonable quality at the lower end and good quality at the upper end.

Electric guitar brands to look out for
Here is a list of guitar brands that offer beginner electric guitars within the above price range: Stagg, Crafter, Vintage, Encore, Cruiser by Crafter, Gould, Squier, Yamaha, Dean, Peavey, Epiphone, Carlsbro and Ibanez.

The Epiphone, Vintage and Yamaha are the most popular electric guitars from the above list, the Stagg offers the best value for money in my opinion.

Should I Buy My Guitar in a Music Shop or Online?
It is really up to you, but my advice would be to buy one of the recommended guitar brands above. You can do this easily online, and you won’t get a shop salesman trying to push what’s best for them rather than what’s best for you.

About the Author
Henry Genry is known as ‘The Music Guru’ and is the chief writer at Soundsmusical.com. Henry has spent his whole life in music. He has played various musical instruments to a very high standard and run several music and internet businesses. He loves to share with everyone his experiences and immense knowledge of music. Henry hopes that the above music article will help you save money and also make the best decisions for your life. If you have any questions you would like to ask please email: henrygenry@hotmail.co.uk.

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