The Various Forms Of Guitars

Author: Dianne Grover

To help you decide, below are the guitar's different forms and their definitions.

Acoustic Guitars

These are guitars that generate their own sound without the use of other devices. The fact that you are able to produce a sound right away, with nothing that is coming in between you and your instrument is somewhat a magical experience brought by acoustic instruments. The acoustic guitar has a large and hollow sound-box that is in a form similar to that of a female torso and acts as a resonating chamber, and can be played about anywhere you are. It also has two types, the classical and the steel stringed guitars.

1.) Classical or Spanish Guitar

- This type originally came from Spain. They have wider necks and nylon strings. In the 1800s, the three treble strings were made from animal intestines or ‘gut' and the other three bass strings were made from silk cores wrapped in gut. It was only after the 1940s when nylon was used for strings. They proved to be more dependable and cheaper than gut strings. Today, classical guitars use three nylon treble strings and nylon-core wrapped in metal for bass chords which provides gentle yet slightly muted sounds.

2.) Folk or Steel-Stringed Guitar

- They were first established in the late 1900s. Their main difference with the classical type is that their necks are narrower and their sound-box may sometimes be extra large, and use steel strings. The two treble strings are made from plain metal wires and the four lower strings have a core of metal wire wrapped with brass or bronze metal windings. These metal chords can be a little hard for beginners but the sound they make come out very resonant.

Electric Guitars

The first genuine electric guitar was developed in 1931 by George Beauchamp because he implemented electromagnetic pickups with it. These are magnets that capture the vibrations of the chords and transform them into electrical signals that can be amplified. Hence, the sound of this type is generated by an amplifier and not by itself. They have no sound-holes, they have solid-wood bodies, three plain metal treble chords and three wounded-metal bass chords.

Electric Bass Guitar

Shortly after the electric guitar was developed, electric bass was created. They have two major distinctions from the electric guitar type. This type has only four chords, and they are thicker and lower-pitched than a regular guitar. However, you can now find 5 stringed bass guitars, and sometimes even 6.

Flamenco Guitar

It is very much alike with the classical type's design, although it is lighter and smaller. Its sound tends to be more percussive and less beautiful than a regular one.

Bass Guitars

They come four or sometimes five strings, often with fretless necks. The chords are heavier and thicker since their tuning is one octave lower than regular types. They are commonly used for a bass line or for the rhythm.

Twelve-String Guitars

As its name implies, instead of the regular six strings, this guitar has twelve which offers a sound with more volume. The added strings help produce unique and different sounds, giving a fuller tone that guitars with only 6 strings. Anyone who can play a regular type will not have a hard time playing this guitar since its strings are very close to one another and you end up pressing 2 strings where you normally only have one.

These various forms of guitars are played depending on what kind of music the owner wants to play it with. If you plan to get yourself one, you probably already know which one will suit you, but if you do not know much about guitars and you just want to learn how to play one for starters, then a regular acoustic guitar will be just right.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/the-various-forms-of-guitars-6791015.html

About the Author

The writer of this article is a music professor in a local university. He specializes on stringed instruments and percussions. Being a member of a popular band, his students often refer to him as the coolest music lessons Houston professor. His method of teaching his students is not based on books, instead he base it from his experiences and on what he learned from his mentors. According to him, the best moment of him being an instructor is when his apprentices are able to surpass him in the music level.