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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → Acoustic problems
Can anyone tell me why I can paly any eletric guitar to a good standered, Strat, but when I play acoustic, Ovation, I sound crap,
I have taken the guitar to a good clinic, they say it is fine, I have tried diferent strings, but I still sound crap, is it just a case of style.
TonyBlue
Many years ago I played electric all the time. Since I came back to guitar I have played acoustic and very rarely touch an electric, and I'm the opposite. I suck at electric. I think it's a matter of playing style. I always found electric easier to play but now I much prefer acoustic, mainly because I struggle to get the technique just right on electric. I think I've become used to having the body of the acoustic to rest my arm on.
It could also be down to strings. In my experience the strings folk use on electrics are a bit finer than the acoustic, so they're easier to play. Easier to press on to the fretboard and therefore easier to play barres and such like.
There is a difference between the two in style of playing. I'm sure you'll get there if you keep at it.
Hey Tony!
On top of the excellent comments from Alvee33 I would add that an electric with some Overdrive/Distortion and a bit of 'Verb or Chorus or Delay or all 3 or more/different can hide a lot of sins.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not being Acousticist/Electricist here, I'm talking about when you first pick up the guitar for a playing session. As the sound you produce (on top of what/how you play) is largely governed by electronic sonic enhancement of one sort or another (longwinded way of saying Preamp/FX) you only have to play an open string for the sound to be just right and it 'warms you into' playing.
With an unplugged Acoustic, all sound is down to how you play the guitar.
Beyond this everything is pretty much what Alvee said: Acoustic action usually higher meaning harder to fret notes and much harder to do string bends, etc.
If you want play both, do just that. An hours practice devided equally between Electric and Acoustic (maybe after spending a little more time with Acoustic to catch up).
It certainly isn't you! I consider myself an extremely proficient guitarist (can play in front of almost any audience, make them like me and make them think I'm good (some people are easy to fool)) but give me an electric and I sound crap!
Playing both is like being ambidextrous - which I'd give my right arm to be!
I find acoustic playing to be more "forgiving" than electric playing. When playing an electric every small detail is transmitted. An acoustic is physically more challenging in that it requires more effort action wise but playing electric requires more precision... IMHO. It's a challenge going from acoustic to electric as it is going from electric to acoustic. In some respects they're like different instruments. And then you'll pick up a bass........
thanks to you all,
first, alvee, very good point about the strings, you are spot on, acoustic string are much thicker, although I have tried using eletric strings, not good.
KajiMa, I do play acoustic guitar, but only once a week, the main reason for this is my wife, for some reason she prefers to watch TV while I crash away on the strat, with big head phones on, strange that she is not happy listening to me play the same blues lick 30 times over and over again, also the Ovation is acoustic / eletric, but true I don't use FX with it.
geoaguitar, we should get together, you play acoustic, and I play eletric.
Thanks to you all, it is just nice to know that I am not a freak
tonyblue
Freak!
It's ok you're among freaky friends here.
Hey, your neck of the woods will have one more freak as of Saturday for a week. I'll be down there with the family on holiday. Llandudno here we come!!! 
Welcome alvee, i live about 4 miles from llandudno, and I have a small gig on sat in llandudno junction, 11am - 3pm, and if you start to miss playing I have use of a profesonal recording studio on thurs from 6pm - 7.30pm, you are more than welcome to come play with us, and it is fully stocked, so you have everthing you need there, even guitars (36 at the last count).
tonyblue
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Acoustic → Acoustic problems
