Acoustic Guitar: Body Styles for Blues

Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 08:52:35 -0500

Hi there,

Greetings Ed,

I am a novice guitar player who only owns a knockoff electric. I have a few questions regarding acoustic guitars. The first one real embarrassing.

Rather then buy 2, can I play an acoustic/electric as an acoustic, unplugged? Or must it be hooked into an amp?

An acoustic/electric can be played both acoustically or electrically...and does not require to be plugged in to hear...as would a solid body electric. We can adapt any acoustic guitar to an acoustic/electric by installing a pick-up system...

Are guitars made differently for the styles of music? I want to play mostly blues. Should I be focusing on a certain type of guitar or it wouldn't matter. If so, are there decent "cutaway" style guitars for blues? Even though I am a long way off before I can actually play songs.

Yes, if you're really interested in playing blues, my suggestion would be to consider a Dobro...these have a blues voice from the start...cutaway, standard acoustics, can be played in an acoustic context, only, it's not necessarily the norm...for acoustic blues, there's nothing that compares to a Dobro...and, Dobros can also be upgraded to acoustic/electric...

There have been many blues players that have successfully used standard acoustic guitars throoughout their career...and, yes, the standard acoustic guitar would have more versatility if you're planning on playing other styles of music...again, the Dobro only lends itself very well to blues settings.

Being a long ways off from playing songs is not critical...you'll want to purchase an instrument that will inspire you to practice and one that will grow into over time...not outgrow the first year you have it....

Hope this helps, Mickey

Thanks,
Ed