Are you all acoustic, all the time?

Runner6 · Mar 7, 2022

When I started playing guitar I expected to play acoustic and electric, probably more electric. Blues, Chuck Berry, that kind of thing. I’ve owned 3 electric guitars. I didn’t play them much at all. I now have none. I play mostly folky fingerstyle on my various acoustics. I’m thinking again of buying an electric guitar. Just curious if anyone has a similar experience

thanks.

Steve Messenger · Mar 7, 2022

Ever since I began playing (1963-ish), I've vacillated between acoustic and electric. About 10 years ago, I was gifted a mandolin (acoustic), found I liked it and soon had an octave mandolin (acoustic) and an electric mando. A few years after that, I was gifted a banjo ... and I decided it was time to get myself some electric guitars (which you can see in my thumbnail). Now, they all get played, and I happily move between electric and acoustic folksy/bluesy/Americana on them all (there are a couple missing from the group photo)

Heath · Mar 7, 2022

I started off long ago primarily on electric (although my dad had an old Yamaha acoustic and classical that I used to play on when I was a little kid). I would run the electrics through so many effects…. I was trying to mangle it to where it sounded more like a synth. That led me into electronic synths for years, heavily processing, etc. Then discovered John Fahey, Daniel Bachman, Jack Rose, Glenn Jones, Robbie Basho…. now I’m mostly acoustic (although -sometimes- still processed!). In many ways I feel I’ve come full circle from when I was a kid with my dad’s Yamaha, which I still have, along with my first electric.

walrus · Mar 7, 2022

I enjoy playing both, but I would say I am more of an acoustic player in the context of songs I know and for years I only had an acoustic guitar. In my later years I've been playing more electric instrumental stuff than I used to. I'm going to count playing my Sadowsky unplugged as "acoustic". I actually do that quite a bit.

walrus

Brad Little · Mar 7, 2022

I've played electric in the past, although not regularly. Had a Tele when I played in a country band, 1975 or so, and have had various archtops for different situations, but haven't needed one for a gig in a while. I do still have my X175, an Epi HR Custom and a Godin nylon string electric, but rarely play any of them.

plaidseason · Mar 7, 2022

Yes-ish. I write songs and I sing them. At home, that's mostly acoustic.

Playing live I use acoustics with magnetic soundhole pickups, through a preamp, with compression, with mostly reverb, plus some tape echo, and delay (nothing crazy), with the aim being somewhere between a Danelectro Convertible and a Gibson Howard Roberts, more the essence and ambience of an acoustic sound than an "authentic" acoustic sound. More than one sound tech has said, "that sounds more like a jazz guitar than an acoustic." So arguably I could play an electric with a humbucker and get something similar. But I like the feel and the resonance of an acoustic.

I also own and play a 1930s Supertone mandolin, and a couple of Godin made stick dulcimers.

What's funny is that I've played "electric" parts on recordings, using an acoustic. And it's always worked, so I've never had a reason to actually go and buy say a Telecaster.

GardMan · Mar 7, 2022

Yep. Haven't owned an electric since I sold my Harmony "Rocket" circa 1977.

dreadnut · Mar 7, 2022

Mostly acoustic, guitar and mandolin, but every so often I need to plug my DA Starfire into my Fender Super Champ and rattle the windows!

Stuball48 · Mar 7, 2022

Mostly acoustic but like both. Play neither very well but love religious on electric - especially, with a little upbeat tempo.

Longnose Gar · Mar 7, 2022

I have one acoustic and twelve electrics. And the acoustic gets played twelve times more than any one electric. That's because I'm writing songs on it, and about half the finished songs are played on the acoustic. I don't gig, just play in my home studio with my friend. I love being able to pick an electric for lead on a song based on its tone and personality. And they are nice eye candy in the stands lining the studio. I've owned a few other acoustics, but thinned down to a single rosewood Gibson Songwriter with a 1 3/4" nut. I didn't like having acoustics lying around unplayed. But somehow playing a given electric for only six minutes per week is fine.....

Br1ck · Mar 7, 2022

All my electric guitars and basses are collecting dust. My big music migration is from acoustic guitar to mandolin. I do play guitar every day, but I practice mandolin. Trying to learn mandolin has migrated to learning to practice guitar, and my mandolin picking has tightened up my guitar playing. The only reason to play electric is a band.

GAD · Mar 7, 2022

I play FAR more electric than acoustic.

JohnW63 · Mar 7, 2022

Sort of 50/50

It depends on what I am trying to practice. I kinda' like to have a pickup in my acoustics to play with the tone. A little reverb and some EQ.

mushroom · Mar 7, 2022

In my younger days it was always electric but once I stopped gigging which coincided with getting older, the balance has now shifted.

The acoustic is easy to grab (it’s always out) for a 2 minute play.

I will also add that I can grab (and do grab) one of the electrics and play them unplugged every so often - just to keep the fingers moving.

It’s the amps that don’t get the attention they deserve.

Rayk · Mar 7, 2022

I started on acoustic but was to young then in my teens picked it up again but jumped to electric which I played for years . Alex lifeson of Rush taught me how to play . Lol

The acoustic was always there in the back round though. Somehow the acoustic slowly over time got more attention especially after I got a 12 string , that was my only acoustic for a very long time .

So the electric went back stage but I ended up playing it out again. I also bought a new electric posted it here then sold it . Lol
I bought a new amp have 3 electrics but want another one .

Over all acoustics just rule and will be my main stay .

Cougar · Mar 7, 2022

Runner6 said:
Are you all acoustic, all the time?

Pretty much. I still have a couple Epiphone electrics that I break out on rare occasion. They're pretty cool but wouldn't bring much if I sold 'em. So I keep 'em.

chazmo · Mar 7, 2022

I'm not much of a player, and I have played electric from time to time, but I am almost entirely an acoustic player. Even more than that, I have have been playing 12-string acoustics since the early 1980s, and it's the 12-strings that rock my world.

Stagefright · Mar 7, 2022

All acoustic here. I worked many long days and nights in a rapidly evolving technology field for nearly three decades. Simplicity is all I wanted when I got a chance to play. Give me an open fire, cast iron, an acoustic guitar and watch the stress bunnies float away.

I do have a late 60's Fender Bronco I bought years ago to help a guy out of a jam. It's been out of the case once in the last 20 years.

fronobulax · Mar 7, 2022

Bass is almost always electric. The acoustic comes out when needed.

Mrs. Fro. has maybe 15 minutes playing time on an electric and none of her enabling friends have been able to convince her otherwise.

HeyMikey · Mar 7, 2022

mushroom said:
In my younger days it was always electric but once I stopped gigging which coincided with getting older, the balance has now shifted.

The acoustic is easy to grab (it’s always out) for a 2 minute play.

I will also add that I can grab (and do grab) one of the electrics and play them unplugged every so often - just to keep the fingers moving.

It’s the amps that don’t get the attention they deserve.

Yep. What mushroom said.

Are you all acoustic, all the time?

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