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The science of playing the acoustic guitar

In: Acoustic guitars, Electric guitars, My journey Wednesday Feb 13,2008

acoustic guitars vs electric guitars What I am going to say now stayed in my head for a lot of years, even it may seem of low importance for some. Acoustic guitar players, however, may know better what I mean.

I happen to see a very good electric guitar player playing the acoustic guitar in an one on one session. Very good electric guitar player, classy shredder, out of my reach, he took the acoustic guitar, (a large and beautiful sounding box) and started playing.

You know what? Something didn’t sound right, he was playing it like an electric guitar!

Even perfectly played from a technical point of view, the notes were too sharp and sparky, taking away exactly the feeling that acoustic guitars give. The guitar didn’t sound the way it should, the notes didn’t work well together.

I had this feeling even more powerful when he started singing along,strumming chords. They just didn’t come out right, not as a whole round sound but as 6 different notes.

I’ve immediately understood that the problem was in the way he was holding/using his guitar pick but I couldn’t just tell him, it would have sounded stupid… He kept the pick too strong between his fingers and didn’t let it slide on top of the strings so instead of smoothly picking strings, the result was that the pick was stumbling on strings, the only reason for which the pick went on to the next string was, well, the…force! The angle under he used his pick was too hard on the strings…

The second reason was that he was playing the strings too close to the bridge, giving that metallic sound that is not that beautiful but that’s an other story.

It came as a surprise to me to see that such a good electric guitar player is not used to play the acoustic guitar and at that moment I started thinking that playing the acoustic guitar is a bit more than meets the eye. You also need to feel your guitar and make it sound right, to know it and know where it sounds better and how to get the most of it.

The way you hold the pick when playing an acoustic guitar is essential, the angle under you use it, THE THICKNESS of the pick (man, what I could say here!!) , the position where you strum chords and how hard you hit the chords. All these come together when making the right sound for the guitar, without considering the guitar itself and the strings.

As I have told you in the beginning, electric guitar players may find this post as having little importance, but again, acoustic guitar players may perfectly understand what I mean.

What do you think? Don’t be shy!

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8 Responses to “The science of playing the acoustic guitar”

Pribek
February 13th, 2008 at 3:20 pm

Acoustic Guitar-Electric Guitar; I see them as related but separate instruments and, you are correct in pointing out that some electric players aren’t so good on acoustic. It’s a two way street though as, players who have devoted much of their time to the acoustic guitar fall apart when playing electric.

I’ve seen a similar thing with keyboard players. I know great piano players that don’t have B3 chops and vice-versa.

I’m curious about your thoughts on the pick thickness issue. One thing that I have found is, in the studio very thin picks work better for recording strummed, acoustic guitar parts. I have run in to situations where a player, who normally plays electric wants to use the thick pick he is accustomed to and it gets muddy in the mix.
Woodshed
February 13th, 2008 at 3:44 pm

I think you’re right on the money with this post.

What you said about playing it like an electric guitar reminded me of this clip of Yngwie Malmsteen. He’s made no adjustment to his technique at all and it comes off sounding sloppy.
admin
February 13th, 2008 at 4:02 pm

Yeah, I have seen also that piano players that didn’t have previous experience with keyboard find it very strange and don’t quite manage it from the start.

With the pick issues, I don’t know if it is about recording or not, just that recently I have bought 10 different pick, with various thickness and I tried to see which one works best in which case. I can tell you that none compared with the thickest one when it came to playing the acoustic guitar while it didn’t work so well for electric one or soloing. Well, I think I will make a post out of it since it sounds to be a bit longer…

For Woordshed, yes, I have seen the video, Malmsteen doesn’t feel the guitar in anyway, electric or acoustic so it is no news to me what he does there. Even if I appreciate his technique and playing, he doesn’t transmit any kind of feeling.
Pribek
February 13th, 2008 at 5:05 pm

Re: Malmsteen- Woodshed, I watched the clip and I would agree that he isn’t really adjusting his technique. I would make the case that he isn’t really playing acoustic guitar here. As a matter of fact, the sound that I’m hearing on the clip has possibly more compression on it than any “live” guitar sound I’ve heard. I think that any time you use a pick-up on an acoustic guitar, it then becomes an electric guitar and the technique is different. Maybe, not the same as you would use on a solid-body but, also not the same as a true acoustic with a mic.
Admin.-Do you really feel that Yngwie doesn’t “feel” the guitar? I’ve seen him do some stuff that I would consider very soulful.

The thin/thick pick issue-When I’m sitting in the living room, playing an acoustic guitar, a thick pick sounds warmer and fuller to me. In the studio though, with a condenser mic. the acoustic played with a thick pick tends to enhance too much low end has to be EQ’d to fit into the mix. This is more of an issue with strummed as opposed to single note parts.

One thing to keep in mind is that when you are playing an acoustic guitar, you aren’t hearing what the listener, in front of the guitar is hearing. Sometimes an acoustic can sound flat and lifeless to the guy playing it but, well balanced and gorgeous to someone standing 12 feet away.
Ovidiu
February 13th, 2008 at 9:05 pm

I don’t know, I listen Malmsteen since some time now, and I told you I appreciate his style and speed and technique, just that I don’t know what to say about his feelings…OK for songs, like in You don’t remember, I’ll never forget or Dreaming, they are beautiful songs, but after a while, the guitar parts, well, you get to know them and this removes the feeling part somehow…Seems mechanical. Or maybe I am not referring to the same songs as you.

For picks, I don’t argue here, I have never thought about “calculated” frequency response when using a particular pick, I was thinking from the point of view of the feeling you have when you play the guitar, when soloing or strumming chords, on how a particular pick helps you soloing or not (thicker picks tend to be worse at soloing, you don’t have the same attack on strings, the pick bends) and of course the general sound that you get, I am always looking for that warm sound of the guitar, but I was thinking more on the way I feel it, not the mike and the EQ. You are probably right.
Jon
February 14th, 2008 at 12:22 am

I think you are right, when I was studying at the Conservatoire in England my teacher told me that my left hand was “sloppy” from playing electric guitar for years and it affected my classical guitar playing. Mind you that is a different approach again to acoustic. The one thing that helped my acoustic playing was that I learned how to fingerpick correctly from a classical perspective and applied that to my acoustic playing. Now when I see people fingerpicking I really notice when they are picking incorrectly and also inefficiently.

It is amazing what a small adjustment to your right hand technique can do for your tone and speed.
Ovidiu
February 14th, 2008 at 8:28 am

Well, Jon, I didn’t know you have studied music “officially”, that must give you a great advantage, I proposed to myself since a long time to do it here in my city but I have never found the time or timing…

I have always considered that the difference in playing acoustic guitars vs electric guitars comes mainly at the left hand.

I would like to hear more from you about these small adjustments you could make in order to improve your classical playing.
Tone… It’s all in your hands… « Guitar Gear
February 18th, 2008 at 8:00 pm

[...] an interesting article by GuitarFlame (www.guitarflame.com) called: The science of playing the acoustic guitar where he talked about a very good shredder who picked up an acoustic guitar, and sounded… [...]

The science of playing the acoustic guitar

8 Responses to “The science of playing the acoustic guitar”

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