Hacker News Reader

Comment by fhood | Hacker News Reader

So I agree, except that I think starting out on an acoustic teaches a lot of bad habits, and can also be frustrating for beginners, because acoustics are simply more difficult to play.

View on HN

Can you elaborate on the bad habits starting out on an acoustic teaches?

Sure, the one I was thinking about is a tendency to strum really really hard, and you would think this would be an easy habit to break, but it is surprisingly difficult.

I don't think of hitting the strings hard as a "bad habit" in and of itself. Being able to play with a broad dynamic range is very useful, but not necessary to have fun and make good music.

I remember seeing a Paul Gilbert instruction video a while back where he talked about the importance of being able to play a single note, while hitting it with a full on rock and roll windmill arms technique. This is mostly a matter of muting the other five strings effectively. But hitting a note like you mean it really matters.

Thank you. I've been debating trying to learn guitar and this is helpful information if I decide to learn on acoustic.

Plenty of people start on acoustic. It doesn't teach bad habits in my opinion. Acoustic teaches the good habit of more precise fingering, because when you fret a chord slightly off it sounds worse on an acoustic vs an electric. At the end of the day it really doesn't matter much which one you learn on. For me acoustic wins because you can pick it up any time and start playing immediately. There's no fiddling with amps and cables, no power cords or batteries to worry about, and I can wander around the house to different rooms while playing if I want.

If the acoustic is hard to play, get it "setup" buy someone that knows what they are doing. Usually the action is high (which forces you to grip harder), which can be fixed. If there is a bit of buzz in the neck, there should a be a truss rod in the neck to adjust, or raise the action just a bit. If you have an old guitar that hasn't been adjusted in a long time, you might need to do it again. Kind of like getting a piano tuned once a year.

Yes, but fixing the action involves fairly permanent alterations to the guitar, the fact that setup requires an expert is yet another reason I don't think acoustics are a great place to start for beginners.

You're lumping all acoustics into the same category. You can can certainly have a horrible learning experience on an electric guitar, due to poor quality / action / setup.

And you can have a great learning experience on an acoustic. There are a number of advantages in terms of learning on an acoustic:

1. It's portable - you can take it anywhere

2. You can easily hear it without headphones or an amp

3. Well suited for chords and melodies (typically the first things you learn)

4. Slightly heavier strings means that your fingers get stronger, and playing an electric guitar later on will seem much easier

5. Great for collaborative learning, easier to play with other people

6. Light weight compared to most electric guitars

7. Acoustic guitar "covers" of popular music (eg. Bieber etc.) are a "thing" all over YouTube and make it easy to learn songs people will recognize

8. If you appreciate classic rock, folk, blues and 90s alternative, these genres are typically chord-based, and easy to learn on acoustic too. Any Beatles song. Nirvana unplugged. Think Layla electric vs. Layla unplugged.

9. Fingerstyle is very rewarding. Eventually you might even get as good as Tommy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPkQn5nDTZs

Acoustic is a great way to get started, and learn, and most importantly a great way to develop GOOD habits.

I think the trick is to start with a good acoustic. One with good action and one that stays in tune. Like a decent acoustic-electric from Ovation or something like that.

I'd recommend starting on acoustic too. It's the quickest and cheapest route to entry.

Ovation is an exception to the rule. Those things play almost exactly like electrics.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com