How
Acoustic Electric Guitars Give
You The Best Of Both
Worlds
Acoustic
Guitar Reviews
History
tells us that times are changing.
Every sound needs to be louder
and groups are turning more
toward amplified music. Acoustic
electric guitars are not much
different from your normal six
string instrument.
The main
difference is the addition of a
pickup. In a standard acoustic
guitar, there is no built-in
pickup. If you want to amplify
the signal, you need to either
stick a pick up under the bridge,
or sit close to the
microphone.
Less To
Carry With You
With
acoustic electric guitars,
however, the pickup is built
right into the body. This has
obvious advantages. It makes it
easier to amplify signals since
you can just plug in to a guitar
cable. It also means that you
have less gear to carry around.
You don't have to keep an extra
pick up on hand for playing a
gig.
Play The
Acoustic Electric Guitar Using
The Pickup Feature Or By The Mike
- The Choice Is Yours
There are
some people who do not like using
the amplifiers built into
acoustic electric guitars. They
would rather sit near to a
microphone and pick up the guitar
that way. This gives a dryer,
sparser sort of sounds more
suitable to rhythmic playing. But
I've always liked these musical
instruments even when I want to
amplify with a normal microphone.
The reason
is, having an acoustic pickup
built in doesn't stop you from
using other means to pick up the
sound. You can still use a normal
mike to record the sound of your
guitar. You simply have the
option of adding the onboard
pickup.
Get
Variable Sounds From The Acoustic
Electric Guitar
This is
also nice if you like to
experiment with sounds. A lot of
people I know who play acoustic
guitars like to mix sounds from
different sources. You can use a
bridge pickup and mix it with a
microphone pickup, for example.
Some
guitarists even take it a step
further, adding contact mics on
to the guitar body at various
points. Depending where you pick
up a signal, you will get all
sorts of sounds from this system.
This allows
you to tweak your sound, getting
just the right signal for
whatever project you are working
on. It also gives your sound
mixer more options when you are
playing a live show and trying to
compensate for whatever
peculiarities the club has in its
acoustic performance.
Is Your
Favorite Brand Name Acoustic
Guitar Available As An
Electric?
Only one
drawback; sometimes you run into
problems of availability. Some
high-quality models simply aren't
available in the electric format.
Fortunately, portable pickups
have gotten so good at this
doesn't have to be a big
obstacle. So, if you have pets
like Fender, Yamaha or Martin you
can turn it into electric with
just a little effort. In fact,
you can even set up your homemade
acoustic.
Don't worry
about who makes the best, there
are many fine name brands out
there. I am partial to Ovation
and even its sister Applause as
both play very well, produce a
good acoustic sound when
amplified and won't break you
with the cost. Just find a guitar
with good action in the neck and,
if you are new, take someone with
you when you shop.
Installing
Portable Pickups
You can
simply stick a pick up under the
bridge and mix in the signal as
if you were using a factory unit.
Of course, you won't have an
onboard mixer like acoustic
electric guitars do, but you can
always add a mixer into your
signal line. It may be a little
bit less convenient, but you can
still get the sound you
like.
Hope you
enjoyed these reviews and, if you
are into flat tops, but need a
boost in sound, you'll love the
versatility of carrying your
acoustic electric guitar to your
next show. Get the sound you need
and give your audience the volume
they want. Now, play
something!
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More
Musical Info about
Guitars
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Playing
Classical Guitar Music -
Maybe for
Free?
- Keep your mind open
because classical guitar
music for the acoustic
is not going away. If
you are up to the
challenge you'll be
greatly rewarded as a
guitarist.
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Taking
a Beginner Guitar
Lesson
- Taking a beginner
guitar lesson is almost
like learning a foreign
language at first but
you'll get the hang of
it if you don't give
up!
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