Hey everyone!!! I gotta few questions. First I gotta say...this site is awesome!!! and soooo informative! Anyways, alright...i have an acoustic guitar, but will have a regular electric one in about 3 weeks. Can i take lessons and practice on the acoustic, and then once i get my electric one, will it all be the same?? Yup, i gotta few more Q's still, lol. Okay, when I "try" to write songs...they rhyme toooo much(like poems) and i hate it! but its hard to make them not rhyme, and sound right. what do i do? and my last Q for now...what do i all need? pics?amp? what?!?!? ???
what ever you have is fine as long as you can hear it. its easer to play electric because they have less string tension if i was you i would learn on the acoustic it will make your fingers stronger. we cant help you with your songs if you dont post them. also have a look at the sunday songwriters group achive for ideas. 8)
Hiya, and welcome.
Anything you can play on an electric you can play on an acoustic and Vice versa. Songs intended to be played on an electric might not sound brilliant on an acoustic but when you practice you should concentrate on playing it correctly which you do with a clean guitar (no distortion) so you can hear all your mistakes. So at first acoustic is fine, you'll just be blown away even more at how good you sound when you plug in.
Tension is greater on acoustic's and strings are also heavier so the physical demands of playing an acoustic are greater that that of an electric but I don't think the difference is huge. Also just because you learn on an acoustic doesn't mean that the transition to electric will be easy - I started on acoustic and the change over to electric wasn't easy, it wasn't a physical thing it just took a bit of getting used to.
As goes songwriting, first of all go and read Nick's Songwriting For Beginners article ( https://www.guitarnoise.com/songwriting/2003/20030321.php ). The next thing you could do is post some of your stuff in the Songwrting Club forum so we can advise you on what is good and bad about your writing. The third thing you could try is on the Sunday Songwriter's Group forum. Every week a topic is posted and you write something fitting the criteria. This 'writing on demand' style thing will improve your ability to write in a host of styles about many different things.
You need to keep writing, reviewing and improving. The songwriting boards here will help particularly with reviewing and improving.
In answer to your final question, you don't really need anything with an acoustic guitar except maybe a pick. If you get an electric then the essentials are an amp and a lead. If you get a starter pack then you'll get everything that you need to get going.
Hope this helps,
Pete. :) Â Â
Why Do Other Peoples Shipbuilding When you Could Go Diving For Pearls Of Your Own?
Hi PiercedPrincess
Can you post one of your too rhymey songs so we can see what you mean & perhaps suggest alternatives?
Are you rhyming every line? Maybe you need to go for internal rhymes within the lines instead? or just rhyme one of two lines within a verse as a means of emphasis. Or sommat like that anyway.......
The sound of an electric is much different then an acoustic. The way you play is also different it is much easy to cord the electric, but it is harder to make it behave when you have all the sustain it can give you. I love the sound of my Taylor but I cannot do the lead stuff on it that I do on the arch top. I truly believe that the most important thing any guitar player can do is to play as often and as long as they can. I was at a work shop at a festival once and Wyatt Rice was one of the speakers he said that "If you want to get better give yourself at least fifteen minuets a day playing time, more if you can". He also said to keep one handy at all times you never know when something will come to you or you hear something on TV or the radio that you think you can play along with. One of the things I have learned over the years is it is important to play with people that are better then you, they force you to work hard. I had the chance to play for Bo Diddly once here in Gainesville at a free concert. I was so scared I would blow it. I had the best time I have ever had playing in my life and what a gentlemen he is. He put me right at ease he came to me after the first song and smiled and told me "Play like yourself boy not me, and zip up your pants" after that what else could go wrong, here I am on stage with a legend and my fly is down. The point here is that we all have a sound that is our own and you will find that sound if you keep playing. So play often and as long as you can stand it, you will see the results and hear the difference in less time then you think.
Life is not what you did. It's what you are doing.
