Acoustic Guitar is the name given to a guitar that uses only acoustic means (a sound box) to produce its sound. Coming in all types of shapes and sizes and many different woods it’s very difficult to know which acoustic guitar to buy. First of all the clearest distinction between acoustic guitars is within a few clear categories, Steel String Acoustic Guitars and Classical Style Nylon String Guitars. As a general rule all acoustic guitars have 6 strings except for another popular type of guitar known as a 12 String Guitar.

Classical Nylon String Guitar

The Classical guitar is occasionally referred to as a Spanish guitar or Nylon String Guitar. It is a 6 stringed instrument played by plucking with the fingers. Classical guitarists are well renowned for their great comprehensive right hand picking technique in which they are able to play polyphonic melodies. Due to popular demand we bought in a line of classical guitars to Rock Guitar Store which have proved to be extremely popular among our customers.  

Steel String Acoustic Guitar

Steel String guitars are the most popular acoustic guitar we sell at Rock Guitar Store both online and in store. They come in many different styles and construction using many different combinations of woods and build type.

 In general there are a few varying body types for the acoustic guitar and we will try and explain them to you over the next few paragraphs:

Grand Concert:  This body style is the body style most directly evolved from the classical guitar. It has a thin sound box and usually comes in a smaller or more compact design compared to other body styles; as a result this makes it very comfortable to play but as a result is one of the quietest acoustic guitars. Due to their small size they are ideal for younger or smaller players.

Grand Auditorium: These guitars are very close in design to the Grand Concert, but slightly wider and deeper.  A lot of these styles of guitars come with a convex back panel which is used to increase the size of the sound box but without making the sound box deeper at the edges, which without doubt would affect the comfort and playability of this guitar. They have a very balanced tone a lot like the ‘Grand Concert’ but due to the increased size they have a louder more pronounced playing style.

 Dreadnought: Dreadnought acoustic guitars are the most common body style around today. They have a deep sound box but a smaller upper bout (the area of the sound box between the waist and neck. The dreadnought style was designed to produce a deeper sound than "classical" guitars, with lower end (bass) frequencies within the tone. The body’s combination of small profile with deep sound has made it one of the most popular styles of our time.

Jumbo: Again Jumbo Guitars are bigger than the Grand Auditorium but very similarly proportioned, and is designed to produce a lower / deeper tone very similar to the dreadnought acoustic guitar but with much more resonant space for greater volume and sustain. Due to their sheer size jumbo guitars are seen as very difficult to play and are not recommended for beginners / children.

12 String Acoustic Guitar

This is an acoustic guitar with 12 strings in 6 courses.  Course is a term used with musical instruments to describe a pair of adjacent strings tuned in unison or an octave apart and usually played together as if it were a single string.