Acoustic Guitars
Acoustic guitars are guitars that produce the sound themselves. No amplifier or other device is required to play this type of guitar. There is something magical about an acoustic instrument, the fact that you are producing the sound directly with nothing coming between you and the instrument. The advantage of the acoustic guitar is the sheer beauty of the sound which the electric can not match and the fact that it is self contained. In other words you do not have to buy an amplifier and carry it around everywhere you want to play. Although it is possible to play fingerstyle on an electric this type of playing lends itself more to acoustic guitars and in particular the nylon string clasical guitars. Some acoustic guitars do have pickups which allow you to amplify them. In combination with an amplifier this will allow you to play an acoustic at higher volumes. However, it will still sound like an acoustic guitar, ie. if you want a heavy metal sound you can not save money by buying an acoustic with a pickup but will need a real electric guitar. The two main types of acoustic guitar are the classical guitar and the steel string guitar.
Classical Guitar
Half-Sized Children's Guitar
The nylon string guitar is referred to as the classical guitar because the instrument came to prominence in a form resembling the modern guitar during the classical era, roughly 1730-1820. The steel string and electric guitars are descendents of the classical guitar. The fact that it is called a classical guitar does not mean that only classical music can be played on it. The main differences between the classical and the steel string are that the three treble strings on the classical are nylon (the treble strings on a steel string are metal while both guitars have metal bass strings, i.e. classical has 3 nylon and 3 metal strings; steel string has 6 metal strings), the body of the classical is smaller and the neck is wider. The sound of the nylon strings is mellower and much more beautiful than that of the steel strings.
I usually recommend that my students who want an acoustic buy a classical guitar. At the beginning when their fingers are not used to pressing down the strings, many students find nylon strings easier on the fingers than steel strings. The wider neck can be more difficult to play on in some respects but it also gives the fingers more room. When playing chords it is important that a fretting finger doesn't touch and deaden other strings and the extra room will help this especially if you have big fingers. I also find that the smaller size of body on the classical guitar fits the human body much better than that of many steel string guitars. The body of a steel string guitars is often, though not always, much larger than the classical body. This is particularly important if you will be sitting down to play as an oversized guitar can be quite uncomfortable.
If you are planning to play fingerstyle guitar (as opposed to with a pick) the classical is the style of guitar you should buy. It is certainly possible to play or learn fingerstyle on a steel string or electric guitar but the classical guitar is designed for fingerpicking whereas the other two are designed to be played with a pick. The classical can be played with a pick as well and is more suited to this then the steel string or electric are to fingerpicking. The sound of the classical also lends itself far more to fingerpicking than the other two guitar types. The classical guitar is obviously better for classical music but a great deal of acoustic rock is also played on this instrument. Most electric guitar rock songs will sound as close to an electric on the classical as they will on a steel string.
Steel String Guitar
Steel string guitars have a brighter, more twangy sound than classicals. On a good steel string, the strings are no harder to press than the nylon strings but on cheaper guitars they are sometimes very hard to press. The smaller neck can make chord changes easier but can also make it hard not to mute strings unintentionally. Many though not all steel strings are made with very large bodies which are often too large for a small or average sized person to sit comfortably with them. I have had countless young students show up for the first lesson with a steel string that was far too large for them to play. These factors in combination with the superiority of the classical for fingerpicking and general observations about which type of guitar students find it easier to learn on are the reason I recommend most beginning players buy a classical. This is partly due to the fact that many students show up with cheap difficult to play steel string guitars and it seems that cheap steel string guitars are much more difficult to play than cheap classical guitars. As far as musical styles are concerned, country is the only style of music that is going to sound more authentic on a steel string than a classical. Most other styles use both classical and steel string guitars in their acoustic songs. Music played originally on the electric guitar will sound good on either type of acoustic but if you want the authentic electric sound you will need an electric guitar.
Electric Guitar
The electric guitar is an instrument in which the actual sound is produced by an amplifier. The electric guitar is very quiet when not played through an amplifier so it is necessary to buy an amplifier as well as a guitar. Many people choose to buy an acoustic guitar over an electric because of this extra expense. However, music stores usually offer package deals and the difference between an acoustic and an electric with a small practice amplifier (an amplifier loud enough to play at home but not for playing concerts) is often not as large as people think. The decision about whether to buy an electric should primarily be made on the style of music you want to play and the sound you want. A great deal of pop and rock music is played on the electric and while you can learn and play this music on an acoustic guitar, if you want to have the exact same sound as the band you will need an electric. The electric guitar is also easiest type of guitar to play which is not a bad thing when first learning the instrument. Although it has steel strings, these strings are thinner, set at a lower height above the neck and at a lesser level of tension than the acoustic steel string. These factors make electric guitar strings much easier to push down than those on acoustic guitars. An electric guitar will usually have a very small body which makes it ideal for playing either standing or sitting. Most electrics have a solid not hollow body and are much heavier than acoustic guitars.
Recommendations
The first issue is to decide between an acoustic or electric guitar. This decision should be based on the type of music you want to play, whether you want to be dependent on an amplifier and the extra cost of an amplifier (visit local stores to see how much more an electric guitar package will be than an equivalent level acoustic before assuming it will be significantly more expensive). If you decide on an acoustic, I would recommend a classical for your first guitar unless you are planning to play country music, most of the bands you listen to definitely use an acoustic guitar or you prefer the sound of steel string guitars to nylon string guitars. Do not let the term "classical guitar" scare you from choosing this type of guitar as an option. There are many players who play and love the sound of the nylon string guitar who have never played a classical piece in their life.
If you already have one of these types of guitar it is usually not necessary to buy another type even if what you have is not ideal for the style of music you want to play. The basic technique required to play all three guitars is the same even though each has a particular style of music for which it is better suited. Obviously at some point you will have to buy another guitar if you have an electric guitar and want to play classical or alternatively have a classical guitar and want to play heavy metal. However, you can learn the basics on any of the three guitars and see how you like playing the instrument before spending money on a new guitar. The one exception to this is if the guitar you have is difficult to play. Learning on an instrument that is difficult to play creates an unnecessary obstacle on your journey towards becoming a good musician. Many people have quit the guitar feeling inadequate or untalented when in actual fact the problem was a poor instrument not their ability. When you are learning to play the guitar, having a guitar that is of decent quality and easy to play is far more important than the type of guitar it is.
Other Types of Guitar
Electric Bass
The electric bass guitar is very similar to the electric guitar but with two major differences. This type of guitar has only four strings and these strings are much thicker and lower pitched than on a regular guitar. The 4 strings are tuned to the same notes as the bottom 4 strings of a regular guitar but are one octave lower. This makes it quite easy to switch between the two instruments. The technique for playing the bass is quite similar than that of a regular guitar but there are a few special techniques that are used far more often on the bass. Alternatively, while it is possible to chord and play lead solos on the bass, the low sound of the strings make these common practices on a regular guitar far less common on the bass. For this reason it is usually easier for a person who has learned on a regular guitar to switch to the bass than vice versa. An acoustic version of the electric bass exists but is not very common due to a lack of volume. If a band wants an acoustic bass sound a stand up bass (which belongs to the violin family) is usually used.
12 String Guitar
The 12 string is the type of guitar about which there are the most misconceptions. The 12 string guitar does technically have 12 strings but they are arranged in 6 courses. A course is a set of 2 strings placed very close together in which one string is a drone string, a string designed to thicken the sound. This guitar does not have 12 strings placed at a different pitches in order to provide a very large note range (a combination of regular guitar and bass guitar for example) but instead has six sets of strings. The two strings of the set are so close together that when one places a finger on a note that one would play on a regular guitar, the other string is also held down as well. These other strings are usually thin strings and are not hard to press down. Anyone who can play a regular guitar decently can also play a 12 string and it is no more difficult to play. The main effect of the 12 string is that the addition of the drone strings produce a different sound which some people like very much. The 12 string is also not used in classical guitar. Many people erroneously think that because classical guitar is the most difficult guitar style it must be played on a guitar with a lots more strings than a regular guitar.
7 and 8 String Guitars
Unlike the 12 string guitar, the 7 and 8 string guitars do add to the pitch range of the guitar with lower strings. These guitars were often used by classical guitar virtuosos and composers in the later half of the 19th century such as Mertz, Regondi, Legnani and Coste. They are primarily used today by classical guitar performers who specialize in playing the music of these composers. Some players who play a lot of music transcribed from keyboard instruments use them because they prefer to have a larger note range. The drawback to these guitars is that the extra bass notes, which do sound quite nice when plucked intentionally, tend to ring sympathetically with the other strings when not wanted. There is also the expense of buying another guitar for a limited amount of repertoire and the bother of bringing two guitars to a concert if you are also playing 6 string compositions. Most guitar players do not have a 7 or 8 string guitar simply because they do not feel it is worth it when 99% of the guitar repertoire is written for 6 string guitar. Interestingly enough, these guitars have started to become popular with certain heavy metal groups who like the heavy sound of the extra low strings.
Flamenco Guitar
This is a nylon string guitar that is used primarily in flamenco music. It is very similar to the classical guitar in design although slightly smaller. The biggest difference is the sound tends to be less beautiful and more percussive and the strings are often set very low allowing the player to play fast more easily but often at the expense of string buzzing.
Next: Size, Weight and Playability of the Guitar
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