Types of Acoustic Guitars

While there are many types of acoustic guitars available, they mostly break into two groups. Nylon String acoustic guitars are mostly used for classical music that makes you move, and Steel String acoustic guitars are popular for rock, blues, jazz and other types of music.

The sound made by nylon string acoustic guitars is softer and nylon strings are easier on fingers - which makes them the ideal choice for finger picking styles of music (such as classical).

Steel string acoustic guitars have a more forceful sound, and while steel strings can also be fingerpicked they are more painful to use for this fingerstyle playing.

One thing to note is you should never put steel strings on a guitar built for nylon strings - steel strings have much higher tension and it will cause the neck of the guitar (which was designed for nylon strings with less tension) to bow.

Acoustic guitars are almost always made of wood, and the choice of wood used in making the guitar give it a distinctive tone. Cheaper acoustic guitars are made from cheap plywood (or laminate), while expensive acoustic guitars are made from premium solid wood. Economical hybrids have some parts made of solid wood, and some from cheaper laminates. The different parts of an acoustic guitar that contribute to its sound are the back, sides, top, neck and fingerboard. Most musicians agree that the top wood of an acoustic guitar is by far the most important factor in the sound of the acoustic guitar.