Acoustic, Electric or Classical Guitar? A Clear Beginner Comparison

"Which guitar should I start on?" is probably the question I hear most from new students, and the honest answer is: the one you will want to pick up every day. Still, the three main types of guitar really are different instruments in feel and sound, and understanding those differences will save you from some common frustrations.

The good news is that the skills transfer. The strings are tuned the same way, the chord shapes are the same, and whatever you learn on one guitar carries over to the others. Here is how they compare, followed by everything you need for your first practice session.

Three guitars, three personalities

The steel-string acoustic

This is the guitar most people picture around a campfire. It has a large hollow wooden body and steel strings, which give a bright, ringing, loud sound with no electricity needed. It suits folk, pop and country.

The downside for beginners is that steel strings under high tension feel firm. Your fingertips will be sore for the first couple of weeks until small calluses form.

The classical guitar

The classical (or Spanish) guitar also has a hollow body, but it uses nylon strings. They are under less tension and much kinder to the fingers, and the sound is warmer, rounder and softer. The neck is usually wider and flatter, which leaves more space between strings for fingerpicking but makes some chord shapes feel like a stretch for small hands.

Classical guitars are the standard for classical repertoire, flamenco and bossa nova, and they are a popular first instrument for children. One important warning: never put steel strings on a classical guitar. It is not built for that tension and can be damaged.

The electric guitar

An electric guitar usually has a solid body and very little acoustic volume on its own. Under the strings sit pickups: magnets wrapped in fine wire. When a steel string vibrates above them, it creates a small electrical signal, which a cable carries to an amplifier. The amp, and any effects pedals in between, shape the final sound, from clean and glassy to heavily distorted.

Electric guitars typically have lighter strings and a slim neck, so they are often the easiest to press down. The trade-off is that you need an amp (or headphones and an interface) to hear yourself properly.

So which one?

Choose acoustic if you want to strum and sing, and you like the idea of grabbing a guitar with nothing to plug in.
Choose classical if you are drawn to fingerstyle, classical or Latin music, or want the gentlest strings.
Choose electric if the music you love is rock, blues, funk or metal.

Standard tuning and a memory trick

All three guitars use the same standard tuning. From the thickest string (closest to your face as you hold the guitar) to the thinnest, the open strings are:

E – A – D – G – B – E

The two E strings are two octaves apart. A popular way to remember the order is the sentence Eddie Ate Dynamite, Good Bye Eddie. Guitarists also number the strings from thinnest to thickest, so the high E is string 1 and the low E is string 6.

Strings drift out of tune constantly, especially new ones, so tune at the start of every session. A clip-on tuner works well, or you can use the free online tuner with your device's microphone.

Your first four chords: G, C, D and Em

With these four open chords you can play hundreds of songs. In the descriptions below, "fret 2 on the A string" means press just behind the second metal fret on that string.

Press with your fingertips, stay close to the fret, and keep your thumb relaxed behind the neck. If a string buzzes or sounds dead, check whether another finger is accidentally touching it.

Em (E minor): middle finger on fret 2 of the A string, ring finger on fret 2 of the D string. Strum all six strings. The easiest chord on the guitar, and a great place to start.
G major: middle finger on fret 3 of the low E string, index finger on fret 2 of the A string, ring finger on fret 3 of the high E string. Strum all six.
C major: ring finger on fret 3 of the A string, middle finger on fret 2 of the D string, index finger on fret 1 of the B string. Strum from the A string down, avoiding the low E.
D major: index finger on fret 2 of the G string, ring finger on fret 3 of the B string, middle finger on fret 2 of the high E string. Strum only the top four strings, starting from D.

Try it now: a simple down-up strum

Upstrokes are naturally lighter and only need to catch the thinner strings.

Form an Em chord and hold it.
Count steadily out loud: "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and".
Strum down on each number and up on each "and". Move from the wrist, like shaking water off your hand, and keep the arm moving even if you miss a strum.
Do four bars of Em, then switch to G for four bars. Keep the strumming hand going and let the chord catch up.
Next, cycle G – C – D – Em, four bars each. Then shorten it to two bars each.
Spend five minutes switching between two chords without strumming. This is where beginners improve fastest.

How a capo works

A capo is a small clamp that presses down all the strings across one fret, effectively making a new, shorter guitar neck. Each fret you move it up raises the pitch by one semitone. Put a capo on fret 2 and play your familiar G shape, and it now sounds as an A chord.

If a song is too low for your voice, slide the capo up and keep playing the same easy shapes. If a song uses awkward chords, you can often find a capo position that turns them into G, C, D and Em. The chord transposer does the arithmetic for you: enter the chords and shift them up or down to see which shapes fit.

Practising without a guitar

If you don't own a guitar yet, the virtual guitar on HarmonyHub lets you hear the difference between acoustic, classical, electric and other guitar types in your browser. Q W E R T Y pluck the six strings, the number keys fret notes, and Chord Assist plays G, C, D, Em and other common chords so you can hear a progression before you can finger it. You can also switch to Drop D or Open G tuning to hear how alternative tunings change the sound.

The bottom line

Steel, nylon or pickups: each guitar has its own voice, but they share tuning, chord shapes and technique. Pick the one that matches the music you love, tune it every time, learn G, C, D and Em, and keep your strumming hand moving.