3 Major Advantages Of Learning To Play The Guitar On An Electric

Learning how to play the guitar can be difficult, especially at the beginning.

Many people believe that the best way to learn to play is to start on an acoustic guitar. Their reasoning is that once you learn how to play you can play anything.

That's true, however you must first be successful at learning how to play. Many people find it difficult to learn on an acoustic guitar and many times quit because of it.

Here are 3 major advantages of learning how to play the guitar on an electric so that you can have a much better chance to be successful.

1. An Electric Guitar Has A Thinner Body and Neck

This could be controversial because yes, there are a few types of acoustic guitars that have very thin bodies.

However, in general, acoustic guitars have very wide and thick bodies as well as thicker necks.

Especially if you look at the bottom end of the price scale and that's where most people look to buy their first guitar to learn on.

Low end electric guitars have all the same physical advantages of the higher end ones which is opposite to what happens with acoustic guitars.

A thinner body allows you to hold and manipulate the guitar much easier so you can spend more time focusing on the more important aspects of learning to play the guitar.

A thinner neck means it is easier to reach around and play notes and form chords too.

In general, an electric guitar makes learning easier by reducing the physical challenges an acoustic guitar will impose.

2. An Electric Guitar Has Strings Closer The Fretboard

This is a huge advantage. The name given to this and you will hear people discuss is called "action". The "action" on an electric guitar is much better than acoustic guitars.

What that means to you is that there is less distance between where a string normally sits without contact and where it has to go on the fretboard to make a sound.

The shorter the distance to the frets the faster you can get there. The less movement needed to do it as well as less tension that you have to overcome to push the strings down.

This advantage makes it easier and quicker to play notes, chords and change between them and trains you to have a lighter touch right off the bat.

One of the biggest bad habits acoustic players develop is using too much pressure. This slows down their progress, can cause pain and injury and makes it difficult to change between chords quickly.

You can still push too hard on an electric but most people learn not to. It is much easier to add pressure if you want to move to an acoustic than it is to train someone to stop pushing too hard.

3. You Can Make It Sound Good Sooner

One of the biggest advantages of learning to play the guitar on an electric that I have found is the sound.

The sound of their playing is the one thing everyone seems to be concerned about the most when they first start to learn to play. It should not be but it is totally natural to want to sound as good as possible as soon as you can.

With acoustic players focusing on the sound can lead to bad habits and injuries because most beginners have to press very hard to make the guitar sound good. This is actually a major reason people get frustrated with their progress and quit.

However, because it is physically easier to use an electric guitar and because the action is lower, you can press down on the strings and make much better contact with the frets a lot sooner in your development. That means you can get a better sound a lot faster than you would on an acoustic.

This will help you to feel better about your playing much sooner because you will hear the progress in your sound and that can help motivate you to keep going and is a lot more fun!!

But What If You Really Want To Learn To Play Acoustic Guitar

Most people actually do want to learn to play acoustic guitar. Playing around the campfire or at a kitchen party are high on most people's lists. An electric guitar will not work well there.

The great thing about learning how to play the electric guitar first is that all of those skills are easy to transfer to the acoustic guitar when you are ready.

And besides the fact it is easier and faster to learn those skills on the electric guitar, going that route will help you avoid some of the most common mistakes and bad habits most acoustic guitar players run into.

The cool thing is you do not even have to buy an electric guitar to learn to play it. You can rent them in most cities by going to your local guitar store.

So, you can own an acoustic and still learn on an electric.

About The Author:

Maurice Richard is a professional guitar teacher that operates out of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He has been a member of an elite guitar teaching mentorship program since 2007 and has taught many people how to learn to play the guitar. Learn how to pick the best guitar for you to learn how to play by visiting his website today.