Why is it difficult to switch over from acoustic to electric guitar?
I have been playing the acoustic guitar for a couple of years now. I started off with guitar because of metal but I went into other genres along the way. I can play considerably good leads on the acoustic and some classical finger style but I find it very difficult to switch over to an electric guitar. I am unable to gain any sort of control over the notes I play and I want to know if there is something I am doing wrong. The electric guitar I use now has 8 gauge strings on now so would switching over to thicker strings do the trick or do I just need more practice?
Edit:
It's been one year since I'd asked this question.
It seems that the real factor that prevented me from achieving the level of comfort I had with the acoustic on an electric was practice and clean technique.
I worked extremely hard with a metronome, and worked through a lot of etudes and worked on my sense of rhythm and I find myself shifting between the two instruments comfortably.
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I started playing classical guitar at the age of 11 and picked up electric guitar at the age of 21. I noticed loads of things that make it hard and made me doubt if I could ever be able to switch between both. The following things make electric playing very different (perhaps more difficult early on) from acoustic (thus makes it hard to switch):
Pick: playing with a pick without having a reference on where the actual strings are. You have to learn where strings are located without using your fingers.
String gage / action: having a lighter string gage + action will make you play out of tune more often. Try to play lightly and make sure to move the string vertically in case you intend not to bend :P.
Vibrato: vibrato's are often done through bending and pivoting around the reference pitch, which is less common with acoustic guitar playing.
Bending: you have a way wider range to bend to (you can bend a few steps up).
Distortion / Overdrive: This one is truly counter-intuitive to a classical guitar player. It is best practice on classical guitar to keep your fingers on frets being played so that they ring out or/and so you can play the same pitch a measure later. With electrical guitar when playing with overdrive or distortion, this ringing out or keeping fingers pressed often causes problems as you are playing one lead melody/line. Lifting fingers up every time after playing a note was hard for me to adapt to.
Hammer-on/pull-off: Due to string gage, it often feels lighter on electric guitar, making you have to adjust your technique to the instrument.
Muting: Another thing that distortion makes harder; to mute pitches you often have to use your right hand as well as your left hand. On acoustic its often simply just lifting your fretting hand to stop the string from ringing.
String spacing: Playing finger picked pieces can sometimes feel a bit odd as an acoustic player, you are more used to the space between strings being played. Same goes for picking but to me that feels like less of a change.
Specific techniques: tapping, sweep picking, alternate picking, artifical harmonics etc need to be added to your technical vocabulary :)
You will also notice that both instruments have loads in common and that learning something on one instrument will inherently benefit you on the other, eventhough you won't see the relation instantly.
Mate only thing you need to know is that you gotta learn palm muting technique. Because the sound of any note persists in electric guitar. So when you change notes, you have to mute the other strings and play, bend or vibrate your intended note.
It does require an adjustment to go from acoustic to electric. Most electrics are set up with lower action and lighter strings (easier to bend) and often have very tight string spacing to better accommodate playing lead using individual notes and sometimes double stops. You have become used to the stiffer action and string tension of the acoustic.
Some electrics are more like acoustics in that they have wider nuts and wider string spacing. Of course if the nut slots will allow, you might find it easier to play your electric if you add heavier strings. Medium to heavy electric sets will come with a wound G string (like your acoustic) vs. a plain steel G string.
My first recommendation might be to trade in your current electric with one that is configured more like an acoustic with a similar nut width and string spacing and that is set up for heavier strings.
If you must play your current electric - try heavier strings, and perhaps raise the action by raising the bridge height and/or adjusting the truss rod. Raising the action and using heavier strings will stiffen things up a bit and feel more like your acoustic than your current set up.
As you get used to playing the electric, you might be able to go back to lighter strings and lower action if you like.
Here is a video about adjusting the action and intonation on an electric guitar. Adjusting the action and intonation on electric guitar YouTube
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