Any tips or exercises in jumping to an acoustic from an electric

sunshinewelly

Bought myself a taylor gs mini today and wow my fingers are hurting. Been playing electric guitar for ages but this is my first acoustic. I am decent enough on electric but struggled this evening on the taylor. Not sure what string gauge it had but I was not able to bend a whole step easily. It hurt. Action seems OK at around 2mm low e and 1.5 at high e but it jumps to around 3mm at last fret. I have set the neck straight as I understand that's recommended. Any tips appreciated 

guitars4you

I tend to set up the action as low as possible and go with 10's to get that sissy easy electric action - won't suit a true acoustic player but that isn't me anyway - might need a truss rod tweak but almost certainly trimming a touch of the saddle

stickyfiddle

Learn to play without bending much? 

Acoustics generally sound better with heavier strings, since the vibration of the strings is physically moving the top of the guitar to create the sound. Obviously that’s a trade off against easy playability, but explains why most acoustic styles don’t include much bending, and I guess also because playing only one or two strings at once also tends to sound a bit “meh” on a solo acoustic

Fuengi

I use 11s on my knockabout acoustic. Decent balance between getting an acoustic strum whilst still being able to bend the strings.

On a decent acoustic you really want 12s to get the best from it. 

sunshinewelly

I am not sure what gauge strings come on the gs mini as standard 

Fuengi

It's a shorter scale length on the GS Mini so as long as its set up OK I guess it will bend ok? 

If you're used to an electric the acoustic strings will feel like rope for a bit but you will get used to it. 

It will also help when you go back to the electric. 

stratman3142

Although I use light strings on electric (9s on a Fender and 10s on a Gibson or PRS), I prefer 12s on an acoustic. Where I might bend on an electric, I've got used to sliding up a fret or two on an acoustic. It's a different sound but it gives me a similar thought process.

Babones

Keep your acoustic handy. Pick it up whenever you can and play it. You'll eventually get there, bending 12s, wound Gs etc

Phil_aka_Pip

Play all the scales & arpeggios you learned on your electric, on your acoustic. The purpose is not to re-learn them (you should know where to put each finger) but to acclimatise your fingers to the difference in force needed to fret each note and possibly a different scale length. Plus to get used to a different pick, or to fingerstyle movements.

Neill

The Taylor will typically come with a 12 guage top E which even on a short scale guitar will take a lot more bending than on your electric with what, 9's or 10's?

But I've noticed that even with 12's the action on these guitars seems quite high, I have a friend with one of these, he's not really a guitarist and he was a bit surprised when I remarked that the action was ridiculously high on the stock model.  But 12's are quite a light string for an acoustic so to get them to ring out you need quite a bit of space. 

Actually I think these guitars would benefit from much heavier strings, but the problem is the guitar is designed for light/medium guage so you might invalidate any warranty if you start experimenting with jumbo strings. 

Also, playing style on an acoustic is so different, I'm a rubbish acoustic player at least compared to the electric, but I've known a few decent acoustic players who really can't get to grips with the electric, it requires a different touch in fact I tend to think of them as completely different instruments.

Kilgore

I think GS Mini's come with 13's. Thats what Taylor recommend. Could try 12's but as others have said bending is  used less often on acoustics.

ToneControl

stop bending, it usually sounds crap on an acoustic, and is the biggest clue that an electric player has just picked up an electric.

Try 11s, but lay off the big bends, just a bit of gentle vibrato, stop playing solos on it, try fingerpicking

Sassafras

Don't try to play it like an electric.

guitarfishbay

Sassafras said:

Don't try to play it like an electric.

That's pretty much it.

It's a different instrument, and to get the best 'acousticness' out of it, you need to approach it differently.

If you want to bend on it you'd need thin strings and a low action, but then general acoustic playing won't sound as good.  I personally don't think muscling up to bend 12s or 13s on an acoustic is a good idea for most people, it's possible to injure your hand doing too much stuff like that especially if you take a few days off and come straight back to doing it.  Personal experience with that and taking time off to heal hand strain is pretty frustrating.

Regardless of the string gauge you use a good setup and correct nut height is still very important.

CHRISB50

As has been said acoustics are different beasts so not all techniques are transferrable. It can be frustrating at first, but it's very satisfying once you start to progress. Remember how you felt when you first picked up an electric?

Lestratcaster

Man up lol.

nah seriously, you can go lighter gauge of strings and make sure the guitar is set up well. High action never helps.

ESBlonde

Good advice above, it is a different instrument and you can put on lighter strings as well as dropping the action. After that adjust your playing style and pick up the acoustic first when ever you want to play. Over time you will adapt and your hand will strengthen to the point that you will look forward to playing either. But it takes time and effort.

sunshinewelly

cheers everyone for the very helpful advice - i think thats my issue i tend to  play lead over rhythm with my electrics. may need to come at it with a new mindset and gulp look at some ed sheeran songs