Acoustic musical instruments are musical instruments that are capable of creating sounds entirely via acoustic means as opposed to by way of electronic means. Before electronic instruments came along, there was no need to define instruments as being acoustic as every instrument was acoustic by nature. Acoustic music, or generally anything with acoustic placed in front of it, is actually a “retronym”, based on the previous statement that before electric instruments came along, instruments were simply called by their name. The guitar is one example of this, but is not the only instance of this particular situation. Before electric guitars, the “acoustic” guitar was just simply a guitar.

In contrast, electric, or electronic, instruments can only be heard if they are plugged into an amplifier. Such instruments would include electric guitars (bass and regular), synthesizers, electric organs, keyboards, and a myriad of other instruments as well.

Now, an instrument being acoustic does not mean that it cannot be amplified by electronic means. It simply needs to make its sound without the need for electronic amplification in order to qualify as an acoustic musical instrument. A good example of this is the acoustic guitar. Many people have ways of hooking their acoustic guitars up to an amplifier to play for larger crowds by creating a larger sound. This usually involves a miniature microphone, which would be installed inside the body of the acoustic guitar. This microphone would then send the sound created by it to the amplifier. Some acoustic guitars will have pickups similar to what an electric guitar has instead, as the means of producing sound over the amplifier.

Either way, the guitar is still primarily an acoustic musical instrument by nature as it can operate perfectly even if it was not connected to an amplifier. One other way of reproducing sound from an acoustic guitar without actually having anything hooked up to it is to put a stage microphone very close to the opening of the guitar body, so that the sounds created may be picked up and amplified for easier listening. This would be the most natural way to create such a level of amplification, but it would also be the least accurate of option available to you. This is because the microphone is further away from the source of the sound, and therefore is going to be much more susceptible to outside noise.

A good example of such amplified acoustic music would be MTV’s “Unplugged” series from the 1990s. Various artists would perform their songs on stage using only their acoustic musical instruments, but most of the instruments were indeed amplified by some means. The acoustic guitar presents a sound that is unique in comparison to the electric guitar, even when the acoustic guitar's music is being amplified, and this is why many artists prefer to play the acoustic guitar even when amplification is necessary in order for the guitar's sound to be heard.

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Originally posted 2009-03-11 05:34:59. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Acoustic Musical Instruments, Glossary

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