For a Good Practice Guitar, Choose a Johnson Acoustic Guitar

I played my first show the other day. I was supposed to borrow a guitar from a friend, but it ended up falling through. As a result, I had to play with my Johnson acoustic guitar. Now, I do not have that big a problem with the Johnson guitar company. They do make pretty good starter level guitars for electric players, and their prices are out of this world. But here is the difference between an electric and an acoustic guitar. If you are playing a Johnson electric guitar, everything is likely to sound fine. That is because the sound of an electric guitar comes down, mostly, to the pickups. As long as the pickups are good, the tone will be good. And as long as the action is good and the intervals are correct – which they are on a Johnson electric guitar – the chords will come out clan, and the playing will be smooth and fluid overall.

But playing a Johnson acoustic guitar, I run into different problems altogether. You see, a Johnson acoustic guitar is a much different kind of beast. An electric guitar does not have a resonator, unless it is a hollow body electric. With an acoustic, the whole body is the resonator, and so the materials and the way that it is put together really determine the sound of everything. Well, my Johnson acoustic guitar does have fair action, but that is as far as it goes. The body is made of cheap sheet wood, and I do not think that it is even fastened together all that well. The whole thing makes a flat, rattling jangle when it is played, giving you a sound that is melodic, but not all that musical. It is alright to practice with, because the feel is not that bad, but everything else about it kind of sucks, and that is the honest truth.

So, naturally, I was a bit reluctant to go get up there on stage with nothing but guts and my Johnson acoustic guitar, but get up on stage I did. And it actually went pretty well, all things considered. I had thought about the challenges placed by my lousy Johnson acoustic guitar beforehand, and had come to a solution. I played softer and sang louder and with more passion than I ever had before, to cover up the horrid sound of the Johnson acoustic guitar. Let me tell you – it worked wonders. I practically got a standing ovation!