While looking for the best acoustic guitars make sure to check out the following manufacturers:
- Ibanez
- Fender - You know them for the Stratocaster, but Fender also has a wide range of acoustic guitar models
- Epiphone
- Alvarez
- Gibson
- Takamine
- Many, many more . . .
The best acoustic guitars will have even tonal gradations. This means that you should not have any area where the tone or volume will change abruptly. Having different tonal qualities is what separates different brands and different models of the best acoustic guitars, but you just want to make sure that the tonal gradations are even.
Unlike electric guitars, the best acoustic guitars will all have about the same shape. This is because the sound is "shaped" by the guitar's body. With an electric guitar you can have wild and varied shapes because the body doesn't really affect the sound. As with electric guitars, the best acoustic guitars create sound through the vibration of the strings. With electric guitars this vibration is picked up and amplified. With acoustics the sound travels over the soundbox which amplifies the vibration.
Acoustic guitars are used throughout all music genres. You may associate acoustic guitars with country or even folk music, but when you really think about it, they are used in rock, pop, even hip-hop.