Buying a new guitar? Need to know what size you should buy? If you’ve been struggling with finding the right one, then this is for you!
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Acoustic guitars are by far the most popular and easiest to find in stores, making it easy for anyone to pick one up and start playing. There are many top acoustic guitar sizes and different acoustic guitar shapes to choose from. Let’s take a look at each.
Parlor Sized Guitars
As the name suggests, these guitars are small. They are the smallest of all the sizes listed here. They have a smaller body and are typically lighter in weight than any other size listed here. These guitars can be seen as ideal for children, women or for anyone with smaller size hands. It is also good for people who like really easy-to-carry instruments that you can take anywhere with ease. These are excellent for guitar playing with small hands.
Scale length -24.75″
Single Naught (0) Acoustics
As the name suggests, these guitars are small. They are the smallest of all the sizes listed here. They have a smaller body and are typically lighter in weight than any other size listed here. These guitars can be seen as ideal for children, women or for anyone with smaller size hands. It is also good for people who like really easy-to-carry instruments that you can take anywhere with ease.
Scale length -24.4″
Double Naught (00) Acoustic Guitars
This acoustic guitar is essentially the same as the single naught guitar, with the addition of a full-sized bridge. This makes it easier to change chords and strum because you can rest your hands on both sides of the guitar. Because of this, they can be used to play some styles such as folk or country music but they are still good for fingerpicking.
This is probably the most popular size for acoustic guitars because it has a fairly good quality, but it’s not suitable for heavy strumming and is more suited for fingerpicking.
Triple Naught (Auditorium – 000)
This is a larger type of acoustic guitar compared to the single naught and the double naught. The sound is fuller, and this makes it suitable for strumming songs. This is the preferred size of acoustic guitars for most musicians when playing traditional folk or country music.
The body size of these guitars are large enough to use with both hands allowing you to play more advanced fingerstyle techniques such as tap harmonics and others.
Concert Sized Acoustic Guitars
Concert acoustic guitars are commonly used by fingerstyle guitarists who need a bigger guitar for their large finger span. It’s also generally preferred by strummers. The sound is richer than the triple naught, yet not too big as to make it difficult for people with smaller hands to play.
This is a common size for beginner to intermediate players and most mid-level guitar companies offer one in this size as part of their standard lineup.
Dreadnought Acoustics
This is a very popular acoustic guitar size. It has a large body and of course, limited sound for such a large instrument.
These guitars are usually used by acoustic blues players or acoustic rock/metal guitarists. Players who use both pick and strum often use this size as strumming is very difficult in smaller sizes, making it perfect for those who prefer to play songs with heavy strumming or fingerpicking style strums.
Grand Auditorium
This size of acoustic guitar is meant for players who like big sounds. It has a good balance between volume and projection to be able to cut through large halls and provide a strong enough sound for live performances.
This size of acoustic guitar is usually used by many rock/metal guitarists because it not only has a huge sound, but also allows the player to have the ability to play loud music live as well as strumming with their fingers.
Take a look at our dreadnought vs auditorium and dreadnought vs concert guitars comparisons.
Jumbo Acoustic Guitars
Jumbos are the largest of all acoustic guitar sizes. They have a large body and big enough to be used as a strumming instrument, making it perfect for those who like to strum their acoustic guitar.
This size is most commonly used by fingerstyle guitarists and heavy metal players because of its large size, volume, projection and ability to produce loud sounds.
What is the best acoustic guitar size?
There are many different types of acoustic guitars out in the market today. But, for an average person, the best acoustic guitar size is between the dreadnought and standard.
If you are looking for a guitar that will suit your purpose such as playing live, or playing in a band then the concert size will be better. It has a louder sound and more projection compared to dreadnought guitars.
If you are looking for something that you can play casually or just with your friends and family then the dreadnought size would be better. It is a lot easier to play both strumming and fingerpicking in this size.
If however, you are a light strummer then we suggest playing a guitar in the dreadnaught or concert size which allows you to play at medium volume, but still strum at full strength as well.
Make sure you choose a guitar that has the right dimensions to fit your hands and a size that you are comfortable with.
Conclusion
So now you know everything about acoustic guitars. You might find the right size for you, or not. All guitar sizes are popular among musicians and we have suggested some good ones that would suit your needs.
*note – these are considered “full sized acoustic guitar sizes” but there are also options in other sizes like these best 3/4 acoustic guitars.