:Amplifier basics with overdrive and distortion explanation:

The first thing in understanding the difference is understanding exactly how an amplifier works. For the most part, I will assume that you are not a complete turd head and can understand basic concepts like “electricity” and “vibration” or even “current flow”. And if you don’t a quick Google search will net you a pretty good answer.

Back in the days when guitars were first introduced as a major instrumental piece of a band, they were considered almost antiquity. In the case of a band, the guitar would have often been drowned out unless it was mic’d. We are talking here of acoustic guitars (since there were no other kinds back then) that use a sound box to resonate and amplify the strength of the sound coming from the strings.

You can demonstrate the act of amplification by going into a very large auditorium or a large empty room that is more or less sealed. You’ll notice that every sound you make (if the room is big enough) will echo. The same will occur it big canyons or large open valleys and fields. Sounds waves naturally dissipate, but as they dissipate they spread out and become larger. Now the trick in amplification of sound is that in ideal conditions you want the larger sound waves to come back 100%. While this simply cannot happen due to many environmental conditions such as wood not bouncing 100% of all sound waves; this can, however, be used beneficially in the case of an acoustic guitar.

The process of implication in an acoustic guitar is as follows, for simplicity and continuity we are talking about your standard 14th fret body attached dove tail, default sound hole, six-string guitar; and we will be talking about the A string in particular.

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