Acoustic Guitars with Other Body Shapes

Acoustic guitars with other body shapes are almost exclusively steel-string guitars with bodies that are neither full-size dreadnoughts nor jumbos. They include small and medium-sized Concert, Grand Concert, Auditorium, OM, Grand Auditorium and Parlor bodies, as well as travel and mini guitars. Body shape affects how a guitar sits when you play, how loud it sounds and whether it comes into its own when strumming chords or playing fingerstyle. Large-bodied guitars have their own pages: dreadnought guitars and jumbo guitars.

Which acoustic guitar body shape suits you?

Body shape	Body characteristics	What it suits
Concert and Grand Concert	smaller, with a narrow waist	comfortable seated playing and fingerstyle
Auditorium, OM and Orchestra	medium-sized, with a balanced sound	fingerstyle and strumming chords
Grand Auditorium	medium-sized, with a wider lower bout	accompaniment and solo playing on the same guitar
Parlor	small and narrow	playing at home, blues and quieter pieces
Travel and mini guitars	scaled down, often with a shorter scale length	travel, weekends at a cabin and playing away from home

The most common bodies here are Grand Concert, Concert and Auditorium or OM. Only some models have a cutaway to make playing at the higher frets easier.

Which brands and models will you find here?

Pasadena has the most models, mainly with Grand Concert bodies (PG-100, PGC-100, PGC-200), alongside the PT-100 and PT-200 travel guitars. Yamaha has its FS series with Concert bodies here, from FS400 to FS830. Bromo offers the Auditorium models BAA4C and BAT4MC, the Grand Auditorium BAT2M and the parlor BAR6H. You will also find Cort, SX, Fender, LAG, Guild, Valencia, Ibanez and Takamine, along with the small-bodied Taylor GS Mini and Baby Taylor guitars.

Looking for a folk guitar?

Folk guitar is a common name for a steel-string acoustic guitar, rather than one specific body shape. If you want a guitar for folk, pop or accompanying your singing, choose from the full range of acoustic guitars, including dreadnought and jumbo shapes. A guitar with nylon strings is a classical guitar, not a folk guitar.

Which smaller-bodied guitar is suitable for a beginner?

Most guitars on this page are intended for beginners, and many come with a gig bag, often with a stand and clip-on tuner too. A smaller Concert or Grand Concert body is easier to hold when learning your first chords sitting down. You can find suitable models in the beginners subcategory. If you want to play through an amplifier, take a look at electro-acoustic guitars with other body shapes.