I am an advanced, classically trained concert pianist who wants to start playing blues and rock on an electric guitar. I've attempted to learn acoustic guitar in the past, but have had huge problems getting my fingers into "guitar mode." With the electric guitar being my ultimate goal, is it best for me to start with acoustic, or to just dive right into electric?
there is probably no right answer to this question. Acoustic is a bit harder to play beacause is harder to bend the strings and get hammer ons and pull offs to sound out. But this difficulties will stregnthen you fingers up and development your craftsmanship on the guitar. Electric is easier on the fingers and can be more fun to play because you can add effects like distorions and delays. You can practice on both just the same but there are a lot of things that you can do on an electric that you can't do on an acoustic. but then again, one acoustic guitar can be a lot cheaper than buying an electric guitar, amp, chords, strap and peadals. I would just get what ever's accesible to you. Most guitarist I know get both eventually. Don't worry about you fingers not getting into guitar mode, after some pratice, playing chords and such will be second nature.