The shallow bod makes the guitar seem very responsive, compared to a wide-bodied dreadnaught.

My newer Martin OM21, with a Sitka spruce top and East Indian rosewood back and sides, is excellent for finger style, though its bass sounds lack the characteristic thump in Merle Travis-style picking, though the middle strings ring loud and clear. Maybe it’s mostly how I play it, but the J50 seems to do best as a rhythm guitar, and it doesn’t seem to produce sharp clear single notes, particularly fingerstyle, though it is set up well. The J50 does not seem loud to the player, but it creates a formidable wall of sound when strummed, though it lacks the booming bass and ringing treble of the D18. I have a 2008 Gibson J50 (spruce top and mahogany sides and back) that sounds nothing like a Martin D18, with the same species of wood, both dreadnaughts, though shaped differently. If you see a mic pointed at the guitar you're getting a much better picture of its real sound. Most of the time they are using some sort of on board pickup or transducer and most of these do not do a good job of presenting the true acoustic sound. Ps - I would be a bit cautious of listening to popular artists playing acoustic guitars on recordings or in concerts.

Each has its own voice, one of the fun thing is exploring them to see what fits your needs Just when you think you slightly understand this you find out that there are a bazilion other size and shapes and names (tell me, what does 'small jumbo' mean). Something that doesn't fit the mold is Eric Skye playing jazz on his 00 - I tend to think of big archtops. Norman Blake played a 00 and 000, Joan Baez an 0. Smaller guitars such as 00 and 'concert' will be biased towards the treble and be bright sounding. Clapton did play OM and 000's on Unplugged, Paul Simon most of his career.

They tend to be well balanced across the strings and are favored by fingerstyle players - Stefan Grossman's Franklin is a great example. OM, 000 and 'auditorium' guitars are mid sized, smaller air volume, and are considered all around guitar. Listen to Doc Watson or Tony Rice or Johnny Cash. Dreadnaughts are big and boomy, they are the quintessential bluegrass guitar. In general, and I hate generalities, the bigger the box the more it will be biased towards the bass.

Acoustic guitar sizes and shapes