I love being back in Madison. Having spent the summer in Brown Deer, Wis., an interestingly suburban, might-be-a-little-aged village near Milwaukee, I was more than ready to return to the hallowed streets of Madtown, ready for all the familiar sights and sounds of the city. My break lacked the beloved piccolo man, the hot summer months were spent without our area’s amazing local music scene and I really missed the acoustic guitarists that permeate this college town.

You’ve probably seen them around — the guys who carry their beloved acoustics with them just in case they are struck with the whim to sit on a park bench and strum out chords to the latest John Mayer ballad. They are the ones who find solace in sitting and singing, who don’t necessarily need the flash of a rock band, who are comfortable being seen as “just a guy and a guitar.” Maybe it’s a college thing in general, but we don’t have many acoustic guitarists in Brown Deer. Or at least not the kind that can sit on Bascom Hill, whip out their slightly worn acoustic and play and sing any Jack Johnson song in existence. These men seem to be all over campus, sometimes encircled by a group of girls, sometimes jamming with another of his kind, sometimes alone. In any case, they are there, and, man, there’s just something about them.

A male friend of mine who isn’t a guitarist of any kind recently came to me puzzled, wondering why the musicians he knew were getting all the girls and why he was, well, not. Prepared to tell him he was just being ridiculous and that guitarists don’t really get all the girls, I explained that I’ve always thought of myself as someone who doesn’t go for a certain “type” when it comes to guys. I figured I was a pretty open-minded person, willing to explore different characteristics in the guys I dated and try to stay away from limiting myself with a set checklist of traits to look for. As soon as I thought about my past relationships, though, that little thought process of mine was completely shot. While the guys have all been different in many respects — some good, some bad — one thing has been the same across the board: they all played guitar.

Guys who play guitar are common on college campuses. So what is it that makes guys with guitars so appealing? Why is the guitar such a huge selling point for girls on the hunt for an “attractive” male, and why not, say, a set of bagpipes? After giving it some thought, I’ve come up with the following.

The guitar is a natural choice for female fixation because it is, in many cases, the center of popular music. Musicians play around with their simple acoustic guitar long before they develop the finished song, and a guy with his guitar exudes a raw creativity that can’t be anything but attractive.

The one-on-one aspect of a guitarist is incredibly appealing. When an audience can focus on just one musician, a bond forms, translating into an intimacy unique to acoustic music.

An acoustic guitar also seems less threatening than other instruments, even a heavier guitar. I personally would feel more comfortable approaching John Mayer or Tyler Hilton than I would Jim Root of Slipknot. There’s also a certain simplicity to acoustic guitar that women find attractive.

I saw Bob Dylan perform at The Rave last spring. Playing with Dylan was Merle Haggard and opening for the duo was up-and-coming singer/guitarist Amos Lee. The contrast between Lee and Haggard was astounding. Lee reveled in the simplicity of his guitar, placing focus directly on his songs and the messages behind them. Haggard, on the other hand, stood on stage with a small army of other musicians. Though the younger Amos Lee really cannot be put in the same category as Merle Haggard when comparing attractiveness, the simplicity of the solo guitarist supports the idea that acoustic guitar equals approachable. Maybe it’s the throwback to sing-a-longs around a campfire with only a guitar guiding the melody, but there is a definite approachability tied to acoustic guitarists, and that’s attractive.

A huge factor drawing women to acoustic guitars and the people who play them is the undeniable sensitivity of this type of musician. Case in point: Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional. Admittedly, I have been pretty much in love with the man ever since I heard the first lines of “Turpentine Chaser.” The blatant emotion displayed in acoustic music is attractive because it doesn’t rely on flashy riffs or hard-hitting beats. Instead, it places the focus on lyrics and depends on vocal inflection to covey an idea or feeling. Acoustic music delivers an honesty not found in other musical genres.

This is not to say that women find acoustic guitar the only attractive musical entity. There are plenty of hardcore rockers that do it for the female gender, and some women are completely turned off by the idea of a guitar standing without the chaos and excitement of harder sounds. I suppose that’s the beauty of music — it’s different for everyone.

While the delicate and basic sounds of an acoustic guitar paired with emotional lyrics make me pleased as punch, they could do the exact opposite for someone else. So whether or not you play the acoustic guitar and sing along to Ben Lee, rap with Kanye or head-bang while rocking out to Limp Bizkit, settle with the idea that music, however it turns you on, means something different to every individual, making the music scene much more interesting.

Laura Stanelle ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in strategic communications (she thinks). She’s looking to be serenaded by Jack Johnson’s “Bubble Toes.”