Beginner’s Guide To Buying Your First Guitar
Beginner’s Guide To Buying Your First Guitar
Steps to buying your first beginner guitar:
Choose what type of guitar you want – acoustic or electric.
Settle on the shape and style.
Determine how much you are willing to spend.
Consider seeing it in person before you buy.
Buy accessories e.g spare strings, guitar maintenance.
What will you learn?
How to pick the best beginner guitar for yourself, friend or family member
Why guitars are different and what you need to look out for
What other accessories you need to get starte
Settle on the shape and style
Pick what you think stylistically looks the best. If you’re after a certain colour or shape, focus in on those. Look at some expensive guitars for inspiration. One thing to consider is that there’s less stylistic variation amongst acoustics. However, there are a number of body sizes, which produce different sounds and either come with or without a body cutaway. Dreadnought style acoustics have a thick, loud tone but may be too cumbersome for smaller players because of the size. Parlour style guitars, on the other hand, have thinner bodies more suited to seated practice playing.
If you’re buying for a child, check out beginner small-scale guitars. These have shorter necks and fretboards so there’s less stretching to play notes. Some electric guitar companies make 3/4-sized guitars and even smaller, built specifically for children. The Jackson Minion series is a range of small-scale rock and roll instruments perfectly suited for younger players.
Determine how much you are willing to spend
Decide your budget. Do this now because you may be tempted to pay that little bit extra for a certain shape or colour that really takes your fancy. However, I wouldn’t recommend paying anything beyond £300 for a beginner guitar. Because if you find out it’s not the instrument for you, or you get bored, you don’t want to waste an excessive amount of money. Start off cheap and gradually build up in price with your progress and dedication.
Once you’ve narrowed down your search to a handful of choices, If you get the chance, go to a guitar shop such as Andertons *wink wink*! Ask the staff to help you out. See what takes your interest in the flesh. See what it’s like to sit down with a guitar. Hold onto the neck and get a feeling of it.
Consider seeing it in person before you buy
All guitars will have similar specifications in this lower price bracket. So there’s no need to focus much on what the fretboard material is, or how many knobs it has, or what the hardware is made of. There are lots of variables in guitars so it’s important not to feel overwhelmed.
Even how they sound is less important than how the shape makes you feel. If it excites you to look at, you’ll be more inclined to pick it up and play.