[Ultimate Garage Band]

'What kind of guitar should buy to learn how to play?' I’ll bet that question gets asked 1000’s of times a day around the world. It gets asked here a lot too so I’m going to bang out at least 3 threads that I’ll make ‘stickies’ to try and answer this upfront. Start with this thread before you move on to the other ones. I’m going to try and compose them in a natural order of progression that will allow you to be on the road to a well informed choice.

The first thing I want to tell you is that there are 3 distinct kinds of guitars that most people new to guitar are not really aware of. Most know there are electric guitars and ‘not electric’ guitars. The ‘not electric’ guitars are called acoustic guitars, however there’s two very different kind of acoustic guitars, steel string and nylon string. It’s almost not fair to only classify them by the string type they use because they differ in so many other important ways that what most people don’t understand is that as different as an electric guitar is from an acoustic guitar, a steel string guitar is as different from a nylon string guitar.

Dilemma I – Should I learn on an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar, and if acoustic steel string or nylon string? I’m not going to tell you what to do; here are a few items that you need to answer:

Why do you want to play guitar?

What do you want from playing guitar?

How much time and dedication will you have for this? In other words, will this be another activity in addition to sports, school, travel, etc., or will this be the SOLE focus of your recreational time?

What is your attitude about the fees associated with starting a new hobby? Do you look for the cheapest thing betting you can make it work? Do you go straight for the most expensive/best thing betting that will give you a short cut to good results?

So, in order to answer your question, I’ve just asked several myself! These are important. This will help you focus your selection and feel GOOD about the guitar you have purchased. A positive attitude is priceless when learning something; an ongoing session of self doubt of ‘Did I get the right guitar?’ ‘Did I pay too much?’ or ‘Is this really what a good playing guitar is supposed to feel like?’ will drag your progress down and even contribute to you quitting guitar.

Yes, people quit guitar. I am convinced that the 2 most common reasons people quit guitar are either they selected a guitar that will for whatever reasons not give them satisfactory results or they just don’t put in the effort needed to learn. If I say my goal is to run a 5k race and as I type this I’m 100+ lbs overweight, I’m fooling myself if I think I can go purchase the cheapest pair of athletic shoes I can find, walk/run for 5 minutes a day as ‘training’ and succeed in running a 5k three months from now. As easy as that is to understand, many, MANY people buy the cheapest guitar they can, practice 5 minutes or so two or three days a week, and then come to the conclusion they “can’t play” guitar. Which is more sensitive; the feet in my cheap running shoes or the fingers on a cheap guitar? Both will let us both down. So, let’s choose RIGHT and feel GOOD about it!!

So, electric, steel string acoustic, or nylon string acoustic. The easiest way to answer this question is what guitar players are motivating you to learn? What do they play? Here are some very general observations:

Electric guitar- Rock, Country, Jazz, Blues
Steel string acoustic – Rock, Country, Jazz, Blues, Bluegrass, Folk
Nylon string acoustic- Classical, Flamenco, Jazz

Obviously there’s some overlap here, a lot, and that’s what makes choosing a guitar so confusing. So, again, answer the question about which guitar players or what type of music is motivating you want to take this on and start there. The next two sticky threads I’m going to compose break down electric and acoustic guitars.

[kaka]

thats one quality info.

thanks so much!

[vicubs]

Thanks. This (your post) somehow help me motivate myself to improve my guitar-playing skills. Well, some of favs bands are toto, warant, c. cross, eagles, styx, beatles, guns&roses, bon jovi, etc. So I think I was right and I fell good in buying my first electric guitar. :-)

[gillettorg]

Thanks for the info! I am looking for a new acoustic/classial guitar and have only had 1 lesson. My teacher said to get something mid-range like a Yamaha, Nylon string guitar with a wide neck (my hands are larger). I went to Yahama's site, and was overwhelmed.

Do you have any specific Acoustic/Classical guitars I should take a look at? Price range I was looking for is $300-600.

Would very much like suggestions, I am ready to buy online ASAP

Lastly,for new lessons should I be getting instrutions from a classical guitarist or does that matter as much?

Thanks!

[allthumbs]

Classical guitarists are expected to toe the line and be highly technical players so you will need some lessons in the proper way of holding a classical guitar and the acceptable hand positions that involves. How far you want to progress with it will determine whether you need a teacher or not.

[Ultimate Garage Band]

Yamaha makes some excellent models, however, I'm totally sold on Walden acoustics. You could get a top of the line Walden, all solid wood, for less than $600. I'd also suggest that whatever guitar you get, upgrade your strings right away to Savarez. They're almost 3 times the price per set but very much worth it in volume and tone.

[GreyWolf]

I just hit my 60th BD and decided it was time to fufill that life long dream of playing a guitar. I have a friend who loaned me her guitar (Oscar Schmidt) and have struggled along, but enjoying it.

Im looking for a good a Acoustic guitar. I wont ever be in a band, just looking to be able to play along with freinds and family. Just for fun and my enjoyment.

In doing research on guitars, I found Zager and I bought one. I liked the idea of thier easy play system. I really liked the promise of no painfull fingers, and that the strings are "slightly" wider apart. On the OS, I am struggling to get the fingers into the "A" chord. My fingers are just too big I think. And like most beginners, Im getting a fair share of Buzzing strings.

I was dissapointed in the Zager, a beautiful guitar. It doesnt play really any better, and when I measured the strings, they are exactly the same as the OS. Again, looking online and doing a bit of research, there is of course it seems what is the best nut width. Both of these guitars are 1.750 (3/4). It seems Seagull has a wider nut, but then it also seems that many like the 1.7/8 nut width too. In fact, I switched back to the OS and it seems to be better for me.

I am going to return the Zager, and search for another guitar. I would like to stay under $600. Any advice? And advice on nut width? It also seems that switching to the easier (?) or softer metal strings would be a good move as well.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Tom

[allthumbs]

it really is just experience that makes a guitar easier to play. I have guitars with different sized nuts. A bit of adjustment to play a smaller neck but nothing traumatic.. I don't think nut width is the magic bullet. Practice is. Practice makes the fingers seem to shrink.

[Guitarwizard]

Well after I bought my fender acoustic guitar , I read that classical guitar with nylon strings are easier to learn from than Acoustic steel. Well its too late my fingers aren't strong enough to get the quality sound I desire and they would hurt like a "mother" after playing for awhile. I guess it will worth it once I get the hang of the steel strings.

[starsailor]

Originally Posted by Guitarwizard

Well after I bought my fender acoustic guitar , I read that classical guitar with nylon strings are easier to learn from than Acoustic steel. Well its too late my fingers aren't strong enough to get the quality sound I desire and they would hurt like a "mother" after playing for awhile. I guess it will worth it once I get the hang of the steel strings.

Nylon Strings are easier on the hands but it does depend on what you're aiming to play, if you're a Metal Fan you're going to lose interest pretty quickly with a nylon strung guitar, if you want to learn classical, fingerstyle or fingerpicking they're perfect, they are also good to learn chords on when you start, I started with a nylon strung guitar but once I got some chords down I moved to steel string, now I'm into fingerpicking so I'm back on the Classical more. so it is really down to what you want to play in my opinion.

There is a bit of pain involved when starting GuitarWizard, it gets better once your fingertips harden up a bit and your hands get use to the exercise so stick at it and you'll be fine, have fun with your playing