I must respectfully disagree with Andy S. When I was shopping for my first guitar, I did a ton of online looking, catalog drooling, and comparison shopping. I had my list down to two guitars: A Squier Fat Strat or an Epiphone SG G-400. So I went out to play some at stores (and mind you, I could basically play an open A and an open D - that was about it) to decide which I liked better.
Guess which one I picked?
NEITHER!
After playing a bunch of guitars, I found that I kept going back to an Ibanez (Note, that Ibanez wasn't even on my shopping list!) that I picked up initially because it was so pretty. But I kept going back to it because the neck felt good. Better than either of the iconic guitars. It fit my hand (stubby fingers!) and just...felt good.
So even though you may not know exactly what you're looking for when shopping for a first guitar, you do know the difference between good and bad. Like when you're at the optometrist - you might not know why one setting looks better than another, but you can tell which one you like more! It's the same with guitars.
I left the store that day and decided to cough up the extra money to go with the Ibanez I'd fallen in love with. And I've not regretted it. When I took my new ax up to visit my (astonishingly good guitarist) little brother, he was amazed at the instrument I'd picked. I ended up buying him one just like it (different color) for his 30th birthday this month, because he fell in love with it too.
Today, I can tell you that like the scale (in between Strat and LP), the low, easy action, the rich tone, the eternal sustain, the quality of the top, the way the back is carved, the way the neck is dressed so perfectly (try running your hand up and down a cheap guitar neck sometime -- if you come away bloody from the sharp fret edges, that's the opposite of what I'm talking about!), the seamless build quality, the way the heel of the neck melded smoothly into the body.
But I've learned a lot in the last few months, and at the time I could only tell my wife, "I like that one." But I wasn't wrong, I just didn't know why I was right. So please, please, please....do go try some guitars...and not just the ones you think you want!
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