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Beginner Acoustic Guitar? And Learnings?
DarthJer
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My wife has decided that she would like to learn the art of guitaring. Our recent evenings of Heroing have inspired her. I may steal away some learning as well. Only problem is, we know "almost" nothing, with the "almost" consisting solely of us knowing what an acoustic guitar likely looks like. Beyond that, we got nothin. I searched for other guitar threads, but most were addressing things much more specific than I am aware of.
Any recommendations as to what we should look for as far as guitars and educations go? I think it'd be good for us to keep the cost of guitar, book/video, and any other necessary accessories to around (or below) $200 if possible. Any recommendations on any accessories we should also keep in mind? Any videos or books that worked really well for you or a friend? We are in Portland, Or. Any stores we should make sure to check out?
I saw some guitars on eBay and Craigslist, but am pretty reluctant to go the used route until we know more about guitars. I know that may mean spending more initially, but maybe for the next guitar.
Any recommendations as to what we should look for as far as guitars and educations go? I think it'd be good for us to keep the cost of guitar, book/video, and any other necessary accessories to around (or below) $200 if possible. Any recommendations on any accessories we should also keep in mind? Any videos or books that worked really well for you or a friend? We are in Portland, Or. Any stores we should make sure to check out?
I saw some guitars on eBay and Craigslist, but am pretty reluctant to go the used route until we know more about guitars. I know that may mean spending more initially, but maybe for the next guitar.
DarthJer on
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You can get awesome guitars at pretty amazing prices when you go used.
Other than that pick up some picks, a guitar strap maybe, and definitely some lessons to start you off.
If you have a friend that knows how to play, ask him. Otherwise private lessons are almost essential to starting the instrument.
The benefits are that you can trial the instrument for cheap, you can take your guitar out and about with you without worrying about expensive cases, you can relax about bashing it around, and also when you decide you've progressed enough to need a better guitar, buying the next one is something really special - you've deserved it.
Negatives are mainly quality issues. A cheaper guitar is very likely to have a more difficult action and will probably not be so well designed in order to accomodate your fingers or sound as good as a more expensive guitar. In short, cheap guitars can be hardr to play, and nobody needs more discouragement as a beginner.
However, I lean towards the cheap beginners guitar camp, if only because you will learn so much about what you want from an intermediately priced guitar by playing a realtively poor one.
Oh, also: Why not consider finger-picking as a style?