Buying my first guitar
Disco11
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I have always wanted to learn to play the guitar and I have decided to "unplug" for the summer. No tv, movies or games till September (except the new trek movie) and this seems like the perfect time. Now I have no musical talent whatsoever but I do want to learn. For my first guitar should I buy new or used? I see a lot of new guitars in the 200-300$ range canadian and looking on craigslist you can find some used in that price but seem to be more brand name and not Chinese imports.
On a side note how good are instructional videos for teaching the basics?
On a side note how good are instructional videos for teaching the basics?
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You shouldn't be paying more than $200-$300 for a good beginner guitar and you can get some good ones in that price range. To be honest, any old guitar will fit your needs as a beginner. What might benefit you is the "beginner specials" you can get at Wal Mart. They come with tutorials, picks, tuners and extra strings. Alternatively, you could just get all that at the M&P store you go to.
Instructional videos I don't have any experience with (self taught) but I hear they can be pretty well done, depending, of course, on the instructor. Someone else will most likely be along to help you in that department.
You'll be pretty good on the old git stick if you do nothing but play till September...tell us how that goes?
Good luck...
As far as learning goes, have fun playing, but keep in mind if it's something you want to do seriously, learn SOME of the music behind it. If nothing else at least where all the notes are on the guitar, that makes learning chords make a whole lot more sense, and if you know where the ntoes are, you can start to figure out the basics of theory, which later on will make the difference between a medicore guitar player and a fucking awesome player. Example, I've been playing for nigh on 9 years, and my roommate, who's been playing for 4 is considerably better than me, because he has had actual music training. Everything takes longer when you have to figure it out yourself.
As far as if it's okay to buy used, hell yes it is. In fact, for your first guitar, I wouldn't consider new. I've had good luck with used stuff.
Its much easier to get a good tone from an electric guitar (even if itsn't a great electric) than an acoustic for me atleast.
Either way you go, make sure you learn music you enjoy and that you actually learn the concepts behind the music- it will be a ruff start but once you get past a certain "level" everything becomes much easier.
That said I enjoy playing my classical acoustic more than my electric (Epiphone SG Special). I like the feel and sound of nylon strings, and I find that when you're playing on an electric, every little noise gets picked up. If you slightly brush against the strings, or when you're sliding, it just makes a lot of extra noise that I find is distracting.
I would recommend you go into a guitar shop and play a little bit on an acoustic and a little bit on an electric to see what feels better to you.
Also for your first guitar, you should go used and cheap until you know for sure if you're going to stick with it.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
But, if you can find one you might as well check it out. They have their own style of sound because of their strings, but if you like that go for it
So I may be inadvertantly recommending something outside of the OP's price range.
Do... Re... Mi... So... Fa.... Do... Re.... Do...
Forget it...
Well, there are classical guitars in just about any price range... some of them just don't sound very good.
http://www.justinguitar.com/
Cheap acoustics are harder to play than higher end ones from what I hear, due to a high action. Barre chords are especially tough. Electric is easier on the fingers, plus you can make keeerrrrrraaaaannnnngggg noises. Which is important to me at least.
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If you're looking at classic rock, an electric will probably be your best bet since you won't be able to get distortion with an acoustic (a key part of rock)- You'll still be able to enjoy the guitar I'm sure, but if you're at all intersted in keeping up with guitar playing you'll probably find yourself longing for that sweet electric sound to try and match the greats you're playing along with.
Electric is easier to play than acoustic.
But if you're learning for the first time, get an acoustic. Learn on an acoustic. This is regularly debated but more often than not accepted by expert guitar players.
I have an acoustic Aria AW-35 that cost roughly 200-250 bucks; I don't remember how much, I bought it combined with my soft guitar case off my guitar instructor at the time for a 20 or 30% discount.
I think they've mislabelled that, it's a Squier. If I had $300 I'd probably look for a second hand MIM (made in mexico) fender telecaster (although I'm not sure what the prices are like at the moment) so that might not be reasonable. My brother has an 80s telecaster, nice guitar.
edit: It's just not in the headline bit, but is for all the other Squiers.
I'm of the opinion that you should get which ever guitar would be the most valueable/ cost saving to you. If you like rock music, get an electric but, when you are first learning play only with the clean channel when learning and distort it when you want to mess around.
Really, the only thing an acoustic will do is toughen up your fingers faster but, that isn't a problem if you dont' play an acoustic since you won't need fingers that tough to play electic (or a decent acoustic- I've been playing for 8 years, the last 3 predominately on acoutic and I still don't have callouses in my fingers) and, if you want to strengthen your hands, you can buy muscle exercisers for 15 bucks or so.
Squiers are great "first" electrics though (hell, I have one of these, and it beats my '71 Fender Tele in terms of raw playability), and $250 CAD is a really fair price for a Squier Standard -- I've never seen even an MIM Fender in Canada for under $350 CAD used.
Right now, I'd take a new Squier over a new MIM any day of the week. The Taiwan factory keeps getting better and better, and the Mexico factory (which is notorious for poor quality control) keeps getting worse and worse. The new Classic Vibe series Squiers are great for the money, and my li'l affinity Tele is just solid as hell. They're not going to replace my vintage axes any time soon, but they're great knockaround practice instruments. If you were playing a 90s Squier (which probably would have been made in the Mexico factory), you should check out the new China/Taiwan models, Squier is having their best run since the 80s.
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