Buying your first guitar (1)

Buying your first guitar can be very exciting! It can also mean making decisions about which type of guitar you buy.
When I bought my first guitar (see my profile in the side panel) I purchased totally the wrong guitar for what I wanted! I, unfortunately, had nobody to advise me. So read the following. I hope it will put you on course for a long and happy guitar playing career.

Guitars fall into two main groups, as follows:-

Acoustic and Electric

The acoustic guitar, once again, splits in to two main categories:

NYLON STRUNG AND STEEL STRUNG.

Electric guitars also split into two main categories:

SOLID AND SEMI-ACOUSTIC

But note! either acoustic or electric can cover numerous sub-divisions, which I will go into later.

So, which type will suit you best .......................? Well it depends basically on the type of music which you will, in the main, be playing. To give you an example. Let's say you are fanatical about Country Music. The immediate and obvious answer, which a shop assistant might suggest, would be a Fender Telecaster (Solid & Electric), but wait! One of the great session musicians in the Country genre is Jerry Reed and he did some of his best stuff on a nylon strung acoustic! (Go to You Tube and search under Jerry Reed and you will see what I mean)

By the same token, of course, you can play classical music on a Telecaster! And why not, say I! Although you will find that some snooty and narrow minded musicians in ALL genres will look down their noses if you play what they consider to be the "wrong" type of instrument! But hey! Be different! Do your own thing and create a whole new style of music!

So, where does this leave us? Well, my suggestion would be to first of all make a list of all the different types of music that interests you and then grade it, 1 - 10, moderately interested to "you're an absolute anorak about it"!

If your top choice comes out as......................

"Love to write & sing my own songs,

especially on a beach at night,

with a big campfire and some good friends"...................

............... I would suggest an acoustic (steel or nylon strung) would be the first tick in the box!

If on the other hand you want to form a band called: "Visigoths of Megadeath" * then a solid electric guitar with powerful humbuckers (will explain later) and a hugely powerful amp, would be my gut reaction recommendation for you!

* Apologies to all those bands who are called "Visigoths of Megadeath"...... and a jolly good name it is too.

I am going to finish this post for now, but I will return within the next couple of days and go into more detail about....... humbuckers versus single coils, laminated woods or solid, how much do you need to pay, what about an amp...... etc.

One final thought for today. If your Great Aunt Jemima is planning to buy you a guitar for Christmas, please point her in the direction of this blog..... or, ask for the cash and follow my hints and tips yourself!

The twang's the thang!