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A Starter Guitar
 Needless to say, I love the guitar and I think it’s a perfect tool of expression. No other instrument allows you the freedom to play chords, play melodies, bend notes, and bend chords while being extremely portable and versatile. If you’ve ever had the inclination to play, to write songs, or strum a few chords, then start today. Buy your first guitar and promise yourself to pick it up every day and you’ll make friends with it very quickly. Go Acoustic: Want to buy a starter guitar? No matter what kind of player you ultimately want to be, I highly recommend starting on the acoustic where you can develop basic guitar skills and finger strength while keeping the instrument extremely portable. Sure, starting on electric guitar can seem a little easier because the strings are generally closer to the fretboard and easier to press down to produce the note, but it’s a shortcut that, in my opinion, is not worth it. The electric guitar can be a much more difficult instrument to control and learn to play cleanly, and there is a steeper learning curve since you also need to learn to operate a guitar. The myriad of tones and sounds that you can achieve from an electric guitar via effects, distortion, pickup selection, etc., can be a detrimental distraction at a time when you need to be focusing on simple repetition of basic skills. Keep the Cost Low These days new acoustic guitar buyers have more options than ever in the low-end market and many of these guitars sound great. I’d recommend staying under $500 for a first guitar. I’d aim for the $350 range and would try not to go under $150. With few exceptions, you get what you pay for. The reason I recommend keeping the cost low is this: you want a durable guitar that you can take everywhere without too much worry about humidity and the eventual dings, dents, and scratches that will occur as you learn to handle and protect the instrument. Also, as you learn to play guitar, you will find yourself gravitating to a particular style of music. Perhaps you begin to enjoy light fingerstlye, or maybe you like big open chords or a heavily rhythmic approach. As you develop your own style on the guitar it will eventually become clear to you what kind of instrument you want to spend the big money on. What You Need Steel String: Unless you have a specific reason to do otherwise, start with a steel string guitar. Your other option is a classical guitar which has nylon strings. These are very different instruments and most people who say they want to start playing popular music on guitar are referring to a steel string. Most low-end guitars these days are dreadnought styles, which generally offer a lot of volume, punch and tone. Smaller bodied instruments (sometimes called Orchestral Models or OM style) can be easily found as well and generally offer a more focused or balanced sound at the expense of volume and punch. These descriptions, of course, are oversimplified and are merely a starting point from which to make your decision. Truss Rod: I wouldn’t buy and guitar these days without a truss rod. The truss rod allows the natural bow in the neck to be adjusted; it lends stability to the neck and helps to compensate for changes in humidity and natural stress the neck will undergo while the strings pull on it with about 145 pounds of tension. Almost all guitars these days come some kind of truss rod. Solid Woods: Buy a guitar with as much solid wood as you can afford. One main thing that really brings the cost of a guitar up is the use of solid woods over laminates (plywood). Nearly all high-end guitars are made from solid woods because they simply sound better, resonating more efficiently, producing deeper and clearer basses, and more brilliant highs, but low-end guitars these days are being built much more often with at least some solid wood pieces. Usually, a solid top (commonly spruce) has a greater effect on the tone than do the sides (commonly rosewood or mahogany). If you can find a guitar with a solid top in your price range, choose it over a laminated top. The only real benefit to a laminated top is that they can be more durable and less prone to warping and changes in humidity. Case and Extras: Along with the guitar you need a case, a few picks, and extra strings. You may also want a strap and a pitch pipe or electronic tuner. The case is important. If at all possible, buy a hard shell case with your guitar. Acoustic guitars need to be kept from excessive heat and cold while also kept in a constant state of relative humidity (around 45%). If you plan to take the guitar out of the house at all, the only real way to protect it is with some kind of case. If cost prohibits you from going with a hard shell case, then opt for a chip board case or, lastly, a soft case / gig bag. What You Don’t Need Acoustic/Electric: There’s an awful lot of confusion about “Acoustic/Electrics” and there doesn’t need to be. Many guitar stores these days are pushing acoustic/electric models to new buyers when they should be doing just the opposite. First, acoustic/electrics are acoustic guitars, not electric guitars, and they will play just like other acoustics. They are not easier to play and do not sound  The "Barn Door"like electric guitars. The only difference is that they have an acoustic guitar pickup in them (and sometimes volume and EQ controls onboard) that allow them to be plugged in and amplified. However, ANY acoustic guitar can be fitted with a pickup, and the electronics for controlling that pickup can either be onboard or outboard.You do not need electronics in you first guitar. First, it is best to spend your entire available budget on the quality of the guitar; opt for a solid spruce top over pre-installed electronics. Second, the onboard electronics are often installed via a “barn door” in the side of the guitar. Anytime you take away wood and replace it with plastic in an instrument whose tone relies on resonating wood you will lose some of that tone. Lastly, the electronics installed in lower-end models are usually noisy and sound ….. low-end. Far better to invest your money into the guitar, then, if after developing some skills on the guitar a need arises for you to plug in, install a pickup in your guitar at that point. It is not a difficult procedure. Cutaway: The cutaway is another feature that you just don’t need in a first guitar. Again, anytime you remove some of the wood on the guitar, you will lose tone, and the guitar’s tone is what will inspire you to keep playing. Save the cutaway for a future purchase if you find that you are the kind of player that wants easier access to the upper frets. Cutaways cost more, and, to be honest, the intonation through the upper frets of a low-end guitar is usually pretty poor anyway. Put the extra money toward a good case. Purchase: Like anything else, you’ll do yourself a big favor by doing a bit of research. Look online at different models that interest you. Learn which models have solid tops and/or sides, and do a little shopping around for price. You can learn a lot by making friends with the guy at your local guitar shop, but you improve your chances of being satisfied if you walk in knowing some specifics about what you want. If there is no good guitar shop nearby then buy online from one of the big retailers. Shipping is often free and prices are sometimes much better. Ideally, I like to play any instrument that I’m purchasing (actually, I won’t buy any high-end instruments online for that reason), but low-end guitars are an exception, and if it gets a guitar into your hands quickly, then do it. Strings: I usually recommend starting with light gauge strings (.012 - .053). It’s a good gauge to learn on; mediums are sometimes too stiff at first, and I don’t feel that X-lights drive the top enough to get the best tone out of the guitar, especially a dreadnought style. But, by all means, find out what gauge the manufacturer of your guitar shipped it with and stick with those unless you have a reason to do otherwise. Changing string gauges will change the tension on the neck, and will most often require a truss rod adjustment to maintain the same action. Set-Up: Once you have your new guitar, take a few measurements to see that it is properly set up. The fist guitar I tried to learn on was poorly set up; the action was very high and the strings were just impossible for any normal hands to manipulate. I tried for about two weeks and gave up. It was three years before I bought my first guitar and tried again. Brain Kimsey and Frank Ford both have excellent information on their websites and there’s a good article on setup here as well. Probably the most important thing to understand in a set up is the action. It is commonly measured as the distance between the bottom of the low E string and the top of the 12th fret. Find an accurate ruler that starts measuring from the end and take that measurement. Look very closely because we’re talking about some really fine measurements here. Most manufacturers ship their guitars with action measuring between 3/32” and 7/64”. If it’s in that range, then the action is reasonable to learn on. Many lighter players and finger stylists like a the action a bit lower, and more aggressive players or those who chord a lot usually like the action a bit higher. These days I keep my action very close to 7/64” or just a bit under. If you’re action is outside of this range and you want it adjusted it needs to be taken to a qualified guitar tech, a friend or really knows what he’s doing, or you can educate yourself through the links mentioned in the paragraph above and have a go at it. Chances are, the set up on your guitar will be just fine and you’ll be making music very quickly. Start Playing How to learn and what to learn first is a subject for another article, but you can get a great start by learning to play all the open chords of G, D, C, E, A, Em, Am, Dm. A quick look around the web will give you chord charts and a wealth of information on how to get started. Enjoy the day, Domenick |
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