Dilemmas to buy a guitar for a learner in London

CheekyMonkey

If anyone else is looking for a good quality leaners guitar to purchase online, this is a great buy:-

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000I1V5KA/ref=s9_simh_gw_p267_d3_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-5&pf_rd_r=0ADTESDSGF66PVT0271R&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128293&pf_rd_i=468294

They also had the Pro Pack with stand and soft case for £112 earlier today, but the price has gone up whilst they resolve a dispute with the cheapest supplier.

Nukumai

jdm01 wrote: »

Don't bother faffing about with makes models etc - Get yourself a Baby Taylor.

Interesting opinion on the Taylor. I'm a leftie, and my biggest regret is not buying, on the spot, the sweetest-sounding, most playable leftie acoustic I have every picked up. It was a cutaway Lowden acoustic in Denmark St, some 12 years ago.

I dithered...went back some weeks later and it was gone! I can't even remember the model number (it was one of the 'old-skool' Lowdens) and was around £1400.

Since then I have been pondering about getting a Taylor (having owned various models over the years, I don't like most other high-end makes, such as Martins, Fenders, or Gibsons). In fact, I still tend to reach for an old Ibanez I have had for 25 years.

Maybe I'll take a look at some Taylors (if, that is, I can put down the wonderful ukulele I picked up a couple of months ago!).

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I have been told by various people, who are far better musicians than I am, that for those people looking for electric guitars or basses, that whilst the entry level ones are likely to be at best 'OK, I suppose' (or reprehensible & unplayable at worst), if someone pays around the 300 to 500 pound mark, they get everything handmade that needs to be handmade, and everything else perfectly adequate. The same people also say that the next step up offers diminishing returns, until you get over the thousand pound mark, when everything gets better again.

But you can't beat having an instrument properly set up by an expert, which is what you get when buying from many shops, rather than online or mail order, when you could end up having to pay for a luthier to sort out your 'bargain' and thus wiping out any potential savings.

fluffymuffy

I teach Classical Guitar and am sad it hasn't had a mention so far on this thread.

Acoustic guitars are all the non-electric ones. There are two sorts - They can have steel strings to be mostly plucked with a plectrum, or they can have nylon strings to be plucked with the fingernails, and these are Classical Guitars. Classical guitarists need to read music notation and the instrument has much more in common with the piano than an electric guitar sound.

Here's an example of a Classical Guitar being played properly - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKv5EvkX86I