Buying your first Guitar - TIPS!!!

OurTommy

Hi Folks
I'm fairly new to the site (well, i've been lurking on here for a while picking up idea's etc...) but i've decided to try and give some advice of my own now as i've noticed alot of people asking which guitar is best to buy for a beginner, where is best to get guitar lessons etc... and this is a field i know something about.
Ok here are my suggestions for buying equipment and beginning to learn the guitar. Firstly, I wouldn't spend too much money on it at first. The main reason i say this is because no matter which type of instrument you end up getting (acoustic, electric etc...) learning to play the guitar will hurt your fingers for the first few months. I've seen so many cases where people have spent loads of money on books, a guitar, accessories etc... just to give up after a few months and lose most of the money they have spent on equipment. Also you can get everything you need relatively cheaply off eBay... which brings me to point two: Buy your first guitar second hand. I would recommend this because for what you spend on a beginner kit from Amazon / Argos you could buy a great instrument from eBay which will be easier on your hands, sound and look better, and encourage you to pick it up and play. I'm confident that you can buy a great guitar for £100 off eBay that will last you years if you look after it. If you want to know which guitar to buy i would recommend the following brands: Epiphone, Squire, Washburn, Ibanez, Yamaha (any of these are good) but i would go for a good Epiphone if you can get one. These brands make good quality electric AND acoustic guitars, so which ever you go for will be fine. I would avoid buying anything that is really cheap and nasty as this will sound horrible and put you off playing. Also if you buy a guitar second hand you can just sell it on again for the same price if you give up playing and not lose any money. Beginner guitar kits lose money when sold on eBay, dont fall into the trap of buying a brand new instrument and then suffering depriciation on it if you decide to sell. Third: learn to tune your instrument and re-string it. there are video's of how to do this on YouTube and it will help you to keep your axe in good nick. Fourth: learn to play chords first. You should start by learning basic chord shapes and practice changing them over as smoothly and quickly as possible, then you can move on to playing basic songs with them. I wouldn't bother attempting Barre Chords or Scales and Riffs etc... until you know the basics. Finally: Don't cheat. Learning chords using a capo half way up the neck, restringing a steel strung guitar with nylon strings, tuning the strings to play a chord with one finger, i've heard it all before and none of this stuff works. Dont cheat yourself out of learning properly and becoming a good guitar player. Its hard work at first and can be frustrating but if you persevere you will see results after a couple of months and then you are flying.
Hope you find this info helpful and get playing soon.
Rock on
Tommy

matt987106

My daughter ( she is 8 ) started in sept in school ( its a private lesson so we pay )
We went to a music shop and they recommended us a 3/4 guitar ( due to her size, she was allmost big enough for a full size, but as it was only 45 quid, we decided she might find it easier with a 3/4 )

She does 15 mins per week, and is really finding it hard going, at first it was her fingers hurt, its a very slow learning curve

i do not know if i should go and try and find a DVD to help her

i fancy to learn aswell, so it might be more fun with the both of us

googler

Here, let me make a suggestion

Firstly, I wouldn't spend too much money on it at first. The main reason i say this is because no matter which type of instrument you end up getting (acoustic, electric etc...) learning to play the guitar will hurt your fingers for the first few months.

I've seen so many cases where people have spent loads of money on books, a guitar, accessories etc... just to give up after a few months and lose most of the money they have spent on equipment. Also you can get everything you need relatively cheaply off eBay... which brings me to point two:

Buy your first guitar second hand. I would recommend this because for what you spend on a beginner kit from Amazon / Argos you could buy a great instrument from eBay which will be easier on your hands, sound and look better, and encourage you to pick it up and play.

I'm confident that you can buy a great guitar for £100 off eBay that will last you years if you look after it. If you want to know which guitar to buy i would recommend the following brands: Epiphone, Squire, Washburn, Ibanez, Yamaha (any of these are good) but i would go for a good Epiphone if you can get one. These brands make good quality electric AND acoustic guitars, so which ever you go for will be fine.

I would avoid buying anything that is really cheap and nasty as this will sound horrible and put you off playing. Also if you buy a guitar second hand you can just sell it on again for the same price if you give up playing and not lose any money. Beginner guitar kits lose money when sold on eBay, dont fall into the trap of buying a brand new instrument and then suffering depriciation on it if you decide to sell.

Third: learn to tune your instrument and re-string it. there are video's of how to do this on YouTube and it will help you to keep your axe in good nick. Fourth: learn to play chords first. You should start by learning basic chord shapes and practice changing them over as smoothly and quickly as possible, then you can move on to playing basic songs with them. I wouldn't bother attempting Barre Chords or Scales and Riffs etc... until you know the basics.

Finally: Don't cheat. Learning chords using a capo half way up the neck, restringing a steel strung guitar with nylon strings, tuning the strings to play a chord with one finger, i've heard it all before and none of this stuff works.

Dont cheat yourself out of learning properly and becoming a good guitar player. Its hard work at first and can be frustrating but if you persevere you will see results after a couple of months and then you are flying.

googler

Youdon'tplaymusiconenoteaftertheotherwithoutpause,sowhywritelikethat?

In the same way that you play a phrase, pause, rest............. stretch the beat.... you can do the same with text.

Doesn't it read much better with some paragraphs?

OurTommy

Brilliant

It always amazes me that when you come on here and try to help people out by sharing tips on how to save money, there is always some fool who comes along and picks holes in the post you have written.

I'm really sorry if my paragraph spacing etc... is not 100% correct Googler. I just came on here for a quick read during my break and thought i might be able to help a few folks with buying their first guitar.

Idiot

matt987106

OurTommy wrote: »

Brilliant

It always amazes me that when you come on here and try to help people out by sharing tips on how to save money, there is always some fool who comes along and picks holes in the post you have written.

I'm really sorry if my paragraph spacing etc... is not 100% correct Googler. I just came on here for a quick read during my break and thought i might be able to help a few folks with buying their first guitar.

Idiot

Tommy, i wouldnt let the idiots get to you, message boards seem to attract them and they then from the safety of behind a screen feel they can act up even more

fluffymuffy

To be honest I found the first post interesting but soon gave up as I get lost in a big block of text. I read the paragraphed version.

It's worth pointing out that not everyone plays guitars with steel strings. I play/teach Classical Guitar and many famous steel string guitarists started this way. (You can tell who they are because you don't see their left thumbs).

Classical Guitars - with nylon strings - are a great way for children in particular to get started with this instrument.

OurTommy

fluffymuffy wrote: »

It's worth pointing out that not everyone plays guitars with steel strings. I play/teach Classical Guitar and many famous steel string guitarists started this way. (You can tell who they are because you don't see their left thumbs).

Classical Guitars - with nylon strings - are a great way for children in particular to get started with this instrument.

Hi Fluffy, thanks for reading through my original post.
I guess it is kind of hard going reading through all of that without the breaks. I'll take more time to write stuff properly in future I think

I agree that not everyone uses steel strung instruments. The majority of classical guitars you see these days are strung with nylon strings. However I have noticed in some of the other posts, people were suggesting that steel strung instruments could be restrung using nylon strings to make playing easier. I would not recommend this to anyone as it can cause damage to the instrument.

Also I would not recommend using capo's to learn chords further up the neck until you have learned the basic triad shapes in the open positions. This is because it can become confusing when moving on to playing barre chords etc...

On the subject of Kids learning to play, I've noticed that a lot of kids tend to start on Ukelele these days. This also is a good way of introducing children to playing string instruments, as the scale lenght is a lot shorter and the chords are much easier to play.

Janey7

Thanks for the advice Tommy, I was on the verge of buying a cheap beginners kit from Amazon but will rethink this now!

Krackingtoast

Hello,
great idea of a thread, some good advice. Can I add something. I have played bass for many years and although I did have lessons to begin with I found that the best way to learn is to buy yourself a blank tab book and sit with your bass and work out the tabs yourself and write them down. I remember when I was younger every day after school I'd go home and learn a new song until I could play the whole of my favourite CD at the time. (Rancid's And Out Come The Wolves - although I couldn't quite manage the bass solo in Maxwell Murders!)
Happy learning

Steer73

I'm not sure that it is best to advise new guitar players to get an axe of eb*y. Whilst you may find a jem on there, there are also loads to avoid, and you also run the risk of damage in the post , and more importantly you dont get to try it out first.

Surely better advice would be to grab a guitar playing friend and head to your local guitar shop - and try a few out. At least that way you know what you are getting.

Furthermore - your advice not to spend too much on it first does not suit everyone. A cheap guitar will sound worse, and will likely be more difficult to play than a quality instrument.