Friday, February 25, 2011

How to Pick Your Own First Guitar

Do you want to learn how to play guitar? Are you learning to play guitar? Do not have your own guitar? Or maybe, you already have one but you feel uncomfortable to play it?

At the first time you learn how to play guitar, the instrument itself is very important for continuity of learning process.

Imagine you come to a new restaurant because they sell your favorite food. You order, you eat, but in the end you don't like its taste and you can't eat it up. You can guess, you will not order that food or perhaps you will not order at that restaurant anymore.

Just like a guitar. You need a guitar that fits and is comfortable in your hand and fingers so you can play it for practice for hours. A guitar that makes you want to play it all over again.

I have an experience. All of my students have their own guitars, but many of their guitars are uncomfortable even in my hands and fingers. Besides, they don't produce good sound. So I am not surprised if my students, somehow, lose their will to play guitar. So I recommend them to repair their guitars, or if it's possible to buy a new one.

Beforehand, I will ask you to think about your music for a while. What is your favorite music? A music which makes you lively and sing along all day.

Then set how much money you have to buy a new guitar, $100, $500, $1000 or even more. And even though you are beginner, it is very fine for you to buy and use $3000 guitar or even more. Why? Because guitar is like a living. If an instrument is made of good quality materials, it will produce great sound. And great sound will produce great music. Every one loves listening to great sound and great music. That's why in the market you will find guitars that cost $3000 or even more.

Some people think that just because they are still beginners, buying cheap guitars are just fine regardless the sound of their guitars are horrible. Then after mastering the guitar they will buy the expensive ones. But for some people and as well as for me, the most important is to find a good instrument that is comfortable to play with. And if you have more money, you can buy the best one.

When you already set your budget, then pick the type of guitar. There are acoustic classical guitar, folk acoustic guitar and electric guitar. You decide the type of the guitar based on your favorite music you want to learn about.

If you like classical music and want to play solo then you can choose acoustic classical guitar. If you like pop, country or folk music then choose acoustic guitar (steel strings). And if you want to play clean, distortion, and louder sound, you will choose electric guitar.

I have a recommendation for beginners. Electric guitar is good for your first guitar. It is much easier for you to play electric guitar and it is also easy to set the guitar too. But if you don't have enough money to buy one then go buy acoustic guitar.

For whatever guitar types are, you have to make sure that the guitar is tuned. The easiest way is to bring one of your friend who can also play guitar. He or she will know whether the guitar is tuned or not. Ask he or she to play on every fret, detect if there is any buzzing or out of tune. And if you can't find anyone who can play guitar, just ask the sellers to play them. Play a little trick by telling them that you will give the guitar to someone for a gift, then ask them for bargain. ;-)

After that, feel the action of the guitar. Action is the term for gap between strings and the neck of guitar. Find the lowest part and no buzzing. Buzzing is the sound that is produced from strings and iron (fret) because the action is set too low. Try to press the strings, is it hard to press or not. This will bring effect to playability of the guitar.

If you feel your guitar is still uncomfortable to play because the guitar action is too high, you can repair the action of the guitar. Bring your guitar to guitar technicians, ask them to lower the action.

One other thing that must not be forgotten is material of the guitar. This is one factor why a guitar can be very expensive. Good materials like woods will produce good sound. The better the wood, it brings the better sound quality.

If you want to buy acoustic guitar, and you have more money, you have to make sure that the material of the body is wood, not plywood. For electric guitar, to buy brand such as Fender or Gibson is very good for investment too.

Even though you are a beginner, it will be just fine if you make custom guitar. The wood's character and material will be adapted with you.

Now, take your time for a while. Think all over again. Check your money, decide your choice, then buy your guitar. Don't forget that guitar is an investment. Sometimes cheap is cheap and the price is worth what it costs.

After buying the guitar, then you need a teacher that can help you with the fastest way and the right way to play guitar. My recommendation for you click here. And don't forget to check this blog for other guitar tips

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