How to buy a guitar.

Hi! I am a full-time professional musician! My primary instrument is electric bass, but I also play acoustic guitar, dabble in piano a little and sing. I play gigs two to three nights a week (or did...before Covid-19), serve on a church praise team, do session work, write and produce my own music, and teach freelance.

I should explain also, that I have worked at Guitar Center in two different cities, and in two different capacities- on the guitar sales floor in El Toro, CA, and in the Lesson Academy in my current home, El Paso, TX. I do not work for them currently, but I heartily recommend their program.If you need lessons, they have a good program going...that I now compete with...so call ME first! Just kidding...but why I mention it is because, on some of the online forums I frequent, there is a supposition that, because I worked for a music retailer, my opinions might be an attempt to promote said retailer. I do not operate that way. Even when I worked for Guitar Center, my opinions on gear were my own! Now that I am no longer employed by them, all the more so!

So....now that we have that out of the way...

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Remember this statement: You have an image, in your mind, of what it is like to play your chosen instrument. You can see how it feels, you can hear what it sounds like, you can feel your fingers on the strings, you can feel the guitar over your shoulder, all that! Trust it! You may be a novice at guitar, and you may feel like you don’t know anything.But you do know YOU! You know what you like.

So let’s get into some guitar basics. There are acoustic guitars and electric guitars.

Acoustic

Now, there are several sub categories for each of those. With Acoustics, there are Classical guitars and folk guitars.

Classical guitars- usually will have a smaller body, nylon strings, and a wide neck.

Folk guitars- usually a thinner neck, larger body, and steel strings.

Classical guitars usually have a softer tone. The nylon strings are softer to the touch, and often beginners find them easier to work with.

Folk guitars have a louder, more resonant tone, and because of the thinner neck, are easier to play chords on. The bigger bodies also help the sound project more.

We will come back to Electrics in a little while. Let’s stick to acoustics for a minute. If you’re buying your first guitar, which should you choose?

It doesn’t matter. As a beginner, the things you need the guitar to be able to do can be done on either. I could get into a lot about guitar construction, tone woods and all of that. If you’re interested in a deeper dive you can email me at [email protected]. Feel free to use the tip feature here on Vocal too!

But right now, as a beginner, you need to ask yourself some questions that will help you decide what to get:

1) Do I like the way it looks?

2) Do I like the way it feels?

3) Do I like the way it sounds?

Now...remember the statement I made at the beginning? Here is where that comes into play. If the guitar you ar3 looking at is the most beautiful guitar you’ve ever seen, but it doesn’t feel comfortable to play, and doesn’t sound good, move on! If it is butt ugly, but feels great, but you don’t like the sound, move on! If the looks are ok, feel is great, but it sounds horrible, move on! All 3 of those boxes must be checked, or you are wasting your money. The instrument you pick must inspire you to play, otherwise you will not play it, pure and simple! And don’t let anyone tell you your wrong either. This is NOT their guitar...it’s your! YOU have to be happy with it!

I used to have a recurring customer when I DID work at Guitar Center, who was this little hippy-dippy girl, who was, apparently, a very in-demand touring musician. But she would come to the store and kind of prance around the store, and pluck a note on a guitar on the wall, then float away, and hit another one. She would do this for half an hour, both on the electric floor, and in the acoustic room too. When I finally got to speak to her, she said “I’m just looking for a guitar that gives me a buzz,” Now, I don’t think you have to go to her extreme, but never buy a guitar that doesn’t give you a buzz!

Another important detail is get your guitar set up! The place from which you purchase should offer that service. Utilize the 14-30 day return policy, keep the box and all of its contents, and return if you need to, but realize some of the things preventing the guitar from giving you the “Buzz” may be related to set up! Strings may be too high, or low, truss rod may need adjusting. If you still don’t like it after that, return it and move on!

Moving on to electric guitars, same applies. There are solid bodied guitars, hollow body guitars, there are Stratocaster styles, Les Paul styles etc. The number of choices can be overwhelming, but I go back that same set of questions. Always go by that, and you will choose correctly, every time. I say every time because if you really get the bug, this will not be your first guitar! I hope this helps!