Tips For Choosing Your First Guitar

Questions on choosing your first guitar crop up quite often. I have been teaching guitar for many years now and can tell you definitively that the question I answer the most revolves around which guitar to purchase. The answer is simple. It depends.  It depends on a lot of things, but most importantly it depends on you. Choosing your first guitar is mostly down to the buyers preferences and what they feel comfortable with.

Very few guitar players end up playing the same guitar they started with.  As a guitar player improves his skills, his needs change in terms of his equipment.  What does that mean to you a beginner choosing your first guitar? Let’s take a look.

Questions to ask when choosing your first guitar

Choosing Your First Guitar

The beginning guitar player must have an idea of what type(s) of music they are interested in playing. If it is classical guitar, or flamenco then that player will be looking for an acoustic guitar most likely with nylon strings.  If it’s heavy metal, then obviously we will want to be in the electric guitar aisle.

The biggest question I get from parents of students is whether or not they need to spend a lot of money on a guitar. This is somewhat of a double edged sword because what we want in a guitar is decent quality without spending a fortune. This is wh you may need some advice before choosing your first guitar.

If you go out and buy the first guitar you see for $59, chances are you are going to get a $59 guitar.  The problem occurs when a beginner attempts to learn the guitar on an instrument that won’t stay in tune, or the neck isn’t straight, etc. They are inevitably going to lose interest quickly out of pure frustration. Does that mean you need to go out and spend a fortune on a Custom Gibson Les Paul with all the trimmings? Absolutely not.

You have to balance the cost with the likelihood that the beginner will continue to play guitar, and their level of motivation.  If the player has a habit of starting but never finishing anything, I wouldn’t invest a whole lot into a new guitar.

This is a fact about choosing your first guitar:

Every new young guitar player WANTS the best equipment out there, but I think you will agree that Eddie Van Halen said it best when he said, “It’s not the guitar, it’s the player”.  I agree whole heartedly.

It’s important to know, and be honest with the player, that when you first learn to play  guitar songs, it can be a physically painful instrument to play (your fingers and hands WILL hurt).  With that in mind, it is also important when choosing your first guitar to purchase a guitar that is NOT terribly difficult to play, as the task is daunting enough without the help of really poor equipment. In addition to that, it is equally important to choose a guitar that is comfortable in your hands.  We all have different physical make-ups, and not every guitar (regardless of price tag or quality) will feel comfortable in our hands. Thats why you need to get it right when choosing your first guitar.

It is also important to know that while an electric guitar can be physically easier to play than an acoustic guitar, you are not doing yourself any favors by taking the easy road when it comes to learning the guitar.  You will eventually have to develop significant hand and finger strength, so you may as well begin the process as soon as possible.

Just like learning to play the guitar, picking a guitar is also a process.  Take your time and make sure you take into consideration all the factors we discussed before making the purchase.  Before you know it, you’ll know exactly what you are looking for and choosing your first guitar will be easy.

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