Buying Your First Guitar
So you want to learn to play guitar?
This can be a very rewarding and empowering experience if approached in the right way. This site is designed to help you make the right choices and avoid wasting your time and money. There's a myriad of choices out there, guitars come in all shapes sizes and colors and it is very difficult for the uninitiated to choose wisely. In many cases the sales staff at your local guitar shop can guide you but it doesn't hurt to have some background knowledge, just in case you run into a salesperson who doesn't have your best interest at heart.
What you're looking for is simple.
A well-built guitar that is comfortable and easy to play. When you hold the guitar in a playing position the neck should feel comfortable in your hand and you should be able to easily wrap your fingers around the neck, touching your index finger to your thumb. Unless you have unusually short fingers you should be able to find the right fit for you. Fortunately most guitar shops will allow you to play a number of guitars to see what will work for you.
Without getting into a complicated explanation you want to have a look at the strings. Ideally you want the distance between the fretboard and the strings to be the same all the way up and down the neck. If the the gap between the stings and the fretboard increases as you get towards the body of the guitar this can be a sign that there are problems with the instrument. If you are looking at purchasing a used guitar privately, it may be a good idea to take an experienced player along with you to ensure you don't waste your money on someone else's junk. Have a look at the links at the top right of the screen for more information to guide you. Good luck!
Buying a Guitar for a Child
There are several things to consider when purchasing a guitar for a child. First and foremost, are they ready? In teaching guitar lessons I found that many younger students simply do not yet have the attention span to focus on learning the guitar. The danger there is that some unscrupulous guitar teacher will take advantage by allowing you to pay for lessons even though your son or daughter may not be getting anything out of the time and money spent on lessons. Please keep in mind that young minds are sensitive but not very selective! Kids absorb an alarming amount of information in learning who they are going to be and so it may be perfectly fine if they are not ready to learn to play guitar.
If your child is too small to get their fingers around the neck, you may want to let them grow a little more as well. It is difficult enough to learn to play an instrument, let alone a giant guitar! Because of this a number of guitar makers make small scale guitars with younger, smaller students in mind. However it is a far better idea to let the child grow into a full size guitar. Once the young student reaches a point where it is possible for them to play a full size instrument, steps can be taken to make the guitar easier to play. For instance an Acoustic guitar can be strung with electric strings. Electric strings don't have anywhere near as rich a tone and the guitar won't be nearly as loud, but it will be easier to play. You can also have the guitar set up by a professional guitar technician in order to make the guitar as playable as possible.
Long story short, timing is very important and forcing a child to try and learn the guitar too soon may discourage them from playing at all! Keep in mind when buying a first guitar for a child, that one of two things is likely to happen. 1) After gaining some mastery of the instrument a student may decide to buy a higher quality instrument and will likely want to trade in this guitar against a newer better one. 2) The student decides to abandon the guitar, in which case you may decide to sell it to help finance something else like skateboarding or hockey! This is why it's a very good idea to buy a brand name guitar and keep it in good condition in order to maximize resale value. It's also a good idea to avoid guitars with crazy paint jobs for the same reason!
Electric of Acoustic?
Is it better to learn on one or the other?
Many new guitars players have chosen to pick up the guitar because they have become inspired by a popular musician. In some cases pop musicians play acoustic guitars but it's more than likely they play an electric. I have to tell you that many experienced guitarists that learned to play on electric guitars will tell you that they wish they had learned to play on an acoustic.
Acoustic guitars are considerably harder to play, and a basic acoustic guitar doesn't have the wide array of sounds available to an electric guitarist via effects stomp boxes. However when it comes learning to play, the acoustic guitar has some distinct advantages.
The simplicity of the acoustic guitar is its strength. This allows the student to focus on fingering technique and relative pitch. It is more important to gain strength and dexterity than it is to make cool sounds that involve little talent! You might as well buy some turntables. You can get some cool sounds out of turntables, but they are not a musical instrument!
Having said that if a student simply won't have any desire to play an acoustic guitar, if it's electric or nothing there are some things to take into consideration. Avoid guitars with locking systems that keep the guitar perfectly in tune no matter what. Tuning your guitar is excellent ear training and helps develop your sense of relative pitch. So avoid guitars with fine tuning bridges and locking systems.
Alternate picking.
When your are playing scales attack the string on the first note with a downward motion and then attack the string for the second note with an upward motion. Mastering this method of picking will dramatically improve your playing speed.
Don't press harder than you need to.
Having a good touch on the fretboard is very important. If you press too hard when playing chords you can actually make the chord sound out of tune, even if the guitar is tuned perfectly. This will also reduce fatigue when playing lengthy guitar solos. This is one of the harder things to master so don't be surprised if you don't get it right away.
Record yourself every so often to mark your improvement.
Even the very best guitarists were beginners at one time. It can give you some encouragement to know that even if you're not the best guitar player who ever lived, at least you are better than you were a few months ago.
Learn as many chords as you can!
Once you've learned a few chords you will find that you can play some classic rock songs. These are great at a party or around the campfire. This also causes you to learn new chords as you go as new songs introduce you to new chords. This is great because you apply what you have learned right away.
Take every opportunity to jam with players who are better than you are.
This is a great tip for guitar players at any level. You learn things just by watching them and at the same time it gives you something to shoot for. Don't be intimidated by a better player. You're playing for your own enjoyment, it's not a contest!
When doing scale drills, sing the notes as you play them.
This will develop your improvisational skills. As you begin to develop your lead guitar skills, you will begin to think about what you're going to be playing 5, 10, 15 seconds from the present time. Being able to hear the pitches you want to play and associate them with places on the fretboard will allow you to unleash your creativity in your lead work.
Record yourself playing the rhythm guitar and them play it back to practice the lead.
That's all for now If I think of anything else I'll add it here!
This can be a very rewarding and empowering experience if approached in the right way. This site is designed to help you make the right choices and avoid wasting your time and money. There's a myriad of choices out there, guitars come in all shapes sizes and colors and it is very difficult for the uninitiated to choose wisely. In many cases the sales staff at your local guitar shop can guide you but it doesn't hurt to have some background knowledge, just in case you run into a salesperson who doesn't have your best interest at heart.
What you're looking for is simple.
A well-built guitar that is comfortable and easy to play. When you hold the guitar in a playing position the neck should feel comfortable in your hand and you should be able to easily wrap your fingers around the neck, touching your index finger to your thumb. Unless you have unusually short fingers you should be able to find the right fit for you. Fortunately most guitar shops will allow you to play a number of guitars to see what will work for you.
Without getting into a complicated explanation you want to have a look at the strings. Ideally you want the distance between the fretboard and the strings to be the same all the way up and down the neck. If the the gap between the stings and the fretboard increases as you get towards the body of the guitar this can be a sign that there are problems with the instrument. If you are looking at purchasing a used guitar privately, it may be a good idea to take an experienced player along with you to ensure you don't waste your money on someone else's junk. Have a look at the links at the top right of the screen for more information to guide you. Good luck!
Buying a Guitar for a Child
There are several things to consider when purchasing a guitar for a child. First and foremost, are they ready? In teaching guitar lessons I found that many younger students simply do not yet have the attention span to focus on learning the guitar. The danger there is that some unscrupulous guitar teacher will take advantage by allowing you to pay for lessons even though your son or daughter may not be getting anything out of the time and money spent on lessons. Please keep in mind that young minds are sensitive but not very selective! Kids absorb an alarming amount of information in learning who they are going to be and so it may be perfectly fine if they are not ready to learn to play guitar.
If your child is too small to get their fingers around the neck, you may want to let them grow a little more as well. It is difficult enough to learn to play an instrument, let alone a giant guitar! Because of this a number of guitar makers make small scale guitars with younger, smaller students in mind. However it is a far better idea to let the child grow into a full size guitar. Once the young student reaches a point where it is possible for them to play a full size instrument, steps can be taken to make the guitar easier to play. For instance an Acoustic guitar can be strung with electric strings. Electric strings don't have anywhere near as rich a tone and the guitar won't be nearly as loud, but it will be easier to play. You can also have the guitar set up by a professional guitar technician in order to make the guitar as playable as possible.
Long story short, timing is very important and forcing a child to try and learn the guitar too soon may discourage them from playing at all! Keep in mind when buying a first guitar for a child, that one of two things is likely to happen. 1) After gaining some mastery of the instrument a student may decide to buy a higher quality instrument and will likely want to trade in this guitar against a newer better one. 2) The student decides to abandon the guitar, in which case you may decide to sell it to help finance something else like skateboarding or hockey! This is why it's a very good idea to buy a brand name guitar and keep it in good condition in order to maximize resale value. It's also a good idea to avoid guitars with crazy paint jobs for the same reason!
Electric of Acoustic?
Is it better to learn on one or the other?
Many new guitars players have chosen to pick up the guitar because they have become inspired by a popular musician. In some cases pop musicians play acoustic guitars but it's more than likely they play an electric. I have to tell you that many experienced guitarists that learned to play on electric guitars will tell you that they wish they had learned to play on an acoustic.
Acoustic guitars are considerably harder to play, and a basic acoustic guitar doesn't have the wide array of sounds available to an electric guitarist via effects stomp boxes. However when it comes learning to play, the acoustic guitar has some distinct advantages.
The simplicity of the acoustic guitar is its strength. This allows the student to focus on fingering technique and relative pitch. It is more important to gain strength and dexterity than it is to make cool sounds that involve little talent! You might as well buy some turntables. You can get some cool sounds out of turntables, but they are not a musical instrument!
Having said that if a student simply won't have any desire to play an acoustic guitar, if it's electric or nothing there are some things to take into consideration. Avoid guitars with locking systems that keep the guitar perfectly in tune no matter what. Tuning your guitar is excellent ear training and helps develop your sense of relative pitch. So avoid guitars with fine tuning bridges and locking systems.
Alternate picking.
When your are playing scales attack the string on the first note with a downward motion and then attack the string for the second note with an upward motion. Mastering this method of picking will dramatically improve your playing speed.
Don't press harder than you need to.
Having a good touch on the fretboard is very important. If you press too hard when playing chords you can actually make the chord sound out of tune, even if the guitar is tuned perfectly. This will also reduce fatigue when playing lengthy guitar solos. This is one of the harder things to master so don't be surprised if you don't get it right away.
Record yourself every so often to mark your improvement.
Even the very best guitarists were beginners at one time. It can give you some encouragement to know that even if you're not the best guitar player who ever lived, at least you are better than you were a few months ago.
Learn as many chords as you can!
Once you've learned a few chords you will find that you can play some classic rock songs. These are great at a party or around the campfire. This also causes you to learn new chords as you go as new songs introduce you to new chords. This is great because you apply what you have learned right away.
Take every opportunity to jam with players who are better than you are.
This is a great tip for guitar players at any level. You learn things just by watching them and at the same time it gives you something to shoot for. Don't be intimidated by a better player. You're playing for your own enjoyment, it's not a contest!
When doing scale drills, sing the notes as you play them.
This will develop your improvisational skills. As you begin to develop your lead guitar skills, you will begin to think about what you're going to be playing 5, 10, 15 seconds from the present time. Being able to hear the pitches you want to play and associate them with places on the fretboard will allow you to unleash your creativity in your lead work.
Record yourself playing the rhythm guitar and them play it back to practice the lead.
That's all for now If I think of anything else I'll add it here!
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