Many people travel to their local music stores amidst the holiday season with the intention to get either themselves or their student a guitar but are unsure of what to get. Today, we look at the biggest things to look for in purchasing a guitar.
First, you must ask yourself one question… and no its NOT if you feel lucky… because when looking at guitars, we know you already are! Rather, its multiple questions that help you get a better understanding of what needs the new player will have. To better understand and answer the following questions, lets identify a few of the common differences in guitars. They are divided into 2 separate guitar types...
Acoustic guitars: Designed as a wood chamber that projects the sound out a hole on the front and doesn’t require amplification. Often has a wood design and is made to sound different based on the wood type used.
Electric guitars: Magnetic pickup driven guitars used in conjunction with an amplifier to achieve different effects and can take many different shapes, sizes, and colors.
So now we know the two most common styles, here are some questions that will help you make the right decision.
Question 1; What age is the player? This question is important because it helps decide which size instrument to look at. Nothing can be more frustrating or discouraging than a student learning on an instrument that is too large for them and their first experience with the instrument should be fun! There are a variety of different sizes and shapes you can choose from and being able to see them in person helps make that decision a lot easier.
Question 2: What brought you to the decision to buy a guitar? Did you see a rockstar in concert ripping a solo and find yourself wanting to do that too? Do you have someone in your family that plays and want to play together? Are you potentially looking to join your school’s jazz band? All of these and more are valid reasons for looking into the instrument but the reason it’s an important question is because it helps decide what style of guitar makes the most sense for the end goal. As an example, to best fit “the rocker” an electric guitar with the right pickups and a good amp would make sense.
Question 3: How are you planning to learn the instrument? This is probably the most crucial in the process because getting the guitar was the easy part, learning it is the tricky part. Easily the best course of action is to get in touch with a teacher. They will help you navigate a lesson plan and help you avoid bad habits as well as forming good ones. For information on a great lesson plan, see www.midbellmusic.com to get involved with our lesson plan!
If you’re reading this saying… well what do I do if there aren’t any teacher near me… don’t worry. There are options for you too! You simply need to either look in to lesson books and/or an online lesson plan. Much of the information online however can be subject to mis-information so be cautious to use only reputable sources for info. We recommend the free trial of Fender Play as a good source for beginning online lessons - www.fender.com/play
