Beginners Guide to Buying Guitars

 If you’re a parent with a youngster that wants to play guitar, there is a theory that says one must buy a cheap guitar. That way if the youngster doesn’t stick with it, you didn’t end up wasting too much money. Why that is 

wrong is what I want to talk about today. But first, let me explain how this relates to my childhood growing up playing guitar.

 I first started playing guitar at age 9. My first guitar was my Dad’s old acoustic that he seldom played. I would play until my fingers bled, superglue my fingertips and keep playing. Even though I only knew one chord, I still played every day. The minute I first saw that guitar I knew I would spend the rest of my life playing it. 

 However my parents were not convinced I was going to keep it up and it took another four years before my parents broke down and bought me my own guitar. When I finally got my own guitar, it was a cheap Fender Squier Strat II that never stayed in tune, with an amp that sounded like I was playing thru a tin can. 

 It was embarrassing to take to school, and it was so difficult to play it made measuring my progress next to impossible. I asked my parents for better quality gear so I could start playing in bands but my parents still cited the fact that I would not stick with it. So in my late teens when most of my other friends were playing in bands, I was still playing on a 13 year olds guitar and desperately trying to save my money. 

That was not how I envisioned spending my teenage years playing 

guitar.

Looks Kind of Do Matter with that First Guitar!

  Not wanting to spend money on something someone might not stick with is valid, but it is also flawed.

 You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars, but just spending that extra couple hundred can make all the difference.

 You want your beginner to have a guitar he can be excited about so they WILL stick with it. It’s kind of hard to be excited about a piece of crap that you’re too embarrassed to play in front of your friends because your folks were too cheap to buy at least the next model better. 

 Watching their friends and fellow guitar players get excited over their how cool their guitar looks and sounds is a powerful motivator  to not only make you keep playing to but to also strive to improve.

The Frustrations of Playing a Shitty Guitar

 It sucks playing a poorly constructed guitar. It’s hard to be excited when you can’t tell where your deficiencies start and the guitar’s begin. 

 It’s hard to measure your progress when your guitar won’t even stay in tune and your amp sounds like someone taking a dump in though a megaphone. 

 It’s impossible to get good when you’re not playing and learning from other musicians because you’re guitar is such a piece of shit that you hide it at home for fear of getting laughed at. 

 Learning how to drive, for example, is difficult and frustrating enough without having to worry about having brakes that work, power steering, working lights and mirrors and a smooth running engine. 

You wouldn’t do that to a beginning driver, so don’t do that to a beginning guitarist. 

 Learning how to play is already hard, tedious, time consuming and at times extremely frustrating and disappointing as it is without being handicapped by a shitty guitar. 

The Very Basics of Buying a Guitar

 You could easily write a book about this. I’m not getting into the mechanical, and technical aspects of what to look for in a guitar. If you wanna find out what wood is the best, you’re on the wrong blog.

But if you want a couple pointers that are so easy to remember you don’t even have to write them down then here you go:

Buy a guitar at an actual music store

Not at a Best Buy or Walmart. Don’t ever do that you moron.

Ask for Help!

That’s what they’re there for. There’s nothing manly, or cool about being in a guitar store trying to buy a guitar you know nothing about and not asking for help.

Have the Salesperson Tune the Guitar

Make sure it stays in tune when it’s played and make sure all the guitars you look at are in tune. They’re easier to compare to each other that way.

Check for Buzzing on the Frets

This is not a good sign. If it can’t fixed by adjusting it – don’t buy it

And Lastly,

Beware of Surprising People

 I’ve been surprised with poor quality guitars and other gear as gifts. It is very stressful to hide that disappointed expression as quickly as possible, smile and say something like, “Wow! This is great!” when secretly wishing you had been there to supervise and consult on the purchase. 

 Even though your beginner may not even know how to play guitar yet, they may very well already know more about guitars than you think.

 In the four years before I got my first guitar, I had gone thru every guitar magazine there was to read. I knew exactly what I wanted, knew what to look for, where to find it and how much to pay. My parents, assumed incorrectly that just because I was a beginner, I didn’t know anything about guitars

 Take your beginner along to make that first purchase. If he can’t get what he wants at least he’s there to make sure he can still find something he’s still happy with.

CHEAP ISN’T ALWAYS BAD

 Even though cheap usually means bad, doesn’t mean it always means bad. Once you know what you’re looking for, you can find some great deals on places like Craigslist, EBay or just your local pawn shop. 

 As an adult my favorite electric guitar I’ve ever had, is this Alvarez electric guitar I bought for $90 at a used music store in Queen Creek, Arizona. It’s beat up, it’s old, it’s cheap but it stays in tune, and has personality and tone. I love that damn thing. 

 My last acoustic guitar was a beautiful sounding Fender acoustic/electric I found in a pawn shop with a great guitar case for $200.

 If you want to try to get a good deal for your youngster online or at a pawn shop and you don’t know anything about guitars make sure you consult with a friend or someone that does know what they’re doing.

 30 years after my parents told me they were convinced that I would never stick to playing guitar…well I’m still playing. 

 Of course I hardly ever follow my own advice. When I bought my daughter who’s five, a guitar, what did I do? I went out and got a $20 Walmart Barbie guitar. But who care’s she’s only five. If she’s still playing when she outgrows it then I’ll get her another one. Ha-ha.

Please follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/guitardedblogg

And on Twitter @guitardedblog

email me at bloggeradmin@guitardedblog.com