Good morning guys. You know a lot of people always ask this question. "What do i look for when i want to buy my first guitar?" Hence based on my experience and feedback from others, i would like to do a little sharing regarding this. A senior(his name is Kok Long) first shared this knowledge on this blog. I know i've read it but can't seem to find it back. So if anyone found it, feel free to include the link in the comment below.
Before buying a guitar, you need to identify which kind of style do you want to explore and indulge in. Fans of rock, blues and metal? Then go for electric guitar. Want to be a fingerstyle pro like Sungha Jung, then go for classical guitar. Or if you just want to strum your favourite pop radio songs then opt for acoustic guitar.
Electric Guitar
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| Series of Gibson Custom |
Electric guitar is the best instrument for you to explore endless possibilities of sound and tone in your playing. You can choose sweet clean sound or just turn on the distortion for some loud noise that could make your neighbour angry. But if you never touch a guitar before, it's best to start off with acoustic guitar first. Learn your basic chords, strumming, scale before you move on to electric guitar. You need to have a guitar amp, guitar cables and if better some effect pedals to go with your electric guitar. With the effect pedals you can fine tune your sound with gain, overdrive, crunch, clean, volume, tone, etc etc.
Electric guitar comes in range of prices. In my opinion, the ones below 1k really gives koyak sound. So don't go for that. Rock, blues, pop go for Fender, Gibson, Epiphone. Rock, metal go for ESP, Ibanez.
Acoustic Guitar
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| Taylor (with cutaway) |
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| Takamine (without cutaway) |
This is what most people look for as their first guitar. First thing you ought to do is to set your budget. Acoustic guitar can go as low as hundred plus but i really don't encourage you to buy that crap. Sounds like crap, feels like crap, in a nutshell, it is CRAP. If you're a beginner and not sure whether you're going to stick to this new found interest of yours, stick to range 300-500. Personally i have only one guitar, EVO (3 years old and counting) and the price is only 320 with bag, tuner and a strap. I got it in Gurney Evolution Music House. But as you gain more experience in playing, then you will start to hunger for better sounding guitar which comes with higher price.
Next you need to opt for one with the output jack or without it. Guitar with output jack costs more than the one without it but it allows you to plug in guitar cables to your guitar, out to the amplifier. This is usually for performances on the stage, but without it you can always place a microphone near the guitar sound hole and it works pretty much the same.
Next is the cutaway, which is a design that cuts the body, allowing player to comfortable reach for the high frets. You can see the difference in the above two guitars.
Most important of all, different players have different taste towards guitar on how it should sound and feel. So take your time, go to several music shops, try as many guitars as you can, know the difference in sound and feel, then only make your decision.
Some brands with good acoustic guitars: Taylor, Fender, Takamine, Groovy, Yamaha
Classical Guitar
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| Fender Classical Guitar |
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| 3 steel strings, 3 nylon strings |
A classical guitar has a full-bodied, warm and mellow sound. This is partly due to the nylon strings. Comparatively to the acoustic guitar, classical guitar is easier to play as the nylon strings are softer than the steel acoustic ones. But the classic guitar has a thicker neck hence not suitable for small hands. Classical guitar sounds best when finger style is being used. Not so nice when strummed as compared to acoustic guitar.
Of course whether you're a right-handed or left-handed person you can still get play the guitar. Just remember to include this to the "what kind of guitar you're looking for" and tell the salesperson. Hope this enlightens you. Have a good day. Cheers.
