Beginner guitar buying guide
Often my very first lesson with a student is about how to pick out the right guitar for them.
While you can buy a guitar online, there are a few good reasons to buy one in person. The kind of guitar that suits you depends a lot on your body type. If you’re a larger person you might prefer a larger guitar. If you’re a smaller person, you might want a smaller guitar. If you have smaller hands there are guitars with narrow necks. If you have exceptionally large hands you might need a guitar with an especially wide neck, like a classical guitar. If you’re looking for an electric guitar, its important to decide wether you’re planning to practice sitting down or standing up - different makes and models of electric guitars feel great to play standing up, but can feel uncomfortable to sit with.
The second reason to buy a guitar in person is to check the playability. While it is possible to make adjustments after you buy it, that can sometimes cost half what you paid for the guitar!
When I meet with a future guitar owner, I take them through this process of how to buy their first guitar.
BEGINNER GUITAR BUYING GUIDE
The right size guitar will feel comfortable to hold
Step one: Go to a local guitar store.
Walk into your local music store and ask to see the beginner guitars. If you’re wearing a jacket with a zipper, please take it off before you play a guitar to avoid scratching. They really don’t like that at music stores.
Step two: hold a few guitars for comparison
Sit down with a few guitars to get a sense of how it feels to hold them. Make sure you try some that look bigger and some that look smaller. Don’t worry if you can’t play them yet. This is just to get a sense of which body size feels comfortable to hold. Guitars costing between $150 and $400 are usually excellent for beginners.
When holding a guitar, set the waist (the little part that tucks in) on your right leg, and secure the guitar to your body by lightly pressing your elbow toward your leg and the guitar up against your body. You should not need to hold the guitar up with your fretting hand.
Step three: Check the nut action.
This sounds weird, but it just means to check how far the strings are away from the frets. If you try this on one guitar, you’ll have no idea if its difficult or easy, but if you try it on a handful of guitars, you’ll quickly get a sense of which ones have lower nut action. Lower nut action means its easier to press the strings to the frets. And that means the guitar is easier to play! Hold the guitar as shown above, and push your index finger down on each string until the string touches the first fret (the small metal strip on the fingerboard.)
Step 4: check the bridge action.
Basically, you’re going to do the same thing you did before but at the 12th fret, which is usually marked by two dots on the fingerboard and on the side of the neck where its easily visible. Just push each string to the fret. The goal is to find a guitar that is easy to push the strings to the fret.
Step 5: decide on a guitar.
If you’ve found a guitar that feels good to hold onto and the strings feel close to the frets, thats a guitar worth buying! Ask if it comes with a case or a gig bag (a soft backpack style case.) Often if it doesn’t come with one, a store will give you a discount on a new one. If you’re feeling unsure about your guitar decision, you can always leave without buying a guitar and wait a few days, or try a few other music stores.
Step 6: get the necessary accessories
There aren’t a ton of necessities when it comes to buying guitars, but a few things you might want to consider are: a) a pack of guitar picks, b) a music stand, c) a guitar strap, d) a capo. Ask the sales person about which ones will work for your guitar and they will be happy to help you find the right one.
Also, its very useful to buy a battery powered - or even better - a USB rechargeable clip-on tuner, for making sure your guitar stays in tune. But you can also save the $20 and get a free guitar tuning app on your phone. I recommend one called “GuitarTuna” because it helps you learn how to tune. The best case scenario would be to have both options, but if you’re looking to save a few bucks, just get a phone app.
Step 7: get some guitar lessons
This one is obvious. Now that you have the guitar, its nice to have someone to help you learn efficiently and quickly while building habits that make it easier to continue learning as you improve. Feel free to contact me about lessons.