I often have to advise my fledglings on their first guitar purchase. It can be a minefield if you go it alone. As with ‘Fight Club’ there are three rules when buying a guitar:
1. Do not buy a guitar from the internet.
2. Under no circumstances do you buy a guitar from the internet.
3. DO NOT BUY A GUITAR FROM THE INTERNET!
The reason for these three admirably sensible rules is that, ignoring the perils of eBay fraud for a moment, buying a guitar on the internet inevitably leads to disappointment, heartbreak, disease and ultimately, death. It could even affect your credit rating . Additionally, a guitar is a personal thing, you have to play it to see if it ‘fits’, even as a novice you can form an opinion as to whether you like it or not, even if it’s just the colour. I always accompany potential purchasers to buy their first guitar to make sure it plays well etc. Guitars are individual, you can try two allegedly identical guitars and they will be different, it’s always best to let me pick the nicer of the two. As you would expect, this variation is more apparent at the budget end of the price spectrum .
I would like to take a moment to dispel an annoyingly persistent myth, you do not have to start on an acoustic guitar, then graduate to an electric when you have served some sort of apprenticeship or ‘learned properly’ or some such nonsense. Kids, tell your parents this! Say I said so too if it helps. I remember dismal days spent trying to play AC/DC on a dreadful classical guitar, all the chords and scales etc are the same on both so what you learn on one, is directly applicable to the other, up to a certain point. Electric guitars are easier to play due to their design and tend to be more fun too, due to the multitude of effects boxes that are available, also the stuff we will learn on an electric will usually be a small part of a larger whole and therefore initially not as difficult, conversely, if it’s just you and an acoustic sitting in a room, you have to work quite hard to make it sound full. To summarise, get the guitar you want eventually, right now. The apparent downside of an electric guitar is that it requires the purchase of an amplifier, this actually turns out to be a benefit though, because if you live in a shared house or are simply a bit sensitive about having others listen to you stumble through the intro of Sweet Home Alabama for the twentieth time, the electric guitar is the only one that you can plug headphones into and indulge your inner rock god with all night, guitar teacher pleasing, practice sessions. The small amp I like at the moment is the THR10 amp from Yamaha, it provides cool effects, amps and cabinets, all digitally modelled. You plug it into your laptop and connect your guitar and headphones to it and then you have a perfect private practice solution with all the usual effects. It also acts as speakers for your laptop for Spotify or whatever.
It’s not quite a clear cut as it used to be, but broadly speaking you are either going to buy a Les Paul type guitar or a Fender Stratocaster type. If you are about to make your first ever purchase, it’s often a good deal to buy everything in one box. You get the guitar, amp, groupie, antibiotic shots, lead, pick and other stuff for one price all in the box. It’s often a Stratocaster type guitar, the problem with this guitar is that it often has a single coil pickup in the bridge position and this is not so good for the aspiring rockers among you. It’s not a huge problem and can be rectified later if you have already bought one. An explanation of the technical terms is beyond the scope of this page, but remember to say to the salesperson this exact phrase: ‘I want a guitar that has a humbucking pickup in the bridge position.’ You may care to add ‘And make it snappy, my good man or you’ll get a damn good clip round the ear.’ but that’s up to you. It will cost a little more but the rock tone is well worth the extra expense.
‘I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate.’
-George Burns
