Purchasing Your First Guitar What You Need To Know

For many of you that are thinking about learning how to play the guitar, buying your first guitar can be confusing; there are so many options available to us that it can be down right frustrating. When purchasing a new guitar even advanced guitarists have trouble deciding on what they want or need. By following a few suggestions, you can make the whole process of buying a guitar that much easier.

The most important aspect of buying a guitar is to know what type of sound you are after. Certain guitars are better suited to a specific style of music; some guitars are specifically built to play jazz, blues, rock, or classical music, so before you buy your first guitar you must decide which style of guitar is right for the type of music that you altimetry want to play.

There are basically four types of guitars:

The electric guitar is possibly the most frequently played guitar in both rock and pop bands. Electric guitars are typically manufactured with a body that is solid. In order to get the most out of an electric guitar you will need an amplifier.

The acoustic guitar has a body that is hollow and uses wound steel strings to create the sound. You do not need an amplifier when playing an acoustic guitar.

There is the acoustic electric guitar, which is an acoustic guitar that has a pickup built into it. The acoustic electric guitar can be played with or without an amplifier.

Finally there is the classical guitar, which is one of the oldest types of guitars that were first contracted in its present day form in the 19th century Spain. A classical guitar uses guitar strings that are made out of nylon.

You can also buy guitars in various sizes. You can buy a guitar that is three quarter size and half size these are great for children. When you first begin to learn how to play the guitar it can be a tiny bit painful on the fingertips. Electric guitars and nylon strung guitars make it a lot easier on the fingertips.

Back to Basics - Learn How To Play Guitar

So you want to learn how to play guitar do you? Well congratulations, because in my ever so humble opinion, learning to play the guitar is among the most rewarding things that you can learn. The goal of this article is not to turn you into some kind of overnight rock star, but rather to give you a bit of an introduction to the guitar, give you a couple chords to work on to get started.
But first… a question I come across all too frequently:

Can I Learn How To Play Guitar?

I had the good fortune of learning guitar when I was a teenager; however I’ve found that there are many people out there who are much further along in life, and are now wondering if it is even possible for them to learn at their age.
I’d like to answer that with a resounding YES!

YES! It is possible for you to learn to play guitar, regardless of your age. The oldest student of mine that I’ve heard from was 93… just starting to learn how to play guitar, and LOVING IT! The biggest

10 Essential Principles for Learning Guitar

The guitar is a great instrument. It’s fairly portable, relatively inexpensive, easy enough to learn the basics – and you can take your playing as far as you want. Lots of people – from kids to grandparents – learn the guitar every day. And if you’re one of them, here are ten things you need to know.
On a recent Open Mic we asked the question, “What advice would you offer someone considering learning the guitar?” Lots of you answered, and your main points are included in this article alongside my own thoughts. And please feel free to add even more advice in the comments. Thousands of learners will appreciate it.

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1. Practice!

This might seem obvious, but it never stopped anyone giving this advice when I started learning.
I started learning music when I was 20 – keyboard first, then guitar later. I was keen and enthusiastic, and constantly asked every musician I met for advice about the best and fastest way to learn. Every person gave me just one word of advice: “Practice!” It drove me crazy as hell – I wanted more – but it was good advice.
A big part of learning to play the guitar (and any instrument) is finger memory – motor skills. Your fingers need to know what to do without your brain needing to tell them. And that comes just one way – practice.
How much do you need to practice? I still stand by the advice I was given at the time: half an hour a day, or an hour a day if your really serious about learning. And the daily part is important – practice every day. One three hour session a week just isn’t going to cut it. Remember we are trying to develop finger memory, and that comes by regular, constant practice.
Most of you agree. Here is the advice you gave in the Open Mic:

• “Practice, practice, practice. There’s no substitute for actually playing music.” (vladh)
• “Practice practice practice.” (lisote)
• “Be prepared for hard work, playing the guitar is hard at first and requires patience, determination and above all time. If you are prepared to practice half an hour a day you will start to get results within a month or two and you will be playing your favourite songs which is when the fun really begins.” (Jon)
• “Persistence. To begin with your fingers won’t like it & it can be frustrating, but with regular practice (said countless times, 10/20mins a day is better than a 4hour practice once a week) it will suddenly click & feel very natural, almost so that you’ll find it hard remembering what it was like in the beginning.” (Simon)

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2. Find a Way to Stay Motivated

Six Beginner Guitar Tips for Teaching Yourself How to Play the Guitar

A lot of us want to learn how to play the guitar, but we have no idea where to start, and for some of us we don't want to pay out $15 an hour for a music teacher; I know I didn't. So when I started playing music ten years ago, I decided to teach myself.
Teaching yourself how to play the guitar is not only fun, but in the long run you will learn a lot more about your instrument, save a lot more cash, and the overall experience of learning on your own will be a lot more rewarding. The downside is that you will need to really stay focused and push yourself to keep moving forward; otherwise, you won't learn a thing.
In this guide I will try to help you to break down your lessons into six easy steps so that you can create your own practice sessions that work best for you. It really isn't that hard, but you have to stick with it. If I taught myself how to play the guitar, then so can you.

1. Buy an affordable guitar

The first thing you need to obviously do is buy your first guitar. I would recommend that you don't pay more than $100 on your first guitar. You may ask "Why not?"
Because who knows how long you will play the guitar. You might just give up within the first month, so why spend $200 on an instrument that will just sit around on display? If you aren't going to play it, don't spend a lot of money on it. My first guitar was under $70, and it was perfect. It didn't have any damage, there was no fret or truss rod problems, and the sound quality was surprisingly very nice. Whoever made my guitar took the time to do it right. The point is that you can buy a good quality guitar for very little money. All of those people out there that say "Buy a guitar for $200 because you get what you pay for" are sadly just saying that to make you waste money. Test some guitars out in store and try to find one you like that has the lowest price tag.

If you stick with playing the guitar, you can always upgrade to a better one in the future. I once heard a professional musician play Flight of the bumblebee on a $1 Recorder, and he made it sound epic. As you get better at playing the guitar you will discover that your first guitar will actually start to sound better over time as you perfect your skills. It's not the instrument that makes a good musician, but the musician that makes the instrument.