Tips For Your First Guitar
Hear Them In Action
If you’re looking at purchasing your first guitar, you may be feeling a little overwhelmed at how many options and variations there are. Watch the video for a demonstration of the different types of guitar, or ready below for further tips.
Style
There are several styles of guitar.
- Steel String Acoustic
- Classical (often called Nylon-string).
- Electric
You might notice that withing the “acoustic” category, there are two types – Classical and Steel String.
For a beginner, I always recommend a classical because the strings are much softer and easier to press down. I believe in setting yourself up to succeed, which means making things as easy as possible when you first start out. This is CRUCIAL for young beginners (anyone under the age of about 13). Steel strings and electrics are usually too tough (or “sharp” as many of my students have said) and end up being a barrier for learning.
Keep in mind that within these different guitar types, there are many aspects of customisation such as scratch plate, pickup combinations, double cutaways, fret numbers, scale length… the list is almost endless. A beginner is best off just focusing on the type they prefer, then worry about all of the smaller aspects later.
Left/Right Handed
Guitars are available in both left and right handed models.
Right Handed = the player’s right hand holds the strings and the left hand strums.
Left Handed = the player’s left hand holds the strings and the right hand strums.
They are basically just mirror images of each other, but you can re-string one upside down to convert it to be the other. It’s not ideal, but it’ll do the trick and save you buying a whole new guitar.
If you’re right handed, then the choice is easy – go with a right handed guitar.
If you’re left handed, then it’s a little tougher because most left handed people play right handed guitar. It’s a matter of what hand carries the rhythm, rather than what hand a person writes with. So my advice is to try both left and right handed guitars, and see what you think is more natural. If you buy a guitar and end up changing your mind, remember that you can always restring it upside down (though it’s not ideal).
Dots Dots Dots!
Guitars usually have dots to help us find fret numbers quickly and easily. They don’t have any connection to musical note, rather they’re just on odd numbers (with the exception of 12 and/or 24).
Beginners (and espeically young students) will greatly benefit from having dots on the side and front of their guitar.
No dots? No worries – put some white out or a sticker on the side of the guitar instead!
Dots should be on frets 3, 5, 7, 9 and 12.
Condition
Brand
The brand of a guitar will add some money to the price tag. In my experience, it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better, but I’ve found that it lessens the chance of them being “bad”. For example, I’ve seen plenty of unknown branded guitars that are shocking, but most brand named guitars have been good quality. I recommend avoiding big name brands and instead buy from companies that market towards entry level customers like Valencia, Ashton, Yamaha and Artist Guitars.
Size
Setup
Guitars have to be “set up”. This means adjusting a few things on the guitar such as neck relief (how much it’s bent), string height (called action) and a few other things.
The main aspect here is for beginner guitarists to have low action that makes playing easy. If your guitar has low action, you can lower the bridge by removing it and sanding it down. If this all sounds too difficult, it may be best to ask your UGA guitar teacher, or see a guitar store.
If you’re new to guitar, don’t worry too much about this. The most important factors are really just getting the right size and correctly handed guitar.
Still Need Help?
If you are still having trouble, or have any questions, get in touch with us and we’ll happily help you out.
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