13: Choosing Your First Guitar: What You Need to Know Before You Buy

Wondering how to choose your first guitar? Then tune in to find out!

You'll learn about:
- acoustic versus nylon versus electric
- how much you need to spend on your first guitar
- key features to look for when you buy a guitar
- where to buy a guitar.

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And have a fantastic day!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Guitar Jet podcast, where you'll skyrocket your
knowledge of theory, techniques, and fundamentals for guitar. Welcome to
the show. Thank you for listening. I am going to
tell you how to choose your first guitar today. So
let's dive right into it, and I'll start by telling
you about my first experience buying a guitar. My parents,

(00:24):
of course got it from me. I was eight years old,
and it was a half sized Yamaha, a Yamaha classical
guitar with nylon strings because it's a classical guitar and
it is a half size because I was eight years old.
And that brings us to our first big decision that
we have to make when we're choosing our first guitar,

(00:46):
which is do we want an acoustic or an electric guitar?
And so when it comes to acoustic guitars, well, you've
also got to consider nylon strings slash classical guitars. So
you have acoustic guitars and classical guitars, and the classical
guitars have nylon strings. Nylon strings are really easy to play,

(01:07):
and that's the biggest difference between the two instruments. But
the acoustic guitar is going to have a bigger sound,
And both acoustic and nylon string guitars are going to
be really simple to learn and understand, and they're also
portable and you don't need any extra year like an

(01:31):
amp and a cable. But when it comes to an
electric guitar, they are going to be a bit easier
to play most of the time. You're gonna have thinner
string gauges, you're gonna have lower action, and they're also
a lot more versatile. So of course, you know, start

(01:52):
by thinking about acoustic versus nylon string versus electric guitar,
and think about what's best for you. Now, let's talk
about how much you want to spend. So my first
guitar was like one hundred and twenty dollars and you
can google it. Just type in Yamaha classical guitar, half
sized classical guitar, and I'd say, spend anywhere from like

(02:17):
one hundred and fifty to five hundred dollars on your
first guitar. And the thing is, if you go too cheap,
you might get bad tone and it's gonna be hard
to play. So just don't cheap out. Don't buy a
fifty dollars guitar. Don't buy a first deck guitarro Walmart,

(02:39):
look at starter bundles, and definitely look at used gear.
There are a lot of great places to find used gear.
Of course, on Facebook, Marketplace you can find good used gear, Craigslist,
but some of the best places would be like reverb
dot com and locally check pawnshops. I love pwnshops and

(03:00):
you know you can generally get the best deals around
when you're at a pawnshop. And when you're looking at
a guitar, you know you will want to consider the
features that you want. That could be how much does
the guitar weigh, how big is the guitar, and what
type of neck do you like? But you might not

(03:21):
understand what type of neck shape that you like on
a guitar yet, so maybe don't consider that too much.
But you really want to consider like the playability. Does
the guitar have low action, does it have smooth frets?
Is it a nice high quality guitar? Does it stay
in tune? These are all things you want to consider

(03:42):
and then just look into a bunch of different brands.
Look up the less expensive guitar brands. You know, type
in like what is the best acoustic guitar or electric
guitar under five hundred dollars? And also look into some
brands like Yeah, I'maha, Squire, ibanez Epiphone. Music Man has

(04:06):
a wonderful line of guitars and it's called Sterling by
music Man. There's also the Prssee line if you're willing
to spend between like five hundred and one thousand dollars.
I mean, there are just so many options out there.
Harley Benton is a fantastic modern brand, and yeah, just

(04:26):
continue to look around. You know, there are so many
different places to buy guitars online. Oh and of course
you could buy at local guitar shops. I mean, there
are a lot of different options. But you know, it's
just important to start playing and not obsess over the
specifications of every guitar that you're looking at. You know,

(04:48):
just get out there, find guitar with acceptable quality and
price that works for you. You can always upgrade later.
So overall, what did we learn today, Well, you'll want
to start by considering acoustic versus nylon versus electric, and

(05:08):
then you'll want to decide how much you want to spend,
and then you'll want to decide what features you want
in your guitar, and then you'll have to find a
place to buy your guitar and just get it done.
And if you want to learn more about guitar, continue
listening to this podcast and you can check out my

(05:28):
YouTube channel too, the Guitars that YouTube channel. So don't
forget to subscribe to the podcast, rate and rate the show.
And last, but not least, you have a great day
and keep on playing. I'll catch you in the next episode.