Choosing the Best Guitar

When you are buying your first guitar, you should decide if you are buying an acoustic, an electric, or an acoustic electric. If you are buying a guitar for a young child or a teenager, you should definitely purchase them an electric guitar.

The typical myth is that young students should learn on an acoustic guitar to strengthen their hands, so that when they get an electric guitar one day, they will have a much easier time playing it. This is terrible advice because the guitar student will most likely quit due to the difficulty in attempting to play a cheap acoustic guitar. If you are buying this guitar for a young child, and they are very small, stores also sell 3/4 guitars to accomodate the size of the child.

If you are an adult and you are set on playing an acoustic, you can definitely do it, but prepared for a slightly more difficult journey. If I was to purchase an acoustic guitar under $200, I would be set on an Ibanez SGT120 Sage Series Acoustic Guitar. For a street price of around $179, this guitar plays great and sounds good. It is a quality guitar that will last you years.

If your heart is set on rocking out like Jimi Hendrix, Steve Vai, or Van Halen, you will definitely need to start on an electric guitar. There are many cheap guitar/amp packages advertised everywhere, but many of them are utter garbage. You should definitely stick with quality name brands such as Ibanez, Gibson, Yamaha or Fender.

The electric guitar gives you much more leeway in terms of look and color because there so many varieties. If you like the look of an Ibanez guitar, you should definitely get something like the Ibanez IJX20 Electric Guitar Jumpstart Package. Its street price is around $199 and it comes with an amplifier.

If you love the look of a Fender Stratocaster, you should buy the Squier Stratocaster package. The Squier Stratocaster has a street price of around $199 as well. At this price point, the color and body shape of the guitar should determine your decision as to what you purchase. Both of these guitars will pretty much play the same.

Although cheaply priced, these instruments are more than sufficient in being able to learn the instrument competently. After you become more advanced at the guitar, you will probably want to buy a more expensive guitar as the deficiencies of these guitars will become evident.

Lastly, if you like the look and sound of an acoustic, but want the ability to plug in the guitar if you choose, you should pick up an acoustic-electric guitar. For under $200, I would recommend the Yamaha FX 335 Acoustic-Electric Guitar because of the beautiful look of an acoustic guitar, yet it has better an action (how close the strings are to the guitar) then an acoustic .

Before purchasing your first guitar, you should think about and consider what will ultimately motivate you and what style of music you want to play. If you want to shred like Van Halen, an acoustic guitar would be inappropriate for the job. If you want to be a country singer in the style of Taylor Swift, an acoustic guitar would be perfect for you. I would also recommend going into a big chain guitar store and trying out some of the guitars to see what you prefer. It will also allow you to hear the differences in both acoustic and electric guitars.

You will also begin to realize how personal preference plays a big role in what guitar you will purchase. I may personally love a guitar, but you may possibly hate it. My colleague and I are both professional guitarists, yet have a very different view on the Ibanez Jem because of our hand size. I love the wide neck because of my large hands, while he hates the guitar (the guitar goes for about $3000) because of his short, stubby fingers.

Most of the guitars I have recommended will get you through your first year or two of playing the guitar. After a year or two of playing the guitar, you will realize what you want out of a guitar and can then go on to the next level, and price range, of guitars which will lead to better action on the guitar, better tone from the instrument, and a higher quality instrument overall.