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Which guitar model would the community recommend to a beginner who is used only to computer keyboards ;-). Can we start with an electric guitar or an acoustic g

Which guitar model would the community recommend to a beginner who is used only to computer keyboards ;-). Can we start with an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar will work better for learning.

kevincrane 14y ago
I learned with a Squier starter pack (Squier is Fender's low-end brand if that name rings a bell). Basically anything on this page: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitar-value-packages http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitar-value-packages Those kits are nice because they come with a cheap guitar, case, and amp, plus usually an instructional book/DVD. This means that if you bail you're not out too much money, and at an intro skill level you likely won't notice the difference in quality anyway. I took a few lessons, but honestly I kind of bailed on those and moved on to teaching myself through tabs online. Go to http://ultimate-guitar.com/ http://ultimate-guitar.com/ and find simple songs you like (Iron Man, Smoke on the Water, etc.) and just keep trying them til you learn. Eventually you move on to chords (my first song with chords was American Pie) and you just going from there. I'm in the process of teaching myself music theory on the guitar to help myself, but I've gotten busy and it's kind of petered off.
pytrin 14y ago
(I've been playing the guitar for 16 years) - beginners should definitely start with a classical guitar, not an acoustic or an electric guitar. Acoustic is the hardest to play correctly, while electric has more setup and cost involved (amplifier, cables, etc). A basic classical guitar is the simplest way to start playing and producing decent sounds.
- austenallred 14y ago
  I would argue a beginner should start with an acoustic for precisely the same reason. Transitioning from electric or classical to acoustic is difficult, but from acoustic to the other two is very simple.
  - pytrin 14y ago
    It's certainly not difficult once you are proficient enough. I got my first acoustic after 2 years playing a classical guitar and 1 year playing an electric one. It was very similar to playing a classical guitar once your fingers are broken in. On the other hand, for beginners which usually struggle at first producing clean sounds, an acoustic presents a much bigger challenge and for no added benefits.
  - dbaupp 14y ago
    Isn't this a similar argument to "people should learn to program with machine code/assembler/C because it's easy to move to other languages then"?
    - AlecSchueler 14y ago
      The difference isn't really as big as that. It'd be like starting with Perl and then moving onto Ruby or Python.
      - austenallred 14y ago
        I would say its like starting with Python and moving to JavaScript. It really isn't that much more difficult.
    - geoka9 14y ago
      Yes, something like that. If you are proficient with the acoustic guitar, you'll probably be able to pick up an electric for the first time in your life and play. On the other hand, if all you've ever played is an electric (with its low action and lighter strings), playing an acoustic will probably require some time getting used to. I would compare electric to something like Python and acoustic to C :)
- davidroberts 14y ago
  Definitely not a classical guitar unless you intend to play classical only. It's a whole different style of play, and you'll have to relearn everything if you change over to a steel string acoustic or electric. The fretboard is much wider and the nylon strings are stretchy and play differently. I suggest going for a moderately-priced decent-quality imported steel-string acoustic like a Yamaha or Sigma (low-end line of the Martin Company, made in Korea). It's good to start with acoustic even if you plan on mainly playing electric. It's the common denominator of the guitar world, and you'll be so glad you can just pick one up and play something cool on it at will. You might want to consider starting with lighter gauge strings than the ones that come of the guitar while you are developing calluses and learning bar chords.
  - pytrin 14y ago
    I'm sorry, but that's complete BS. Playing any type of guitar does not limit you to a specific style of play - you can play any style you want on any type of guitar. Some advanced techniques and progressions (i.e, solos or conversly fingerstyle) will be more comfortable on specific guitar types, but there's no technical limitation from playing anything on every guitar type. Those distinctions are mostly meaningless to beginners who will be mostly playing simple chords and melodies (to which I would say, a classical guitar is the most comfortable form factor).
    - oblique63 14y ago
      I don't know who's downvoting you, but this is right. You're inspiration is the only thing that determines what will come out of any instrument. I love my Cordoba classical guitar, but I never actually play classical stuff on it. Hell, I usually end up playing crazy metal on it most of the time. I just really like how it sounds, so I experiment with it. It is more intuitive to play fingerstyle on it given the soft strings and the string spacing, but I could still maneuver a fat 2mm pick on it just fine...
    - reidrac 14y ago
      You're partially right. For a beginner a classical guitar is definitely better (more space in the neck to put the fingers, the nylon strings in 1-3 are easier/less painful for untrained fingers, no need to plug it in an amp, etc), but the guitar type will limit you in certain styles (try playing a solo at some speed on a classic guitar getting to the 14th fret). Sure, I learnt to play guitar with a classical guitar and I totally recommend it for a beginner, but there are obvious things like my Fendler Telecaster not having a tremolo bar: I can't use it :) Definitely you can play any style with it, but it really shines when jamming some blues with the neck pick.
holri 14y ago
Any model that plays reasonably music. Does it matter if you learn programming on a i386 or i7, on a PC or a Mac? What matters is not the tool but the time, love and patience you put into learning to play music.
- tutysara 14y ago
  I know this is true in case of programming for a lot of languages. I am not sure whether this applies to learning guitar as well, I don't have any experience playing a guitar myself so, I can take your point as valid until I try out something and see for myself if there is a difference.
  - holri 14y ago
    One difference is that each musical instrument has its own personality like each person/player. Classical, acoustic and electrical guitar are totally different. It is important that _you_ like the instrument. That is a matter of personal taste. Important is the joy to play. Therefore pick that up that you like most, whatever this is.
dougk16 14y ago
An electric guitar is physically easier to play (easier on the fingertips, finger muscles, etc.) and more forgiving of technical mistakes, IMO. Whether that means you'd like it more for starting out is up to you. :)
- Nav_Panel 14y ago
  Preface: I've been playing guitar for 9ish months now... I started on an acoustic and I've played quite a bit with my roommate's electric. I've always seen the electric guitar as being far less forgiving than the acoustic when it comes to technical mistakes. Missing the fret by a little bit, strumming the bass strings a tad louder than you were expecting: big problems with an electric, but not really problems I've faced on the acoustic. Perhaps you are coming from a place of far more experience than I am, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but at least that's what I've noticed in my practicing.
  - bmelton 14y ago
    I should point out that both statements are true, depending on whether or not you are playing with amplification. An electric guitar, unplugged, is perhaps the most forgiving variety of guitars, but play it too often unplugged and you'll develop bad habits that are painfully noticeable when plugged in. I pretty much played acoustics exclusively for a couple of years, only to find out when I picked up my Les Paul that I had developed a lot of 'acoustic-only' bad habits that I had to unlearn. Little things like muting with my fretting hand -- great cheat on an acoustic, but basically acts like a double-tap on an electric.
  - vacri 14y ago
    I am an indifferent player, and shortly after getting my electric, I said to a friend that it was a lie that electrics hide mistakes. He replied "you're not playing with enough distortion"...
  - dougk16 14y ago
    Yea, I should have written the disclaimer that it all depends on what you're playing, what kind of amplification, etc. One instance of where electric exposes technical mistakes more is with accidental string bending, like when you're trying to hit an awkward chord, or any chord at all as a beginner. Overall, I'd still go with electric being more forgiving. A sort-of-proof of this is that the set of songs you can play on acoustic is a subset of the songs you can play on electric. Think of a ridiculous Jimi Page solo as being in the electric-only set. Many acoustic songs might not suit electric, but you can still play them with electric. Eh, maybe it's not a proof, but it sounds clever. :) I personally ended up doing mostly finger-style acoustic with all kinds of weird alternate tunings, so probably nobody should take my word for it.
mattdeboard 14y ago
So I bought an acoustic guitar a couple years ago because I've always wanted to learn to play. After sitting in storage for a year and a half I picked it up again a couple months ago. It's fine and all but then I bought an electric (Epiphone SG Cherry Red), an amp and a good set of headphones. The electric is way more fun to play[1]! If you really want to learn and are willing to "put in the work" I recommend justinguitar.com. It's all boring stuff, scales, fundamentals, etc., but I pick up my electric at least once a day for an hour just to practice. I'll never be a musician but it's a heck of a lot of fun just jamming out in my headphones. [1] "fun" is of course subjective. Acoustic guitars require more hand strength and coordination since the action is a bit higher, the strings a bit thicker than electric. But it has a beautiful sound I really love. But in an apartment, electric + headphones is the best.
- bmelton 14y ago
  Electrics are often much more fun to play, but I found, early on, that the acoustic gave me better habits, and made me a better all around guitarist. I bought probably the exact same cherry Epi SG a long time ago to start off with, and I can still remember how embarrassed I was the first time I tried to play an acoustic. Conversely, for a long time, whenever I was having trouble learning something on the acoustic, I could swap it out for an electric and usually just bang it out. Perhaps psychosomatically, this then made it easier to play on acoustic, just knowing that it was playable.
- StavrosK 14y ago
  As an absolute novice, I bought a $30 acoustic after a $150 electric. My goal with the guitar is to just learn Asturias, I don't really care about other things. I have the intro down, it does feel like I'm fighting the guitar and it doesn't make as good a sound as some friends' more expensive ones I've tried, but it's great for seeing whether you like it and will stick with it rather than stick it in a shelf. Also, I have more fun with the acoustic, due to Asturias, so I guess it's relative.
dejv 14y ago
It does not matter. My first guitar was some entry level model of Les Paul made by Epiphone. Best way is to drag some friend who knows how to play guitar to the music store and try a few models. Pick something cheap and make sure that neck is not twisted, which is reason why you dragging guitar friend. This cheap guitar should be fine for first year (or five).
- tutysara 14y ago
  Got the same advice from some of my friends. Sounds right- try something cheap, learn the various pros and cons and the thing that suits us the best and then go for a more professional guitar.
auctiontheory 14y ago
I second the recommendation for a basic classical (i.e. nylon-string) guitar. Keep it simple. In the US, you can find a perfectly decent made-in-China classical guitar new for under $100, or used on Craigslist.
gtani 14y ago
this thread is an exhaustive list of things to examine on used bass, most applies to guitars http://www.reddit.com/r/Bass/comments/mbbn9/things_to_look_for_when_buying_a_bass/ http://www.reddit.com/r/Bass/comments/mbbn9/things_to_look_f... The most important thing on a used or inexpensive instrument is checking that the frets aren't deeply worn and are level (put a capo on at frets 3,6,9,12 and play chromatic scales), uneven forces a choice of fret buzz or high action. At big dealers e.g. Guitar Center, you'll see used $150 guitars that are playable, and brand new Les Paul Studios and American strats ($650 and up) that need fretwork if you want really low action(full recrown is around $150) You also want to check trussrod works, neck is not twisted or warped, and the neck joint is sound (no big shims in a bolt-on, no separation between the pieces of a "set" neck, like a Les Paul or acoustic). Most other defects can be fixed at reasonable cost.
nanook 14y ago
I'd say don't buy a guitar right away. Ask around among your friends, I'm sure someone will have an old unused acoustic lying around.. use that. When you get good, you'll have a better idea about the kind of guitar you want to buy. Its also a good way to check if the guitar is your thing (if it isn't, that shiny 300$ Les Paul copy you just bought is going to become the ultimate source of guilt. This has happened to far too many people I know.) Also, its quite likely the old beat up guitar isn't setup perfectly - the upside of this is that its going to help you build calluses like magic.
geoka9 14y ago
I may sound counterintuitive, but if you really want to learn, I'd recommend a high-end acoustic guitar for the following reasons: - you make a big investment (upwards of $2000) and it motivates you not to give up - it sounds good, it looks good, it even smells good (rosewood, mahogany, spruce, ebony - that kind of thing). If you're into guitars (or simply beautiful things) it's hard to put down and you find yourself spending more time with it than you'd initially planned. And that's the single best thing for getting better at it :) - you get no excuse (like, "it's not the real thing, it sucks, that's why it doesn't sound right even after many hours of practice"); it helps to remove doubts and concentrate on practicing - if nothing else, it will make a decent long-term investment (high-end guitars tend to depreciate in the first years after the purchase and appreciate afterward). Some people even claim that it's a better investment than real estate, but I don't know about that Ask somebody to play it for you, ask their opinion of how easy it is to play, have it set up by a good guitar technician... And keep on picking :) Also, somebody mentioned justinguitar.com; it is a great site; the guy is a great teacher and a wonderful guitar player. It's got a bunch of theory lessons, but also lessons where Justin picks apart famous guitar songs and teaches you to play them in a "dumb" way - some might say it's cheating, but it surely helps to keep the fire burning when you can learn a tune or two without pulling your hair out trying to transcribe without the required experience (it's very hard, although that's what every guitar player should try to learn eventually).
- bermanoid 14y ago
  Enh...the thing is, a $300 Fender acoustic sounds good enough that you can get away with playing shows on it - you probably shouldn't, but you absolutely can. As a beginner, you're really not going to appreciate the difference between that and a high end model anyways, so why spend more? If you're the type that needs to blow money to feel motivated, sure, you can do better, but there's a lot to be said for learning to sound good on a shitty instrument before you are good enough that spending more will actually make you sound better. That's how most pros start out...
  - wyclif 14y ago
    A $300 Fender acoustic is going to frustrate a beginner. They're crap, with low QC. A beginner would be better off getting a playable electric or waiting until they can spend around $1500-$2k and get themselves a playable acoustic.
oblique63 14y ago
if you're looking for a good deal on an electric, I recommend checking out http://www.rondomusic.com/electricguitar.html http://www.rondomusic.com/electricguitar.html . Their guitars are surprisingly good quality for the price, especially once you get into their 'Agile' brand. If for whatever reason you want a more 'well-known' brand, I've found Ibanez, Dean, and Schecter to have pretty consistent quality on their budget guitars, and the PRS SE series is excellent if you can afford to go that route. Otherwise if you don't want an electric, I would recommend a good nylon string guitar. Yamaha makes pretty good ones, but as with any acoustic, it's a lot harder to judge how you'll like them without actually trying them first.
b1daly 14y ago
I have two acoustic guitars: my favorite to play is a Takimine I bought off a random dude for $175 over 20 years ago. A few years a decided to "upgrade" with an $1800 Taylor. It's not a bad guitar, somehow the cheaper one is just more fun to play. If I had to draw a lesson from this: when you play a guitar you will have a "feeling" about whether you like it, and I think that's the most important thing. Which also means don't buy a guitar without playing it!
- guscost 14y ago
  That's important, don't buy your guitar online! Find one that sounds and feels good when you actually play it. Don't assume that the same model means the same guitar, and bring along someone with experience if possible.
sfrench 14y ago
First off. You can learn on anything, so get whatever guitar you feel most comfortable playing (comfortable playing is the utmost requirement here). You absolutely have to go to guitar stores and have the guitar in your hands and in your lap. If you can't play, make sure to take a friend that can, as they'll be able to tell you if the guitar is "meh" or not. Spend as much as you comfortably can, but don't kill your bank account. If you can, $500-$1000 is a good range and you have lots of good-quality options in both electric and acoustic. I'm totally biased on the electric/acoustic debate. I've played almost exclusively acoustic for 20 years, and obviously prefer them. So from here, I'll dive into acoustic specific stuff if you decide to go that way. Size/Nut Considerations: Two important things to pay attention to are the body shape/size (Dreadnaught/OM/000/00/ etc), and the width of the fingerboard at the nut. These are just some huge generalizations, but if you play a lot of fingerstyle, a OM/000 with a 1 3/4" nut may be what you're looking for. Whereas if you like playing bluegrass, you'd probably like a Dreadnaught with a 1 11/16" nut. Woods: In addition, pay attention to woods the guitar is made of. Spruce and Cedar are going to probably be the two most common top woods, and Rosewood and Mahogany are going to be the most common back woods. Make sure to play combinations of these woods and figure out what you like. Most importantly, if you are paying more than $500 for a guitar, make sure that the top, back, and sides of the guitar are made of solid wood (no HPL, carbon fibre, laminates, plastic, etc.) If you are spending less than 500, make sure you at least get a solid top on the guitar. Suggestions: In the 500-1000 range check out Loar, Recording King, Blueridge and Larrivee guitars. I've also heard good things about the Epiphone Masterbilt guitars. Some specific models to check out: Loar LH-250, Blueridge BR-140 (or BR-160), Recording King RD-310, Larrivee OM-03, Martin MMV (if you can find one), Martin 000-15 (or 00-15 or OM-15 or D-15), In the 1000-2000 range Martin 18-series, Taylor 300 and 400 series, and Larrivee 5-series guitars are great choices. Some specific models to check out: Taylor 312/314, Martin OM-16GT. Martin OM-18 (or D-18)
sqnguyen 14y ago
I started with an acoustic guitar about ten years ago, but that's only because my father had one laying around. Approach learning the guitar like how most people learn new programming languages: just dive right into it. If you like acoustic guitar music more than electric guitar, then learn it and vice versa. For acoustic: Seagull, Simon Patrick, and Art and Luthrie solid top guitars make solid learner guitars. They can be had for $300-500. For electric guitars: visit the SevenString forums. That community is more knowledgeable about it than me.
vacri 14y ago
Find a friend who really knows their guitar, and buy them lunch in exchange for a run-around of the second-hand and/or pawn shops. If you have gobs of cash to spend, sure, buy an expensive new one, but you can find decent guitars for cheap in the secondhand stores. I got my guitar (a kramer zx30) this way from a secondhand store that sells on consignment. If you're going to get a cheap new guitar, again, take that friend if you can - cheap guitars can have a number of problems - the first one I ever tried couldn't even hold its tuning during the six-meter walk from behind the counter to hand it to me :) I'd certainly recommend the lower end of the price spectrum and not the high end - what if you buy a pricey acoustic but the stuff you want to play turns out to be electric? Or vice versa. I thought I liked acoustic more and ended up loving the electric much more. And when you're learning, you really can't tell the subtle difference between models - slapping down a ton of money to find out it's not quite what you want might be a little off-putting. Start with a stepping stone, says I.
- Gravityloss 14y ago
  There's a huge amount of guitars out there that people have bought and never played or played very little (a few hundred hours or so) so they are just as good as new. Musical instruments don't wear out much under use, so they are a smart thing to buy used. They also hold their value.
vacri 14y ago
Also: consider finding a good teacher. An actual music teacher, not a guitarist hawking lessons for beer money. A proper teacher will be able to see you making mistakes in technique before they become habit and be motivated to fix it. You don't have to go weekly, you can ask for monthly or whatever times. Be upfront with them, say you're going through some self-teaching materials, but at the same time want to catch bad technique.
singular 14y ago
Personally on the electric front (I have no idea about acoustics) I'd recommend a mid-level guitar to start with as the lower-end guitars sound bad enough to be counterproductive, even for a beginner IMO. You can get a really decent sound out of a £300+ guitar (~$450+ but perhaps pricing varies in the US vs. UK pricing) and it'll be good enough to take you to the point where a more expensive guitar will be worthwhile.
johanbev 14y ago
Contrary to some sibling comments in this tread, I'll recommend getting the type of guitar that you want to play to learn on as well. There are several kinds of guitar. The three most distinct types are classical guitar (nylon or gut strings), acoustic (steel strings) and electric guitars, which again can be divided into hollow and solid bodied types. All these istruments are pretty different, both in physical appearance, sound and of couse also playing technique, required skills, reportoire and so on. Of course, if you are really good at one you can pick up another type more easily. However, the guitars sound and play so different that it's impossible to get good at electric guitar by only practicing classical guitar. All these types of guitars are really distinct instruments. If you want to play electric rock, get a strat or tele of maybe even an LP. If you want to play electric jazz, get an electric hollowbody guitar. If you want to play folk-rock singer-songwriter or country types, get a steel stringed guitar. If you want to play classical guitar, get a classical guitar. I've seen countless of times people being handed cheap classical guitars when they want to play like Bob Dylan and Neil Young (etc) do. The result is almost always that the guitar goes in the closet after a few weeks and the interest dies down, which is pretty damn sad. More expensive guitars will likely be much easier to play on and might sound better. However, I woudn't recommend spending great amounts of money on your first guitar. It is certainly possible to get great guitars for less than 1000$.
acarabott 14y ago
As a guitar teacher I recommend the basic Yamaha Pacifica models, 012 and 112, to students. They are reliably well made, and fairly no-frills, you get a lot for your money.
krschultz 14y ago
My brother and dad play guitar like crazy, combined they have over 20 guitars of all types. My dad has built 6 or 7 of them, both acoustic and electric. My dad recommended Yamaha as a good beginner guitar, simply based on the value (quality/cost), and they have pretty good QA so the beginner guitars are very consistent. I recently decided to pick up guitar as well. I specifically wanted to learn acoustic (electric is a bit easier to learn), so this recommendation is narrowed to acoustic only. I read a bunch online and was leaning towards the Seagull S6 ($359) and the Yamaha FG700S ($199). I went to a couple guitar stores in NYC with my brother and he played a bunch of different acoustic guitars under $400. I didn't tell him my preference for the Seagull and the Yamaha (after all, I know nothing, he has been playing for 30 years) - and he ended up picking the Yamaha FG700s as the best option for a beginner. I'm very happy with it so far. The Seagull is another great option, but it is a bit more money. I would avoid the Yamaha "starter" packs. A tuner is $9, picks are generally free, a bag is cheap, and you don't need the DVD. So the junk they throw into their "gigmaker" packs isn't worth the lower quality guitar.
- tangue 14y ago
  + 1 for Yamaha . For amplification have a look at Roland Cube series. Cheap but good quality for beginners.
snorkel 14y ago
Buy a cheap acoustic. Unless you're Eric Clapton you really don't need to belabor this decision. Buy whatever feels right. Learn on an acoustic first, it'll make the electric more enjoyable because most of the sound is being produced by your fingers and the strings, the electricity just makes it louder, and if you suck the electricity will only amplify the suckiness.
- wyclif 14y ago
  Sorry, but this is awful advice, and sets up a beginner for failure. Don't buy a crappy low-end acoustic. If you don't have much money, get a cheap playable electric first. Cheap acoustics are the #1 reason people quit playing guitar.

Which guitar model would the community recommend to a beginner who is used only to computer keyboards ;-). Can we start with an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar will work better for learning.

kevincrane 14y ago

I learned with a Squier starter pack (Squier is Fender's low-end brand if that name rings a bell). Basically anything on this page: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitar-value-packages http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitar-value-packages Those kits are nice because they come with a cheap guitar, case, and amp, plus usually an instructional book/DVD. This means that if you bail you're not out too much money, and at an intro skill level you likely won't notice the difference in quality anyway. I took a few lessons, but honestly I kind of bailed on those and moved on to teaching myself through tabs online. Go to http://ultimate-guitar.com/ http://ultimate-guitar.com/ and find simple songs you like (Iron Man, Smoke on the Water, etc.) and just keep trying them til you learn. Eventually you move on to chords (my first song with chords was American Pie) and you just going from there. I'm in the process of teaching myself music theory on the guitar to help myself, but I've gotten busy and it's kind of petered off.

pytrin 14y ago

(I've been playing the guitar for 16 years) - beginners should definitely start with a classical guitar, not an acoustic or an electric guitar. Acoustic is the hardest to play correctly, while electric has more setup and cost involved (amplifier, cables, etc). A basic classical guitar is the simplest way to start playing and producing decent sounds.

austenallred 14y ago
I would argue a beginner should start with an acoustic for precisely the same reason. Transitioning from electric or classical to acoustic is difficult, but from acoustic to the other two is very simple.
- pytrin 14y ago
  It's certainly not difficult once you are proficient enough. I got my first acoustic after 2 years playing a classical guitar and 1 year playing an electric one. It was very similar to playing a classical guitar once your fingers are broken in. On the other hand, for beginners which usually struggle at first producing clean sounds, an acoustic presents a much bigger challenge and for no added benefits.
- dbaupp 14y ago
  Isn't this a similar argument to "people should learn to program with machine code/assembler/C because it's easy to move to other languages then"?
  - AlecSchueler 14y ago
    The difference isn't really as big as that. It'd be like starting with Perl and then moving onto Ruby or Python.
    - austenallred 14y ago
      I would say its like starting with Python and moving to JavaScript. It really isn't that much more difficult.
  - geoka9 14y ago
    Yes, something like that. If you are proficient with the acoustic guitar, you'll probably be able to pick up an electric for the first time in your life and play. On the other hand, if all you've ever played is an electric (with its low action and lighter strings), playing an acoustic will probably require some time getting used to. I would compare electric to something like Python and acoustic to C :)
davidroberts 14y ago
Definitely not a classical guitar unless you intend to play classical only. It's a whole different style of play, and you'll have to relearn everything if you change over to a steel string acoustic or electric. The fretboard is much wider and the nylon strings are stretchy and play differently. I suggest going for a moderately-priced decent-quality imported steel-string acoustic like a Yamaha or Sigma (low-end line of the Martin Company, made in Korea). It's good to start with acoustic even if you plan on mainly playing electric. It's the common denominator of the guitar world, and you'll be so glad you can just pick one up and play something cool on it at will. You might want to consider starting with lighter gauge strings than the ones that come of the guitar while you are developing calluses and learning bar chords.
- pytrin 14y ago
  I'm sorry, but that's complete BS. Playing any type of guitar does not limit you to a specific style of play - you can play any style you want on any type of guitar. Some advanced techniques and progressions (i.e, solos or conversly fingerstyle) will be more comfortable on specific guitar types, but there's no technical limitation from playing anything on every guitar type. Those distinctions are mostly meaningless to beginners who will be mostly playing simple chords and melodies (to which I would say, a classical guitar is the most comfortable form factor).
  - oblique63 14y ago
    I don't know who's downvoting you, but this is right. You're inspiration is the only thing that determines what will come out of any instrument. I love my Cordoba classical guitar, but I never actually play classical stuff on it. Hell, I usually end up playing crazy metal on it most of the time. I just really like how it sounds, so I experiment with it. It is more intuitive to play fingerstyle on it given the soft strings and the string spacing, but I could still maneuver a fat 2mm pick on it just fine...
  - reidrac 14y ago
    You're partially right. For a beginner a classical guitar is definitely better (more space in the neck to put the fingers, the nylon strings in 1-3 are easier/less painful for untrained fingers, no need to plug it in an amp, etc), but the guitar type will limit you in certain styles (try playing a solo at some speed on a classic guitar getting to the 14th fret). Sure, I learnt to play guitar with a classical guitar and I totally recommend it for a beginner, but there are obvious things like my Fendler Telecaster not having a tremolo bar: I can't use it :) Definitely you can play any style with it, but it really shines when jamming some blues with the neck pick.

holri 14y ago

Any model that plays reasonably music. Does it matter if you learn programming on a i386 or i7, on a PC or a Mac? What matters is not the tool but the time, love and patience you put into learning to play music.

tutysara 14y ago
I know this is true in case of programming for a lot of languages. I am not sure whether this applies to learning guitar as well, I don't have any experience playing a guitar myself so, I can take your point as valid until I try out something and see for myself if there is a difference.
- holri 14y ago
  One difference is that each musical instrument has its own personality like each person/player. Classical, acoustic and electrical guitar are totally different. It is important that _you_ like the instrument. That is a matter of personal taste. Important is the joy to play. Therefore pick that up that you like most, whatever this is.

dougk16 14y ago

An electric guitar is physically easier to play (easier on the fingertips, finger muscles, etc.) and more forgiving of technical mistakes, IMO. Whether that means you'd like it more for starting out is up to you. :)

Nav_Panel 14y ago
Preface: I've been playing guitar for 9ish months now... I started on an acoustic and I've played quite a bit with my roommate's electric. I've always seen the electric guitar as being far less forgiving than the acoustic when it comes to technical mistakes. Missing the fret by a little bit, strumming the bass strings a tad louder than you were expecting: big problems with an electric, but not really problems I've faced on the acoustic. Perhaps you are coming from a place of far more experience than I am, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but at least that's what I've noticed in my practicing.
- bmelton 14y ago
  I should point out that both statements are true, depending on whether or not you are playing with amplification. An electric guitar, unplugged, is perhaps the most forgiving variety of guitars, but play it too often unplugged and you'll develop bad habits that are painfully noticeable when plugged in. I pretty much played acoustics exclusively for a couple of years, only to find out when I picked up my Les Paul that I had developed a lot of 'acoustic-only' bad habits that I had to unlearn. Little things like muting with my fretting hand -- great cheat on an acoustic, but basically acts like a double-tap on an electric.
- vacri 14y ago
  I am an indifferent player, and shortly after getting my electric, I said to a friend that it was a lie that electrics hide mistakes. He replied "you're not playing with enough distortion"...
- dougk16 14y ago
  Yea, I should have written the disclaimer that it all depends on what you're playing, what kind of amplification, etc. One instance of where electric exposes technical mistakes more is with accidental string bending, like when you're trying to hit an awkward chord, or any chord at all as a beginner. Overall, I'd still go with electric being more forgiving. A sort-of-proof of this is that the set of songs you can play on acoustic is a subset of the songs you can play on electric. Think of a ridiculous Jimi Page solo as being in the electric-only set. Many acoustic songs might not suit electric, but you can still play them with electric. Eh, maybe it's not a proof, but it sounds clever. :) I personally ended up doing mostly finger-style acoustic with all kinds of weird alternate tunings, so probably nobody should take my word for it.

mattdeboard 14y ago

So I bought an acoustic guitar a couple years ago because I've always wanted to learn to play. After sitting in storage for a year and a half I picked it up again a couple months ago. It's fine and all but then I bought an electric (Epiphone SG Cherry Red), an amp and a good set of headphones. The electric is way more fun to play[1]! If you really want to learn and are willing to "put in the work" I recommend justinguitar.com. It's all boring stuff, scales, fundamentals, etc., but I pick up my electric at least once a day for an hour just to practice. I'll never be a musician but it's a heck of a lot of fun just jamming out in my headphones. [1] "fun" is of course subjective. Acoustic guitars require more hand strength and coordination since the action is a bit higher, the strings a bit thicker than electric. But it has a beautiful sound I really love. But in an apartment, electric + headphones is the best.

bmelton 14y ago
Electrics are often much more fun to play, but I found, early on, that the acoustic gave me better habits, and made me a better all around guitarist. I bought probably the exact same cherry Epi SG a long time ago to start off with, and I can still remember how embarrassed I was the first time I tried to play an acoustic. Conversely, for a long time, whenever I was having trouble learning something on the acoustic, I could swap it out for an electric and usually just bang it out. Perhaps psychosomatically, this then made it easier to play on acoustic, just knowing that it was playable.
StavrosK 14y ago
As an absolute novice, I bought a $30 acoustic after a $150 electric. My goal with the guitar is to just learn Asturias, I don't really care about other things. I have the intro down, it does feel like I'm fighting the guitar and it doesn't make as good a sound as some friends' more expensive ones I've tried, but it's great for seeing whether you like it and will stick with it rather than stick it in a shelf. Also, I have more fun with the acoustic, due to Asturias, so I guess it's relative.

dejv 14y ago

It does not matter. My first guitar was some entry level model of Les Paul made by Epiphone. Best way is to drag some friend who knows how to play guitar to the music store and try a few models. Pick something cheap and make sure that neck is not twisted, which is reason why you dragging guitar friend. This cheap guitar should be fine for first year (or five).

tutysara 14y ago
Got the same advice from some of my friends. Sounds right- try something cheap, learn the various pros and cons and the thing that suits us the best and then go for a more professional guitar.

auctiontheory 14y ago

I second the recommendation for a basic classical (i.e. nylon-string) guitar. Keep it simple. In the US, you can find a perfectly decent made-in-China classical guitar new for under $100, or used on Craigslist.

gtani 14y ago

this thread is an exhaustive list of things to examine on used bass, most applies to guitars http://www.reddit.com/r/Bass/comments/mbbn9/things_to_look_for_when_buying_a_bass/ http://www.reddit.com/r/Bass/comments/mbbn9/things_to_look_f... The most important thing on a used or inexpensive instrument is checking that the frets aren't deeply worn and are level (put a capo on at frets 3,6,9,12 and play chromatic scales), uneven forces a choice of fret buzz or high action. At big dealers e.g. Guitar Center, you'll see used $150 guitars that are playable, and brand new Les Paul Studios and American strats ($650 and up) that need fretwork if you want really low action(full recrown is around $150) You also want to check trussrod works, neck is not twisted or warped, and the neck joint is sound (no big shims in a bolt-on, no separation between the pieces of a "set" neck, like a Les Paul or acoustic). Most other defects can be fixed at reasonable cost.

nanook 14y ago

I'd say don't buy a guitar right away. Ask around among your friends, I'm sure someone will have an old unused acoustic lying around.. use that. When you get good, you'll have a better idea about the kind of guitar you want to buy. Its also a good way to check if the guitar is your thing (if it isn't, that shiny 300$ Les Paul copy you just bought is going to become the ultimate source of guilt. This has happened to far too many people I know.) Also, its quite likely the old beat up guitar isn't setup perfectly - the upside of this is that its going to help you build calluses like magic.

geoka9 14y ago

I may sound counterintuitive, but if you really want to learn, I'd recommend a high-end acoustic guitar for the following reasons: - you make a big investment (upwards of $2000) and it motivates you not to give up - it sounds good, it looks good, it even smells good (rosewood, mahogany, spruce, ebony - that kind of thing). If you're into guitars (or simply beautiful things) it's hard to put down and you find yourself spending more time with it than you'd initially planned. And that's the single best thing for getting better at it :) - you get no excuse (like, "it's not the real thing, it sucks, that's why it doesn't sound right even after many hours of practice"); it helps to remove doubts and concentrate on practicing - if nothing else, it will make a decent long-term investment (high-end guitars tend to depreciate in the first years after the purchase and appreciate afterward). Some people even claim that it's a better investment than real estate, but I don't know about that Ask somebody to play it for you, ask their opinion of how easy it is to play, have it set up by a good guitar technician... And keep on picking :) Also, somebody mentioned justinguitar.com; it is a great site; the guy is a great teacher and a wonderful guitar player. It's got a bunch of theory lessons, but also lessons where Justin picks apart famous guitar songs and teaches you to play them in a "dumb" way - some might say it's cheating, but it surely helps to keep the fire burning when you can learn a tune or two without pulling your hair out trying to transcribe without the required experience (it's very hard, although that's what every guitar player should try to learn eventually).

bermanoid 14y ago
Enh...the thing is, a $300 Fender acoustic sounds good enough that you can get away with playing shows on it - you probably shouldn't, but you absolutely can. As a beginner, you're really not going to appreciate the difference between that and a high end model anyways, so why spend more? If you're the type that needs to blow money to feel motivated, sure, you can do better, but there's a lot to be said for learning to sound good on a shitty instrument before you are good enough that spending more will actually make you sound better. That's how most pros start out...
- wyclif 14y ago
  A $300 Fender acoustic is going to frustrate a beginner. They're crap, with low QC. A beginner would be better off getting a playable electric or waiting until they can spend around $1500-$2k and get themselves a playable acoustic.

oblique63 14y ago

if you're looking for a good deal on an electric, I recommend checking out http://www.rondomusic.com/electricguitar.html http://www.rondomusic.com/electricguitar.html . Their guitars are surprisingly good quality for the price, especially once you get into their 'Agile' brand. If for whatever reason you want a more 'well-known' brand, I've found Ibanez, Dean, and Schecter to have pretty consistent quality on their budget guitars, and the PRS SE series is excellent if you can afford to go that route. Otherwise if you don't want an electric, I would recommend a good nylon string guitar. Yamaha makes pretty good ones, but as with any acoustic, it's a lot harder to judge how you'll like them without actually trying them first.

b1daly 14y ago

I have two acoustic guitars: my favorite to play is a Takimine I bought off a random dude for $175 over 20 years ago. A few years a decided to "upgrade" with an $1800 Taylor. It's not a bad guitar, somehow the cheaper one is just more fun to play. If I had to draw a lesson from this: when you play a guitar you will have a "feeling" about whether you like it, and I think that's the most important thing. Which also means don't buy a guitar without playing it!

guscost 14y ago
That's important, don't buy your guitar online! Find one that sounds and feels good when you actually play it. Don't assume that the same model means the same guitar, and bring along someone with experience if possible.

sfrench 14y ago

First off. You can learn on anything, so get whatever guitar you feel most comfortable playing (comfortable playing is the utmost requirement here). You absolutely have to go to guitar stores and have the guitar in your hands and in your lap. If you can't play, make sure to take a friend that can, as they'll be able to tell you if the guitar is "meh" or not. Spend as much as you comfortably can, but don't kill your bank account. If you can, $500-$1000 is a good range and you have lots of good-quality options in both electric and acoustic. I'm totally biased on the electric/acoustic debate. I've played almost exclusively acoustic for 20 years, and obviously prefer them. So from here, I'll dive into acoustic specific stuff if you decide to go that way. Size/Nut Considerations: Two important things to pay attention to are the body shape/size (Dreadnaught/OM/000/00/ etc), and the width of the fingerboard at the nut. These are just some huge generalizations, but if you play a lot of fingerstyle, a OM/000 with a 1 3/4" nut may be what you're looking for. Whereas if you like playing bluegrass, you'd probably like a Dreadnaught with a 1 11/16" nut. Woods: In addition, pay attention to woods the guitar is made of. Spruce and Cedar are going to probably be the two most common top woods, and Rosewood and Mahogany are going to be the most common back woods. Make sure to play combinations of these woods and figure out what you like. Most importantly, if you are paying more than $500 for a guitar, make sure that the top, back, and sides of the guitar are made of solid wood (no HPL, carbon fibre, laminates, plastic, etc.) If you are spending less than 500, make sure you at least get a solid top on the guitar. Suggestions: In the 500-1000 range check out Loar, Recording King, Blueridge and Larrivee guitars. I've also heard good things about the Epiphone Masterbilt guitars. Some specific models to check out: Loar LH-250, Blueridge BR-140 (or BR-160), Recording King RD-310, Larrivee OM-03, Martin MMV (if you can find one), Martin 000-15 (or 00-15 or OM-15 or D-15), In the 1000-2000 range Martin 18-series, Taylor 300 and 400 series, and Larrivee 5-series guitars are great choices. Some specific models to check out: Taylor 312/314, Martin OM-16GT. Martin OM-18 (or D-18)

sqnguyen 14y ago

I started with an acoustic guitar about ten years ago, but that's only because my father had one laying around. Approach learning the guitar like how most people learn new programming languages: just dive right into it. If you like acoustic guitar music more than electric guitar, then learn it and vice versa. For acoustic: Seagull, Simon Patrick, and Art and Luthrie solid top guitars make solid learner guitars. They can be had for $300-500. For electric guitars: visit the SevenString forums. That community is more knowledgeable about it than me.

vacri 14y ago

Find a friend who really knows their guitar, and buy them lunch in exchange for a run-around of the second-hand and/or pawn shops. If you have gobs of cash to spend, sure, buy an expensive new one, but you can find decent guitars for cheap in the secondhand stores. I got my guitar (a kramer zx30) this way from a secondhand store that sells on consignment. If you're going to get a cheap new guitar, again, take that friend if you can - cheap guitars can have a number of problems - the first one I ever tried couldn't even hold its tuning during the six-meter walk from behind the counter to hand it to me :) I'd certainly recommend the lower end of the price spectrum and not the high end - what if you buy a pricey acoustic but the stuff you want to play turns out to be electric? Or vice versa. I thought I liked acoustic more and ended up loving the electric much more. And when you're learning, you really can't tell the subtle difference between models - slapping down a ton of money to find out it's not quite what you want might be a little off-putting. Start with a stepping stone, says I.

Gravityloss 14y ago
There's a huge amount of guitars out there that people have bought and never played or played very little (a few hundred hours or so) so they are just as good as new. Musical instruments don't wear out much under use, so they are a smart thing to buy used. They also hold their value.

vacri 14y ago

Also: consider finding a good teacher. An actual music teacher, not a guitarist hawking lessons for beer money. A proper teacher will be able to see you making mistakes in technique before they become habit and be motivated to fix it. You don't have to go weekly, you can ask for monthly or whatever times. Be upfront with them, say you're going through some self-teaching materials, but at the same time want to catch bad technique.

singular 14y ago

Personally on the electric front (I have no idea about acoustics) I'd recommend a mid-level guitar to start with as the lower-end guitars sound bad enough to be counterproductive, even for a beginner IMO. You can get a really decent sound out of a £300+ guitar (~$450+ but perhaps pricing varies in the US vs. UK pricing) and it'll be good enough to take you to the point where a more expensive guitar will be worthwhile.

johanbev 14y ago

Contrary to some sibling comments in this tread, I'll recommend getting the type of guitar that you want to play to learn on as well. There are several kinds of guitar. The three most distinct types are classical guitar (nylon or gut strings), acoustic (steel strings) and electric guitars, which again can be divided into hollow and solid bodied types. All these istruments are pretty different, both in physical appearance, sound and of couse also playing technique, required skills, reportoire and so on. Of course, if you are really good at one you can pick up another type more easily. However, the guitars sound and play so different that it's impossible to get good at electric guitar by only practicing classical guitar. All these types of guitars are really distinct instruments. If you want to play electric rock, get a strat or tele of maybe even an LP. If you want to play electric jazz, get an electric hollowbody guitar. If you want to play folk-rock singer-songwriter or country types, get a steel stringed guitar. If you want to play classical guitar, get a classical guitar. I've seen countless of times people being handed cheap classical guitars when they want to play like Bob Dylan and Neil Young (etc) do. The result is almost always that the guitar goes in the closet after a few weeks and the interest dies down, which is pretty damn sad. More expensive guitars will likely be much easier to play on and might sound better. However, I woudn't recommend spending great amounts of money on your first guitar. It is certainly possible to get great guitars for less than 1000$.

acarabott 14y ago

As a guitar teacher I recommend the basic Yamaha Pacifica models, 012 and 112, to students. They are reliably well made, and fairly no-frills, you get a lot for your money.

krschultz 14y ago

My brother and dad play guitar like crazy, combined they have over 20 guitars of all types. My dad has built 6 or 7 of them, both acoustic and electric. My dad recommended Yamaha as a good beginner guitar, simply based on the value (quality/cost), and they have pretty good QA so the beginner guitars are very consistent. I recently decided to pick up guitar as well. I specifically wanted to learn acoustic (electric is a bit easier to learn), so this recommendation is narrowed to acoustic only. I read a bunch online and was leaning towards the Seagull S6 ($359) and the Yamaha FG700S ($199). I went to a couple guitar stores in NYC with my brother and he played a bunch of different acoustic guitars under $400. I didn't tell him my preference for the Seagull and the Yamaha (after all, I know nothing, he has been playing for 30 years) - and he ended up picking the Yamaha FG700s as the best option for a beginner. I'm very happy with it so far. The Seagull is another great option, but it is a bit more money. I would avoid the Yamaha "starter" packs. A tuner is $9, picks are generally free, a bag is cheap, and you don't need the DVD. So the junk they throw into their "gigmaker" packs isn't worth the lower quality guitar.

tangue 14y ago
+ 1 for Yamaha . For amplification have a look at Roland Cube series. Cheap but good quality for beginners.

snorkel 14y ago

Buy a cheap acoustic. Unless you're Eric Clapton you really don't need to belabor this decision. Buy whatever feels right. Learn on an acoustic first, it'll make the electric more enjoyable because most of the sound is being produced by your fingers and the strings, the electricity just makes it louder, and if you suck the electricity will only amplify the suckiness.

wyclif 14y ago
Sorry, but this is awful advice, and sets up a beginner for failure. Don't buy a crappy low-end acoustic. If you don't have much money, get a cheap playable electric first. Cheap acoustics are the #1 reason people quit playing guitar.