Find the Best Acoustic Guitar
How to find the best acoustic guitar
Most learners seem to start with an acoustic guitar and most likely what you are learning on when you take guitar lessons in Philadelphia. It’s a better guitar to learn with. Many times your instructor will provide you with a guitar but you will want to have your own guitar so you can practice at home.
Many beginners look for the cheapest guitar possible. Be careful, however, not to doom yourself. It’s worth the extra money to have a great experience learning to play the guitar. If you have the money, spend it. A beginner should budget as much as possible for a quality guitar to learn on. There’s no reason why a beginner shouldn’t start with a great guitar if they can afford it. A great guitar will last a lifetime, if cared for, and will make learning to play easier and much more pleasurable. A guitar is a long-term investment.
Buying a guitar without extra features such as electronics and cutaways will ensure that the money you pay is going into a quality guitar made of good wood and with good craftsmanship and sound. Every dollar you spend on extras is detracting from the quality of the instrument.
If money is an important factor in your decision, you may be able to find a good value by looking for a used guitar via Craigslist, eBay or another similar site. If you buy a used guitar, it’s hard to know if it has aged well. Many of them can develop problems over time, mostly due to wood warping caused by poorly seasoned wood or mistreatment but sometimes just from wear and tear.
The first thing you should do when you get your guitar is to show it to an experienced player, such as your guitar teacher or a guitar repair person. They can tell if the guitar is set up properly. It would be ideal to have this person shop for the guitar with you, but that may not be an option.
Typically, you should expect to pay $300 on a good guitar, to begin with. If you don’t have $300 the problem with this is that quality diminishes fast underneath this price point and you may end up with a piece of junk you don’t want. Then you have to go out and buy a good guitar at $500, and you may not be able to get your money back that you spent on the junk guitar. Learning guitar is hard enough even with a good guitar, and the quality of your guitar has a direct effect on your practice results.
If you cannot afford a decent guitar, do your best. Beg, borrow or sell some of your other things. Save up for a while. Maybe you could borrow a guitar from someone else until you have got the money for your own. A quality instrument will make learning easier, and with luck, last a lifetime.