Latest / The Guitarjet Podcast / 13: Choosing Your First Guitar: What You Need to Know Before You Buy

Transcript

13: Choosing Your First Guitar: What You Need to Know Before You Buy · The Guitarjet Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Guitar Jet podcast, where you'll skyrocket your
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: knowledge of theory, techniques, and fundamentals for guitar. Welcome to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the show. Thank you for listening. I am going to
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: tell you how to choose your first guitar today. So
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: let's dive right into it, and I'll start by telling
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: you about my first experience buying a guitar. My parents,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: of course got it from me. I was eight years old,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: and it was a half sized Yamaha, a Yamaha classical
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: guitar with nylon strings because it's a classical guitar and
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: it is a half size because I was eight years old.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: And that brings us to our first big decision that
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: we have to make when we're choosing our first guitar,
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: which is do we want an acoustic or an electric guitar?
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: And so when it comes to acoustic guitars, well, you've
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: also got to consider nylon strings slash classical guitars. So
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: you have acoustic guitars and classical guitars, and the classical
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: guitars have nylon strings. Nylon strings are really easy to play,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: and that's the biggest difference between the two instruments. But
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the acoustic guitar is going to have a bigger sound,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: And both acoustic and nylon string guitars are going to
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: be really simple to learn and understand, and they're also
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: portable and you don't need any extra year like an
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: amp and a cable. But when it comes to an
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: electric guitar, they are going to be a bit easier
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: to play most of the time. You're gonna have thinner
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: string gauges, you're gonna have lower action, and they're also
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: a lot more versatile. So of course, you know, start
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: by thinking about acoustic versus nylon string versus electric guitar,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: and think about what's best for you. Now, let's talk
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: about how much you want to spend. So my first
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: guitar was like one hundred and twenty dollars and you
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: can google it. Just type in Yamaha classical guitar, half
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: sized classical guitar, and I'd say, spend anywhere from like
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty to five hundred dollars on your
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: first guitar. And the thing is, if you go too cheap,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: you might get bad tone and it's gonna be hard
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: to play. So just don't cheap out. Don't buy a
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: fifty dollars guitar. Don't buy a first deck guitarro Walmart,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: look at starter bundles, and definitely look at used gear.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: There are a lot of great places to find used gear.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Of course, on Facebook, Marketplace you can find good used gear, Craigslist,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: but some of the best places would be like reverb
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: dot com and locally check pawnshops. I love pwnshops and
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: you know you can generally get the best deals around
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: when you're at a pawnshop. And when you're looking at
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: a guitar, you know you will want to consider the
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: features that you want. That could be how much does
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the guitar weigh, how big is the guitar, and what
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: type of neck do you like? But you might not
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: understand what type of neck shape that you like on
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: a guitar yet, so maybe don't consider that too much.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: But you really want to consider like the playability. Does
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the guitar have low action, does it have smooth frets?
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: Is it a nice high quality guitar? Does it stay
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: in tune? These are all things you want to consider
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: and then just look into a bunch of different brands.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Look up the less expensive guitar brands. You know, type
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: in like what is the best acoustic guitar or electric
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: guitar under five hundred dollars? And also look into some
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: brands like Yeah, I'maha, Squire, ibanez Epiphone. Music Man has
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: a wonderful line of guitars and it's called Sterling by
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: music Man. There's also the Prssee line if you're willing
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: to spend between like five hundred and one thousand dollars.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: I mean, there are just so many options out there.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Harley Benton is a fantastic modern brand, and yeah, just
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: continue to look around. You know, there are so many
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: different places to buy guitars online. Oh and of course
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: you could buy at local guitar shops. I mean, there
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: are a lot of different options. But you know, it's
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: just important to start playing and not obsess over the
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: specifications of every guitar that you're looking at. You know,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: just get out there, find guitar with acceptable quality and
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: price that works for you. You can always upgrade later.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: So overall, what did we learn today, Well, you'll want
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: to start by considering acoustic versus nylon versus electric, and
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: then you'll want to decide how much you want to spend,
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: and then you'll want to decide what features you want
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: in your guitar, and then you'll have to find a
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: place to buy your guitar and just get it done.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: And if you want to learn more about guitar, continue
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: listening to this podcast and you can check out my
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: YouTube channel too, the Guitars that YouTube channel. So don't
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: forget to subscribe to the podcast, rate and rate the show.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: And last, but not least, you have a great day
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: and keep on playing. I'll catch you in the next episode.