Before you begin Beginner's course

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Buying a guitar Guitar anatomy Tuning Tabulature/chords

Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4Lesson 5 Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Lesson 8 Lesson 9

1. Introduktion 2. Kromatiska skalan, oktaver 3. Oktavtricks 4. CAGED-systemet 5. Teknik-övningar 7. Ackordteori - basic

Box 1 Box 2 Box 3 Box 4 Box 5

Buying a guitar

This guide goes through

• what type of guitar you will need to go through the lessons
• my advice regarding guitar purchase
• pointers when buying a second-hand guitar

The lessons are made for 6-stringed guitar - electric or acoustic

All lessons and guides on guitarguitar.net are made for any regular 6-stringed guitar, with the tuning configuration (thinnest string to thickest) E B G D A E - simply called standard tuning. Of course if I by any chance would use any other tunigs (such as drop D) I will let you know.

One thing for you to understand right away is that an electric guitar and an acoustic guitar are the exact same two instruments musically - the only differences are their relative sizes, playing feel and, more importantly, sound. Basic laydown - any song you can play on an acoustic, you can also play on an electric (and the other way around).

The advantage of an electric guitar is of course the ability to play extremely loud and occasionally making your neighbors call in a noise complaint... euhmm...

Thus, whether you go acoustic or electric, you can follow my lessons. I recommend you to use the clean channel on your amplifier if you go electric, then it will be easier for you to hear whether you play right or wrong.

Allright, time to buy a guitar

Here are a few things that you will need to understand as a beginner:

You will (most likely) not be able to distinguosh any greater difference between different guitars. A guitar that sounds good to you in the beginning might actually turn out to be a bad one when you advance in your playing.

The quality of a guitar is something you learn as you live and play. Hopefully you will also live as you learn. however these two pointers are definately what will help you out in your quest, be you a beginner or an experienced guitarist:

• If you found a guitar that you believe sounds good, for a good price - ask for a second opinion! Of course the person you ask should know what he/she is talking about when it comes to guitars, and he/she has to be someone you can trust.
  
  
• Cheap rip-offs of the real guitar brands are usually of a much lower standard in quality than the real deal - even if they have a price-tag stating the opposite. Generally speaking about the real brands (Fender, Gibson, Squier, Ibanez to name a few) - the pricier the guitar, the higher the quaity.

The following characters of the guitar will become obvious for you in time:

• the very richness of the sound
• the treble and bass sounds of the guitar (the "highs" and the "lows")
• how even the sound is (some guitars are badly constructed in a way so that some strings stick out in front of the others - soundwise)
• how easy the gitar is on your fingers (in general, real-brand expensive guitarsare the easiest to play)
• the type of guitar that fits YOU

You will be able to consider these points with experince in your playing - trust me.

I can still remember when I started playing and I really could not hear any major difference between a 100 or a 500 euro guitar.

Ok, right, but what guitar should I buy then?

There's absolutely no reason for a beginner (unless he/she has been guided by a trustworthy,, experienced guitar player) to buy an expensive guitar. Why not?

• You might come to realize that it was not worth the money when your musical ear has developed.
  
  
• You might (hopefully not though) figure out that guitar playing isn't your thing at all. It's very difficult to know how big or small part of your life your new instrument is going to be. Then you may have to sell your guitar to get all that wrong-spent money back.
  

Therefore it is best for you to not buy any guitar with a price above 100 euros (~$160). You can always find a decent guitar at this price with good sound and also not too difficult to play. If you go much lower than this (unless it's a used guitar), then you've going to get to the really bad-sounding, bad-quality, break-easily guitars. Their fretting distance might also be incorrect - leading to that you will never be able to tune your guitar (guitarist's nightmare).

The most ideal novice guitars are the nylon-stringed (Spanish) guitars. They are nicer to your non-strengthened fingers than steel-stringed guitars, and they are usually at a better quality in their price range (in the lower price range that is). A personal tip is Yamaha C40 guitar - my first guitar=).

Buying an electric guitar is a bit overkill for a beginner, I think. That's like having someone with no experience of playing card games barge in to a casino and bet all his chips on one deal. In other words, better stick with what you can handle.

Even a package with both crap-guitar and crap-amp goes at around 150-300 €, so this will be a quite expensive alternative. Of course if you have the money and really want to play electric, why not? =).

A steel-stringed (aka Western-guitar) is nothing I usually recommend for beginners because they are more difficult to play if you don't already have strong fingers. But they will be stronger sooner or later anyway, you just need to be little more patient is all. Fender makes good and cheap ones.

Buying a second-hand guitar

To buy a second-hand guitar is not a bad idea, since you surely could find a guitar with 300€ quality for 100€. There are several sits that where second-hand products are advertised - use Google and find them!

If you do not have a person who knows what to look for with you when you check the guitr, then think of the following:

• Is the tone even? Does any string sound louder than the others?
  
  
• Is the neck bent? If it is then this could lead to that the positioning between the frets i incorrect - ultimately leading to you not being able to tune your guitar. It is easy to see if it is bend if you look at the guitar as the picture shows from the head towards the body.
  
  
• Does every fret hae an even tone? Sometimes a manufacturing error (or just plain wear'n'tear) could lead to a string not locking correctly onto a fret, or simply just being to close to the frets. The result is usually a crunching, sitar-like buzzing sound that definaly does not belong to guitar-playing. This could also be a product ofthat the neck is bent. Make sure to check every fret on every string. Take your time - an 18 fret guitar will have 108 frets to be checked.
  
  
• Are there any cracks in the neck? There should not be - most likely the guitar has been dropped and thereby damaged in some way. Again this could affect the sound, and it could also lead to that it breaks completely if cou apply the smallest pressure on it (in extreme cases).
  
  
• Do the tuners work properly? Sometimes the tuners can be a bit dodgy, check this thoroughly.
• Guitars , like yourself, do not have acces to a Fountain of Youth! Everything on a guitar has a certan life span. Thus if you buy a guitar that was bought on the eighties, of course it does not hav the same quality that it did when brand-new. Always ask for the age of the guitar, and make sure you will py the price thereafter.
  
  A smart thing to do is to check whether or not the guitar you are trying to buy is still available in stores. If the price for a brand new one is 50 euros more than the second-hand one you were looking at, the choice is simple - turn down the second-hand offer and just buy a new one!

Good luck

I wish you good luck in finding a guitar that will fit you. If you need more help you can e-mail me - but please keep in mind that I am no guitar-expert, and most likely I have not even seen the guitar that you supposedly will ask about. Besides, there is not much I can do unless I get to play it myself.

//M