How to buy a guitar?

How to Buy a Guitar
When I first got interested in
playing the guitar, the first
obstacle that I met was to
purchase a guitar. I had
totally no idea how to
choose a guitar nor had any
close friends who played the
instrument. At that time, the
internet was not readily
available and there was no
Google search engine to find
information on buying a
guitar. Together with a
friend, we went to a guitar
shop in town and each
brought a guitar package set
for ourselves for around USD$
200 after some persuasion
from the store assistant.
Considering that this was a
relatively cheap deal at that
time and we did not have
knowledge on choosing a
guitar, we decided to go
ahead with the purchase.
Soon after I brought the
guitar, I realised that there
was poor workmanship and
there were buzzing sounds
when the guitar was played
at some frets but I guess we
couldn't complain for the
price we are paying. We
were simply not able to
make better decisions due to
lack of internet and guitar
knowledge at that point.
Before You embark on
Buying a Guitar
Basically, this guitar article is
to impart some of the
knowledge and experience
that I have learnt the hard
way when purchasing
guitars. I do hope that after
reading this article, you will
be able to make a better
informed decision and avoid
unnecessary frustration
when purchasing a guitar.
The first thing you need to
do is to ask yourself these
questions:
1) What is the style of
music that you want to
play?
The style of music that you
are going to play will help
determine which kind of
guitar you should get. For
example, an electric guitar
would preferably be used in
rock and metal music,
classical guitar for classical
music (isn’t this obvious?) or
perhaps if you like to sing
along while strumming the
guitar, the acoustic guitar is
the best choice.
2) What is your budget
to spend on the guitar?
Purchasing a guitar is like
making an investment into
your musical development. It
is important to ask yourself
what would be the budget
that you would be willing to
spend. For a total beginner,
somewhere within the range
of USD$200-300 would get
you a decent electric guitar
whereas a decent acoustic
guitar would cost around $
USD150.
Choosing a guitar
Once you have answers to
these questions, let’s move
on to how to select a guitar
for your needs.
1) Always TRY the guitar
before deciding on any
purchase. You should try as
many guitars as you want to
and do not be pressured by
the store assistants into
buying a guitar. There is no
harm to trying guitars
outside your budget and you
should get a feel of the
differences in sounds and
playability.
2) Inspect the entire guitar
carefully for physical defects.
Minor wear and scratches are
ok as long as there is no
interference with playability.
You should avoid purchasing
guitars with major defects
such as cracks along the
body. Another major defect
is the twisting of the guitar
neck. You can do this check
by holding the guitar so that
the headstock is pointing
towards you. Look along the
neck and make sure that
there is no bowing.
3) Check out how the
condition and the playability
of the frets. You can do this
by fretting each fret on each
guitar string and playing the
note. If there are buzzing
sounds on some frets,
chances are that the action of
the guitar is not set properly
or there is poor
workmanship. You should
also check that the frets of
the guitar are not worn out.
4) If you decide to get buy a
guitar online, be sure to read
product reviews from other
people as well as comments
from users who have bought
from the website before.
Guitar Center and Musician’s
Friend. These online guitar
stores are trusted sites that
are very well established
with years of experience.
Some of these stores even
offer a money back
guarantee on their products.
5) Another important factor
is that you should be totally
comfortable with the guitar
and you must like the sound
of the guitar. Once you made
this purchase, chances are
that the guitar is going to
stick with you for some time.
So make you buy something
that you like!