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 $USD 150.

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. GuitarCenter 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!

Cheers.