Acoustic Guitar
Buying Your First Acoustic Guitar
Buying your first acoustic guitar can seem kind of overwhelming. When you start looking you quickly realize that there are so many options to choose from, all of which have varying prices. It can be hard to know what the best deal is. Obviously, if you are just starting out on guitar, you don’t want to drop a ton of money, but you also don’t want to end up with an instrument that is bound to break because it is such poor quality. But rest assured, this doesn’t have to be as daunting as you might think! Here are some things to consider when buying your first acoustic guitar.
Establish a budget
When you start shopping for an acoustic guitar, you quickly find that the sky is the limit for how much you can spend. You can spend thousands of dollars on a guitar! This is why it is important to set a budget. If you can establish a budget, it narrows down your options very quickly. Remember, there is a reason why more expensive guitars cost more money, so ideally, you want to spend as much as you can afford without breaking the bank.
Consider buying used
The nice thing about buying a guitar used is that you can get a higher quality instrument for much cheaper than if you were to buy a new guitar for that price. Check your newspaper classifieds for anyone who might be selling their guitar. Another option is to check out eBay. If you have the opportunity to buy used, look into it!
Don’t go too cheap
I would consider any acoustic guitar under $200 to be too cheap. If you are first starting out on acoustic guitar, it may be really tempting to go with an acoustic guitar that is really low priced. However, I advise highly against that. In purchasing a cheaply made guitar, you’ll quickly find that it is very uninspiring to play because of the problems you will face. You’ll find that the guitar will go out of tune very easily. You’ll also find that it can just be downright harder to play because the strings will be farther away from the fretboard. These issues are discouraging to face if you are beginning on the guitar. So stay away from the First Act guitars at Wal Mart! Plus, say you start learning the guitar you realize it isn’t your thing, if you have a more quality instrument you’ll be able to resell it used and get a fair amount of money back.
Good brands
While I can’t do a bunch of in depth guitar reviews in this post, I can suggest to you some brands that would be worth looking at. It’s really important that when shopping for a guitar you read reviews online of different types of guitars. Keep in mind that this is just a starting place and that there are other options out there that would be just as good. If you are unsure a certain acoustic guitar is a good buy, post your question in a comment and someone will take a look at it for you.
- Epiphone Masterbilt AJ-500R Acoustic Guitar ($599.99)
- Guild GAD-30R Acoustic ($739.99)
- Martin Custom D Classic Rosewood Acoustic Guitar ($999.99)
An important thing to note is that while all of the listed acoustic guitars above are great guitars, if you can, play the guitar before you buy it! Every guitar will feel a little bit different. How the guitar plays, feels, and sounds to you should be the ultimate determining factor in your purchase. If you don’t quite know how to play the guitar yet, have someone at the music store play it for you so you can hear it, or bring a friend along with you who is an experienced guitar player.
Get a tuner!
This is kind of a side note, but you want to make sure that when you buy your first acoustic guitar that you get a tuner with it. It’s really challenging and uninspiring to a play a guitar that is not in tune. Save yourself and your listeners the torture of an untuned guitar!
You do have a lot of options before you in buying your first acoustic guitar, but it doesn’t have to be scary. Ideally, if you are just learning acoustic guitar, see if you can borrow a friend’s guitar to use at first. This will give you a better idea if you want to commit to investing in a guitar. However, if and when you do decide you want to get your own acoustic guitar, set your budget and keep the above things in mind!
I hope this helps give you some sense of direction. I’ve had a lot of confused people come up to me asking about what guitar to buy. It’s okay to be confused. I think it’s better to be asking the question than just impulsively going out and buying any ol’ guitar.
Here’s a question for those who’ve been playing guitar for awhile… what was your first guitar? Post a comment below!
Related Posts
- How to Choose the Right Strings for Your Acoustic Guitar
- Acoustic Guitar Tuner Reviews: Choosing the Best Guitar Tuner
- So, You Want to Learn How to Play Guitar?
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20 comments for “Buying Your First Acoustic Guitar”
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I got a used Martin D-28! Check it out:
I think that you forgot a link! D-28’s are nice!
yep, forgot the link. duh…….. here it is on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNuN1YkIuJY
Looks like a great deal! I really like the feel of the neck on Martin guitars. Really comfortable.
Brett,
I am having trouble finding information on the guitar’s you listed as far as if they have steel or nylon strings. I was wondering if you could specify which of the 9 you listed have nylon strings. Also is there a suggestion on which you recommend? I was going to purchase a guitar with nylon strings because a few of the artist I really like use acoustical guitars with nylon strings. Thanks for any advice you or others may provide.
Carolyn,
All the guitars I listed actually have steel strings! Yikes, I should have said something about that. I’m glad you asked.
I could give you some recommendations for some nylon string guitars, but my question for you would be what are you looking to spend on a guitar? If you’re unsure, let me know, and I’ll give you some ideas in all sorts of price ranges. :D
I too love the sound of nylon stringed guitars. What artists do you listen to?
Brett,
Peter White is my favorite artist. He uses nylon stringed guitars. A few other artists I like use both steel and nylon. But I think I would like the sound of nylon the best, at least to start. I am considering spending between $300-$500 for an acoustic guitar. The lower side of that of course would be ideal if the quality is excellent. :) I also have somewhat small hands/fingers. I’m not sure if finding a guitar with a smaller neck may be more comfortable for me. If you could recommend some in that price range I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for your response and help.
Carolyn,
Since you said that you have smaller hands/fingers then I would definitely be looking at guitars with smaller or thinner necks. For the price, Yamaha makes some great guitars with thinner necks. Check out their CG171 series. Here’s a couple:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yamaha-CG171SF-Flamenco-Guitar?sku=511105 ($350)
I know that this one was made specifically with a thinner neck:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yamaha-?sku=512444
Some other comparable nylon guitar brands in that price range are La Patrie, Rodriguez, and Ibanez.
Nylon guitars are excellent if you are wanting to learn the fingerpicking/fingerstyle stuff like Peter White (who is fantastic!). They aren’t really made for any heavy duty strumming. :) If you are wanting a strumming guitar, I’d recommend a steel stringed guitar.
Let me know if you have any other questions! Hope this helps you some!
Thanks! I am going to go check some of these out tomorrow. I called around and found some locally at different shops. I am more interested in the finger picking style rather than strumming. I’ll let you know what I decide. Thanks again for your help!
You’re welcome! Sounds great. Definitely let me know what you decide!
Brett,
Quick question. Do you think I should consider a cutaway? Or is that something for more advanced players?
Sure. A cutaway shouldn’t really be thought of as exclusive to advanced players, I don’t think, but the likelihood of you playing that far up the neck as a beginner is rare. That’s not to say it would be unfitting for a beginner to have a cutaway (my first guitar had a cutaway!). However, as you get better and grow, you might find in the future that you are really appreciative of a cutaway. For many it really is a matter of personal preference. If I was in your position, I wouldn’t see it as crucial. It is a nice plus, but not something I would worry too much about.
I would say, if the guitar you are looking at has a cutaway, great! If it doesn’t have a cutaway and you still love the guitar, don’t worry then that it doesn’t have a cutaway. Again, it really does come down to personal preference and what you foresee yourself doing on the guitar.
Brett,
I ended up purchasing the La Patrie Concert. After looking at several manufacturers, I found the quality of the La Patrie’s to be excellent for the money. I also loved the sound. I was able to purchase the guitar, a deluxe gator case, and a korg ca-30 tuner all the exactly same price as the lowest price I found online including tax. I am very pleased! Now I just have to figure out where to start as far as playing. Any suggestions? Thanks again for all your help, I really appreciate it. I also like your website! I look forward to seeing what new information is posted on your site!
Awesome! Congrats! Sounds like you scored a great deal. You’re all set up!
As far as where to start with playing, I would definitely recommend looking for a private classical guitar teacher in your area. You can check local colleges, schools, music stores. Obviously, that can be an investment, but it’s a good one, I think, if you’re willing to dedicate yourself to it.
Another option is to just start looking online for lessons. Look for “classical guitar lessons” or “nylon guitar lessons.” However, if you are just starting out, while there are a lot of great resources for free, it can be hard and a little bit overwhelming to find the information you need that will be relevant to where you are at and give you a good foundation and start to learning guitar.
There are though different online guitar courses that give a comprehensive view (beginner to advanced) on playing guitar. These eliminate the need to search for the “right” information when it is all right at in front of you. One of these is the Jamorama guitar learning kit which I reviewed here. I highly recommend it after having an inside peek at it myself. They even have one more specific to acoustic guitar here. They use a ton of videos and other media in their course on top of hundreds of pages of written lessons. You can learn a ton through these, but one thing is, I don’t believe they will be that specific to nylon guitar. Even so, since the foundational components of guitar playing, such as chords, scales, etc., are the same, you can still learn a lot. Plus, it’s much cheaper to get a comprehensive course online than to go with a private teacher.
It also kind of depends on your previous musical background and what type of learner you are. Those are some different options I would look into though. Feel free to bounce more of your thoughts back at me and I’d be more than willing to share my thoughts with you. Hope this helps some! Again, congrats on the new guitar!!!
cool! another guitar player is added to the fold! good luck Carolyn with your new axe!
Thanks guys! Just started to learn my chords! I’m trying to make a goal of being able to play a couple Christmas songs for my family this December. Hopefully I will be able to!
Carolyn - Sounds like you’re off to a good start! That’s a great goal. One that I think is very attainable. Best to you!
[...] it’s a given that owning a guitar tuner can be quite handy, especially if you are just buying your first guitar. Did you know though that guitar tuners can range anywhere from $10 to $300 and upwards? You [...]
I agree on the point about price. Buying a really cheap Guitar as youre first purchase can actually do you more harm than good. Like trying to get blood out of a stone. You will lose the inspiration to continue learning if it’s a real piece of junk. Spending a bit more is worth it.
[...] Buying Your First Acoustic Guitar [...]