Shopping for your first guitar?
I remember when my mom got me mine. It was a Christmas present and it came from Service Merchandise. If you don’t remember the store, it was massive, everything you could imagine was there. But anyway, I got my guitar and I went to my first lesson. Within the first 5 minutes, my teacher discovered my brand new guitar was not working properly. He told my mom when she picked me up, and back to Service Merchandise we went. They exchanged it no problem and we went on our way. Next lesson, new issue with the guitar. To speed up this long story, we had to exchange the guitar 5 times when we finally gave up and went to a music store. The salespeople at Service Merchandise didn’t know anything about guitars, nor did my mom and I at the time, so we went through a lot of frustration that could have been solved if we just went to a specialized store to begin with. Now 30+ years later, I wish I known then what I know now.
Your first instrument is the first step to your lifelong journey of exploring music. It should be an enjoyable experience so here are my tips to help you through:
- Decide what type of guitar you want. Acoustic or electric, either are great depending on what type of music you want to play. Electric guitars are traditionally easier to play because of the string tension, but I always tell people to choose what they are interested in. If you buy and electric, but really wanted an acoustic, you won’t be as motivated to play it as the instrument you were truly wanting.
- Make sure the guitar stays in tune, the neck is straight and the strings are easy to push down. If you are buying a reputable music store, these are questions that can be answered very quickly. Shopping online is hard, but ask the questions to the seller before buying and make sure they have a good return/exchange period.
- Get the necessary accessories to be successful. You don’t want to buy an electric guitar and not have an amplifier to plug it into. Or you get the amp, but forget the cable to connect them. That wouldn’t be much fun. Picks, tuner, and extra strings, these are all things you should always have. Make sure you have a way to protect your guitar. If you will be taking it places, make sure you get a nice gig bag or hard shell case to protect. If its always going to stay home, make sure you at least get a guitar stand so you aren’t just laying in the corner of the room for it to fall over, or on the bed to get smooshed.
- Get playing!!! Spend at least 20 minutes a day playing with your guitar. Your fingers will hurt at first, but the more you play, the easier it will get. Just stick with it. Don’t play until your fingers bleed, that is not good! But play through the pain as much as you can. Have fun!!
Making music is fun and a great stress relief. Take it day by day, and one day you will wake up and things will start clicking. I love talking about guitars and learning to play, so feel free to reach out with any questions. Email me at [email protected]. Have fun playing and rock on!