There’s really no pat answer here. Sometimes I pick up my guitar after several days and it’s right in tune. Then again, it’s not unusual to have to retune during a jam session. Heat and humidity changes are definitely factors. If it occasionally needs minor adjustment, sometimes up, sometimes down, I’d say that’s normal. If it constantly is going significantly flat, even with fresh strings*, I’d check for slipping tuners and (horrors) structural weakness causing the top to warp.
As mentioned above, how long strings last varies with several factors – type of string, amount of use, playing style, personal body chemistry, etc. It’s sometimes hard to tell how much they’ve deteriorated, as it happens gradually, but often you can really tell the difference when you put new ones on.
We don’t measure string tension. Basically, if the strings are right for the instrument and properly tuned, the tension will be right. Be aware, though, that a full set of strings exerts a fair amount of force, to the point that strings heavier than what the guitar is designed for can damage it. Find out what the heaviest safe string gauge to use is, and don’t exceed it.
*I’ve heard many guitarists say that they have to retune very often right after replacing strings, as the strings settle in. I always stretch new strings a bit during installation, by momentarily tuning each one in turn about a whole step high, then back to normal. I don’t have a problem with new strings needed constant retuning.
I agree with the electric guitar suggestion . . . you can keep it quieter, it’s less expensive for what you get, it’s easier to play. I second the Fender Squire/amp combo suggestion.
I would also suggest buying an electronic tuner . . . at first you simply can’t hear if it’s in tune, it takes a while to develop the ear for it.
Your guitar will stay in tune better if you take care of your strings. When you play, oil from your fingers sticks to the strings and after you are finished collects dirt and grime, making your strings impossible to play/tune over time. Personally, I change my strings every few weeks, and wipe them down with “Fast Fret” (basically a cloth with oil in it) to clean my strings/neck after each use, and I store my guitar in its case when not in use. Guitars are extremely accident prone when you leave them on a stand.
I would suggest changing your strings every 2 months (if you play daily, every few weeks at least). Every single time I pick up a beginner’s guitar, without fail it is horribly out of tune and has completely unplayable strings.
Oh, and as tempting as it can be when buying an electric guitar, don’t buy one with a whammy bar for your beginner guitar. Guitars with whammy bars have a floating bridge system in which the tightness of the strings is counter balanced with springs in the body of your guitar, allowing you to press the whammy bar, thus changing the tension on the strings and allowing you to change the pitch like Eddie Van Halen. Those are a bastard to string and tune, especially as a beginner.
The local store I deal with will let you do that with instruments worth up to $500, and you get to apply the first three months of rent to the purchase price. Even better, they’ll let you apply that money towards any other instrument in the store, so when decision time comes you may have some serious shopping to do. BTW, this shop charges 10% of the purchase price for a month’s rent, YMMV.
I’ve mentioned elsewhere that I love the Little Martin and Baby Taylor, but I’m not sure I’d recommend them to an adult starting out with the guitar. Though I, as an adult, certainly don’t have any problem playing them.
It’s probably a matter of taste, but I disagree with this. For instance, I’d rather read a ‘B’ as a dot on the third line of a treble staff, because I know that I’m most likely supposed to play the open string, unless the fingering instructions say different. In standard notation, it’s so much easier to read whether that ‘B’ is supposed to be a whole, half- quarter-note, and so forth than if I have to read the tiny little zero on the third line of the TAB grid. Another nice thing about standard is the fact that there’s a graphical correspondance between what the music looks like on paper and what it’s supposed to sound like. I’m not a terribly good reader, but I can eyeball a piece of classical guitar music and at least get an inkling of how it’s going to sound.
OTOH I admit that standard notation probably isn’t so well suited to genres like blues and rock.
My physics professor, who plays his guitar during lab and thus encouraged me to sign up, recommended them also, especially for the initial set up. He also recommended a couple pawn shops around here to look at. Any tips for shopping at those? Besides bring a buddy.
Thanks, I think this is the answer I was looking for, but didn’t quite know how to phrase it.
Thanks for all the tips, even though I am not the OP.
I also agree, go with a cheap electric.
You can learn more easily on an electric; less torment on your hands while you decide whether to go acoustic or electric, and in the meantime, you are learning the fundamentals without the gruesome pain.
Anymore, a good copy of a Stratocaster or something similar, under 200 bucks, can sound like/better than anything Hendrix or Page or Leslie West or Jan Akkerman ever played, and feel/play just as great. It’s the improved technology.
Get a friend to let you play with his guitars and you can find the feel that you want.
Also, an electric usually has some position on it’s toggle switch that can make it sound semi-acoustical.
In addition, the chickies will dig you!
But, I know from bitter experience that finding lessons from somebody qualified to teach can be frustrating as well as fruitless, so I say to check out guitar videos at first. I heard that Leslie West put one out called “Big Phat Ass Guitar” is pretty good. I also have seen one that covers fundamentals remarkably well in one video. I forget the name of it, but the Instructor is named Don Latarsky/Latarsky, so google that. He looks kind of nerdy, but It is really great.
Most Importantly: no playing Stairway to Heaven!
In my experience, those who started out playing the electric had more troubles advancing towards the acoustic (if that is what you wanna do.)
This is a great time of year to purchase a guitar. Sales galore. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to get something decent. The drummer in my band wanted to learn to play the guitar two years ago, so we went to Guitar Center and looked around for a decent inexpensive acoustic for him to dink around on. We ended up buying him an Epiphone -
now I know that there are some people that will cringe and say, “Oh, it is just some cheap Gibson wanna be.” -
But it plays very well. You can play a barre chord easily on it, it has a full deep sound, and the action is very nice on it. It is a fun guitar to play. Now it doesn’t sound as good as my antique Martin, but we paid $189 for it, not $2300…
Do invest in some decent strings. Good strings can make a crap guitar decent and a great guitar crap. We prefer Elixr Silk Wound. They last a long time, but you need to stretch them in.
Stretching your strings means pretty much putting them on your guitar, stringing it relatively in tune, and bending on them. The will loosen up, tune the guitar, do it again.
DO wash your hands before you play the guitar, or at least make sure that they aren’t very dirty. The oils in your hands will dull them out faster than they normally would. I wipe my guitar’s strings off when I am done playing it with a clean dry rag.
The easiest way that I teach guitar to someone is to teach them the basic chords and how to transition smoothly from one to the next. You can play a lot of songs with the same basic majors and minors (since you are a musician you will know this already.)
Guitar is very easy, in my opinion. I am struggling to learn piano.
http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/lesson.html
You might consider a classical guitar with nylon strings, if you favor a finger picking style. If properly set up, they’re not quite as hard on the fingers, the neck is wider, and the sound, while relatively soft (compared to steel string acoustics), can be very pleasant. This can be limiting, depending on what you want to play, but I think a $200 to $300 model, properly set up, would be good to learn on. You might find one cheaper that would work almost as well. If you learn to play and continue at it, you’ll probably end up with a guitar collection like I, and every other guitar player I know has.