I fancy buying an acoustic guitar as a hobby. Just to learn some favourite tunes from youtube tutorials. Nothing serious. Maybe play along to songs that have acoustic intros. But I basically know nothing about acoustic guitars so I have a number of questions about what guitar to buy.
nylon strings v metal strings
new v second hand
how much detail should I go into? Should I quiz a seller about the tree the wood for the guitar came from?
I can read music - learnt piano as a kid - so it’s not a music question. Just that I looked in a proper music instrument shop today and they had some (seemed to be mostly second hand, steel string) guitars for 3 hundred but then I looked in a junk shop and they had second hand nylon string cheap guitars for 40.
Do I need to spend 300 to get a good guitar or should I just spend 40 to get any old nylon stringed second hand piece of shit? I want it to sound good.
See if you can find a decent used one at a music store. I’d avoid buying one off Craigslist or from a second-hand store unless you know what to look for as far as problems. And make sure you play it before you buy.
Definitely metal strings. They just sound better. But that shouldn’t matter, because any quality guitar you buy should be able to handle either.
Second Chefguy’s suggestions. I used to work with a guy from New York who sold me his Fender Gemini II, lightly used. I’ve had other guitars, 6- and 12-strings, both electric and acoustic/electric, but it’s the only true acoustic I’ve ever owned, and it’s lasted thirty years and is still in great shape.
Yeah, or a Takamine. I had one that lasted through high school and college. Got beat to shit but it sounded great. (also have an old beat up Yamaha - again, great).
Neither one of these sound or play like a super expensive acoustic, but they will be perfect for you. Please don’t buy a $40 nylon string piece of shit. It will never stay in tune and it’s highly doubtful IMHO that you’ll keep at it.
The other thing I forgot to say… If you have a friend who plays at all - take them with you to the guitar store or craigslist listing. Best way to make sure you come home with something playable.
Sweetest-sounding acoustic I’ve ever played was an Epiphone that was a friend’s. I couldn’t say with certainty that it would sound as good off the rack. My friend abused guitars, and he’d broken the neck on that one several times, so perhaps the sound was a result of the repairs he’d had done.
A used or factory blemished Seagull S6 is a nice beginners guitar. $240 to $280
They sell new for about $350. But eBay has used ones.
I’ve played the S6 in the stores. It plays very well. A setup might be a good idea. Most guitar shops charge less than $25. But they aren’t bad right out of the box. I’d wait six months and get new strings and a setup at the same time.
This. Answering these questions will change what you are looking for a lot. For example, Nylon vs steel string is a pretty significant difference. Nylon strings will hurt less at first, but if you want to play anything other than classical, Spanish or Jazz guitar it’s going to sound weird on anything other than a steel string.
I don’t recommend you spend more than $200 on your first guitar because if you don’t like playing that’s a lot of money wasted. But you probably shouldn’t spend much less than $100 either because super cheap guitars aren’t really musical instruments as much as they are decoration. It will be significantly harder to make a really cheap guitar sound good, and this is doubly true for acoustic.
The brands mentioned, Yamaha, epiphone, Takamine are all decent low cost acoustic brands. Find one that feels comfortable in your hands. Put your left hand up near the head of the guitar and grab it trying to wrap your fingers around it. Can you do this comfortably? Now put your fingers on three strings I the same fret, can you do this? Have someone else play it loud and quietly. Does it buzz like crazy to does it sound good? You don’t need to know much more than that to start in terms of quality and fit. If it’s comfortable and someone who knows how to play can make it sound good it’s probably fine. To this end, second hand it totally ok and likely a good value. But I would recommend getting it from a music shop that sells a lot of second hand instruments or bringing someone who knows guitars shopping with you. And even then take it somewhere to get set up correctly.
If you buy it from a music shop see if they have a guitar tech who knows what they are doing and can set it up with slightly lower action for you. This will help ease the pain of strings digging into your fingers (and no matter what style of guitar you get it will hurt a bit. The pain is the main reason people give it up when they are starting.)
Yes, I agree with all that. Also, I am not typically a Taylor guy, but their GS-Mini is a smart, small, easy-to-play and travel with guitar. It is 7/8 size and has a narrow nut which is an issue for me, but most folks don’t mind it. Sounds balanced for its size, strums easy and can take a slide. Typical Taylor “almost an electric” playability. Comes with a strong padded gig bag and the size is better for overheads, so it goes places well.
Definitely do NOT get a guitar with nylon strings. Those are “classical” type guitars and they have wider flat fretboard which is NOT what a beginner wants. And the strings don’t stay in tune and are challenging to replace.
A playable used guitar is better for a beginner than a new one. Many beginners never master the F or Fm chords and their guitars end up leaning in the corner of their bedroom as an Object d’Arte collecting dust, so it’s a good idea to hedge your bets financially.
Whether you go with a new or used guitar, buy it at a store and NOT online or mail order. Definitely bring along a friend who plays guitar. He’ll know how to check the action to see if it’s playable and has no financial incentive to sell you something. The traditionally, you should offer to buy him lunch for this service whether or not you buy a guitar. Nothing elaborate, Wendy’s will do. He’ll also know what accessories you’ll want to get.
Most brands I’ve seen (under $300) are pretty similar. The equipment used to produce them cuts the wood pieces very precisely. They get assembled most likely in Indonesia.
Seagull is the exception. They are made in Canada.
YouTube has reviews for a lot of guitars. Good chance to hear them played.
I’ve bought all my instruments online. My local stores have very limited stock. We have a local Guitar Center but they don’t stock much. They can order anything but you have to prepay. I rather cut out the middle man and do my own ordering.
A online dealer like Sweetwater has a much better selection. I always use a local shop to get my strings changed and setups.
Oh, avoid any Ovation guitars (Ovation, Applause, Adamas). New, the Ovations and Adamas will be out of your price range, but used, there may be some deals on Applause and Ovations. Avoid them. It’s the round back. If you play one sitting, it’s going to start slipping and instead of the sound hole facing forward, it’s going to start facing up. That in itself may not be a serious issue, but it’s also going to change the angle of the fretboard and you’re going to have to adjust your grip for chording. And that’s no way for a beginner to create his muscle memory with his chording hand.
I’ll be the one voice here to defend nylon strings. If (and that’s a big if) you enjoy classical guitar and want to play some beautiful Bach pieces or any number of other amazing classical guitar pieces (my favorite is Villa Lobos), then you will want a nylon string guitar–steel strings suck for classical. And you be just fine buying Yamaha’s entry-level nylon string guitar. Sure, the neck is wide, but the strings are soft and classical guitarists are typically playing a few notes at a time and not barre chords.
But if you want to accompany modern rock tunes, steel strings all the way.
I have never understood the love for those guitars. Every time I try to play one it slips all over the place. Very annoying design. If I wanted to spend that kind of money, I’d get a Martin.
My first guitar was a $35 POS from a pawn shop. The finish on that thing was wrecked. It still played OK. I used it almost a year and took lessons. I sold it to a friend for $25. Got a better one from the same pawn shop. We didn’t have eBay back then.
Most teachers recommend starting with acoustic steel string. Transitioning to electric later is pretty easy.
Someone starting on electric will find acoustics harder to play. You have to press harder to fret chords on an acoustic
I have a Yamaha FG730S that I picked up for about $300 new last year, and I couldn’t be happier. Personally, I did learn on a cheap nylon string guitar and I bought the Yamaha sight unseen via mail order. I guess I’m not picky. I actually miss that nylon string guitar (I had to leave it behind in a transcontinental move, and just gave it away to a friend.) At any rate, yeah, the correct way to do it is to spend some time with the instruments at a local music store and figure out what works best for you, what sounds best to you, what feels best in your hands, etc. But if you want some specific makes and models, I vote for trying out the FG730s, and I think there’s a cheaper Yamaha for $200, the FG700S.
I agree with this in principle but I’d suggest different price ranges.
I think you’d generally be okay looking at the 200-300 range, especially for a decent used guitar. For new instruments, I think there are some good starter guitars that sell for around 300, but once you get down to the 200 area I question how good they would be.
Note that every guitar store I’ve been to sells new ones for less than list price, off the top of my head I’d say in the neighborhood of 20% off.
ETA: In other words, that new guitar you can get for 300 probably lists for 350-400.
ETA part 2: If you buy a decent used guitar and end up not wanting to keep it, you can likely sell it for most of what it cost you.
I actually miss that nylon string guitar (I had to leave it behind in a transcontinental move, and just gave it away to a friend.) At any rate, yeah, the correct way to do it is to spend some time with the instruments at a local music store and figure out what works best for you, what sounds best to you, what feels best in your hands, etc. But if you want some specific makes and models, I vote for trying out the FG730s, and I think there’s a cheaper Yamaha for $200, the FG700S.