Student Questions - Episode 3 - Selecting Your Guitar

Student Questions - Episode 3 - Selecting Your Guitar Video Transcript

Hey, guys. What's going on? Just wanted to answer a question that came our way and it's a really good topic for beginning guitarists because it is about selecting your first guitar if you're in a position to buy one, so... 

"How do you go about selecting your first guitar?"

Brianna from Minnesota asks, "How do you go about selecting your first guitar?" Now, there are a lot of different ways that you can go about this, but the thing that I like to go with is what is the style of music that you're listening to? Is it heavy metal, is it 70s rock, is it 80s hair metal, is it country, blues? What sound is it? 

That's really going to influence how successful you feel in the beginning because you may not recognize it yet, but you are chasing a sound that's in your head when you pick up the guitar and whoever you're listening to is what you're going to go for. 

For me, I was listening to a lot of Ozzy, a lot of Metallica, Steve Vai, Zakk Wylde, Pantera, like all those kinds of guys. So, for me, when I was starting out, it was very much the loudest, heaviest sound that I could get was what I wanted. 

So, style of music. Blues, country, early classic rock, Cream, Zeppelin, The Who, those kinds of guys. You're going to want to go with something like an Epiphone or Fender Stratocaster starter pack. 

Now, the starter packs are nice because they come with the guitar itself, the electric guitar. It comes with a cable and a small little practice amp so you can get the clean or distorted sound right away. Some of the amps now have some onboard effects too. 

So, that can be nice to play around with the sounds, again, chasing that tone that you might have in your head that you want to hear. Those will run $150, $200, $250. And a lot of these starter packs have beginner lessons inside of them that can be great. Gives you some picks too usually. 

So that's a great place to start. Now, if you go the Fender route, you're going to get more of that trebly, thin sound that you would expect from later years of Eric Clapton or a John Mayer, that thinner, percussive, more focused on a clean tone. 

Gibson or Epiphone, Les Pauls, the single-cutaway, double humbucker guitars, that's going to be a fatter, more mid-rangy tone. It's going to be more conducive to rock and Slash plays the Les Paul, the Gibson Les Paul. So, if you're a Guns N' Roses fan, or, what are his other projects? Velvet Revolver, and Zack Wylde from Ozzy and Black Label Society fame, he played the Les Paul for years and years and now, he has his own company. So you're going to get that thicker, more distorted sound. 

Some other companies that are great for beginner packs are Ibanez and ESP. They're going to be more suited for that heavy rock, heavy metal sound, but again, those are some great companies with some great kits, so, check that out. 

Now there are some other brands, like my wife's first guitar was a Peavey, and Peavey's better known for their amps than they are their guitars but again if it's a beginner guitar, the whole thing is to just get you playing and accomplish those early goals. The specific brand of the guitar may not matter as much at the start.

Considerations on Where You’ll Be Practicing

Now, the other thing that I like to bring up when you're going to be picking out a guitar is what's your living situation? If you're in a house, a guitar and an amp could be totally suitable. But if you're in an apartment or you're in a townhouse where you're sharing rooms and there are a lot of people, or thin walls, I mean, even in a house with a lot of people, if you're living with a lot of family members, the electric guitar and the amp might be the way to go over an acoustic guitar because a lot of the amps that come in with those starter packs have headphone jacks now. 

So you can just plug right into your amp and be the only one hearing your practice. So that's something to consider. 

Starter Acoustic Guitars

Now, if you want to go more the acoustic route, there are a lot of great guitars. Again, Ibanez is going to be there, brands like Ovation, the heavyweights like Taylor and Martin are there. 

For the beginning acoustics, things to consider that you don't necessarily have to consider with electric guitars is if you are using a classical guitar, you have the nylon strings, that's a totally different sound, a different method of restringing the guitar. They usually have fatter, wider necks, and they're going to be more of a figure style. 

So, if that doesn't meet your goal of how you want to play or the songs that you want to play, go with a steel string where you're going to have a lot more options for fingerstyle or playing with a pick. Steel strings tend to be louder without getting into body shapes and sound dynamics and all that but you can find a really good acoustic guitar. Some of them have built-in tuners even for $150 to like $300. Totally, we're checking out, again, that might be something that if you're young like I was when you started, go do some extra chores, get some of that cash so you can go pay for what you want to buy. 

If You Found Your First Guitar or Are Borrowing Someone Else’s

Again, if you're just dusting off somebody else's guitar, your neighbor’s guitar, sister's guitar, brother's, father’s, whatever, check it out, restring the thing if the strings are sharp, and just start playing. That's the main thing, just find something to get your fingers on it, learn what you like, try to figure out what sound you want to emulate. What sound you're going after? And before you go buy, go check out what artists you listen to, what do they play? A lot of signature series guitars are there for a reason, right? They get you introduced to the guitar brands that are out there so a lot of options there. 

Hopefully, this helps. Again, think of the style of music that you are and the situation, and the context of which you'll be practicing. So, have fun. Drop some comments below [on YouTube]. Transcript to this video will be on beginningguitaronline.com along with any links to resources or products that were mentioned in the video. So, happy practicing, and keep on shredding. 

Take care.