Criteria for choosing your first guitar
Upon searching for your first guitar, you may be told the following by friends or salespeople:
- You need a guitar with good action.
- A good guitar is adjustable.
- You want a guitar with good tone.
If you are not sure what these terms mean, then these statements are probably not very helpful.
Naturally, you want a guitar that looks and sounds good to you. But to learn to play the guitar, you will need an instrument with strings relatively close to the fingerboard, so that you can press them down easily. Full-size guitars require a functional truss rod so that a qualified repairman can make adjustments, if necessary. In short, you need a guitar that is playable.
People often choose a guitar based upon the following criteria (listed in order of importance):
- How much it costs
- What it looks like
- How it sounds
If price is your most important criterion for purchasing a guitar, it is extremely important to understand that the playability of a guitar directly affects the ultimate price you will pay.
Most people don’t even question the playability of an instrument, not realizing that many experienced players consider it the most important issue in purchasing a guitar. Playability is especially critical for the beginning student because an unsuitable instrument can have negative effects on the learning experience.
Most new players experiencing difficulty would not consider that they may just have a bad instrument. Because their instrument is new, it is more likely that they would perceive their difficulties as a lack of ability, and quickly become frustrated and discouraged.
This is tragic because they may miss out on the joy of learning to play an instrument. Rather than contributing to their personal development and gaining a sense of accomplishment, they are likely to feel a sense of failure and loss.
Since 1980, our primary focus has been music education, through the teaching of all styles of guitar playing. We understand the importance of playable, adjustable, entry level guitars. We simply cannot sell guitars to new players that are not playable and reasonably adjustable because of our firsthand understanding of how this defeats the learning process.
We offer quality guitars that are adjustable, affordable, and most importantly playable, giving you or your children a better opportunity to learn.