home
:: choosing a guitar
Choosing A Guitar
Guitar shown is a
Fender Standard Stratocaster-Maple neck
Good Reading:
Picture
Of Parts Of A Guitar
Anyone serious about learning how to play the guitar, should own their
own guitar.
You just can't learn effectively if you have to keep borrowing someone
else's just to practice. And you'll need lots of practice!
The Parts Of A Guitar
It's a good idea to know the
parts that makeup a guitar:
- Body:
Hollow, with a hole in it
Solid with pickups
- Sound hole: Hollow-body and acoustic guitars have a sound
hole. Normally round and centered, it is where the sound escapes from.
On some hollow-body guitars, the sound holes are called "F" holes and
are located one above and one below the strings. Solid body guitars do
not have a sound hole. They rely on pickups to catch notes from the
strings that are then sent through an amplifier (amp) enabling you to
hear them.
- Soundboard: The most important piece of the body. This is the
wooden piece mounted on the front of the guitar's body, and it amplifies
an acoustic guitar's sound.
- Strings: These are what you pluck to create music. Normally
there are 6, but some guitars have 12 strings and a bass has only 4.
Bridge: This is attached to the soundboard, and acts as the
anchor for the strings.
- Neck: The long thing sticking out of the body, that the
strings run along. The frets are also located on the neck ...sometime
called the fingerboard.
- Head: The top of the neck, which holds the six tuning pegs
that are used to tune the strings.
Now that you're familiarized with the parts of a guitar, you'll have to make your
first decision of choosing an electric guitar (solid body, hollow body)
steel-string acoustic guitar or a classical guitar.
Electric guitar
double cut away
semi-hollow body |
These
guitars are either solid body or semi-hollow body and come in a variety of styles
such as: single cut-away, double cut-away and heavy metal style. They have
no sound holes. The music notes are picked up form the strings via devices called pick-ups.
However, the semi-hollow body models do have "F"
holes (pictured at right) and the sound is picked up using a
combination of internal body resonance and pick-ups. This guitar
produces a very rich sound and is popular with jazz and blues
musicians. |
Steel-string Acoustic Guitar
 A
steel-string acoustic guitar has steel strings, which gives you a very nice
and rich sound. Acoustic guitars normally do not have pick-ups like an
electric guitar and usually aren't amplified. They are noticeable by their
round sound hole.
If you are a beginner, be aware that steel strings hurt! You will need to
stick in there long enough for your fingertips to get calloused enough to
stop the pain.
Classical Guitar
The more beginner-friendly guitar with nylon strings that don't hurt as much
when you're learning to play. You'll notice that the sound from nylon
strings will die more quickly than steel strings when plucked. The sound
also isn't as loud, and you may have a problem with the wider neck if you
have small hands.
Appearance
Once you've made your style choice, next you'll want to look for a guitar
that looks good and fits within your
budget. After all, it's your hard-earned cash and long-term hobby, So make sure you find a guitar that
has good eye appeal. There are many different colors to choose from such as:
sunburst, red, blue, white, black etc. A retail store is the best place to
do this. Just don't submit to pressure to buy your guitar while you're
looking. Ask lots of
questions and get lots of information (including prices).
Cutaway
Some guitars have part of the body cut away, either at the top, at the
bottom or both. This is to allow your fingers easier access to the frets
near the top of the fingerboard. The guitar at the top of the page is a
double cut away model.
The cutaway affects the loudness and sound of a non electric guitar because the body has less air space to resonate the notes.
Types of Top
The top, or face, of the guitar acts like a speaker when you play an
acoustic guitar, so the top needs to be made from a good wood. The top of
the body is generally built in two different styles:
- Laminated veneer top:
Built similar to plywood, where thin sheets of wood are glued
together. A laminated veneer top is not the the best top for a guitar,
but is cheaper to build and helps keep cost down.
- Solid top:
This style is made from a solid piece of wood. It resonates much
better than a laminated veneer top, so the sound of the
guitar is louder, clearer, and better. Expect to pay
much more for a solid top than a laminated veneer top. You need to
decide if sound quality is worth that much to you. If you're a
beginner, you can get a laminated top first, and then upgrade in the
future.
Guitar Merchants
For the beginner, going to a music store or a guitar shop and having someone
show you different models and styles and answer all your questions is a good
idea. However, this is also
going to be the most expensive place to buy when you're ready. A good
retailer will give you advice, and will let you handle and test different
guitars before buying them. They are however, not the most economical place
to make your purchase.
Buying A Guitar Online
You can save as much as 70% over a retail store.
Buying a guitar online is going to save you a ton of money once you've
decided on what you want.
What you can do is visit a couple of local guitar stores, find a guitar
model that you like, and then go online to buy it from a
reputable merchant
Second-hand Guitars
We don't recommend it but alternatively you can consider getting a second-hand guitar, which is
usually a cheaper option. Try asking your friends or relatives. They may
have a good guitar that they can sell to you cheap. Or visit a pawnshop or
second-hand shop. You can usually find guitars there, but you do take a big
risk buying used and frankly, we don't think its worth it.
We've Done The Shopping For You
 We've
looked at the online merchants and found who
we feel are the
best online guitar sellers. You
won’t be disappointed when you see all the guitars they have for you to
choose from and at very competitive prices. These merchants are:
-
well established
- excellent
returns policy in case things don't work out right
- customer ratings and reviews of their guitars
- have good reputations for service
- a wide selection of styles (beginner to professional)
- name brands
- very competitive prices
- great returns policy
- free shipping
- special deals
- secure online ordering
and more .....
Articles
of Interest
more articles ....
click here
more articles ....
click here
|
