Almost everyone wants to learn to play an instrument. Most often teenagers and students choose guitars because they are more interesting and lighter in weight. The guitar can be taken anywhere, show your skills to your friends and relax after a hard day’s work, notes, college essay and constant homework.
The first serious question that aspiring guitarists and guitarists face when coming to a music store is: “Which guitar to choose and what are the differences between them in general?”. Often this situation makes you seriously reconsider buying a guitar and spend another couple of weeks on the internet looking for the right instrument. To save your precious time, in this article we will provide all the necessary information on how to choose a guitar for a beginner.
Types of Guitars
The first thing you need to know is what guitars come in. Otherwise, what to choose from? Guitars are divided into 3 types: Classical; Acoustic (pop, western, folk, concert); and the electric guitar.
If the difference between electric and acoustic is immediately clear, the question, “but what is the difference between the first two?” causes confusion among beginners. “After all, they both have six strings and look the same!”
Well, they look very different, you can see that in the photo below. As you can see, the bodies are different. The classical one is rounder and smaller in size.
Besides, only nylon strings are put on a classical guitar, which is convenient for still delicate fingers of beginners using a diy guitar kit. Besides, its fingerboard is wider and shorter than that of an acoustic guitar, which makes it easier to learn. Combining these factors (body size, string material) we get absolutely different sound and purpose of a guitar.
This is the main information that a beginner needs when choosing your first instrument, more about the differences is told in the article Classic and acoustic guitar. What’s the difference? We choose our own variant.
As you may have guessed, this is an incomplete list of guitars. There are also seven-, ten-, and twelve-string guitars and even the four-string ukulele, a Hawaiian guitar with a tinkling sound. Of course, you can start learning on them too, but professional guitarists don’t recommend J
Why do I need an instrument?
So now you’re familiar with the types of guitars, but I don’t think this has helped you decide, has it? The next step, on the road to buying your first instrument, is to honestly answer the question, “What do I need a guitar for anyway?” Why answer it? The fact is, as noted above, all guitars sound different, and to play them, use different techniques and techniques.
So, you’ve decided on the type of guitar and are excitedly flying to the store in anticipation of buying it… but what’s the difference between “all these same guitars” that are also different in price for some reason? Let’s find out below.
The main difference between “same type” instruments is the material they’re made of. All guitars today are made of wood, plywood or mdf. What are the differences? First, if we talk about acoustic guitars, instruments made of wood are always lighter. Second is the sound quality: the more “wood” in a guitar, the better it sounds, regardless of whether it’s classical or electric.
Electric Guitar
Electric guitars are made of mahogany, ash, alder, maple, and basswood. Mahogany gives a rich, three-dimensional sound and enhances the lower register. However, this material is only used for expensive guitars of famous brands. Alder provides the instrument with a high, resonant sound, while ash also strengthens the upper register, but sounds harsher. Maple and linden have a powerful and rich sound in the middle register.
Classic and Acoustic
The decks of these guitars are made of rosewood, spruce, cedar, walnut or mahogany.
It’s important to note that guitars made entirely of wood are very expensive, so for a beginner the best option is to buy a half-wood instrument with plywood or mdf inserts. The sound, of course, differs, but at the first stages of learning this is not principal and is not even noticeable.
How not to run into a defect
In order not to run into a faulty instrument you need to examine your guitar carefully to check if it “builds” on the frets and make sure there are no distortions and distortions of the neck. In most cases a beginner cannot do this kind of checking correctly. So our advice is to find a guitar teacher and ask him to go with you to choose a guitar, so you will get a high quality and sound instrument.
If you went to the store alone, then carefully examine the selected instrument:
Your guitar should have no cracks or scratches, burst or blown lacquer, unglued joints.
Check the straightness of the neck by taking the instrument like a shotgun and examine the side line of the neck, it should be straight along its entire length.
Inspect the strings, the outer strings should not protrude beyond the plane of the fingerboard.
Twist the picks, the smoothness and quietness of their work is an indicator of quality.
Listen to the sound of the strings, ideally all strings sound approximately the same amount of time.
In the case of guitars it’s simple: The more expensive the better! But it makes no sense to buy the most expensive instrument to begin with, you won’t feel the difference anyway. But it’s also not worth it to save money and buy the cheapest one.
