Buying Your First Guitar
There’s nothing more exciting than purchasing your first guitar. Even to this day, I still have a huge sentimental feeling towards my first guitar. After all, it was the guitar that started me off on a journey that led me all the way to today.
With that said, picking your first guitar can, unfortunately, be a time of indecisiveness and stress. What size shall I choose? Is this a good brand? Do I want an electric or acoustic? These are all common questions among first-time guitar buyers, so let’s crack on and answer them!
What size guitar shall I go for?
Here at TuneUp, we recommend that if you’re under 10 you choose a ¾ size guitar. These guitars are slightly smaller than full size, allowing children to reach strings and frets more easily. If you’re over 10, we’d recommend going for full size.
It’s not all about age though, your size is important too. If you’re over 150cm tall we’d recommend the full size, or if you’re below 150cm, the ¾ size. If you’re a child and slightly under 150cm, it may still be worth considering going for a full-size guitar. It’d be unfortunate to spend money on an instrument and grow out of it a few months later!
TuneUp recommends:
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If you’re over the age of 10/taller than 150cm - Full-size guitar
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If you’re under the age of 10/smaller than 150cm - ¾ sized guitar
Ben Willingham
TuneUp teacher
Should I go for an electric, acoustic or classical guitar?
Choosing what type of guitar you pick largely comes down to the genre of music you’re looking to learn. If you’re set to play rock/metal music, an electric guitar would absolutely be our recommendation. We believe an acoustic guitar is the best “all-rounder” choice. If you’re looking to play classical or Spanish pieces, the nylon-strung classical guitar is the way to go!
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In most cases, especially if you’re unsure about what genre you’d like to learn, we’d recommend your first guitar be an acoustic guitar. Acoustic guitars are clear sounding, and sometimes electric guitar effects can mask inaccuracies in your playing. If you’re a child, a ¾ classical guitar is a great choice, as the nylon (plastic) strings are much more forgiving than the harder steel strings on an acoustic guitar.
TuneUp recommends:
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If you’re looking to play a specific type of genre where the electric guitar is vital to the sound e.g. rock/metal music - Electric guitar
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If you’re over 10, looking to play a larger variety of music or unsure of the genres you’d like to play yet - Acoustic Guitar
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If you’re under 10/smaller than 150 cm - ¾ classical guitar.
What style/shape of guitar should I choose?
Guitars don’t just come in different sizes, they also come in different shapes. This is arguably where the hardest choice is, as there are so many different styles and shapes of guitars.
Electric Guitars
When it comes to electric guitars, the look and sound is largely determined by the make and model of your guitar. Fender and Gibson, two big names in the electric guitar market, have a completely different look and sound. Fender is known for its single coil pickups, which result in a bright, thinner sound. Gibson, on the other hand, uses humbucker pickups, which means a more warm and full sound. Personally, I’m a Fender guy, but one certainly isn’t “better” than the other. It all comes down to personal choice.
It’s always a good idea to Google or watch some YouTube videos of your favourite/famous guitarists and see what make and model guitars they play. It’s likely they’ll play very expensive guitars, but most of the time you can find cheap versions of them. For example, Eric Clapton is known to play a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar, which will set you back close to £1000. However, if you’re after that sound, you could purchase a cheaper Fender Squier Stratocaster which will only set you back around £200. Sure, it won’t give you exactly the same sound as the true Stratocaster, but let’s remember, we’re talking about first guitars here!
Acoustic Guitars
There are a number of different acoustic guitar shapes. Dreadnought guitars are large and have a loud, thick sound. They sound this way largely because they’re big guitars. However, this may be a problem for smaller people, especially children who may struggle to reach the strings and fretboard.
Parlour guitars are smaller than dreadnaughts, so they could be a better choice for a smaller person. However, what you gain in the guitar being smaller, you may lose in sound. Parlour guitars generally won’t be as loud and warm sounding as dreadnought guitars. As with the electric guitar, however, this doesn’t necessarily mean the sound is “worse” than a dreadnought, just different.
Auditorium / Grand Auditorium guitars are a mix of dreadnought and parlour guitars. They’re great all-rounders when it comes to size, loudness and tone.
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Yamaha F310 acoustic guitar (dreadnought)
TuneUp recommends:
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If you’re looking to play electric guitar - Have a look at what guitars people in the genre you’re looking to learn play. If there’s one you like the look and/or sound of, make a note of it!
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If you’re looking to play acoustic guitar - As it’s your first guitar, we’d recommend not stressing too much about the differences in sound that the different acoustic guitar shapes make. The feel and comfort is far more important when it comes to buying your first guitar. If you’re average height or above, don’t fear the larger dreadnought acoustic guitars (they can sound really nice)! However, if you’re smaller than average height, a parlour or auditorium/grand auditorium might be a smarter choice.
Where should I buy a guitar? And how much sould I spend?
The general advice given to guitarists is to try a guitar before you buy one. That said, most people looking to buy their first guitar don’t know how to play the guitar yet! With that in mind, we don’t see the problem with purchasing your first guitar online. However, although online can often be cheaper, it is worth bearing in mind that there are often advantages to shopping at a music shop. It’s common that guitars purchased online have high action (where the strings are further away from the fretboard) resulting in them being more difficult to play. Guitars sold in good local music shops are often set up well and are “ready to play” out of the box. So if you are thinking of buying online, be prepared that you may have to take it to a shop to have it set up properly. If you do find yourself in this position, it shouldn’t cost more than £40 at your local music store.
Although it’s easy to get carried away in the vast world of guitars, when buying your first we recommend you budget for up to around £250. As much as we believe that every penny spent on a guitar is a penny well spent; it’d be an awful shame if you spent £500 on a great guitar, but lost interest in the weeks and months after. There are some great guitars to be excited about in this price range that we’ll list below.
Tuneup recommends:
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Purchasing online is fine, but you may find your new guitar is difficult to play if the action is high. This is where the strings are at an uncomfortable distance from the fretboard. If this is the case, be prepared to take it to your local music store to have it setup properly.
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Don’t spend more than £250 the first time round!
So, what shall I go for?
Electric Guitar
If you’re looking to play electric guitar, our best advice is to have a look at what other guitarists are using in the genre you’re looking to play. It’s common for Ibenz guitars to be used in metal, humbucker guitars like Gibson’s in rock and single coil guitars like Fender’s in blues. But it’s important to remember, they’re certainly not “exclusive” to those genres. Joe Bonamassa, arguably one of blues music’s modern greats, plays a Gibson Les Paul.
Our personal recommendation is the Fender Squire Stratocaster. They’re generally solid at sounding good whatever genre you throw at it, and for the price they’re an absolute steal.
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Acoustic Guitar
When it comes to buying your first acoustic, our main advice is not to get bogged down in reviews and advice that tell you “this wood is superior to that wood” and “this make is better than that make”. Bookmark those reviews, and save them for when you come to buy your second guitar! In our opinion, what’s most important the first time around is that you’ve got a guitar that’s comfortable to hold, plays properly and hasn’t broken the bank. To ensure this, we advise you to follow our advice about sizes earlier on in the article. Here are our top picks:
Classical Guitar
We advise if you’re under the age of 10 that you start playing with a ¾ size classical guitar. This is because the ¾ size will make it possible/easier to play and the nylon strings will be much easier on the fingers. A £30/£40 guitar will be sufficient enough for an under 10s first guitar. They’ll have grown out of it in a couple of years, so why spend a fortune?
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