Beginning Guitar Lessons Can Be A Drag

Guitar playing is like fine wine, it's gets better through time. You may want to quit after the first few months, but stick with it, it's worth it. I thought I'd help you out with some advice on questions I had, that no one could seem to answer while I was first starting out.

Choosing a Guitar:

This might be a very difficult task, when you don't even know what you're looking for. Electric or Acoustic? What kind of strings?, what kind of pick should I use?, How can I sound like a Rock star? Etc... Every so often our minds get overwhelmed with some silly crap that we shouldn't even be thinking about.

For starters, let me just tell you straight up, YOUR NOT GOING TO SOUND LIKE A ROCK STAR when you're starting out. On the contrary, people might want to throw rocks at you when they hear you playing. It doesn't matter if you get the same guitar equipment Slash uses, there's one minor detail that he has over you, and that is that I'm sure he worked really hard to get to where he is today, by practicing, practicing oh yeah and practicing some more.

Whew! Now that I got that off my chest, I'll continue.
If you didn't catch my point above, let me rephrase, you don't need top of the line equipment to start out with. Let's stay focused here, it's about the skill and not the instrument. I've read stories of famous musicians who either built their own guitar or used an old beat up hand me down guitar to learn.

So, what do I think you should do? I wouldn't spend my money on anything new, I would check out places like Craigslist and eBay for what I need. I would probably go to the Music store to play a couple of guitars to see what size fits me best. I have personally purchased many things from Craigslist and I must say that I have saved myself a lot of money.
Remember, if you find something you like on craigslist, don't be afraid to go test it out first. You're not obligated to buy if you go look at it.

Electric Or Acoustic: I constantly get asked this question, and I think it's best if I explain it as follows:
Electric Guitar: Won't hurt you fingers as much, the guitar strings are thinner so you should be able to press down on chords easier. Playing electric guitar can be a little more expensive on the front end, because I'm sure you're going to want to sound like some rock band which will require you to purchase pedals, a special amp etc... I personally think you should stay away from any of the special effects when you're starting out, and should really just focus on technique.

Acoustic: I'm not gonna lie to you, it's a little harder to learn to play acoustic guitar, the strings are more thick which means you need to press a little harder on each string. The benefits of learning this way, is that it teaches you better technique and fingering position. If you decide to move to the electric guitar down the road, the transition will be easy. Beginning guitar lessons with the acoustic guitar is also cheaper. If it's only you playing for now, you only need the acoustic guitar, that's it, no special amp, or pedals.

Oh yeah, don't forget to buy plenty of guitar picks, I personally like the medium size pick, harder rockers use the heavy picks. Also, you might want to get some extra guitar strings and a little tool that helps you change the strings.

Later Guitar Playas

Danny Wells