A Guide to Buying an Acoustic Guitar

Knowing how to choose the right guitar and how to identify a bad one, will save you from countless headaches, not to mention finger aches.

Acoustic guitar bodies come in basically the same hourglass shape, with some variations, but they do vary in size, color, wood-type, style, and extra features. You can even buy an acoustic guitar so small that fits into a hiking backpack.

Guitars come in a very wide range of prices, but when it comes to instruments, in general, you get what you pay for, especially when you buy new. There’s a real difference between getting a bargain and buying cheap.

But whether you buy new or used may be determined by many personal factors including your budget, and each has their own pros and cons.

Buying new, gives you a warranty and, hopefully, a return period, if for some reason you’re not totally satisfied with your purchase, or something goes wrong.

Under ‘usual' circumstances, a used guitar can usually be purchased cheaper and has already gone through its “break-in” period.

Commercially built guitars are usually mass manufactured. “Custom-made” guitars are exactly that. They are custom built and tailored to your specifications by a highly skilled guitar maker.

Prices for a custom-built guitar vary considerably, depending on the skill level of the craftsperson you contract the job to, but, as a rule, they are generally quite higher than a commercially built guitar of “similar” quality. Each custom built guitar is unique and therefore hard to compare in price to a commercially built guitar.

FOR THE "TECHIES"

Understanding some of the parts of a guitar will definitely help you when it comes to the Pre-Purchase Checklist.

BODY: This is the part with the sound hole in the front. It is where the strumming is done, and it can vary in size. The actual size, shape, type of wood, coating, and general build of the body also affects how the guitar will “sound”, whether it’s a rich and warm sound, or a thin and ‘twangy’ sound. The body tends to be the part that also gets scratched, damaged, and generally banged-up the most.

NECK: This is the long piece extending from the body and ends at the ‘head’ of the guitar where the ‘Tuning Heads’ are, also known as ‘machine heads’. The strings travel from the ‘Bridge’ on the body, across the sound hole, along the ‘Fret Board’, which is attached to the front-side of the neck, and finally arriving at the tuning heads where they are wrapped around tuning posts. The tuning heads are then turned by hand, which then turns the posts, making the strings tighter or looser, thus affecting their ‘tuning’. Necks tend to warp and twist if not looked after, or if the guitar is left propped against a heat source.

BRIDGE: The Bridge is normally located on the front of the body, by the sound hole, and on the side of the hole opposite to the neck. The strings are usually fed through the bridge first before they cross the hole and travel up the neck to the tuning heads. The bridge is like an anchor-point for the strings. Metal bridges are best, but on most acoustics they are either hard plastic or wood. Bridges have a tendency to crack and split over a long period of time.

FRET BOARD: The fret board is glued to the front of the neck. This is the part you press the strings onto to make chords or play individual notes. Because it’s glued on separately, a fret board can be made of a wood that’s different from the neck.

The strings travel over the fret board and the distance they are above the fret board makes a difference to the playability of the guitar. If the strings are too far above the fret board, then they will be hard to press down, making the guitar hard to play.

When a beginner plays a guitar, initially his or her fingertips are very soft and need to be hardened. A guitar with the strings too far above the fret board, also known as having a ‘high action’, will cause the player’s fingers to hurt so much that they are likely to put the guitar away in discouragement and possibly stop playing altogether.

STRINGS: Acoustic guitar strings, come in a wide variety of ‘flavors’. They can be made out of nylon, brass, steel, or a combination. Nylon strings are usually only found on Classical guitars and Student guitars, because they’re easier on the fingertips. They have a rich, warm sound to them.

Strings sets come in different ‘weights’, or sizes. Strings that come from a package marked ‘Heavy’ are usually quite thick in size and sound “beefy”. Strings that are light, or extra light, are very thin and usually have a brighter sound to them, but are also quieter sounding than heavy strings.

String choices are purely personal taste. Light strings are easier to press than heavy strings but also sound quite different. The more often strings are played, the dirtier they get. If a cloth isn’t run over and under them, from time to time, the sound becomes very dull

THE PRE-PURCHASE CHECKLIST

• - Before you buy a used guitar, cost-compare against the price of a new one, unless the guitar is quite old. You could also compare its used price to other used prices by going to an online auction and either searching for the same or a similar guitar.
• - Check the overall condition of the wood for cracks, scratches, splits, dents, chips, etc.
• - Also check the lacquer finish for cracks and splits.
• - Check the neck/fret board for warping and twisting. You can do this by holding the guitar flat on its back, with the sound hole facing upward. Bring the guitar up to eye-level, with the neck running away from you and the edge of the body almost touching your face. Let your eyesight skim across the front of the body and down the fret board. You should be able to see if the neck is twisted or bowing.
• - Tune the guitar, or have the seller tune it for you.
• - If you know how to play about five or six chords then play them. If you don’t know how to play, ask the seller to play them for you. This check ensures that the neck of the guitar is not warped, even though you couldn’t physically see it. If the neck is warped, and the guitar is properly tuned, then some of the chords will sound good, but others will sound as though the guitar is not tuned. If this happens, check the tuning again. If it persists, then don’t buy the guitar.
• - Check the bridge of the guitar. If it’s made out of wood or plastic, make sure it’s not cracked or splitting. The bridge needs to be rock-solid, as a lot of pressure is exerted on the bridge by the strings.
• - Check the tuning heads. Do they turn easily, or are they very stiff and hard to turn. Even with the high tension of the strings, a quality guitar will have tuning heads that are fairly easy to turn.
• - Check the ‘action’ of the guitar. Are the strings a fair distance from the fret board? Are they easy or hard to press down at various points on the fret board?
• - If you are buying the guitar for yourself, and you know how to play, even if you’re a beginner, then play the guitar.
• - How does it feel?
• - Is it easy or hard to play?
• - Can you fit your hand around the neck/fret board comfortably to play chords?
• - Is the guitar a comfortable size and shape for your body? Is it easy to hold?
• - If you plan to play standing up, ask for a guitar strap.
• - Do you like the sound, the color, etc?
• - If you don’t play, have someone else play it for you so that you can judge what it sounds like.

WHERE TO BUY

Buying a guitar from a physical retail music store allows you to ‘test drive’ the guitar and ask more questions up front. Buying online or from a catalog may bring you more cash savings.

No matter where you buy your guitar, if you know what to look for, and spend a little extra effort in your search for that ‘perfect’ guitar, not only will your fingers thank you, but also your ears, and all those who will come to join you around the campfire, or even go to see you in concert. Who knows?

Acoustic Guitar Lesson

Here is an acoustic guitar lesson to help you improve your guitar playing skills quickly.

This guitar learning techique will teach you how to fingerpick folk-style, but in a Latin rhythm in the key of A. This Latin rhythm has eight quick beats to the measure, and is accented on the first, the fourth, and the seventh beats.

This guitar lesson will focus on using your right hand, and your thumb will play the accented beats. Your fingers will follow. Finger number one, the index finger, is to pluck the third string on beats two, five, and eight, and fingers two and three will pluck the second and first strings together on beats three and six.

In the following acoustic guitar lesson, you will chord an A for the first sample. To keep it simple, let's take the beats one at a time...

Acoustic Guitar Lesson - 7 Steps to Chord an A:

1) First, the thumb plucks the open A string for a bass note.

2) Next, finger one plucks the third string, which is sounding an A.

3) Then fingers two and three pluck strings two and one together. These two notes will be a C-sharp and the open top E string.

4) Now the thumb immediately plucks string four, which is an E and works as an alternate bass string. That's beat 4.

5) Now beat five is just like beat two, with finger one plucking string three.

6) Beat six is just like beat three, with fingers two and three plucking the top two strings.

7) On beat seven, use the thumb to pluck the third string, then finish up with fingers two and three plucking the top two strings again.

When you've practiced the acoustic guitar lesson above a few times, it will become second nature to you to pluck this Latin rhythm.

Your next part of this acoustic guitar lesson is to try the same finger picking pattern using an E chord. Since the open sixth string is your bass note, you'll pluck it on beat one. Follow through with the rest of the measure in the same pattern, except your thumb plucks the fifth string on beat four and the fourth string on beat seven. When you've mastered the E chord the acoustic guitar lesson moves on to the D chord. With D, you can just use the fourth string for your thumb-plucked bass note each time.

Acoustic Guitar Lesson Tip:

Here's a fast acoustic guitar lesson secret for making the above finger-picking style of guitar playing a little fancier. Chord an A. Here's how...

When you pluck the fourth beat of the measure lift your chording finger - it's the ring finger on your left hand. Lift it and then press it while plucking. You'll get a little slur at the start of the note. This sounds great when you build speed up. Try the same little trick when playing the key of E, too. It will be finger two that you will be lifting.

Finally in this free acoustic guitar lesson for you, put everything together in a chord sequence. Play A for two measures, then D for two measures. Play E for two measures, then back to D for two measures, then A to finish up.

Advanced Blues Guitar Lessons

With so many learn guitar dvd out there, it can hard to know where to start as a beginner. Never before has there been so much information from so many great guitar teachers readily accessible to new guitarists, which is an advantage that many older musicians would have loved when they were learning, but it means that finding where to start becomes more difficult.

One of the first decisions a guitarist has to make is whether to learn to play electric or acoustic guitar. Some learn guitar dvd are explicitly for one or the other instrument. The two types of guitar are not completely interchangeable with anything beyond very basic techniques, and how a guitarist plays one is influenced by the instrument. For example, many lead techniques end up too quiet or muddled to actually be very useful for an acoustic guitarist, since an electric guitarist relies on the amp for volume.

A common thing many new guitarists here is that acoustic is easier to start with than electric. That isn’t to say acoustic guitar doesn’t require the same level of skill to play well, just that not having to deal with issues like feedback make the basics easier to pick up.

So the choice becomes a matter of picking beginners guitar lessons on the type of guitar you want to end up playing. If you want to be an electric guitarist, learn to play on an electric. It will save headaches later on. While learning techniques from a variety of guitar lessons dvd can be quite beneficial and fun, focusing on learning the basics first will make it easier to learn those techniques later on. The two project sound so differently that playing the two the same way can lead to unpleasant results.

There are so many ways to do the same thing on a guitar, that even two people in the same genre may not play very similar. Focusing on the style you want will ultimately make it faster and more enjoyable to learn playing guitar.

Some beginners guitar scale chart for beginners start out with the basic open chords, strumming patterns, and similar techniques, which is a great way for most guitarists to start. Luckily, there are lessons more in line with these styles and starting in them, but it is important to recognize that if there is a particular style you want to play, you do need to focus on learning that. The general approach is a good starting point for people not sure what they want to do or want to be more well rounded, but people with a focus on a particular style may want to focus on that particular style.

Even if learning that style is more difficult, you will be far more motivated to put in the practice and time if you enjoy what you are playing then the generic approach. Taking the time to think about your goals is a good way to make the right selection of free guitar scales. As helpful as the advice of others can be, deciding what you want out of your guitar playing will help to ensure you can learn to play what you want in far less time than you might expect.

Various Ways to Learn How to Play an Acoustic Guitar

Beaten up with the conventional way of learning how to play an acoustic guitar without even perfecting a single tune? Are blisters forming on the tips of your fingers and yet nothing’s making sense? Maybe you have to double check your resources or better yet, yourself. There must be something terribly wrong with the way you handle your guitar.

Here are some of the numerous ways to learn play an instrument as lovely as an acoustic guitar. All you need is a piece of pick, your own or borrowed guitar, and a lot of patience. Well, a couple of manuals will do and if you’re not satisfied with that, an internet access.

First, you have to make sure that your guitar is properly tuned. Nobody would dare listen to a complete mess. If you don’t know how, find someone who knows.

Then choose from the wide variety of resources. You could search for a private teacher, go online, or settle on being alone with your references like books and manuals. Examples of private guitar tutors are those whom you know, friends, neighbors, your relatives or someone who is paid. An online opportunity is endless. Some sell you copies of their video recorded lectures others are on the spot. Still, your choice.

After which, find the right spot to play in. It has to be comfortable. Your guitar must be supported, if not by your thighs. Hold it steady maintaining your right hand on the strings just above the sound hole and the left hand on the fretboard.

Now, a lot of suggestions were implied by numerous guitarists who had your position once before, a beginner. They suggested that, above everything else, you have to use those two organs hanging on the side of your head just below your temporal lobe, your ears. Right.

Of course you have to use other important senses, like your eyes. That would be a very positive view. But what about those who are blind? Haven’t it occurred to you that at some way they have mastered the art of playing a guitar without even seeing what it looks like. They just follow their instincts and feel the chords. Yes, they listen.

Listening. One of the most effective ways of learning.

Remember you’re handling an acoustic guitar. It doesn’t require any of those crappy contraptions just to make music work. You need more than an amplifier to change your voltage of music current. All you need to do is effectively listen to the melody and determine whether you’re getting the tunes right.

In the event that practicing goes wrong and absolutely mystified, you could always go back to the drawing board. Memorize the chords. The emphasis on your memorization must be on the basic. The C,A,G,E,D chords are considered as the building blocks to your bountiful success in guitar playing. Not only are these chords easier to achieve but they are included in most of the songs played nowadays. Surprisingly, including R & B.

Keep on practicing with these basic chords. Try it without looking. That would be able to help you figure out if you’re strumming the wrong way. Feel your strings tremble and stop. You have to take control of your music. These various ways of playing isn’t the exact key to learn but only a guide.