Get a Guitar That Will Help You Learn
I’m a keen amateur musician, playing guitar for over thirty years. Since the early nineties I’ve gotten into music production using computers but my real love is the guitar.
As a keen guitarist I have a growing collection of guitars both old and new. My favourite is a genuine 1931 National Triolian that has clearly been well played in its near eighty years of life. The guitar has all the signs of considerable use with deep grooves in the neck and all the paintwork chipped off the body. I just need to strum a chord and slide up the neck and the sound is straight from the Mississippi Delta.
But there is no way that I could afford to buy such a fantastic vintage instrument when I was learning to play. In those days all I could do was dream of owning a Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Les Paul. Then Japanese manufacturers Tokai and Squier started to produce guitars. These were Japanese copies of the great Fenders and Gibsons. I managed to buy myself a nice black Squier Telecaster that was excellent to play. Someone once told me that a good guitar almost plays itself and there is a great deal of truth in this statement.
It was my Squier Telecaster that served me well when I used to play in various blues bands. Then I managed to save enough to buy a genuine Fender Stratocaster. But, to be totally honest, I preferred my old Squier telecaster which I’d sold to a friend.
There aren’t many young people who have the cash to buy a top of the range guitar. Luckily these days there are plenty of alternatives many of which are equally as good as the guitars they are copying. For example, Epiphone is one manufacturer who make outstanding instruments that play beautifully and sound exactly as they should.
If you are shopping for a first guitar on a budget I suggest that you get the best that you can afford. There are some stores that offer some great deals so look out for these as they can save you a fortune. Its always worth looking around for a second hand guitar as these will often have been setup already and cost you a fraction of what it would cost for a new one. Always shop around and maybe take a guitar playing friend along when you go to check out a guitar. And do remember that a good guitar realy can make it easier to learn to play.