Buying your first Guitar

It can be a daunting task  buying your first guitar. Keep your head and you should walk away with the right instrument. An important factor to remember is to use whatever resources you can find to get the best advice about your first purchase.

The right guitar for you should feel both comfortable to play and also gets the sound that best suits your style. 

The neck of the guitar is a good place to start when making a decision. Wrap your left hand fingers around the neck (if you play right handed) and think about how it feels. Does it feel big and bulky? If it does that's not a good sign, it will probably feel awkward for you to play and just uncomfortable. Try to get a neck that feels 'manageable' . Not too big, not too small. Remember to use your hands to make this decision, after all it's going to be you that uses it for endless hours of practice. The more comfortable it is to you the better.

Next you should consider the pickups (if it's electric). Single-coil type pickups are quite thin on sound although thats not to say that they don't sound any good. Humbuckers offer a thicker, fuller sound and give a 'bigger' overall sound. Think about Slash and Hendrix. They both play rock guitar but use different pickups. Slash's sound is fuller and sustains longer due to his humbucker  equipped guitar. Hendrix still has that rock sound but it's less full-on , it seems a bit more delicate that Slash's thanks to his single coil equipped fender strat. Try to find out what your favorite players are using as pickups and make your decision on the way you want your guitar to sound.

The bridge section is important too. A fixed bridge is the standard type of bridge, which just holds the strings to the body. A tremolo bridge acts as a moveable block that reduces or increase tension on the strings. This results in a pitch waver and sounds great (depending on how it's used). Steve vai, Jeff Beck and Hank Marvin are three totally different players with completely different styles yet all use the tremolo bridge as part of their style. Listen to these players, if you like what you hear then you may want a tremolo bridge.

The body type is important as well. A strat type body offers cutaways for your ribs and strumming arm. It feels very comfortable. A telecaster type body is more block like and so feels completely different to play. In the end it comes down to how you feel when you have the guitar sat on your lap. Try as many different body types as you can before you part with your cash.

If you are going for a second-hand guitar make sure to check the frets for indents. This shows the signs of a well played guitar, if the frets are excessively worn then it will need professional attention to make it play at it's best so that should be considered with your price offer!

Most big manufactures of guitars offer very good instruments throughout their ranges of guitars be-it electric or acoustic so if you consider the above and go for a good make of guitar you won't go too far wrong.