Tag: buying

My friend Anthony recently started playing the bass guitar.

He had been wanting to learn for some time, and he finally asked me to go down to the local Guitar Center to help him decide what to buy.

Although I am primarily a guitarist, I can play passable bass (and banjo), and I’m familiar enough with basses to help a brother out, which is what I did.

With my help, he was able to pick out a shockingly nice bass/amp combo for not a ton of money.

It’s great fun to be able to help a friend out like this, but unfortunately, if you’re reading this and looking to get into playing guitar, you’re probably not anywhere near me, so I can’t meet you at your local guitar shop and help (as awesome as that would be).

So while I can’t coach you through your first guitar purchase in person, what I can do is lay out some broad concepts that can help you narrow down your options and make a good choice you will be happy with for the long term.

Looks matter

Although I don’t consider myself a vain or shallow person, this is one area where looks definitely matter. I can’t stress this enough: you must love how your guitar looks.

If your guitar doesn’t catch your eye — if it doesn’t make you want to pick it up every time you walk by — then you aren’t going to practice on it as much as you should. It’s just how it is.

I can’t stress this enough: you must love how your guitar looks.

Take the time to look at a bunch of different guitars online. What styles do you like? Which guitar makes you stop and drool a little? Which ones can you see yourself playing and it just feels right?

I remember walking into a guitar store several years ago and seeing a PRS Vela on display. My heart immediately skipped a beat and I almost bought the thing right then and there without even playing it, but at the last minute my sensible self reminded me that I didn’t have a spare $1,200 to spend. (It’s still my dream guitar, though.)

This is the kind of weak-in-the-knees connection that you would ideally like to find, although admittedly for me that’s rare. But at the very least you need to narrow down your search to instruments you find sexy, beautiful, or eye-catching.

Feel matters

Once you’ve narrowed down the list to aesthetically pleasing guitars, you need to find one that feels right.

Guitars are funny, though. Two identical Fenders may feel worlds apart. One might feel inspiring in your hands, while the other feels flat. It’s extremely difficult to quantify feel, of course, but you’re looking for a connection with your instrument.

And the best-feeling guitars I own aren’t necessarily the highest-quality or most expensive ones. I have a cheap Seagull S6 Folk acoustic and a cheap SX Strat copy (both of which cost under $200) that won’t win any beauty contests, but they just have something special about them. I like to say that they have “the mojo.” I can’t explain it, but I can feel it.

The best-feeling guitars I own aren’t necessarily the highest-quality or most expensive ones.

If you’re a complete beginner, you would do well to befriend a player you trust and have them help you with this. But to the extent that you can, try to put your hands on as many instruments as possible and just see which ones you connect with and leave you wanting more. And if a guitar doesn’t resonate with you, put it down and move on.

Price matters

We are conditioned as consumers to expect more from a more expensive item than from a less expensive one. But with guitars, the law of diminishing returns is a real phenomenon.

It’s true that, in general, a $2,000 guitar will be better than a $200 guitar, but it will not ever be ten times better. Likewise, a $4,000 guitar might only be 5% better than one costing half as much. And, there are $200 diamonds in the rough as well as $2,000 duds.

Over the years, I have noticed a few truths about guitar prices. First, you can expect more value for your money for guitars priced up to around $500–600. After this, the differences in quality really start to get minimized, and you begin paying for “upgrades” that may or may not enhance your playing experience. (And oftentimes you’re simply paying for the logo or name on the headstock.)

Second, lower-priced and entry-level guitars have seen drastic improvements in quality in the last 20 years. With the mass adoption of the CNC machine and the rise of quality factories in Indonesia, Korea, and even China, there are some absolutely killer $200 guitars on the market today — so good that I’m not sure how these companies are making a profit.

When it comes to budgeting for your first purchase, just know that you can get a very good guitar that will last you up to a lifetime for $500 or less. Of course, if you’ve always wanted a real Gibson ES-335 and you have the money, then by all means, go for it! But otherwise, $500 seems to me to be the sweet spot — the biggest bang for your buck — with plenty of even lower-cost guitars that have tremendous quality and playability.

With the mass adoption of the CNC machine and the rise of quality factories in Indonesia, Korea, and even China, there are some absolutely killer $200 guitars on the market today.

At the end of the day, if you are looking to get into playing the guitar, you need to take into consideration how the guitar looks, how it feels, and how much it costs. If you are willing to do a little research, try out some guitars, and know your budget ahead of time, you can find a guitar that will bring you tremendous joy and fun in your journey.

Good luck and happy hunting!

Hi, my name is Jon, and I’ve got GAS.

That’s Guitar Acquisition Syndrome, for the uninitiated.

I like guitars. It’s my hobby. It’s how I de-stress and one of the things I do for fun.

For a very long time, I only had a couple of guitars. I’d hover between owning two and four instruments at any one time. And that made sense, given my income level and the frequency with which my wife and I moved (six times in the first nine years of our marriage).

But then we settled in a neighborhood, bought a house, and I started making a little more money — enough to have fun money for the first time.

I spent much of my fun money starting a guitar collection (I blame Phil McKnight). I didn’t buy anything too expensive or fancy — I never spent over $600 on any one purchase — but over the next several years, I ended up with over a dozen guitars.

My story is typical — guitarists just love gear. It seems inevitable over time that we end up buying way too many guitars. (And yeah, I admit, a dozen is probably too many.)

But if you’re just starting out, you’re probably looking at your guitar buddies, seeing their massive collections, and wondering, how many guitars do I really need?

The answer, of course, is none.

Playing the guitar is not a necessity — it is a luxury. People can and do live fulfilling, rich lives without ever picking up and strumming a guitar (I know, it’s hard to believe).

You don’t need a guitar unless you want to play, in which case you need one.

That’s right, you really only need one guitar to be a guitarist. Tab Benoit, for instance, is an amazing blues musician from Louisiana who’s been playing the same Fender Telecaster for 30 years (okay, so he actually has an identical backup in case a string breaks during a show). He gets everything he needs from just that one guitar. The man doesn’t even use pedals.

Brian May from the band Queen also used one guitar — his homemade Red Special — for decades until it became too fragile to take on tour. (He then commissioned replicas, which he still plays today.)

So that’s the minimalistic approach. But many of us aren’t minimalists. We may want to experiment with different tones or play songs using a similar guitar as the original artist. How should we go about determining what to add to our arsenal?

Thankfully, you don’t need to own a dozen guitars or more, like I do. And in any case, even though I own a bunch of them, I really only gravitate toward a few of them. Most of the rest don’t get played very often, if at all.

And this fact gets us closer to what I think is a reasonable solution. In all honesty, you can get just a handful of guitars and be able to play almost anything:

A Stratocaster-style guitar

The quintessential electric guitar. Countless artists use a Strat (or a Strat copy). Wanna play some Hendrix or Clapton? You’ll want a Strat. The same goes for Buddy Guy, John Mayer, EVH, SRV, and a thousand other players. It seems that everyone uses a Strat at some point in their career, and the infamous “quacky” tones are only available via a single-coil Stratocaster.

A Telecaster-style guitar

If you’re into country music, the twang of a Tele is what you are hearing more often than not. But Telecasters find their way into almost every genre of music, from jazz to blues, and they have a unique tone that’s hard to duplicate with any other guitar. Brad Paisley rocks a Tele, as does Chris Shiflett of Foo Fighters, and the aforementioned Tab Benoit.

A Les Paul-style guitar

For a more full-bodied sound, the humbuckers on a Les Paul style guitar are key. It’s hard to imagine playing along with Slash on “Sweet Child O’ Mine” with anything besides a Gibson-esque solid body. So many musicians play Les Pauls it’s crazy. From Jimmy Page to Duane Allman to Pete Townshend, many great classic rock guitarists made their mark playing Les Pauls.

An acoustic guitar

If you want to get into bluegrass or flat-picking, or if you’re going camping or just want a chiller, unplugged vibe, you will want to have a trusty acoustic by your side. Plus, there are tons of acoustic-based songs that you will probably want to play. One of my favorites is “Drive” by Incubus. And if you are a Christian like I am, an acoustic is indispensable if you ever want to lead a worship set.

If you want to have a versatile collection of instruments on which you can play the widest range of music, then this is the combination to get you there with as little spending (not to mention space) as possible. These four guitars will enable you to cover all of the bases.

From there, you can always get further specialized, of course, but these four instrument types are the heart and soul of modern guitar-based music.

However, if you suffer from GAS like I do, the only thing I can say is good luck and godspeed!