Yantragyan
In last Guitar chronicle article we gave you introduction about the guitar. Now, let’s talk about buying one.
I need a guitar man!!!
The most heard question by guitarist
Well, there are more guitar companies in the world than we can possibly imagine. So how do we buy an instrument which fits our fingers and our pockets perfectly?
Guitars are of many kinds, primarily based on their origin country like Spanish guitar, Mexican guitars, Hawaiian guitar. There are many stringed instruments like banjos, ukuleles, bases, harp, these can be easily confused with guitars and they are more or less the same things, strings which vibrate.
Now we don’t want all that. What we would be focusing on are basic Acoustic guitars, Semi-Electric and Electric Guitars.
We probably are familiar with the acoustic guitar and electric one, the semi-electric is an acoustic with an electric output which you can connect with external speakers or amplifiers.
Buy a semi-electric, because it’s great for playing as it is and further we can pump it up to enjoy on some bigger venues. About choosing our axe, the body shape can matter a lot; we can get dreadnoughts, thinner body guitars, with or without cutaways. The guitar below is a single cutaway guitar.
Some guitars are without cutaways, beginners should always go for guitars with cutaways and with thinner bodies, it gives more access to the fretboard
Some guitars are without cutaways, beginners should always go for guitars with cutaways and with thinner bodies, it gives more access to the fretboard
If you are a beginner, best would be to buy an entry level guitar in a decent price range, don’t go too high, you never know if you’d be able to continue playing or not. Even if you can afford the top notch ones, don’t go for them as just a beginner because it would be a waste of a very fine instrument and it would just end up collecting dust.
Talking about the brands, some good investments for beginners could be Yamaha, Gb&A, Fender, Cort, Washburn, Takamine. Again don’t go above 10K. Once you are good at it, go buy the one that costs 5 lacs, there is no end to that.
Now you could buy an electric as well for learning but that would restrict your portability. You need an amplifier to play an electric and it wouldn’t be possible to carry along both the guitar and amp always. Though you can get some pretty good portable amps manufactured by “Vox”. But still buy either the acoustic or semi-electric.
Once you’ve decided what you gotta buy, check out its reviews on YouTube, Harmony Central, Musicians Friends, Guitar Centre, Zzounds. These are the big names in musical instrument retailing. Once you’ve done that check prices from multiple retailers. If you live in India, the good names are Bajaao.com, Furtadosonline, BhargavasMusical, Onstage. You can compare prices or even buy online if you wish.
If you don’t know what you’re gonna buy, the retailer is going to rip you off wallet in broad daylight. In India, the musical instrument market is struggling, prices are high (double of what you could get in US), and competitive.
Now once you know what you gotta buy, let’s go shopping. If you live in metro cities, you’ll probably find stores like Furtados, Bhargavas, Onstage, they have a strong hold on the market. It’s always better to check out the instrument by yourself. Look for any body scratches or dents, observe if the strings are not very high from the fretboard, rotate the tuning knobs and ensure they are smooth, play it a bit or take a person with you who knows how to. Most of all make sure that it feels comfortable and of course “Sounds Good”.
Rather than buying a costly guitar, buy one that’s little cheaper and invest in things like a nice padded guitar cover, some additional string packs, guitar picks (buy whole lots of them and with different gauge sizes and shapes, check what fits you best), guitar cable, guitar strap, some polishing cloth and wax.
If you are still not sure about what you want to buy…..we are a mail away..feel free…..
You can contact us on www.yantragyan.com if you have any doubt buying one.
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