Advice on buying an Acoustic Guitar

[Shadowplay]

I'm really set on learning how to play (so i can annoyserenade my friends with Smiths tunes and the like) but i do not know about guitars, or know anyone who plays, so i'm a little lost as to what is crap... and what is not. I've read up on it, but that can only get you so far.

I'm interested in this particular Yamaha 403/4" Acoustic Folk Guitar. It's got:

black pick guard (duhh)
spruce soundboard
rosewood fingerboard
meranti wood back and sides
nato steel-reinforced adjustable neck

I hear spruce is the best kind of wood to have, and the adjustable neck is important (as the wood will warp over time) the only thing i DO NOT KNOW is if the top is solid or laminated.

I'm actually going to buy it through the Sears catologue (Shut up, don't laugh) as i work at Sears so my discount applies. I mean, i don't want to shell out 2-weeks worth of pay on something i suck terribly at and thus give up on. Expensive kindling i do not want.

Any advice is greatly appreciated

PS: And am i better off going Classical instead?

 

[chill]

Granted I don't have tons of guitar playing experience (I took one class my first -- and very stressful -- semester of college, which was a bad plan), but I do have some recommendations. Make sure the strings aren't really hard to hold down. I used my dad's old Yamaha from the 1970s and the strings were damn near impossible for me to hold down. Also look at the neck width. If you have stubby fingers, you don't want a wide neck. I was a dismal failure at the guitar for a few reasons. 1) Okay, I admit it. I'm lazy as f*** when it comes to learning musical instruments. Things were no different with the piano ten years ago. 2) The damn hard-to-press-down strings and my lack of finger strength. 3) The wide neck and my stubby fingers (this was also a problem when it came to playing the piano.) 4) General lack of fine motor skills, despite my really nice handwriting. Some good news though: my guitar instructor said that Yamaha acoustic guitars are really nice. Apparently, mine was really pretty and in fab condition. Until some numbnuts in the class dinged it. Argh.

 

[CrushingBore]

Mindy/shadowplay

Hey Mindy,
The "hard to press down" thing is easy enough fixed by getting some lower-guage strings, although the strings themselves can sometimes be set too high, and that's more poor construction of the guitar.

Shadowplay - for reasons like the above I would SERIOUSLY advise NOT purchasing a guitar without having the chance to play it first. No matter how good the components, if they're poorly put together you'll wind up having to arse around getting it adjusted somewhere down the track. You don't want a classicalguitar unless you're planning on playing classical or flamenco.

 

[chill]

Re: Mindy/shadowplay

Thanks Bore. I know I could have changed the strings, but the guitar teacher mentioned something (that I have since forgotten) about the make of the guitar itself having something to do with my inability to hold the strings down. It might have been (going back to something I mentioned in the initial post) that the neck was a bit too wide. I have really small hands.

I forgot that I also suck at musical instruments because "I ain't got no rhythm." You should see me dance. I don't think there are many things "wronger."

 

[CrushingBore]

Riddum

I was told I was an appaling dancer by my first girlfriend some years back. From that moment onwards I vowed I would become the best damn boogie-meister the planet has yet seen. Nowadays I tend to get more than my fair share of compliments (and a couple of weeks back won the '24 hour party people DVD) for my toosh-shaking efforts. The point is, like anything on the planet - a sense of rhythm can be learned. Rhythm was the hardest thing for me to learn with guitar. I didn't have it intrinsically the way some people did, but if you want it, it CAN be learned. Persist m'dear, persist.

 

[CrushingBore]

Btw Mindy

What happened to your quitting of Moz-solo? Seems you're being dragged back into the mire.


Raises the tone around here somewhat, though!

 

[chill]

Re: Btw Mindy

Blah. Like Morrissey, I say a lot of things, but I don't always mean them. As for the rhythm thing, I'm afraid that I am a lost cause. It's okay though. There are lots of other things I'd rather do than play guitar or dance, not that those two things aren't wonderful. I must say, though, that a big reason I like The Smiths and Morrissey is that it's the first music I've ever really wanted to dance to. I'm the kind of person where if the catchiest rap song in the world comes on, I will do everything in my power not to so much as sway along to it. I think it's the Mormon in me.

 

[chill]

And thanks.

 

[rhenanus]

does it mean that you are a protest singer???

 

[Weiß]

Oh I can smile about that now. But at the time it was terrible.

 

[Shadowplay]

Re: Mindy/shadowplay

Yeah, that was the other thing i was worried about. Though (unfortunately?) i'm left-handed so i think it'll be hard to tell if the way the guitar sits is because it's a piece of crap, or because of awkwardness. I used to play the Bass way back when, and that was weird starting off.

Though on the plus side, i'm pretty sure i can send it back if i change my mind. Maybe i should order a couple, and pick the best from the lot.

 

[Shadowplay]

Thanks everyone!

 

[Mmmmmm]

Yamaha make a consistently decent student guitar. As for the gauge of the strings and action of the neck (mentioned by others), you can change those later (or rather have them changed.

Be prepared for sore fingers, lots of practice, mounds of frustration and eventually plenty of fun. Most of the problems you experience won't be a result of the guitar you are choosing.

And hey, if you don't like it, its from Sears... you can always send it back.

 

[hey nonny nonny]

Mindy. I would be happy to give you something to do for your wrist exercises!

My place or yours?

 

[chill]

You sicken me.

 

[suzanne]

classicals can have a cool sound.

i've had two acoustic guitars. My first one was an Epi (if i remember correctly), and it was sorta a lower end one that i picked up. it had a small nick on it that didn't affect the playing, but they marked it down instead of shipping it back, which was fine for my needs at the time because i didn't know if i was going to be playing it 3 weeks from then.

but i played it often, having a beginner's book featuring such hits as kumbaya and twinkle twinkle little star.

however, i did, and i decided to eventually upgrade and get a Takamine instead because i wanted a mic pickup.

I passed my old guitar off to one friend who in turn passed it on to another friend. right now, the neck of it has warped and bent inward which makes it almost useless to play. someone at the store claimed it was from not being played everyday, although i've seen the state that my poor old guitar was living in and its not a surprising thing since i think it spend 1/4th of the time living in car trunks.

as far as the takamine....the pickup isn't that great. no matter what you do, it sounds very tinny, and it seems to perpetually want to unscrew itself, so i think its better to actually buy one seperately from the guitar because those usually seem to sound pretty good. and i've also had to replace the winding pegs because some of them have bent. otherwise, it doesn't sound too bad.

not that i've played it that much over the past couple of years, but it makes a nice decorative piece for my livingroom.

i personally wouldn't want to buy one from Sears if it is in any way comparable to the other instruments they hock in their catalogue. Clarinets with plastic bodies???? what a poor sounding instrument that is.

> I'm really set on learning how to play (so i can annoy serenade my
> friends with Smiths tunes and the like) but i do not know about guitars,
> or know anyone who plays, so i'm a little lost as to what is crap... and
> what is not. I've read up on it, but that can only get you so far.

> I'm interested in this particular Yamaha 40 3/4 " Acoustic Folk
> Guitar. It's got:

> black pick guard (duhh)
> spruce soundboard
> rosewood fingerboard
> meranti wood back and sides
> nato steel-reinforced adjustable neck

> I hear spruce is the best kind of wood to have, and the adjustable neck is
> important (as the wood will warp over time) the only thing i DO NOT KNOW
> is if the top is solid or laminated.

> I'm actually going to buy it through the Sears catologue (Shut up, don't
> laugh) as i work at Sears so my discount applies. I mean, i don't want to
> shell out 2-weeks worth of pay on something i suck terribly at and thus
> give up on. Expensive kindling i do not want.

> Any advice is greatly appreciated

> PS: And am i better off going Classical instead?

 

[hey nonny nonny]

You get me all hot and bothered!

 

[chill]

I know beggars can't be choosers, but frankly, I'd rather starve. Please go away.

 

[hey nonny nonny]

I am begging...

You are absolutely, smashingly, delectable!

 

[Aaron-Eel's-Ankles]

"Hard to press down"?

> Hey Mindy,
> The "hard to press down" thing is easy enough fixed by getting
> some lower-guage strings, although the strings themselves can sometimes be
> set too high, and that's more poor construction of the guitar.

> Shadowplay - for reasons like the above I would SERIOUSLY advise NOT
> purchasing a guitar without having the chance to play it first. No matter
> how good the components, if they're poorly put together you'll wind up
> having to arse around getting it adjusted somewhere down the track. You
> don't want a classicalguitar unless you're planning on playing classical
> or flamenco.

Maybe the action wasn't exactly set properly or wasn't complimenting for your porky fingers.

On the other hand you probably didn't give it enough time. It does happen to take months or years even to build enough finger strength to pull off some of the more complicated techniques. Its a constant pain until you develop calluses on all the right places (not just on your fingertips!).

I agree about actually playing something before you buy it.. all guitars are different and each has its own personality, its not just a brand thing. Wood was once a living thing, hence its idiosyncrasies.