Hi. I'm Jim Deeming.
Instructor for JamPlay.com.
I want to talk to you for just a few minutes about choosing a first guitar.
If you haven't bought one already or you are contemplating buying one for a young student there may be some things you want to think about.
There may be some things you are kind of worried about.
I just want to give you some things to think about before you head out to the guitar store.
First of all the most important thing is to keep in mind your goals and where you want to end up when you begin being
a more accomplished player and I can't think of any better way to do that than to have hero's.
Know what success sounds like I guess is the bottom line.
The internet via YouTube or sites like Rhapsody are really easy ways to expose yourself to endless arrays of guitar styles, guitar players.
I want to encourage you to spend a lot of time thinking about where you want to go and what you want to do with the guitar.
Would you want to play in a rock band? Would you want to play solo finger style guitar?
Maybe you just want to play on your own for yourself for some relaxation and entertainment.
It's a good idea to have that clearly in mind before you start.
Obvious choices on guitar are whether to go with an Acoustic or an Electric.
If you decide to go with an acoustic then you've got choices of nylon string versus steel string.
You have choices on whether you want to be able to plug it in and amplify it or not, does it need a pickup, things like that.
It helps to know where you are going with the guitar to make those kinds of decisions.
However, my overall message in this video is going to be don't stress about this to the point to where it makes you miserable.
There are a lot of fantastic , low cost beginner guitars out there and even if you pick one you don't stay with for a while,
you should be fine to get through basic lessons and find out if the guitar is really for you or your child.
I do want to talk a little bit more about choosing an instrument for children from a philosophical perspective.
Many parents have the opinion that a child should learn an instrument and it doesn't matter what instrument it is
and it doesn't matter whether the child wants to or not.
Some people consider music theory and music appreciation to be as essential as mathematics.
If that is your particular idea then I would recommend staying with an instrument that is just a little bit more expensive if you are going to insist
that the child stay with it whether they enjoy it or not it will up your chances a little bit that they will stick with it.
My contention would be though that if the guitar is in the heart of the child and isn't going to be terribly influenced by whether you
spend one hundred dollars or five hundred dollars on the guitar.
For the sake of their hands and for the sake of playing long term you might spend more money that way.
If the child is showing the interest and the initiative you almost can't stop them.
That's where I came from.
I had a ukulele at the age of five and a guitar by the age of six and I was spending countless hours listening to my dad's Chet Atkins records.
I knew where I wanted to go and what I wanted to sound like.
Just to give you an idea this little gem was my first guitar.
It is thirty years old. I imagine my folks got this at a garage sale or Sears, I don't even know.
It is laminated everything probably cheap plywood, terrible construction and it buzzes and it sounds horrible
and I could not begin to tell you how many hours I spent on this guitar because I wanted it so bad.
So don't get to thinking that you will ruin your child's music career forever if you don't pay top dollar for an expensive guitar.
Manufacturing quality even though they may not be beautiful and even though they are not a lifetime guitar, manufacturing prices have come
down to the point to where you can go to the checkout lane at WalMart spend a hundred dollars
and easily get a student through there first year of playing if not longer.
There are some diehards out there that are cringing at me saying this but I contend that if the love of the guitar is in the student they will want it
bad enough that they will outlast any lower end guitar that you buy them.
Some basic things that you don't want to do is buy a guitar that is obviously defective, if it's buzzing excessively or if the action is just so
ridiculously high that it's hard to push the strings down that would be a bad idea.
In general most of the guitars that you are going to find that are aimed at students are going to be relatively playable
and will get you through the first phase until you are ready to commit with a bigger investment.
The basics as I mentioned are common to all of the guitars whether you play an acoustic or an electric, nylon or classical
the fundamental mechanics of playing guitar all start out the same.
If you're not certain where you want to end up you just know you want to get started.
Again, another reason not to panic over the kind of guitar to buy.
A one hundred to two hundred dollar typical acoustic guitar will get you through chords, scales, the right hand basics, how to fret notes without
buzzing, building up your hand strength and getting the basic idea of how these instruments actually make music.
An entry level guitar is plenty good enough.
With that being said I want to encourage you to go ahead and get started.
I would tend to avoid buying sight unseen Ebay material.
If you know what you're looking for and you know a lot about the guitar you are bidding on that's probably fine
but I think it would be a good idea for a student or a new player to actually touch an instrument before buying it.
That's probably a minimum requirement.
Guitar stores should have guitars priced in the entry level range and yeah you could even get away with a WalMart guitar for a little while.
Don't worry about it, have fun.
You're about to embark on a musical companion that will hopefully be with you the rest of your life and enjoy it don't stress about it.
Thank you.