A electric guitar is an exciting purchase. Whether you already know how to play, or are getting your first instrument, you’re plunking down a reasonable amount of your hard-earned money, and you want an instrument that you’ll enjoy for a long time. Keep the following tips in mind to help you pick the right instrument.
Tremolo or Hard-Tail
If this is your first instrument, it’s often a good idea to stay away from instruments with fancy tremolos. While these can be a lot of fun, even a very basic tremolo can make the guitar harder to tune, while the more sophisticated systems like the Floyd Rose make string-changing much more difficult. I often recommend that beginning students with stratocasters block off the trems on their guitars just to avoid this problem.
What about the amp?
Your guitar is the most important part of your rig, but your amp is a very close second. It’s not just that a great guitar won’t sound very good through a cheap amp, but that different amps will bring out different nuances in the guitar’s sound. So when buying an electric guitar, play through the same kind of amp at the store that you’ll be playing with at home. If they don’t have one you can use, bring your amp from home.
If you’re buying both a guitar and an amp, don’t scrimp on the amp.
Play Before You Buy
Even if you know what model guitar you want, you should always play before you buy. Even the best guitar manufacturers have a huge amount of variation from guitar to guitar. If you’re buying a Les Paul, go to a store which is happy to let you play every Les Paul on the shelf, and buy the one that speaks to you!
Be Inspired!
We all have guitar heros, so emulate them. Maybe your want to play like Clapton did on “Layla” – so you want to buy a strat-style guitar. Or maybe it’s the solo on Guns’n’Roses “Sweet Child of Mine” that makes you want to cut loose, in which case it’s a Les Paul for you. The more inspired you are by your instrument, the more often you’ll pick it up, and the faster you’ll learn.
A good electric guitar is a purchase that will make you happy for years to come. Take your time, find the right guitar for you, and take it home and play!
