Cheap
Electric Guitars Help You to Spend Enjoyable Hours,
Not a Fortune
Simple Guide to Choosing A
Cheap Electric Guitar
One of the first mistakes a
guitarist makes after gaining a little experience
is choosing the wrong electric guitar. It's like
anything else -- You have to really like the feel
of the shape, neck and other aspects or you just
won't play often enough to stay in practice. So, if
you are thinking about learning to play a stringed
musical instrument, remember that you will have to
make some difficult choices right from the start.
The first one is how much you
want to spend and the type of instrument you feel
will work for your current musical
abilities.
Some musicians will testify
that cheap beginner guitars are the way to go while
others believe that you shouldn't confine yourself
to beginning instruments.
On the other hand, if you are
just starting off you should buy a cheap electric
guitar, or should you?
The problem is that if you
buy a lower quality instrument, it will be harder
to play and will not sound as good. Many cheap
electric guitars are not very well designed. That
doesn't mean that you can't find one that is. If
you know what to look for, you can find a low cost
electric guitar that will still help you shred like
a guitar picking professional.
Affordable or Expensive
Guitars - What to Do? With
cheap electric guitars, you have quite a few
options.
A lot of people assume that
the only way to go is to buy an all-in-one
beginning guitar kit, but this is not the
case.
The electric guitar is
probably the most popular instrument in America. As
such, people buy and sell them all the time. You
can find a used musical instrument that is still in
pretty good shape.
The Guitar Buyers
Guide
Some guitarist buyers guides
are simply made by fans who are anxious to share
their experience with newcomers. These give some
great tips about what guitars to buy and which ones
to avoid, as well as what features to look for in a
beginning model.
You can usually get a guitar
buyers guide from one of the professional music
houses or a major music retailer. For example, the
Guitar Center buyers guide is an excellent source
that is frequently consulted by new musicians. It
gives the lowdown on the different types of guitars
and tells you what you can expect for your
money.
Take a Musician with you to
Buy Your Electric Guitar
It also helps to take a
seasoned guitar player along who knows what they
are doing. You need to understand whether the frets
are lined up properly, whether the neck is warped,
and a lot of other things that you might not know
how to evaluate as a beginner.
Pawn shops can be risky
business, and used musical instrument stores are
not always reputable.
Of course, you can buy
affordable electric Guitars without buying them
used. A lot of the main manufacturers produce
beginner lines that are still pretty good. My
personal favorite is Epiphone.
Epiphone guitars are made by
the same people who produce Gibsons, but they are
much less expensive. The quality is still good
– they just aren't as fancy. I know some
professional players who still use beginner
Epiphones, so they are well regarded.
Buying Factory Seconds
Electric Guitars
There are a few other
strategies to consider when you are buying cheap
electric guitars. I have a friend who swears by
factory seconds. Factory seconds are new guitars
that were somehow slightly damaged in the factory.
Usually the damage is simply
cosmetic – they have a ding on the body
somewhere that looks a little bit ugly. If you
don't mind a bit of cosmetic imperfection, this is
the way to go. You still get a new electric guitar,
but with substantial savings.
A Quick Story and More
Cheap Electric Guitar Buying Tips
My son played the violin for
a couple of years, and then moved onto other,
"cooler" types of strings.
When the time came to shop
for cheap electric guitars, he had been involved in
music long enough to have an idea of what to look
for in this instrument. While this made the hunt a
bit easier, he found there was still a lot to learn
about making the best choice.
Size And Style Of Affordable
Guitars Do Matter
First, the instrument had to
feel good. It needed to be comfortable in his
hands, with the right size and shape to allow for
natural handling. Since cheap electric guitars come
in a variety of sizes and styles, he had to
actually play a few to determine which ones were
most comfortable. This allowed him to narrow his
search to a couple of manufacturers (not a small
thing, with so many to choose from!) and a handful
of styles.
It also had to sound right.
Cheap electric guitars all have different sounds
that are based on the hollowness of the instrument
and the material that is used to construct it.
What Type
Pickups?
Pickups can also influence
the sound, with the transparent sound of the
single-coil, the thicker sound of the humbucker
pickup or the favorite of many great musicians, the
double-coil. There are also many models that offer
a choice of a double-coil that can be changed to a
single with the flick of a switch.
It's Not An Acoustic --
Why Does Wood Matter On Electric
Guitars?
Wood is another factor in the
sound of cheap electric guitars, and there is a
whole lot of variety here as well. Mahogany or koa
can offer a warmer tonal range, while Brazilian
rosewood adds sparkle to the sound.
Spruce can provide a wide
range of sound, and is often the wood of choice for
some of the best musicians. Maple is generally the
preferred wood for cheap electric guitar tops --
and is a pretty selection to boot. Basswood is
frequently used in these instruments as well,
because it is an economical option that can still
offer a nice sound.
To Me, The Cheap Electric
Guitar Neck Makes All The Difference
The neck of cheap electric
guitars will also affect how the instrument feels
and sounds, and the differences boil down to the
wood used, the neck joint, and the profile
(thickness and shape of the neck).
My son knew he wanted a maple
neck that was set in (or glued into) place, since
this is the most common type of neck joint used.
The profile of the neck was a personal decision
that could only be decided by testing out the
different instruments to see which one felt the
best.
The Final Decision Is His
(... or Yours)
After spending a considerable
time researching and shopping for cheap electric
guitars, my son was finally able to settle on a
model that looked good, sounded great, and fit into
our budget. I can't wait to hear him
play!
So, here are some of your
options. This report doesn't reveal everything but
will certainly get you started on your way to
finding and good and affordable electric guitar.
You have to physically go to
a good music store and play several instruments in
order to decide on one that's going to stay with
you for many years. Only you can find that personal
intimacy with your string instrument. You'll know
it when you play the right one. Happy
playing!
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More Musical Info
about Guitars
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True
Story about a Beginner Guitar
Lesson
- Taking a beginner eletric guitar lesson
is almost like learning a foreign language
at first but you'll get the hang of it if
you don't give up!
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Finding
Acoustic
Guitars
- Searching for and finding an acoustic
guiter doesn't have to be difficult when
you know what you are looking
for.
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