Which Guitar Should I buy?

[lufc71]

Hi Bee,

Welcome to JS

There's some good tips above, but I'd like to add a couple:-

1) As you're going for an acoustic, buy a new set of strings (ask them to chuck some into the deal for free ) that are a gauge 10. These are pretty light and will give you much less pain in your fingers than 11's or 12's. After you have been paying for a couple of hours you will realise why I suggest this

2) Buy a capo. Play with it up 2 or 3 frets. Again, this will make it much easier to play and hurt your finger tips much less.

Lots of beginners give up very early due to 2 things; lack of progress and finger tip pain. Both of these can be overcome by regular practice. i.e. like everything in life, you get out what you put in.

Good luck. If you stick at it you're going to get a lot of enjoyment out of your decision to join the guitar playing community

[Bee]

I'm probably going to buy from Musician's friend online. I can get a 10% discount with my Discov*r card. So no haggling for free strings that way

Are these the kinds of strings you mean:

http://www.amazon.com/Martin-MSP4000...7827555&sr=8-9

What other essentials does a beginner need? I'm expecting to get some picks (how thick?), an electronic tuner. I'll probably need a case or gig bag eventually and I guess a strap.

My plan is to work through the Justin Sandercoe beginner's course from his web site. At some point I may take lessons but I'll start with that course.

[lufc71]

Exactly.

We call these (a set with a 0.010 thinnest string) '10 gauge' or just '10's'.

When you get a nice set of callouses on your finger tips you might consider going up to 11's (which will give a fuller tone), but to start (in my humble opinion) you need as much in your favour as you can get

Yup, a tuner is a great idea. Also, add to your christmas list an electronic metronome. These are very cheap but an essential bit of kit. As for picks, strumming on an acoustic, I like them to be fairly thin, but for lead playing I like them to be pretty thick. Buy a few and see what feels comfortable to you.

Another personal recommendation (I'm sure some will disagree), is if you are into finger-picking, I wouldn't recommend trying it until you've got down some basic chords. The reason is simple; when you start, you are going to make lots of errors which can be very frustrating. Don't beat yourself up though, everybody starts this way If you are only strumming (just randomly hit all the strings at this stage), any mistakes are going to be in your fretting hand. Whereas, if you're trying to learn a chord shape and finger-pick at the same time you'll not know where the error is coming from.

Straps are not necessary at the moment. Just sit down in a comfortable position, with the guitar on your right leg (if you're right handed).

Chords; learn these:-
A, Am, A7, C, D, Dm, D7, E, Em, E7, G, G7 (chords shapes are free on the net).

I've seen several of Justin's video's and they're very good. The main thing at the moment is regular practice. Preferably every day. 30 mins/day is much better than say 3 hours once a week. As I said earlier, you get out what you put in.

Good luck