How To Choose A Great Guitar

You want a guitar that feels good in your hands, that is easy to play. You also want the guitar to sound good and has a great tone. Regardless of price, the playability and tone of your guitar is essential to your enjoyment and leaning.

I’m going to breakdown the main things to look out for and help you feel more confident next time you walk into a guitar shop.

The neck is by far the most important part of the guitar to get right! If the neck is bent or warped in any way, or the frets are not level, you will have notes that buzz and sound bad. Save the frustration as no correction in your technique can fix this! There are a few easy ways we can check the neck to see if this could be your new guitar, or if it should be put straight back on the shelf.

Firstly look straight down the neck like the barrel of a gun and you will see if the neck is bending forwards, backwards or is straight. We are looking for a very slight bend forward (just the slightest bit off straight). This is because the strings vibrate in an elliptical shape and this slight bend forward accommodates for this. If the neck is warped or bent in any other way you will get a guitar with lots of buzzing notes. As you can imagine this quickly becomes unpleasant to play.

Advanced – To get a more accurate idea of the bend in the neck you can hold down both fret number one and twelve. As the string is pulled completely straight between these two frets you can use this as a straight edge and compare it to the neck/frets. At fret 7 you want the string to not be touching the frets, but also less than half a millimetres gap. I gently tap the string on and off fret 7 to see how much space there is.

Here we will check for any notes that are not clear. Usually a buzzing note from a fret that is not level or a warped neck. To do this play every note/fret on every string and listen out for any unwanted sounds. Take your time with this as you would be surprised how many guitars have notes that are not clear.

Advanced – if you are experienced enough on the guitar is it a good idea to check the guitar’s intonation. Play a harmonic at fret 12 and then the corresponding fretted note (non-harmonic). Are they exactly the same? If there is a noticeable difference the intonation is off. This can be adjusted on most electric guitars but not on classical or acoustic guitars.

The sound quality of a guitar is largely down to preference. Some woods will have a warmer or heavier tone while others will have a brighter tone. Play the guitars and you will quickly know what you are drawn to. If you have never played a guitar before then bring someone with you and have a listen to the different guitar with them playing.

Advanced – Use harmonics and techniques to draw a wide range of tones out of the guitar. A good guitar will have both a pleasing baseline tone, and also a broad spectrum of different tones that can be achieved. Think of this like a painter that has more colours to paint with.

There are many things that can be changed and adjusted on a guitar. Many good shops will be happy to help with these before you leave the store with your new guitar.

Guitar strings come in different gauges. The higher the gauge the higher tension the strings will be on the guitar. Don’t let the strings put you off an otherwise nice guitar as they can very easily be changed.

But to preempt and answer a question I get asked a lot, you do need to keep the correct strings for the type of guitar (nylon strings will not work on electric guitars, and you will damage a classical guitar with steel strings).

The height of the strings at the bridge (called the guitar’s action) can be very off-putting if not set well. But remember it can be adjusted on any guitar. If the neck is good but the strings are too high off the frets it can become harder to play. Too low and the strings buzz on the frets.

Most of the time I would recommend moving to another guitar and avoid the hassle. But if needed the action can be changed. This is very easy on electric guitar’s as they are adjusted with a few screws. Classical and acoustic guitars can have the saddle changed but this is a bigger job.

Keep this guitar in the running as it may be a great option if the saddle / bridge is corrected.

Of course there is a general correlation between the price you spend and the quality of the guitar. And the top brands often hold their reputations for a reason. But there are many newer brands that put out very high quality guitars at a very competitive price to break into the market. In helping a student buy a guitar we found one for £40.50 that had a better sound and feel than the one at £178.99. And this story can be the same at any price point.

So don’t let the price or brand dictate your choice. Throw in the wildcards as they will regularly surprise you!

I would advise against buying guitars online without trying them in person. Even guitars of the same model and brand can be vastly different. Wood is a very irregular material to build from and this cannot be fully controlled in factory production guitars.

Tip: Go into many stores and try out all the guitars until you find one that feels good in your hands.

Have you tried some guitars but need help making the final choice? Feel free to get in touch and we can get you on track.