How to Select an Acoustic Guitar as a Beginner?
Selecting a guitar to play as a beginner is not an easy task. You have to take a good look over certain things before putting your hand over it. As you cannot go on exchanging it again and again once you have bought it from some musical store.
There is no good and wrong in selecting a guitar for you. All thing which matter is your spirit to play it. Popularity of a guitar is even no rule in the beginning. Just go for the choice of your own. Make it good with your hand and then go to next stage.
Here are beginner guitar recommendations which will help you selecting your first acoustic guitar.
Selecting the Sound
The very first thing you should consider while having an acoustic guitar as a beginner is the type of sound you are most familiar or would like to play with your guitar. Here you have choices like:
- Nylon String Classical
- Steel String Acoustic
- Electric
Many people tend to start with an acoustic guitar and then build them up for the electric guitar. However, as mentioned earlier, this doesn’t make it as a hard and fast rule. Still it’s your own choice depending on which kind of music inspire you the most and you can just go for that even in the start.
An example would be like if you like Green Day or AC/DC, you can go for the electric guitar to produce the sound for you. If you like Ben Harper or Jack Johnson, your choice could be an acoustic guitar. Likewise, if you are more attracted towards flamenco or classical music, then the nylon string guitars will sound great for you.
Looking for the Wood
Guitars are made of wood, and with every change in the wood type their sound also gets changed and even enhanced. Entry-level guitars are mostly made of laminated wood, Intermediate guitars use solid wood tops with laminated back and sides, whereas professional guitars are made up with solid wood which produce richer and resonant sound.
Guitar tops are usually made of spruce or cedar, while for back and sides, rosewood, mahogany and maple is used. Here are some common woods used:
Spruce
The most common type of wood used for an acoustic guitar top. It remains responsive even you play it hard. Perfect for strumming and flat picking.
Cedar
Very simple to recognize a Cedar top due to its darker color and a slight reddish hue. It is much softer than spruce, hence cannot produce good sound when played too hard. It responds good to light attack, hence, good choice for finger picking and lowered tension tunings.
Mahogany
Commonly used for guitar’s back and sides, however sometimes you may also come across with some guitar with a mahogany top. Very warm in sound, being much less bright than spruce or cedar.
Rosewood
One of the expensive woods. This chocolate brown colored wood provides a very clear tone with rich and complex overtones. Commonly used on fret boards due to its texture and durability.
Some other woods commonly used are Maple, Ebony, and Walnut.
Going for the Right Size
Guitar lie in different categories according to their sizes. They can be Small, Medium, and Large sizes. Based on age group or your handling capacity, you can go for the size which suits you. In general, following recommendations can be defined for three different guitar types:
Classical Guitar (Nylon Strings)
- 1/2 Size for 5–8 years of age (Height 100–125 cm)
- 3/4 Size for 8–12 years of age (Height 125–165 cm)
- Full Size for 12+ years of age (Height 165+ cm)
Acoustic Guitar (Steel Strings)
- 3/4 Size for 5–12 years of age (Height 100–120 cm)
- Small Size for 12–15 years of age (Height 120–165 cm)
- Full Size for 15+ years of age (Height 165+ cm)
Electric Guitar
- 1/2 Size for 5–12 years of age (Height 80–125 cm)
- Full Size for 12+ years of age (Height 125+ cm)
Although there are also some other factors which may affect your good purchase over your first acoustic guitar, but we recommend if it’s your first time, you must go for a lighter budget. Play it round for some time (like 3–6 months) and when your hands start producing the sounds, go for more professional guitar in the list.
Higher level guitars are just meant to produce better sounds. So you can go for your next level of guitar after your playing has progressed. Just have a visit to your local acoustic guitar shop, have a look around and select according to your needs.
