How do I select My first or My next guitar?
By Travis Osterloh
Does your guitar define the style of music you play?
Recently I had a discussion with guitar students from Spain. The topic “what kind of guitar should I purchase?” New guitar players believe they should purchase a guitar purely on genre of music. The belief of purchasing a Fender guitar for blues or a Gibson guitar for hard rock does not work for everyone. Every guitar player has fallen for the fallacy at one point or another to buy the guitar of the musician he or she idolizes.
I have had two experiences of this fallacy. When I was 16 and first fell in love with the band Trivium where the lead and rhythm both played Dean Razorback guitars.
I worked all summer saving up a significant amount of money to eventually buy the guitar. I was so excited because I would be just like my idol in my eyes….
After a while, the mechanical parts like the Floyd rose bridge or the locking neck became a hassle. I learned these mechanics made it difficult to change tuning or changing strings.
This inexperience grew resentment in my purchase. The trouble of changing tunings, problems restringing lead to eventually traded this guitar in for something more conventional.
This purchase to seemed like a bust at first, but I’ve grown to learn from my experience. I learned what are some of the features I don’t like and what would I keep or change.
Aside from my horror story of my purchase early on dean razorbacks are good guitars and I don’t want to sway anyone who likes these away from them.
My second experience: I later fell in love with Alter Bridge and Mark Tremonti who plays PRS guitars.
I made a better choice to try out all the PRS guitars in all the local store before I made the decision to save up for this guitar.
I chose this model of guitar on the requirements of feel and ease of play. I found myself returning to this brand of guitar over and over again because the feel of the neck and the weight of the body was appealing to me!
I wanted a guitar I would continuously pick up again and again making playing a fun experience every time!
I was way more satisfied with this purchase because I did my due diligence and found out ahead of time what I liked and what I was comfortable with.
From this experience I think I’ve made purchasing process easier for myself.
I would like to layout the process I go through and suggest for my students when they’re looking to purchase new equipment.
Test out all kinds of guitars… what brands do you find yourself consistently picking up? Is it comfortable to play or hold?
Does it have the hardware your looking for? Is the action too high or too low? Does it have a fixed bridge or a floating/tremolo bridge? I can’t list all the options but trying out all the different kinds of guitars you’ll experience a combination of mechanical features.
Does the price make sense for your level of play? I know too many people who have purchased off brand guitars from non-music stores. I have a hard time playing a cheap guitar and sounding good. It’ll be really hard for you to do the same. The opposite applies as well, I do not recommend a student purchase a real expensive guitar for the fact of it won’t sound any different from a mid-tier guitar in the beginning plus it will ruin the value of the instrument. When you start with a 3,000 guitar where do you go from their on your next purchase? I think of it like purchasing a car… would you purchase a luxury model at 16 and be spoiled from the beginning?
These steps should lead you down the path to purchase an instrument you will be happy with for the long term and make your guitar playing enjoyable.
If you have any questions on purchasing your next instrument or looking to better your guitar playing through lessons send me a message @ Osterlohguitaracademy@gmail.com and lets discuss your next investment in your music adventure!
All the best,
Travis Osterloh