Hi, how're you doin? Justin here.
In this lesson today we're going to be checking out the different types of guitar that
exist in the world. Well actually, just three kind of main types,
and talking about the pros and cons of each one. If you're a
beginner guitar player, looking to buy your first guitar, what
sort of thing you should be looking for.
So, there's three main types of guitar. The one I'm holding
in my arms now, is a steel string acoustic guitar. Which is
what most people kind of think of, like guitar players think of,
when they're thinking of an acoustic guitar.
The other types of guitar are an electric guitar and a
classical guitar. And a classical guitar is also a type of an
acoustic guitar as well, so we end up in this funny area
where things are not quite falling into one of the three
categories. But that's the most important three.
Now, when you're choosing which one of them you're going
to play, there's a few things that kind of set it off straight
away. If want to play rock guitar, get an electric guitar. Full
stop, easy, done, sold. If you've got not very much money to
spend and you're really looking at as cheap a guitar as
possible, get an electric guitar. I know that sounds kind of
funny, that you think "oh, it's an electric guitar, it's got more
fancy stuff in it", but actually the problem is, with acoustic
guitars, especially steel string acoustic guitars, when they're
really cheap, they're really difficult to play. They've got
what's called a high action, which means that the strings are
quite far away from the fingerboard, usually, and so they're
really, really difficult to play barre chords on. They tend to
not sound very nice as well, cheap acoustic guitars, 'cause
they're made of laminated wood and my general opinion is,
that if you've got not very much money, an electric guitar is
a far better way to go.
If you want to play classical guitar, you should definitely buy
a classical guitar. Hey, a little bit obvious that one there,
Justin, thanks! But it's true. You don't want to be trying to
play classical music on a steel string guitar or an electric
guitar. That said, I'm not really a classical guitar teacher, I
don't cover classical guitar as part of my course.
I don't really think it's the best, most fun thing to learn guitar
on, classical guitar 'cause it's all like learning to read notes
and playing one note at a time and stuff and it's a bit easier to
kind of just get going if you're playing chords and stuff.
Anyway, so, this is a steel string acoustic guitar. The things
to look for when you're checking out an acoustic guitar is:
1: does it sound nice? Now, the best thing you can do when
you're going shopping for a guitar if you're a beginner is:
take somebody who knows what they're doing. Right? Take
somebody who's played guitar for a bit, can strum a few
chords, you can have a listen to it, see if you like the sound
of it. If you're a complete beginner and you know nothing,
you kind of have to rely on the sales people and a lot of the
time, they're kind of full of it and don't really tell you the truth
because they're trying to sell you something, right? So,
On the website, there's a link from the BC-102, which will
give you some links to some products and stuff and some
stores that I recommend. But the big thing you're looking for
here, on a steel string acoustic guitar, is that that action is
not too high. And that's like the distance here, between the
string and the fret. If you press the string down, you know, you
probably don't want it to be more than, I don't know, three or
four millimeters at the twelfth fret. Right? Definitely not five
millimeters or more. Because you will get them that high on
a cheap guitar. So I wouldn't be looking at really cheap steel
string acoustic guitars, but you can do if you want.
You can get a thing called electro-acoustics as well, which is
an acoustic guitar with a pickup system, which this is. I've
got a little volume controls and stuff here. This guitar has
actually got a little microphone built into it, you don't really
need that when you're a beginner. If later on you're going to
do gigs and stuff, you can retrofit it later. You can get the
electric system put in afterwards. Or, you can buy yourself
a guitar. So, another guitar, a better guitar maybe. So if
you're learning on one guitar, you can get a fairly cheap
one to learn on. When you decide that kind of professional
now, you want to go and do a gig, then buy another guitar.
You know, I'd be more inclined to do that than spending a
whole lot of money. Especially on a budget guitar, you don't
want to waste money on an electric system. Because it's a
budget guitar, the electric system's not going to be very
good either and it's going to take more money away from
just having a nice guitar in the first place. So, that's a steel
string guitar.
Okay, this is a classical guitar. And these are quite easy to
play. I learned on a classical guitar. Also, they're called a
nylon string acoustic because the strings aren't metal
anymore, we're talking about nylon. Used to be made of cat
gut, believe it or not. Definitely glad my cat wans't around in
the days when they did cat gut guitar strings. Anyway, the
strings are made of nylon now so you don't have to worry if
you're an animal lover. These can be quite cheap. I've
started off on a Yamaha GC-100 I think, or 110. And it was a
fanstastic guitar. It didn't cost very much. Yamaha make
really good nylon string acoustics, highly recommend them.
I don't play them anymore, but for beginner's guitars, they're
really wicked. Don't worry about getting one with an electric
system, you don't need it. They're slightly wider in the neck
here. The height, or no not the height, the width of the neck
can be considerably wider. You know, 10 mils, I suppose,
wider, so quite a lot. So a nylon string acoustic guitar can be
great for people with big hands as well. That's a really, really
helpful thing there if you've got big hands. And the strings
are also a little bit further apart. So it can make it a little
easier to fret your chords out when you're starting again if,
you know, for a big handed dude. You'll have a lot of trouble
getting further up the fingerboard here, because you don't
have any access to the higher frets which could cause you
problems, but probably not. A lot of children learn on these
because of the nylon strings and they're a little bit softer on
the fingers. Don't really recommend it. They're good for,
the one thing they're good for is people with big hands.
Right, a classical guitar is great for that. Or really young
children if they're worried about playing on the metal strings
and their fingers, the skin on their fingers is too soft.
Generally nice, they just don't kind of have the same sound.
Classical guitars have a very different sound
. . .
to a steel string acoustic guitar. A lot more suited for
. . .
that kind of thing, or you know
. . .
you know, for doing that kind of guitar, more so
than kind of strumming along, they don't tend to
sound so good when they're strummed. So, that's a classical guitar.
Okay, the last type of guitar we're going to have a look at, is
an electric guitar. Now, this is a Fender Stratocaster.
Which are a really good, kind of standard electic guitar. You
know, they sound good, they're quite versatile. There are
thousands of different types of electric guitar and the one
that you choose is really up to what you like and what sort of
sound you want to get and what guitar players you think
look cool or whatever. You know, there's not really a big
deal about electric guitar. But there is some big deals on
electric guitar that are really important when you're
considering buying one as a beginner.
In fact, I really recommend getting an electric guitar as a
beginner guitar player, for a few reasons. First of all: they're
easier to play. Generally, the strings are closer to the neck,
so it's easier to press down the chords. The neck is a little
thinner, which for most people is an advantage when they're
trying to stretch out for the chords. It's a little bit easier to
start off with. They're a lot quieter. You can still hear an
electric guitar without an amplifier. So don't be under the
impression you have to buy an amplifier if you get an
electric guitar. You don't, you can play acoustically. You're
not going to be very loud, right? Which is maybe a good
thing for your neighbours when you're learning guitar.
But you'll hear like
. . .
it's perfectly audible for you to hear while you're playing.
You know, no question. So, getting an electric guitar is good
for that as well. There's some really good quality budget
electric guitars around. The Yamaha Pacifica is the one that
springs to mind. Ibanez do some really good budget electric
guitars, Fender Squiers are okay, there's been a few quality
control issues in ones I've seen lately and they're really
cheap ones, but definitely like the Pacificas great. I don't
have a deal with Yamaha, it's just I think they're really,
really good, cheap electric guitar. You know, pretty decent
sound, play well. So it's really, that'll be the thing that my
personal recommendation is that if you're going to learn
guitar, you're just starting out, you don't know what sort of
guitar to get, get an electric guitar. Simple. Don't worry
about getting an amplifier and stuff yet, save that for a little
bit later when you know what you're doing, what sort of
sounds you want to make and stuff. Don't worry about
anything fancy, just standard, you know, Yamaha Pacifia or
Squier Stratocaster or, I don't know what the Ibanez one's
called. Or whatever, you know. Any of those. Again, there'll
be some links on the website for some specific guitars that I
recommend and why. And I just wanted to discuss with you
the ideas of the pros and cons between the electric,
classical and the steel string guitar.
Another thing that you might see is a semi-acoustic guitar.
Or a hollow body electric guitar. Which are kind of a regular
electric guitar, they're mainly used in jazz. And their bodies
are a little bit thicker and they're actually hollow inside.
So they're kind of somewhere between an acoustic guitar
and an electric guitar. But definitely, in my opinion, in the
electric guitar family. Not a bad thing if that's what tickles
your fancy, then that would be a great thing. Otherwise,
just get yourself a nice, simple electric guitar and off you go.
And instead of thinking about, or spending too much time
thinking about what guitar to get, think a lot about doing
loads of practice and getting good real quick. Much better
idea. Okay, hope that's helped you in your dilemma a little
and I shall see you for another lesson very soon. Bye bye!