For those of you that need to purchase a guitar, here are a few things to consider.
Basically, it all comes down to how much you want to spend and you need to think about this before you come shopping on Saturday. If you are serious about learning the instrument, I highly recommend investing in a good guitar.
TYPE OF GUITAR: Steel String or Classical? We'll be focusing on the Acoustic (steel string) guitar during this course. This is what is commonly used within the church for praise and worship.
TOP: Cheaper guitars come with a laminate top (or sound board). This involves gluing several layers of thin wood together. Guitars of higher quality use a "solid top" which means that the sound board is constructed from a solid piece of wood. Solid top guitars offer superior sound quality and the notes ring out louder and sustain longer. I highly recommend a solid top.
PICKUP: A guitar with a pickup allows you to connect your guitar to an amplifier or PA system. This will not be required for playing in cell group, but you'll need it if you want to play in the main service worship team.
CUTAWAY: A guitar with a cutaway allows access to the higher frets. It looks like part of the body has been "cut away". I personally don't feel it is necessary for an acoustic guitar, but many people prefer it for the novelty and looks.
WOOD: The type of wood the guitar is made from plays a big part in how it sounds (and looks). A Spruce top is arguably the most popular and gives a bright and snappy sound and responds well to strumming. A cedar top gives a warmer and more mellow sound, and is more suited for light finger-style. I would recommend Spruce.
ACTION: The "action" is the distance the strings are from the frets. The closer this distance is, the easier it is to play the guitar. This can be adjusted to a certain degree but the construction/design of the guitar determines how well it can be adjusted.
BODY SHAPE: There are several body shapes available. I will discuss this in more detail on Saturday.
Don't worry if any of these points confuse you. I'll be there on saturday to help you out! Just remember to come with an idea of how much you want to spend.
Cheers,
Darren
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Hey can you allow followers onto this blog? Can you adjust the blog page settings so that we can add ourselves as followers in order to get the updates?
ReplyDeleteTa.
Oh and a good set of tips here.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that a cutaway ain't necessary...unless you're going to be doing some hyper wierd Tommy Emmanuel finger picking up the top end of the guitar...which you ain't gonna do as a beginner or even if you're a seasoned player...
Could you also add some suggestions about the contruction and the type of wood used ofr the newbies...all I know is mine is an all spruce solid top. Tends to be the more popular type of wood used for decent guitars.
Hey Croc! =)
ReplyDeleteWill look into those settings.
As for the construction of guitars, I had a chat to some of you who came along for shopping.
Different body shapes give a different sound. Most of you bought a dreadnaught, which is the most popular shape. Its got a loud and balanced tone and is great of strumming and has a lot of "headroom", meaning you can really dig into the strings and the guitar will sound out loudly.
I recommended a smaller shape to some people (grand concert or auditorium). The smaller bodies mean that they are more comfortable to hold, and they provide a snappier and more "focused" tone. Not as loud as the dreadnaught, these guitars work well for finger style and medium strumming.
Bracing refers to the internal structure of the gutiar. The bracing reinforces the guitar body but also affects the way the instrument sounds. I acutally did my university thesis on different bracing patterns in guitars. I found that different brands/companies use their own style of bracing, which is one reason why each brand has its own typcial sound. With some brands, you can actually recognise what brand guitar it is by just hearing how it sounds.
When you have mastered the basics and are ready for a better guitar, you need to consider all these factors to find an instrument that fits your style, and produces a sound that inspires you in your playing!