1) Squier Fat Stratocaster
This are one of several Squier models available that offer a pretty good product for a reasonably low price. The pick-ups and hardware are sometimes suspect, and the workmanship varies from instrument to instrument, but for the price, these are a very good beginner guitar choice. The look of the instrument is appealling – Squier Fat Strats are similar in appearance to the much more expensive Fender Stratocasters.
2) Epiphone G-310 SG
Modeled after the much more expensive Gibson SG guitars, the Epiphone SG G310 keeps it’s cost low by using cheaper hardware and lower quality humbucking pick-ups. The G-310 features an alder body, a mahogany neck, and a dot-inlayed rosewood fingerboard. The buzz on this guitar is it’s a very good value for the money.
3) Yamaha PAC012DLX Pacifica Series HSS Deluxe
Here’s another guitar many people feel is a great value. This Pacifica features an agathis body, maple neck, and rosewood fretboard, with two single coil pick-ups, and one humbucker. The consensus is the guitar is reasonably well made, and the quality of the wood tends to be high. Those who go on to become serious guitarists might want to consider upgrading the electronics of the Pacifica HSS.
4) Squier Affinity Series Telecaster
Guitarists like Keith Richards, Steve Cropper, Albert Lee, and Danny Gatton favor the look and sound of the Telecaster. If you’re a fan of any of those guitarists, this beginner guitar may be for you. The Affinity Telecaster features an alder body, with a maple neck and fretboard.
5) Epiphone Les Paul Special II
The Les Paul is perhaps the most famous guitar in rock and roll. Epiphone has done a good job of visually re-creating the Les Paul in this lower-cost guitar marketed towards beginners. The Special II features a laminated alder/maple body, a magogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, and two open-coil humbucking pick-ups.
If you have ever broken a string mid-song, imagine what would happen if you broke 3 strings! This guy make his guitar sound amazing with only 3 strings in tact.
Steven Gene Wold, also known as Seasick Steve, is an American blues musician.
After leaving home at 13 to avoid abuse at the hands of his stepfather, Steve lived rough and on the road in Tennessee, Mississippi and elsewhere, until 1973. He would travel long distances by hopping freight trains, looking for work as a farm labourer or in other seasonal jobs, often living as a hobo. “In case your wondering”, says Steve “Hobos are people who move around looking for work, tramps are people who move around but don’t look for work, and bums are people who don’t move and don’t work. I’ve been all three.”
At his gigs, he often tells the story that he bought it for $75 in this condition in Como, Mississippi from a man named Sherman, who later told him he only paid $25 for it the day before. Wold vowed never to add another string, and that he would tour the world telling his story of how Sherman ripped him off.
A lot of the time he also adds (while picking up or putting away the guitar) that it is the “…biggest piece of crap in the world, I swear”.
Sound: The sound is excellent. It sounds alot louder than it looks. Once again, I recommend changing the strings to fit what you want. The factory stock strings sound great out of the box, but wear very easily and it wont be long until you start to get pretty severe buzzing. Great for playing Classic Rock like Beatles and Led Zeppelin.
Action, Fit & Finish: For it’s price, I don’t think this could’ve gotten any better. The spacing between the strings and frets is fairly even from the nut all the way to the body. The only problem I have is when I got from the house in Lake Havasu, Az to the house in Orange, Ca. Going from the dry to moist climate started to make the strings buzz on the frets. But switching to Medium gauge strings from Light seems to have fixed that.
Reliability & Durability: This guitar would be awesome for playing on a street corner or small live performances. I wouldn’t use it for anything bigger than that. The strap buttons are more solid than any electric I’ve ever owned. So there’s no fear of dropping it when strapped to my back. So far, I’ve owned it for a little less than a year and it hasn’t disappointed yet.
Impression: I play a pretty wide range of styles from Psychedelic, British Invasion, Progressive Rock, Alternative. This guitar has been pretty good for my needs. For it’s price, I would definitely buy this again. The only problem I have with it is it has no cutaway for the top 7 frets. But I never go up there on Acoustic anyway, so it’s fine.
Takamine Guitars are crafted from the finest handpicked tonewoods, hand-crafted by expert luthiers, all providing players with an unmatched excellence and surprising affordability. Play one today and you’ll play one for a lifetime.
Firstly, there are so many guitars out there, guitars like: acoustics, electric, bass, steel and so many others. Unfortunately, not all of these are good for the average beginner if not all.
It would be very easy for a rock fan for example, to go out and buy an electric guitar. From that point of view, it makes complete sense for a rock fan that wants to learn to play, to go out and get the guitar they see rock stars playing.
But if one is serious about playing the guitar, it would be in their best interest to get a guitar that is suitable for their playing level; especially if they are novices. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that the acoustic is the only one a beginner can play; it is just the easiest one to learn with.
So now you know that you need an acoustic guitar, but you are still left with the frustrating ordeal of finding the right deal, store, brand or particular model. Sounds like hard work doesn’t it, I know it does. Fortunately for you, it won’t be, since you will know exactly what you will be doing.
Before you start searching for your first guitar, you have to know what you are looking for. Most popular models are: Seagull S6, Yamaha F310, Takamine G-440, Fender DG-8, Epiphone DR-100 and many lovely models. At this point I think I should tell you something.
Since you are a rookie, and yet you want to become the ultimate guitarist, it would be wise to go with a reputable company. The reason for this is straight forward; since you are just starting out, you do not want to experiment with bad guitars as that would be detrimental.
The brands to go for are: Yamaha, Ibanez, Fender, Gibson, Ovation, Martin and Taylor (though there are others, these ones are among the top ones).
Now we know what kind, model and brand of guitar to buy. The only thing that we have left is to figure out how much and where to buy. Spend the most that you can afford, you can get a good guitar for $250 to $500. Like I said before, you need to get a good guitar if you are to have the experience you want from guitar playing.
Honestly, for a beginner, I suggest staying away from the internet, unless you know what you are doing. A music store is the best bet for you. In a music store you can negotiate with the sales person to give you a discount; you can play the guitar and get a feel of it; you can examine it thoroughly making sure that the gluing is not sloppy.
You can play on all the frets as loud as you can making sure there is no buzz sound and so many other things.
Want to see a closeup of John Mayer’s current live setup? In this video , the legendary guitar tech Rene Martinez (guitar tech for Stevie Ray Vaughan, Prince, Mick Jones), takes you through John Mayer’s current touring rig. He has some really nice gear, including a Dumble amp.. ohh la la!
The gear John Mayer uses is amazing stuff! Along with the 40+ guitars he has on tour, he also takes the following gear..
The Amps
Dumble Steel Stringer, Two-Rock John Mayer Signature, and Fender Bassman, Alessandro 2x12s with Celestions
The Effects
Eventide TimeFactor, a Boss GE-7 Equalizer, an Ibanez TS-10 Tube Screamer Classic, a Roger Linn AdrenaLinn III Beat-Synced Filter Effects Processor, a Korg Toneworks G4 Rotary Speaker Simulator, a Klon Centaur Professional Overdrive, a small Analog Man Comprossor, an original Marshall Bluesbreaker, a Keeley Electronics Katana Clean Boost, a MXR M-108 10-band EQ, a Roger Linn AdrenaLinn Groove Filter FX-Amp Modeling-Drum Box Processor, a Roger Linn AdrenaLinn II Beat-Synched Filter Effects Processor, a Way Huge Aqua Puss Analog Delay, and an additional Eventide TimeFactor, which is anchored by a custom Bob Bradshaw switching system and controller.
Winner of several awards, the S6 is the instrument that best represents the Seagull philosophy. The S6 is affordable and gives entry-level players the opportunity to experience the great feel and superb sound provided by a hand-finished neck, solid cedar top and genuine lacquer finish. Gorgeous domestic wild cherry back and sides provide a unique tone between the warmth of mahogany with the crisp definition of maple. The silver leaf maple neck on a shorter 24.84″ scale with a rosewood fretboard is easy on the fingers, while specially aligned machine heads make for quick, stable tuning. Features:
Solid cedar top
Wild cherry back and sides
Rosewood fingerboard and bridge
Tusq nut and compensated saddle
Semi-gloss lacquer finish
Warm Appearance and Sound
The S6 has a solid cedar top with beautiful wild cherry sides and back, finished in a semi-gloss lacquer. The saddle and bridge are both made of rosewood. With a sound that lands somewhere between the mellow tone of mahogany and the bright ring of maple, wild cherry has gives an excellent tone to guitars. Because of the mix of cedar and cherry wood, both the sound and appearance is warm, dark, and full.
Solid cedar top is joined with wild cherry sides and back for a warm sound and appearance.
Reverse Headstock
Each Seagull neck starts out as a single piece of mahogany or Silver Leaf maple. The wood is cut at a 45 degree angle after which the top piece–the Headstock–is glued back on with the grain reversed. This is an essential step in the Seagull process for creating incredibly stable necks.
Tuning Made Easy
You may have wondered why it is that even after you have carefully tuned each string, it is often necessary to go back and make further adjustments on a few of the strings. This is because the neck moves slightly as you change the tension of the strings. Therefore you don’t just tune the strings, you “balance” the neck at the same time. The tapered headstock on Seagull guitars provides straight string pull, which minimizes the neck twisting effect. This ensures that it will be easier to get your guitar in tune and keep it that way. This is particularly advantageous for the growing ranks of players who use open tunings.
The Seagull Neck
Neck crafting is an art and the luthiers who sand each Seagull neck to our exacting specifications take their art very seriously. Comfort, sound, and stability are the three key ingredients that Seagull aims for in a guitar neck. Comfort is especially important these days because acoustic players are playing all over the neck–not just open chords below the third fret. A slim, comfortable neck not only accommodates playing all over the neck but also reduces fatigue. On the other hand, the vibration of the neck is an important contributor to the sound of the guitar and if the neck is too slim the guitar will suffer in the sound department.
Features a tapered headstock, which minimizes neck twisting and makes it easier to keep your guitar in tune.
Double Action Truss System
Most guitars employ an adjustable metal rod inside the neck called a truss rod. The truss rod is typically used to straighten the neck when it becomes slightly bowed from string tension and changes in humidity. In the event of a neck becoming back-bowed, the traditional fix is to loosen the truss rod and allow the string tension to pull the neck back to its ideal form. Unfortunately this doesn’t always work which is why we adapted a new double-action truss rod in Seagull necks. The new rod bends in both directions, which provides unprecedented control over the neck whether it is under-bowed or over-bowed.
The Heel
Did you ever notice that a guitar that sounds perfectly in tune needs to be re-tuned slightly when passed from one player to another? This has to do with the fact that different players place varying amounts of weight and pressure on the neck and this affects tuning. Years ago we discovered that this problem could be alleviated by inserting maple dowels through the heel of the neck. This reinforcement makes the neck several times stronger.
Neck Pitch
In order to enjoy all of the advantages of a well-crafted neck, a great deal of care must be given when joining it to the guitar body. The angle of a guitar’s neck attachment–often called “neck pitch”–plays a crucial role in the instrument’s tone. Simply put; if the neck is too far back, the guitar will lose its bass and sound tinny. On the other hand, if the neck angle is too far forward, the guitar will lose its high frequency response and sound muddy. The Seagull neck attachment system insures consistent neck pitch. It also produces the added advantage of a superior neck/body energy transfer because the neck is attached to the body with a clean wood-to-wood connection. There is no glue to impede the vibration between the heel of the neck and the guitars body.
Compensated Seagull Saddle
Seagull guitars feature Tusq nuts and saddles. The fully compensated saddle helps Seagull guitars to play beautifully in-tune all over the neck. See more of this guitar click here
One of Fenders most popular acoustic guitar package, the DG-8 S features a dreadnought acoustic guitar with a solid spruce top, gig bag, chromatic electronic tuner, instructional DVD, strings, picks and strap. A quality starter pack with everything you need that’ll have you playing in no time. See more of this guitar click here
If you want all SG looks and tone but don’t want to pay an arm and a leg, the G-310 from Epiphone is your best bet. Reach all the upper frets on a carved ’67 style SG Mahogany body with a Mahogany neck, and Rosewood fretboard. The killer classic tone comes from a pair of red-hot 700T and 650R open-coil Humbucker pickups, surrounded by the full ’67 style pickguard. But wait, there’s more! The sustain is even greater thanks to Epiphone’s LocTone hardware with locking Tune-o-matic bridge and Stop-bar tailpiece. More pics here
