So you’ve finally decided to learn to play the guitar and you really don’t know where to start. Should you buy an electric one? How about an acoustic? Where should you buy your guitar? These are some of the questions you may be asking yourself. Let’s take them one at a time.

Should I buy an electric or acoustic guitar?

This is something almost everyone thinks about at the same time. I think the answer lies in what kind of music you want to play, your budget for your first guitar, and what you have available. If you want to play to be able to shred like Eddie Van Halen or Dragon Force, you should definitely get an electric guitar if you can afford it. remember, you also need to buy an amp and cable. It is usually a bit more expensive than an acoustic. You can probably pick up a pack for $199 or less.

If you just want to be able to play some chords for fun and maybe sing a song or two around the campfire, acoustics would be your best bet. The music store I work at has some very good acoustic guitars for $89.00 and sometimes some pretty good used acoustic guitars cost even less.

Warning about cheap guitars online
Be careful if you are buying your first guitar online, there are a lot of bad guitars that cost very little, and I mean BAD! I’ve seen them for as little as $10 on eBay. DO NOT BUY ONE OF THESE GUITARS! I recommend going to your local music store and getting help from one of the vendors. In all the stores I have taught, the salespeople were very knowledgeable and took care of their customers.

Whether you should buy an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar is really a personal choice. After teaching hundreds of different people, I realized that one option is not the best for everyone. Do what you think is right.