Your First Guitar. Where to Start?

So, you’ve finally bought your first guitar and are eager to perform your favorite tunes and riffs. Your brand-new instrument appears to be in ideal condition to start learning - after all, it’s perfectly new, right? Unfortunately, new guitars don’t necessarily come in excellent condition, which is why you’ll require an initial guitar set up. It’ll set the tone (literally) for your entire music learning experience. Here’s where to start:

Finding The Right Neck

When looking for the right Guitar for you, you must consider the proper neck profile for your hands. Your fretting hand will be in constant contact with the neck so a proper fit is vital. Neck radius, profile, and woods used to construct it are vital to how it performs. Rosewood and ebony fingerboards will produce a darker tone whereas maple fingerboards will have a brighter tone. It is just important to choose the proper string gauge and setup for your hands and style of playing you are after.

Feel Comfortable with Your Guitar

As a player, you should feel comfortable holding your guitar while adopting the right posture – it’s a huge factor for playing well. It is not only the neck that must feel comfortable but the body shape and the sound the instrument produces that must all be correct. If the body shape is cumbersome, such as a flying V or more extreme shape body then you will face challenges in finding comfortable playing positions. I highly suggest S (Stratocaster) shaped guitars because the ergonomics work well across many body types. The electronics need to be of quality and selecting an instrument with the correct pickups for the style of music you are after is important. This is where research into players you are inspired by is important in seeing which pickups they choose to use. The pickups are the next key element in how the instrument sounds after the wood, and having the correctly voiced pickups for the certain sound you are after is vital. Are you unsure how to do this? Find suitable Guitar Lessons Dallas, so professionals can assist you on how to structure your body and hold your instrument for optimal playing and learning. Simply search for guitar lessons near me and enroll yourself in an interesting class.

Proper Setup

Most of the time when a professional replaces your guitar strings, they’ll also ensure the setup of the instrument is done correctly to the player’s needs. If this is not maintained even a great performing instrument can suffer from it and the playability of the instrument will diminish. Certain styles of playing require certain setup requirements, low action (meaning the smallest distance from the string to the fret) is desired for faster styles of guitar, because the amount of pressure to fret the notes is reduced, however a style such as slide guitar requires the instrument to have high action because of the use of the slide. The instrument must also have correct intonation, where the correct pitch is produced on each fret, not just open string notes. A properly cut nut is important as well to make sure that it is cut not only to a radius of the fingerboard but effectively cut so the string passes through the slot with as little friction as possible which equals better tuning stability. Correctly choosing the right string gauge is important as well and will vary from player to player.