Drue's Guitar Recommendations
There are 1000's of different guitars for all kinds of people.
To find what's right for you answer this simple questions:
What style of music do you enjoy the most?
As a general rule your answer will fall into 3 categories:
- Acoustic (chill out, campfire strum along, folk, pop, fingerstyle) eg: More Than Words - Extreme
- Electric (You love to rock out and you like your music loud) eg: Highway To Hell - AC DC
- Classical (You enjoy flamenco and traditional classical fingerstyle) eg: John Williams - Cavatina
As we're an acoustic site I'll be recommending acoustic guitars but message me if you'd like to know more about electric guitars. I'll be happy to help.
Beginner Acoustic Guitar - Yamaha F310
Easy to play and a great sound. The perfect beginners budget guitar.
The Yamaha F310 is my personal recommendation for beginners. This is for 2 reasons:
- It's easy to play (The worst thing about some budget guitars is that they're difficult to play, the F310 is very easy to play)
2. It's affordability. (This guitar is excellent value for money, and it sounds a lot better than many other guitars in the sub £150 category)
Intermediate Acoustic Guitar
Although I started with a Yamaha F310 I've now upgraded to this Furch D31-SR
You'll inevitably outgrow your first guitar so what happens when you want to upgrade?
To give specific recommendations is more challenging as by now you'll have a better idea of what you like the sound of.
However, follow this checklist when choosing your new guitar (and please go to a guitar store and try out different guitars. DON'T buy from the internet right away)
- Ease of play-ability (Does it feel comfortable to hold? Can you press down the strings without hurting your fingers and how do barre chords sound?)
- How does it sound? (When you play it what feelings do you get? Does it excite you? Does it feel like returning home after a long holiday? Does it sound like your favourite style of music?)
- What does it look like? (Guitars are works of art. If it looks stunning then you'll always want to play it)
- Your budget. (Someone once told me that when buying a guitar you should take your budget and "double it". What they meant is that you'll be playing this guitar for a long time, so don't scrimp on quality as you always get what you pay for.
Some brands to try out (and my personal favourites) are: Cort, Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Furch (Stonebridge), Tanglewood, Takamine and Guild.
Classical Guitar (Nylon String) - Beginner - Yamaha C40
This is where my knowledge begins to run short. Even though I enjoy playing classical and fingerstyle I've always preferred the brighter sound of a steel string acoustic (even when playing classical).
As you may have guessed Yamaha excel when it comes to making beginner guitars, and the C40 is no different.
I found a great review of it here: Guitar Adventures - Yamaha C40 Review
There's also some positive reviews over at Amazon: