The top one would give you access to the closest frets, so it depends if you care to play that high. I have a classical guitar (your bottom picture), but if I feel like playing something that high, I grab my ES335 or my SG.
ES 335
SG
Learning Guitar - What is a good beginner guitar - (sell me yours?)
by confusedjw 32 Replies latest social physical
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Fleshybirdfodder
A Canadian company named Godin makes an acoustic brand called Art Luthier. I have played one on stage before and found its' tone and action reasonable. It has received very good reviews from the mags for a budget acoustic.
FBF
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SixofNine
More importantly, tonight is the big "shred-off" between Stephen Colbert and the Decemberist.
Whadaya think, will it turn out that Colbert can really play? I think it will turn out that he can play, probably not great, but surprisingly good. It'll have me watching, in any case.
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DanTheMan
No guitar recommendations for you, but some related advice I would give to a beginning guitarist is to get some software that will allow you to slow down music being played back on your computer while keeping the pitch, and also allow you to select a portion of a song to replay indefinitely. Winamp plus two plugins - Loop Master and Pacemaker - will do it for ya. Those are old plugins though, there might be better ones out there now.
My first guitar was a crappy red strat copy that I attempted to paint Eddie Van Halen style right over the existing paint. LOL...The joys of being 14.
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oldflame
The S35 is the one I bought for a beginner. I have now up graded it and bought the Estaban cut away classic. But the S35 Takamine is not a bad guitar at all I am going to keep mine so I can have a beater for the camp grounds etc.
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sixsixsixtynine
I wouldn't spend less than $300 for an acoustic. Anything cheaper is almost always a waste of money. Hard to play, and won't last long. Ibanez has always been my favorite for a budget guitar, especially the Artwood series. Very well made and good sound, especially the solid top models. Good luck!
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sixsixsixtynine
double post
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confusedjw
Thanks everyone - I went to our two local shops last night.
One had several Fenders at $200 and under. The one I own now is a Fender StarCaster that was a return at Sam's club. It came with a bag, tuner, stand, dvd blah blah for $89, but it's harder than hell to play. The strings are so far from the frets - if I can keep up playing this thing I will be able to play anything. My friend/teacher has a Yamaha which plays so nicely and sound better.
So there was this $330 Seagull - drool drool. Solid cedar top.
Also a $200 Yamaha solid spruce top
Finally a $200 Fender that felt great, but didnt' sound as good as it felt.
Online there are a myriad of the Jasmines on eBay for $129 with a bag, tuner etc. (The figgin kicker is that 10 years ago I bought a Jasmine but didn't stick with and a young brother in the cong borrowed it from me. A really great kid. He got quite good and when he graduated HS I gave thim the guitar as a gift. Now I wish I could give him freedom as a gift.)
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LennyinBluemont
I have two Adamas (Ovation) guitars, a 6 and a 12 string. They are awesome. To me the sound and projection of these guitars is unrivaled. As others, I would recommend starting off with a very good used guitar. Yamahas are nice, and so are Takamines, but I wouldn't spend less than $400, even on a used one. If you get a decent one, not only will playing be easier, not only will it sound better, but you shouldn't have much trouble selling it if it doesn't work out or you're ready to graduate to an Adamas, Taylor or Martin.
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doogie
I wouldn't spend less than $300 for an acoustic. Anything cheaper is almost always a waste of money. Hard to play, and won't last long.
not to mention the likelihood of extreme discouragement followed closely by destruction of said crappy guitar when everything you play sounds like sh!t.
i'm surprised no one has mentioned Guilds yet. i'm not sure how the current breeds sound (weren't they bought out by someone a few years back?), but the older models are awesome. a bit more pricey but the sound is nice...deep and loud. basically, buy a nice guitar and sound better than you are...buy a crappy one and sound way crappier.