One of the main questions we always get from the potential guitar students is which Guitar one should buy as a beginner. There is no single answer matching everyone’s needs. There are a few points to consider before deciding which guitar to buy to start your learning. The points explained below help you to make an informed decision to acquire the guitar most suitable for your requirements.

1. Type of Guitar

• Modern classical guitar design is established by 19th-century Spanish Guitarist Antonio Torres Jurado. Guitar projects the sounds of its vibrating strings acoustically through the air. Classical Guitar uses nylon strings. It is also known as Spanish Guitar. Usually, Individual strings are plucked with the fingernails instead of a pick. The wider fretboard and larger gaps between strings help the fingerstyle method.
• C. F. Martin & Company introduced steel strings to Guitars in the early 19th century, and these are later called acoustic guitars to distinguish it from electric guitars. It is played either using a pick or by finger-style.
• In electric guitar, the vibration of its strings is converted into electrical signals and amplified and sent to speakers. An amplifier is always required along with the electric guitar to play the music. The electric guitar is played with a pick or using fingerstyle method.
  

2. Type of music

Classical guitar is mainly used for classical music. Some of the very popular classical guitar musicians include Filippo Gragnani, Niccolò Paganini, and Mauro Giuliani. If you wanted to pursue classical music or wanted to appear for classical guitar certification exams, choose a classical guitar for your learning. You can use the acoustic guitar to play any music such as pop, country music, or flat-picking. The type of music played on the electric guitar is usually pop, rock, metal blues, etc. However, note that you can play any music on any type once you learn to use that specific type of guitar.
Check out below the music played by one of our teachers using finger-style method.

3. Age of the student

As nylon strings are easier on fingers, Classical Guitar is recommended for kids younger than ten years. However, with constant practice, the discomfort on the finger is reduced. Other things to consider are the size of the guitar and the comfort to hold the guitar. It is recommended to visit a music shop and hold different Guitars to understand how easy each one is. The guitar is available in different sizes. You can choose a smaller size (e.g., 3/4 instead of full size) for kids if that is the more appropriate size.

4. Price

Generally, electric guitars are more expensive due to additional parts or equipment such as cable and amplifier. Acoustic guitars are usually a little more costly than classical guitars. However, each type of guitar has a wide price range based on the quality and brand name. You can consider a guitar in the range of US$50-$150 as your first guitar for learning irrespective of the type of guitar.

5. Easy to switch

Finally, when you made a decision and started learning, and after a few months, if you find another type of guitar is best suited for you, you can switch to that type of guitar. Don’t worry as this switch is not very difficult. Switching between electric and acoustic could take only less than a week, and switch from or to a classical guitar will take less than a month.

Summary

If you wanted to start a new hobby by playing your favorite music, you could buy an acoustic guitar which is popular in most of the world. You could choose a classical guitar for your young kid to make the learning more comfortable and switch to another type later. Beginner topics will be similar, and hence you can start the classes with the guitar you have already have and switch to another type later too. Signup today for a free trial class and our expert teacher will answer all your questions about the guitar learning journey.