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Hi, how're you doin? Justin here.

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In this lesson today we're going to be checking out the different types of guitar that

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exist in the world. Well actually, just three kind of main types,

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and talking about the pros and cons of each one. If you're a

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beginner guitar player, looking to buy your first guitar, what

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sort of thing you should be looking for.

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So, there's three main types of guitar. The one I'm holding

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in my arms now, is a steel string acoustic guitar. Which is

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what most people kind of think of, like guitar players think of,

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when they're thinking of an acoustic guitar.

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The other types of guitar are an electric guitar and a

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classical guitar. And a classical guitar is also a type of an

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acoustic guitar as well, so we end up in this funny area

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where things are not quite falling into one of the three

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categories. But that's the most important three.

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Now, when you're choosing which one of them you're going

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to play, there's a few things that kind of set it off straight

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away. If want to play rock guitar, get an electric guitar. Full

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stop, easy, done, sold. If you've got not very much money to

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spend and you're really looking at as cheap a guitar as

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possible, get an electric guitar. I know that sounds kind of

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funny, that you think "oh, it's an electric guitar, it's got more

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fancy stuff in it", but actually the problem is, with acoustic

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guitars, especially steel string acoustic guitars, when they're

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really cheap, they're really difficult to play. They've got

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what's called a high action, which means that the strings are

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quite far away from the fingerboard, usually, and so they're

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really, really difficult to play barre chords on. They tend to

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not sound very nice as well, cheap acoustic guitars, 'cause

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they're made of laminated wood and my general opinion is,

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that if you've got not very much money, an electric guitar is

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a far better way to go.

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If you want to play classical guitar, you should definitely buy

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a classical guitar. Hey, a little bit obvious that one there,

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Justin, thanks! But it's true. You don't want to be trying to

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play classical music on a steel string guitar or an electric

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guitar. That said, I'm not really a classical guitar teacher, I

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don't cover classical guitar as part of my course.

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I don't really think it's the best, most fun thing to learn guitar

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on, classical guitar 'cause it's all like learning to read notes

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and playing one note at a time and stuff and it's a bit easier to

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kind of just get going if you're playing chords and stuff.

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Anyway, so, this is a steel string acoustic guitar. The things

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to look for when you're checking out an acoustic guitar is:

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1: does it sound nice? Now, the best thing you can do when

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you're going shopping for a guitar if you're a beginner is:

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take somebody who knows what they're doing. Right? Take

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somebody who's played guitar for a bit, can strum a few

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chords, you can have a listen to it, see if you like the sound

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of it. If you're a complete beginner and you know nothing,

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you kind of have to rely on the sales people and a lot of the

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time, they're kind of full of it and don't really tell you the truth

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because they're trying to sell you something, right? So,

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On the website, there's a link from the BC-102, which will

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give you some links to some products and stuff and some

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stores that I recommend. But the big thing you're looking for

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here, on a steel string acoustic guitar, is that that action is

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not too high. And that's like the distance here, between the

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string and the fret. If you press the string down, you know, you

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probably don't want it to be more than, I don't know, three or

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four millimeters at the twelfth fret. Right? Definitely not five

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millimeters or more. Because you will get them that high on

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a cheap guitar. So I wouldn't be looking at really cheap steel

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string acoustic guitars, but you can do if you want.

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You can get a thing called electro-acoustics as well, which is

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an acoustic guitar with a pickup system, which this is. I've

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got a little volume controls and stuff here. This guitar has

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actually got a little microphone built into it, you don't really

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need that when you're a beginner. If later on you're going to

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do gigs and stuff, you can retrofit it later. You can get the

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electric system put in afterwards. Or, you can buy yourself

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a guitar. So, another guitar, a better guitar maybe. So if

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you're learning on one guitar, you can get a fairly cheap

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one to learn on. When you decide that kind of professional

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now, you want to go and do a gig, then buy another guitar.

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You know, I'd be more inclined to do that than spending a

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whole lot of money. Especially on a budget guitar, you don't

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want to waste money on an electric system. Because it's a

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budget guitar, the electric system's not going to be very

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good either and it's going to take more money away from

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just having a nice guitar in the first place. So, that's a steel

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string guitar.

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Okay, this is a classical guitar. And these are quite easy to

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play. I learned on a classical guitar. Also, they're called a

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nylon string acoustic because the strings aren't metal

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anymore, we're talking about nylon. Used to be made of cat

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gut, believe it or not. Definitely glad my cat wans't around in

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the days when they did cat gut guitar strings. Anyway, the

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strings are made of nylon now so you don't have to worry if

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you're an animal lover. These can be quite cheap. I've

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started off on a Yamaha GC-100 I think, or 110. And it was a

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fanstastic guitar. It didn't cost very much. Yamaha make

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really good nylon string acoustics, highly recommend them.

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I don't play them anymore, but for beginner's guitars, they're

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really wicked. Don't worry about getting one with an electric

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system, you don't need it. They're slightly wider in the neck

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here. The height, or no not the height, the width of the neck

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can be considerably wider. You know, 10 mils, I suppose,

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wider, so quite a lot. So a nylon string acoustic guitar can be

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great for people with big hands as well. That's a really, really

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helpful thing there if you've got big hands. And the strings

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are also a little bit further apart. So it can make it a little

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easier to fret your chords out when you're starting again if,

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you know, for a big handed dude. You'll have a lot of trouble

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getting further up the fingerboard here, because you don't

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have any access to the higher frets which could cause you

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problems, but probably not. A lot of children learn on these

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because of the nylon strings and they're a little bit softer on

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the fingers. Don't really recommend it. They're good for,

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the one thing they're good for is people with big hands.

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Right, a classical guitar is great for that. Or really young

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children if they're worried about playing on the metal strings

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and their fingers, the skin on their fingers is too soft.

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Generally nice, they just don't kind of have the same sound.

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Classical guitars have a very different sound

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. . .

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to a steel string acoustic guitar. A lot more suited for

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. . .

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that kind of thing, or you know

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. . .

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you know, for doing that kind of guitar, more so

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than kind of strumming along, they don't tend to

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sound so good when they're strummed. So, that's a classical guitar.

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Okay, the last type of guitar we're going to have a look at, is

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an electric guitar. Now, this is a Fender Stratocaster.

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Which are a really good, kind of standard electic guitar. You

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know, they sound good, they're quite versatile. There are

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thousands of different types of electric guitar and the one

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that you choose is really up to what you like and what sort of

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sound you want to get and what guitar players you think

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look cool or whatever. You know, there's not really a big

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deal about electric guitar. But there is some big deals on

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electric guitar that are really important when you're

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considering buying one as a beginner.

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In fact, I really recommend getting an electric guitar as a

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beginner guitar player, for a few reasons. First of all: they're

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easier to play. Generally, the strings are closer to the neck,

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so it's easier to press down the chords. The neck is a little

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thinner, which for most people is an advantage when they're

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trying to stretch out for the chords. It's a little bit easier to

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start off with. They're a lot quieter. You can still hear an

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electric guitar without an amplifier. So don't be under the

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impression you have to buy an amplifier if you get an

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electric guitar. You don't, you can play acoustically. You're

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not going to be very loud, right? Which is maybe a good

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thing for your neighbours when you're learning guitar.

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But you'll hear like

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. . .

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it's perfectly audible for you to hear while you're playing.

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You know, no question. So, getting an electric guitar is good

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for that as well. There's some really good quality budget

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electric guitars around. The Yamaha Pacifica is the one that

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springs to mind. Ibanez do some really good budget electric

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guitars, Fender Squiers are okay, there's been a few quality

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control issues in ones I've seen lately and they're really

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cheap ones, but definitely like the Pacificas great. I don't

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have a deal with Yamaha, it's just I think they're really,

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really good, cheap electric guitar. You know, pretty decent

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sound, play well. So it's really, that'll be the thing that my

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personal recommendation is that if you're going to learn

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guitar, you're just starting out, you don't know what sort of

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guitar to get, get an electric guitar. Simple. Don't worry

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about getting an amplifier and stuff yet, save that for a little

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bit later when you know what you're doing, what sort of

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sounds you want to make and stuff. Don't worry about

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anything fancy, just standard, you know, Yamaha Pacifia or

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Squier Stratocaster or, I don't know what the Ibanez one's

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called. Or whatever, you know. Any of those. Again, there'll

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be some links on the website for some specific guitars that I

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recommend and why. And I just wanted to discuss with you

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the ideas of the pros and cons between the electric,

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classical and the steel string guitar.

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Another thing that you might see is a semi-acoustic guitar.

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Or a hollow body electric guitar. Which are kind of a regular

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electric guitar, they're mainly used in jazz. And their bodies

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are a little bit thicker and they're actually hollow inside.

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So they're kind of somewhere between an acoustic guitar

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and an electric guitar. But definitely, in my opinion, in the

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electric guitar family. Not a bad thing if that's what tickles

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your fancy, then that would be a great thing. Otherwise,

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just get yourself a nice, simple electric guitar and off you go.

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And instead of thinking about, or spending too much time

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thinking about what guitar to get, think a lot about doing

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loads of practice and getting good real quick. Much better

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idea. Okay, hope that's helped you in your dilemma a little

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and I shall see you for another lesson very soon. Bye bye!