Buying an acoustic...

If you were going to buy an acoustic guitar to begin learning on, with the intent of ultimately playing rhythm on rockabilly/jump blues/jazz/swing type stuff, what guitar would you buy?

This one:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-EJ200-Acoustic-Guitar?sku=518650

hello Andi,

Gonna recommend you take yourself down to the local music shop and take some guitars actually in hand, need to see what fits your body and hands. Necks are all different and you might want to check out electric semi hollow bodys cause that's where you are headed anyways to play this music...a semihollow gives you pretty good sound sittin in a room, won't annoy the significant other and then when you plug in you are that much farther along.. good luck, remember it's not just the chord hand you need to get goin, it's the strummin. but you have a head start, you've been watchin one of the best guitar players around.

take care...

with respect to sitting down and playing a few, I definitely agree with 59 Phantom.
I worked for Epiphone (in my youth). You could pick up 10 of the same model and each will feel different. When I picked up a Martin a few years back (not one of the expensive ones) it was the same deal. I went to 3 different stores and tried a few in each before I found the one that felt just right.
Getting a semi hollow is also interesting. It will be much easier on your fingers than an acoustic; and fits well with the styles you would like to play.
If you do go acoustic, I've been amazed by how good the Yamaha guitars are at a pretty manageable price.
Welcome to the money pit - once you start it never ends

I have a Takamine, which is affordable. I used to have an acoustic Ibanzez that I liked. I didn't care for Ovations--they didn't sound good unless they were plugged into an amp. Even then, they seemed to slip in my lap due to the plastic back. I played several different guitars in my price range and chose the one that felt right. You'll know what feels right.

Andi,

First off let me concur with the other suggestions posted so far, as they are all good tips. Next, let me add some of my own. One thing you might want to look into is reading a buyer's guide, like the one I've linked to below, as that can explain some of the nuances and differences between the types of guitars available.

Acoustic Guitar Buyer's Guide

There are many options for acoustics: type of woods used, 6-string vs. 12-string, cutaway vs. non-cutaway, nylon vs. steel string, body size, etc., but basically I think that the most important things to look for in an acoustic are:

1. Comfort/Playability
2. Resonating Sound/Tone Range

Comfort/Playability falls into the type of guitar and size that you prefer, as obviously, a big acoustic may be hard for someone with smaller hands to play and vice versa. Resonating Sound/Tone Range describes the ability/volume of the guitar and tones (highs, mids, lows), since in an acoustic there are no pickups, an acoustic is much more dependent on the types of woods used, body cavity, and vibrations of the guitar. In short, there is no one particular answer for this, as there are many combinations that can produce a great tone.

In regards to the styles you've mentioned, rockabilly players generally favor brighter (treble) tones, while the jazz stuff is usually darker (bass). Brian has used several guitars over the years, but alot of the acoustic sounds that you hear on the BSO songs are the old D'Angelico archtops, as they are more of a classic jazz/swing pre-war sound, than some of the other models.

Personally, at an entry-level, I'd suggest looking at the Fender/Gibson line of acoustics, maybe something like a small Dreadnought, Robert Johnson style, or one of the newer Orchestra style guitars (never played them, but they look promising) as a lot of these instruments have a broad tonal range, and some are also acoustic/electrics, which means that they have pizezo pickups that allow you to plug into a guitar amp/P.A. with your acoustic, giving you that option as well. Regardless of what you pick, I'd recommend picking up a capo, as they're not expensive and will allow you to play in diff. keys without killing your fingers, especially when starting out.

I guess to sum everything up, try to find the guitar that best balances out the following equation:

Comfort + Features + Tone = Budget

Hope that helps. Good luck to ye.

Capt. Jones

Thank you all so much- I'm glad I asked the experts!! I was thinking of dropping $150 to buy a used POS at a pawn shop that I could beat up on while I'm learning, but I prefer the idea of getting something I can "grow into" in terms of skill, useability, etc.

Capt Jones, thank you for that guide, I think that's exactly the kind of thing I need.

I was thinking of getting an acoustic so I don't have to plug it in to play it if I don't want to (or if I'm somewhere where power is not an option), but it sounds like there are other, better ideas than that. So much research to do!

I'm scared to be welcomed to the money pit- as if I need or can afford another expensive hobby!! Photography is bad enough!!

Thanks again ya'll!

Hi Andi and welcome to money pit.
I gotta tell you its really not that expesive, I bought my first (acoustic) guitar for $85, of course I soon realized that I NEEDED an electric as well $225 really didnt take long to see I needed an amp too Duh! $75 at the local pawn for a practice amp. of course a few pedals to make it sound good few more cables, well I NEEDED a better acoustic and of course better electric better amp better pedals and a few lessons for good measure.......oh well its only money

If I could give you one piece of advice about buying a guitar, try out alot of them, take someone who knows how to play if you have to. Buy the one that you absolutely cant put down. The more you love it the more you will play and like everything else the more you play the better you get(or the less you suck in my case).
Have fun and enjoy it.
Alka

it may seem like a money pit when you get started, I sure did. And unless you are going to be a guitar collector, it's not so bad.
finally got my set up going, now I don't feel like I need anything else to rock, guitar, amp, 3 pedals and ones a tuner. Thats not to say I wouldn't want anything else. But as for everyday rocking and an occasional show. Im set. I could never buy another guitar or
amp and be content.
ENough of my ranting.
Have fun learning. Thats never been more important in any other hobby because it's so easy to get discouraged. Just keep on it!

Mike wrote:

I could never buy another guitar or
amp and be content.

well you say that now...i remember starting out and looking at les pauls. I thought to myself that i would never spent 1000 bucks on a guitar, id be just fine with my 100 dollar squier strat. Ha. Now i find myself with 9 guitars and one is a 1900 dollar gretsch....funny how quickly things change......

hey i didnt say what i had to be content hahaha
i started with a classical, then a cheapy fender and 15w crate practice amp,

NOW i am content with my gretsch and fender deluxe reverb haha

Hey andi,
How goes? After reading this post, I went to the music shops and tried some Maton acoustics, Aussie made to a very high quality level. Great stuff with different price ranges. I think if you can afford something a little more up scale, buy it cos it'll play better, sound better and in return you want to play it more. Just make sure that whatever model you choose, try pklaying more than 1, cos they'll definately all feel different. And don't forget that acoustics and semi acoustics use different strings so they have different feel and tensions. Not sure if Gretsch Electromatic series has an acoustic, maybe worth while checking? For the Matons, check Ebay or Cash Convertors as I see them quite frequentely.
Cheers Pete.

Thanks for that Pete, I will check them out. I keep waffling back and forth between getting an acoustic that I can plug in, and just going whole hog, blowing my budget out of the water, and buying a Setzer Gretsch!! I think cooler heads will prevail and I'll go the acoustic route - I'm not fool enough to think I can start seriously learning electric guitar at the age of 34 and make a Setzer Gretsch a worthwhile investment. I can, however, learn chords and maybe a bit more and become somewhat proficient on an acoustic. I hope

Don't sell yourself short Andi! I started at 34 (two years ago) and love it....Bought the Black Falcon in my avatar a couple of months ago. It has great sound and is a pleasure to play unplugged as well as plugged. If you want to play, PLAY! As has been pointed out repeatedly in the forums....practice, practice, practice!

The closest authorised Gretsch dealer is about a 3.5 hour drive north of me in Rockhampton. We've been meaning to roadtrip north. I can probably sell some of my photography gear to scratch up the cash. Hmm....

You gonna git me in trouble Pompado'er.

Does anyone happen to know what guitar Brian is playing in this clip? Starts at about 1 min 25 sec in:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym6TL7YBXjk

Hey Andi,
It looks like a Martin to me. Great guitars, but mostely aimed at the top end of the market.
Cheers Pete.

Okay, I went to two music stores and held a bunch of guitars. Mostly acoustics but also one hollowbody (the only one in town) made by J&D Luthiers. In truth, they all felt alien because I don't know what I'm looking for. I couldn't tell a great deal of difference between the feel of the acoustic vs. electric necks in terms of size or difficulty of pressing down the strings against the fretboard (I have rather short, thick fingers. I expect they'll thin up a bit with regular guitar workouts!)

Afterwards Dean (hubby) and I sat and had a chat about all the pros and cons of all the various options from buying a cheap piece o' crap acoustic to buying a full on Setzer Gretsch. He reminded me of what I tell people when they ask me what camera to get- the tool isn't the most important part, it's learning how to use it. If you don't sit down and read your camera manual from cover to cover and practice with it daily, having a better camera isn't going to make you a better photographer. Learn to use your camera to the total upper limits of its abilities before upgrading - then you'll know what you're looking for and what you want to achieve. He's right, this applies to guitar as well. I thought about the fact that many people have mentioned that an electric is easier on the fingers than an acoustic - but it's probably better to start with the harder option, 'cause then you've already got the easy one down without even trying (wish I'd taken that advice when learning to drive - I still can't drive a manual transmission...)

So I'm going to get a simple acoustic that I can plug in to a $100 practice amp and I'm going to teach myself to play the damn thing. Then we'll go from there.

That's Setzer's vintage 50's Martin D-28, a very expensive dreadnaught acoustic. I can't remember the exact year but it's a 50's. I have to check my magazine.

Your husband is right about a "starter" guitar, but be careful. Learning a "starter" guitar with a bad setup will lead you to playing hard (like having a vise grip hand to fret chords, therefore going out of tune etc-etc-) and frustrated in the end.

So my advice is, bring someone who knows what an acoustic should sound and feel like, and have it setup properly.

Sooner than you think, your guitar will be with you wherever you go.

Good luck!

Good point, jetbunny. I know a fella here in town that'd be perfect to take along on an acoustic guitar-buying trip. I'll call him tomorrow.

Voila! It's a Kayne (that's KAYNE, NOT KANYE ), which I'd never heard of and can't find anything about online. But it was very reasonably priced and has a pickup and built in tuner. Also got the little Kustom amp, a hard case, a suede strap, a stand, a good quality capo and a few picks! Spent 20 minutes with a "how to play guitar" book I bought ages ago (20 minutes was all it took before my left fingertips were too sore to play anymore!) Have now learned the C and G chords and have a friend coming over to give me a guitar lesson in 2 hours! (He was s'posed to help me pick a guitar yesterday but forgot, so the lesson is to make up for it! )

I'm diggin' on this already...

Welcome to the world of guitar players my friend, I hope you enjoy the learning process. I remember the first few days of learning to play and how sore my finger tips were too. It should pass in a week or two of playing. Your new baby looks pretty good and should get you going. Just remember one thing, guitars are like tattoos, once you get one, you want bigger and better. You shoud have as Setzer SSLVO before you know it.

Congrats and have a Kayne day !


Ross

You need callous at your finger tips. Sore will start it. Eventually you'll get it and forget it its there. I got a DVD lesson of Lee Rocker and he pointed to the screen how BIG his callouses in BOTH hands.

And that's a beautiful guitar!

Thank you Ross and jetbunny! I'm pretty happy with it. My friend came over and gave me my lesson yesterday- he is a lot of fun to learn from, which really helped. I've taken a few different types of music lessons before and how well I do depends a lot on the teacher! This guy knows his stuff and he gets excited by the fact that I'm excited to be playing, which is really neat. And he wants to help me learn to play what *I* want to play, which makes it something to look forward to. He left me with a bunch of chords to practice - and a boogie woogie progression too! Best of all, he's happy for me to call him whenever I feel like I want a lesson, rather than having a set time or contract or anything like that. Too coool!

Now I get to annoy Dean and the dogs with my incessant and lousy boogie woogie for about a million times till it sounds good

Hey andi,
Congrats on the new baby. Good looking axe. Cant wait to hear a clip of you playing. It wont take a million times on the boogiewoogie .....couple hudred thousands maybe Hope you have as much fun with it as the rest of us do.
Seems like there are alot of player on here so if you have questions just post them.
Alka