im looking to buy an electric guitar?

10 Things You Need to Know About Buying an Electric Guitar

Unless you have a time machine that can transport you and your credit card back to 1958, there’s never been a better time than the present to buy a new electric guitar. Even the most inexpensive instruments sound and play great, but having so many wonderful options at your disposal can distract you from finding the perfect ax.

So, how do you choose a guitar that will make you happy until you’re a rich rock star and have every major manufacturer sending free instruments to your door? What follows are 10 things you should know before you surrender your hard-earned money to that former Winger member working the floor at your nearby music megaretailer.

1) Good Looks

When surveying the seemingly endless racks of guitars at your local store, let your animal lust prevail—grab the instruments that catch your eye first. A cool-looking ax probably will inspire you to play a lot more than an ugly duckling with a fast action and killer tone. Do you think Jack White would be caught dead playing a Montgomery Ward Airline if it were chartreuse and magenta instead of red and white?

2) Good Licks

If you’re a beginner buying your first instrument, bring along a friend who knows how to play so he or she can help you make a good choice. However, you might want to wait until you can play reasonably well so you can make a choice on your own. No matter how good your musical skills are, avoid playing “Smoke on the Water,” “Eruption,” Enter Sandman” or “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in a music store unless you want to be instantly and permanently ejected before anyone even considers selling you a guitar.

3) Unplugged

Before you plug the guitar in, test its acoustic properties by playing a few open chords, bar chords and single-note lines unplugged. It should sound loud, lively and sparkly—like yo mama after three gin and tonics. An instrument with good inherent acoustic tone will sound even better when you plug it in, but if it’s dead and dull from the get-go it ain’t likely to improve at all—like yo mama after her sixth gin and tonic.

4) Know Your Woods

The materials used for a guitar’s construction significantly influence its tonal characteristics. Maple (commonly used for necks and fingerboards and sometimes for bodies) is a heavy, hard wood that provides bright tone. Mahogany (used for necks and bodies) offers a warmer sound and smooth sustain. Bodies made of light woods like swamp ash or basswood deliver lively acoustic properties. Before you buy, you should know more about wood than the average beaver (and after you learn how to play your wood should know plenty about average beaver).

5) Body Shop

Solidbody guitars can be built in just about any shape you can imagine. An instrument that looks like a medieval torture tool may look bitchin’ onstage while you’re playing with a Dutch death metal band, but it could cause permanent damage to your nether regions when you try to play it sitting down in the studio. If you’re looking for a good all-around ax for practice and performance, make sure the guitar feels comfortable whether you’re playing it standing up or sitting down.

6) Heavy Necking

Grasp the neck firmly with your fretting hand and run your fingers up and down the frets (and don’t moan and make that buck-toothed kissy face while you’re playing, you perv!). The frets should feel smooth with no sharp, rough or protruding edges, and the neck’s contour should fit comfortably in your palm without forcing you to struggle to play. Remember what Johnnie Cochran said: “If it doesn’t fit, you must, uh, quit.”

7) Hardware’s True Value

Carefully examine every detail of the guitar’s hardware and learn how to identify good-quality parts. Avoid instruments with improperly aligned parts, screws inserted at odd angles, a nut that’s cut too deep or loose-feeling tuning pegs, knobs or switches. You may get a great bargain on a cheap instrument with lousy hardware, but even if you invest in hardware upgrades it won’t guarantee that you’ll end up with a great instrument. It’s like putting a Chanel bikini on a Chihuahua—all that extra fuss ain’t gonna change the fact that it’s still a dog.

8) The Pickup Guide

Pickups significantly influence a guitar’s tone. Single-coil pickups have bright tone and moderate output, while humbuckers sound warm and fat and usually have hotter output, which is why metal players love them. P-90-style pickups are big, wide single-coil pickups that straddle the middle ground between the humbucker’s bark and a regular single-coil’s bite. Don’t buy a guitar that comes with a Chevy, Dodge or Ford pickup unless you savor the thought of playing Toby Keith covers at NRA rallies.

9) Plug and Play

When you first test the guitar through an amp, don’t go straight for the megadistortion mode. Dial in a clean tone, keep the EQ controls set to a moderate level and pay attention to the guitar’s overall tonal characteristics (bright/dark, fat/thin, lively/dull, powerful/weak, etc.) and sustain, or lack thereof. Excessive amp distortion is the music retailer’s equivalent of the wonder bra—it makes things seem better than they really are—so don’t let the salesperson pump up the gain before you’ve determined how flat or full the guitar’s natural sound is.

10) Consider Your Options

Don’t choose a guitar solely on the basis of what your favorite players use. While most players prefer solidbody guitars, many semhollow and hollowbody models are worth consideration, especially if your musical tastes lean toward jazz, rockabilly or Sixties styles. During the Seventies, Ted Nugent proved you could play a fat hollowbody jazz box and still rock as hard as anyone, even if you were wearing a loincloth and bunny tail onstage. Choose the guitar that feels right for you and brings out your individual personality.

To be honest the only way to buy a guitar that you'll like is if you go down to a guitar shop and try out a lot of different guitars and accessories. Every from straps to the action of the strings can determine what you get. You should also consider an amp along with this. Examine as much as you can about the guitar and whether you like it or not. Thick or thin neck, what kind of neck you want, smooth or rough G string on the guitar, these're all things you should consider when buying a guitar.

And also I don't mean to sound like an annoying parent but you should set a general budget to stay on when buying guitars. It's really easy to get carried away with guitar stuff but then you're money's gone just like that. Set a price range for what you want to spend in total and you'll be even happier with your purchase should you make one.

Fender Stratocaster.

Bottom line, this is the greatest guitar ever. I have owned one for over 15 years, and Ive played everything, from rock, jazz, to blues, r&b, soul, funk, hip-hop, reggae....the Fender Stratocaster is the best guiat ever. All the greatest guitarists play stratocasters....Jimi Hendrix, Eric Claptop, Stevie Ray Vaughan, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck......

Don't buy the cheaper "Squier" version of it, it is terrible quality and the fact that its a "Squier" people will make fun of you, lol.

If you have some money, buy an American made Stratocaster. (around $900 new, you can get a used one for around $500, make sure its in good condition though)

If you are on a budget, you can get a japanese or mexican made Stratocaster for around $300.

Again, do not buy a "Squier" these are cheap, around $100.....they are cheap for a reason!

Guitar Center is a good store to buy it from.

Don't get a Les Paul, it's a good guitar, but a Stratocaster is better, has more "punch" to it, has better tone, and looks cooler and is way more fun to play.

I honestly feel ibanez, They cover any style you are into. THey make guitars for everyone. Some are pretty damn sweet.Most for 200 bills. The art series is really nice if you are into semi hollowbody's. Or the gx series for more metal stuff.

Check them out they are great begginer gutairs. My only comlaint is I don't like the pickups. So I just change them with seymour duncans.

since its your first one if you go for a les paul get and epiphone les paul special...

its 150$ and it comes in a package at guitar center.

If your more of a fender liker.. get a squier strat.

but if youre into more spending money go with a gibson les paul or a fender strat or telecaster.

they are both about the only good guitars out there.

If you are a beginner, I think you should probably be looking for a second hand one.

I can reccommend Squier guitars either a stratocaster or telecaster.

They are pretty good beginner guitars, but I have not tried many others.

Buy a Les Paul

I got mines from www.guitarcenter.com . It's really good and I got it for cheap. They also have real stores, too.

Depends on what type of music you're wanting to play...

There are many bands out there, email me and I can help you.