Choosing the Perfect Guitar for your Playing Style
Choosing the Perfect Guitar for Your Playing Style
Choosing the Perfect Guitar for Your Playing Style
Choosing the perfect guitar for your playing style
This is a question I am asked most often: How do I find my perfect/dream/my lifetime guitar?
Will it just jump into my lap?! (If only!)
Some people tell me “My dream guitar will find me - I’ll just know it.”
I have bought literally thousands of guitars and in my experience finding the perfect guitar like, everything else in life, takes work.
Choosing a guitar takes practice and self-knowledge as a player and a “sense of direction of where your playing is going”. You should also consider the possibilities or places your next guitar can take you. Some of this is conscious, some not. I only know this because this is my work. I have spent over 20 years thinking about, practicing, testing guitars and searching through all the dusty corners of guitar workshops all over the world, talking to the makers who have made it their life mission to build these works of art! It is also something I have already fully covered in the “Cuesta Gomerez Method of Guitar selection and fitting for advanced players. “
In these shorter articles I try to distil what I have learnt into something you can read in 5-10 minutes and take away some useful tools on your guitar journey.
Unfortunately, your dream guitar will not find you. You need to first know what you want as player or find somebody that can help you define that. Then try a lot of guitars back-to-back to refine both your aural landscape and your sound. Feel how the strings move under your fingers on the fretboard. Play familiar pieces that bring out the different technical and chromatic aspects or the different guitars, do this back-to-back over and over and then rank the different guitar options as to how they deliver to your needs as a player.
What's the difference in sound between a $300 guitar and a $3000 one? Budget guitars tend to be disappointing, are less resonant and have a smaller tonal and dynamic range than better, more expensive guitars.
Technical guitar building criteria and workmanship.
Whether you are a beginning or advanced player, a quality guitar is crucial to both your success and enjoyment. A fine instrument is easy to play, exudes workmanship, and sounds resonant and responsive. A quality instrument inspires you to practice and excel as a musician. Buy the best guitar you can afford, and it will greatly enhance your learning and enjoyment.
Look at the quality of workmanship in the seating and polish of the frets, the binding between the top and sides, and in the finish. That said, you normally get what you pay for. Budget guitars cost less because cheap materials and lesser workmanship are used to trim costs. Budget guitars should be playable but will have numerous finish defects, unpolished frets, messy glue joints, unsanded bracing and poorly adjusted action (a good dealer will adjust the action if needed). Premium quality guitars will have a near perfect fit and finish of all components. Even the interior bracing will be neatly glued and sanded smooth!
Soundboard and bridge checks are essential when buying used instruments. The strings exert 75 to 90 pounds of stress on the bridge and soundboard of a classic guitar. After a few years - especially in hot, humid climates - structural damage may occur. Check that the soundboard is not warped, and that the bridge is not lifting off.
Price ranges
Professional classical guitarists play instruments handcrafted by individual makers such as Fleta and Hauser. Depending on the maker's reputation, these guitars cost $3,000 to $20,000. Guitars made by a specialised group of builders in a small, specialized workshop shop cost from $2,500 to $10,000 and will deliver many years of pleasurable playing.
Most beginners are looking for an inexpensive guitar. Buyer beware: most guitars retailing for under $300 can be disappointing. My advice is: Don't throw your money away on a cheap toy, pay a little more and get a real guitar. Really cheap guitars have unacceptable compromises in design, materials, and construction quality. Fortunately, there are many factory-made guitars costing from $550 to $1000 that make fine beginning instruments.
Is there the one lifetime guitar?
I have learnt from the literally thousands of players who have passed through my showroom that the process of finding the right guitar is different for each player. I have met hundreds of guitar makers who have shown me what and how they build their guitars and as one said, “Like my children that I send out into the world.”
So, is there one lifetime guitar? Not really. Like children they are all different and are following their own artistic journey in the world waiting for the player to awaken them. It is your job as the player to find the one that connects to you, or find a guide like me to help you.
I have come to realise that that is all I am, a guide on a player’s journey.
Of course, I have personal preferences in the guitars I play, evaluate and buy but beyond technical considerations of set up, tone quality, sound construction etc I do not seek or need “the one.” I am happy to pass on the gems I discover to other players more deserving than I. I used to have a small guitar collection of my own, but over time I met players that could give my guitars, “a better life” and so the guitars moved on.
My approach is to first ruthlessly eliminate any guitars that are not perfect or worth the money the maker is asking. From then on, I try to I keep an open mind as I test and rank guitars, and I think back to individual players I have met and ask myself ‘would they like it?’ It is almost like large aural database matching system!. This has often helped me not to make buying mistakes and fall in the trap of compromising and buying to a budget. These days I always pay slightly more to get that best guitar as opposed to the merely good. Generally, the first player to come to the showroom will pick that special guitar up, play it, love it, and take it home with them to begin a new life. It has happened time and time again.
Yes, my process is painstaking, juggling the hundreds of variables and considerations but for me it leads to crystal clear clarity. Why do I go to all this trouble? Because I have learnt that the perfect guitar is different for every player; we all hear differently and play differently, and this imperceptibly will change over time. Why? As your arsenal of skills and techniques grows and you can get more out of your guitar, you will push the boundaries of what your current guitar can deliver to your touch. There is the ‘now’ guitar that speaks to you and the guitar just over the playing horizon that will continue you onto your playing journey.
What to Do Next?
If you want more detail on finding your next guitar download the longer length “Cuesta Gomerez Method of Guitar selection and fitting for advanced players” and continue learning. Or take a short cut and give me a call and we can make it more interesting and interactive with lots of guitar options. You can beat hands-on playing.
I wish you every success in your guitar playing journey. If you have any questions or would like to discuss options, please contact me Pierre on 0410 708 338.
How Can I Help?
If You Have Questions?
Please give me a call at any time if you have questions about any of our guitars, or if you would like me to offer you some suggestions.
Pierre Herrero
m: 0410 708 338
e: pierre@guitarsonline.com.au
Expert Playing Style Assessment and Guitar Fitting
Don't let the wrong guitar hold you back and limit your ability to progress and enjoy your practice and playing.
My system for playing style assessment and guitar fitting has been developed from more than 50 years of acquired knowledge, playing and testing more than 3,000 uniquely different guitars from more than 70 different luthiers and helping match almost 18,000 people with their dream guitar.
So, unless you are an experienced, expert player, who has spent decades travelling the world, testing guitars, how do you know what specific guitar, is best for you, the individual player?
You don't have to - that is what we do. It's this service that helps make GuitarsOnline so unique.
Our Expert Guitar and Playing Style Consultation Service is a unique offering, whereby we do a complete analysis of you and your playing style - your physical characteristics and objectives.
You then have the opportunity to play a range of guitars, all perfectly suited to your specific playing requriements.
Our GuitarsOnline showroom is located just over the Westgate Bridge in Melbourne
If you would like to book a style assessment and guitar fitting, please contact me on:
pierre@guitarsonline.com.au
m: 0410 708 338
Or you can contact me through the following form:
https://www.guitarsonline.com.au/product-enquiry