Cleaning a guitar takes two habits. After every session, wipe the strings, the neck and the body with a dry microfibre cloth. Two or three times a year, do a deeper clean with the strings off: clean the fretboard, polish…
Store a guitar indoors at a stable room temperature with relative humidity between 45 and 55 percent, either in a case or on a proper stand or wall hanger. Keep it away from radiators, exterior walls, windows in direct sun,…
A practice routine sticks when it is short, fixed and impossible to avoid. Twenty minutes, at the same time each day, on a guitar that is already out of its case and within arm’s reach of where you sit. Almost…
Action is the height of the strings above the frets, and it is the single biggest factor in whether a guitar feels easy or exhausting to play. High action means pressing strings a long way down before they touch the…
With twenty to thirty minutes on most days, you can play recognisable songs within one to three months, hold your own alongside other people at six to twelve months, and start sounding genuinely good somewhere in years two to three.…
At the bottom of the guitar market you are mostly buying a body shape and a box of accessories. The wood, the hardware and the setup vary from one unit to the next, and the bundled amp, tuner, strap and…
Yamaha keeps getting recommended to beginners for one unglamorous reason: consistency. The guitar that arrives at your door is very likely to be the same guitar the reviewer described, set up to a similar standard, with the same action and…
Epiphone is Gibson’s own lower priced brand. Gibson bought the company in 1957, and today Epiphone builds Gibson designs, including the Les Paul and the SG, in overseas factories using different woods, hardware and electronics from the instruments that carry…
String gauge is the thickness of a string, measured in thousandths of an inch, and a set is named after its thinnest string. A set labelled 9s has a high E string measuring 0.009 inches. Beginners on electric guitar should…
Squier is Fender’s own budget brand. Fender owns the name, draws the designs, and puts the same body shapes and the same model names on them, then has them built in lower cost factories using cheaper woods, hardware and electronics.…
Most players should change guitar strings every one to three months. If you play an hour a day, plan on roughly every four to six weeks. If you play a few times a week, three months is a reasonable interval,…
Standard tuning on a six string guitar is E, A, D, G, B, E from the thickest string to the thinnest. The quickest reliable way to get there is a clip on tuner or a tuner app: clip it to…
If you have small hands, look for a shorter scale length, a narrower nut width, and a slim neck profile. Those three measurements decide how far your fingers have to stretch and how far they have to reach around, and…
An acoustic guitar’s body shape decides two things: how loud and bass heavy it sounds, and how comfortable it is to hold. A dreadnought is the big, loud, bass forward standard. A concert or grand auditorium body is smaller, more…
A capo clamps across the strings at a chosen fret, shortening the vibrating length of every string at once and raising the pitch of the whole guitar. Each fret you move it up raises everything by one semitone, so the…
A guitar pick is defined by three things: how thick it is, what it is made of, and how well it stays in your hand. Thickness is the one that changes your sound most, and beginners are usually best served…
If you are left handed, buy a left handed guitar. The old advice to learn right handed because lefty models are scarce is out of date, and playing an instrument that fights your dominant hand makes an already difficult first…
Buy a gig bag if the guitar mostly stays home and occasionally travels by hand or on your back. Buy a hard case if the guitar goes in a car boot, flies, gets stored for long stretches, or is worth…
A 12 string guitar suits players who already know their way around a six string and want a bigger, shimmering sound for strummed rhythm parts. It is a second guitar, not a first one, and it works best for singer…
The simplest way to practise guitar quietly is a headphone amp or a practice amp with a headphone jack, which drops the sound in the room to almost nothing while you hear a full tone in your ears. Beyond that,…