Buyers Guide | guitarlessons

If you're looking for a guitar for a first buy you simply cant beat the Vintage V300 & V400 series.
They look great, sound great and are equivalent to guitars several times the price
They offer fantastic value for mone (they're only around £120!)
If you don't believe me this guitar was voted 'Best Guitar under £1000' by Guitar Buyer Magazine
At least 20 of my students have bought these and love them. So do I!

You cannot live without a tuner!
This is a Chromatic tuner meaning it recognises all notes (this better than standard guitar tuners which only recognise the notes EADGBE which is useless if you break a string)
The guitar is a wooden instrument therefore affected by humidity and can go out of tune from day to day
It is crucial to be in tune. For example if its out of tune and your playing something correctly it will sound awful and you'll think you're doing something wrong. And conversely if it is in tune and it sounds bad you know it you!

• Great Little app for 69p - worth every penny

• Optima Guitar Tuner is a real-time chromatic tuner for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad

•This real time analyser listens through your device microphone as you play your instrument to determine how in-tune it is.

• Real-time frequency display

If you run a finger under a string down the neck of the guitar and it feel rough and it leaves black on your hands or When your strings sound dull and lifeless - its time to change strings
A new set of strings always makes your Acoustic sound amazing - like having a new guitar
Martin make some of the best guitars around and I've been using these strings for years.
Don't forget new strings have some elasticity to them and need to have this stretched out to avoid the guitat constantly going out of tune. (New guitars nearly always have unstretched unplayed strings on so if your guitar keeps going out of tune after tuning this is the most likely cause)

If you want to strum the guitar you're gonna need a pick!
With thousands of different picks to choose from it is difficult to find the right one
Tortex picks are made from a matte plkastic that helps grip and does not slip from your fingers
.60mm is just the right thickness for acoustic and electric (not too thin - not too thick)
Very thin do not sound great in my opinion and 1mm+ thickness are good for bass
Steer clear of nylon picks they get very sharp on the edges then deteriorate quickly getting caught in the strings.
Harder plastics tend to be slippery and again do not wear well

If you need to change the key of a song you need a capo.
The capo clamps on the neck of the guitar allowing you to play open chords in a different key
this would be useful if the song you are trying to sing is to deep or high for your voice - you can change the key of the song to a more suitable key
Many popular songs use a capo (Wonderwall, Here comes the Sun, While my guitar gently weeps etc.)
Dunlop make the easiest to use and well designed capos - highly recommended

The cheapest and most time saving tool for the guitar
Each turn of a guitar tuner takes about 16 twists for a single full rotation when you are putting on a new string.
Simply put over the tuner and turn
The string is on in seconds rather than minutes
Just £3!

You're going to need to carry around your precious new guitar
Padded to keep it safe and secure
Do not get fooled into buying an expensive acoustic hard-case they are heavy, huge and a nightmare to carry around London on tubes buses etc.
Just sling it over your shoulder - Many of my student cycle with a guitar on their back!

Guitar Lessons Islington