What's the difference?

[DoubleBlade]

what's the difference between a beginner's guitar and a more advance player's guitar?

i mean...what do people usually look at when justifying whether a guitar suits a beginner or a more advance player?

 

[Colarndo]

I think it's to facilitate the transition between just starting out to improving towards a higher level. What's the point of buying a pro guitar that is so ex as a beginner, than later find out you were better off playing something else.

 

[ChanMin]

personally i think there really issnt a pro guitar or a newbie guitar...

more like cheap guitars and expensive guitars...


a pro would sound brilliant on a humble sammick. but a crap player would make a tom anderson sound bad.

 

[subversion]

+1 to Chan Min

there's actually no beginner guitar- heck, every guitar is good for beginners...

it's all about the player, really. there's this philosophy that a beginner shouldn't buy an expensive guitar to strat off with but it's a myth. IMO get a guitar which is good for you, feel-wise + tone-wise. how do you determine which guitar to get then? try out & decide accordingly... 8)

 

[mikemann]

heehee.... Just like buying a pair of jeans, cheap one or expensive one, you wear them just the same.

It's not the cloths, but the person wearing it which makes it beautiful or ugly.

 

[LimpPisskit]

According to NAMM manufacturer's secret guideline 113.04 (a)(iv)

beginner guitar must meet these criteria:
1. At least 3 parts must easily fall off guitar
2. Fret must be installed unevenly so you can never get proper intonation and buzz like crazy and cut yourself on edges that stick out. aiya!
3. Color must be embarassing or digusting
4. Neck must warp as soon as it leaves aircon showroom

That is so all beginners will regret buying cheapo guitar and move up to buy "custom crafted prestige private stock premium" expensive line.

 

[beckerfan]

I agree with ChanMin, however beginners normally buy cheaper guitars like Squiers for obvious reasons, so those brands have become known as beginner brands.

 

[3notesAbar]

Yeah its pretty safe to say most beginners won't have the experience required to FULLY exploit the charecter of a 2000 bucks + instrument. But nowdays, its so competitive that one dosent have to spend much for a beginner instrument anymore.

 

[seekz]

personally i think there really issnt a pro guitar or a newbie guitar...

more like cheap guitars and expensive guitars...


a pro would sound brilliant on a humble sammick. but a crap player would make a tom anderson sound bad.

yeah agreed. Its like badminton rackets. You compare a shitty steel one with a really light carbon graphite one. It doesnt really say anything about your skill, be it beginner or expert. It justs shows ppl how fat your wallet is.

 

[sanXp]

The reason is actually nothing to do with playing the guitar. It's just that it makes more sense for a beginner to buy a cheaper guitar because 1: he probably doesn't know how to play, 2: if he decides not to play the guitar anymore the financial damage wouldn't be that bad and 3: he probably doesn't know how to appreciate the more expensive guitars. Have you ever seen learner drivers drive ferarris before? Same thing applies to guitars. Unless of course you have a lot of money to burn.

And as what ChanMin said, there's no beginner's guitar or pro's guitar, there are only cheaper and more expensive ones. The more expensive ones are there for you to get once you know how to appreciate them.

 

[subversion]

on the contrary, if the beginner buys a guitar which is very low on playability, he can't attribute it to whether it's his lack of playing skills OR the dud guitar per se.

before the beginner invests in his initial engagements, IMO he should have at least some product knowledge. it's far fetched to conclude that there's absolutely no appreciation for a Ferrari from an average person with driving knowledge, when he actually sees one, even when he know nuts about various car models.

 

[hofner]

+1 to Chan Min

there's actually no beginner guitar- heck, every guitar is good for beginners...

it's all about the player, really. there's this philosophy that a beginner shouldn't buy an expensive guitar to strat off with but it's a myth. IMO get a guitar which is good for you, feel-wise + tone-wise. how do you determine which guitar to get then? try out & decide accordingly... 8)

+1 to all that...i remembered being told to get a beginner guitar last time since i was learning...and everyone said.."give steve vai a lousy guitar and he can play well" thats partially true.. what if the guitar is really koyak until halfway play tender surrender it goes out of tune and and wood quality is so rough that bending is terrible. Will steve still sound nice?

So i suggest you get a guitar that u can use for a LONG TIME even when u advance to a higher lvl of skill or whatever u still can play the guitar...very important...

 

[sanXp]

it's far fetched to conclude that there's absolutely no appreciation for a Ferrari from an average person with driving knowledge, when he actually sees one, even when he know nuts about various car models.

When I say appreciation I don't mean the looks. What I mean by appreciation is whether or not you can enjoy or use what the better product can give you. In the case of a Ferrari it may be the handling or the acceleration, etc. I won't know how to appreciate a Ferrari because I'm not there yet, I've never driven one before. Even if i do get to drive one I still may not be able to appreciate it because I may not know how to handle one. It's common knowledge that it's a fast car, but what's the point if I stall the engine everytime I try to get it to move?

Same as for guitars, it may be as simple as better tone, or maybe a smoother neck, or maybe better quality tuners. If a person doesn't even know how to tune a guitar, what difference does it make between a good and bad tuner? He won't be able to appreciate them. That's what I'm trying to say. You can say, what if he tries to learn to tune a guitar, and finds out that the tuners on his guitar are full of crap? Time to buy a new guitar then. Or maybe change the tuners. He will then appreciate the meaning of a good tuner. He may even experience this with a friend's guitar, so when he's going to buy one in the future he will know not to get one with crap tuners.

With this I quote, "Tone that is harsh or not very pleasant is not a bad thing, it causes us to be awake and mindfull of the present moment. It pushes us to refine our playing and the tools we use to create sound. Be grateful of bad tone, it can only lead to better sound and harmony." - Robert Keeley

 

[ChanMin]

wood quality is so rough that bending is terrible. Will steve still sound nice?



haha ive played cheap ass guitars from all over man.. never once i played one where they left the bark on the wood... ..j/k...
well what i think is... steve vai would sound good on a tennis racket with a pickup (if there ever was one)

only diff between good guitar and inferior guitar is basicaly build quality/playability and tone.
and as tone is fairly subjective... its quite down to the materials...manufacturer skill , design , and Q/C.. but this affects the PRICE which is one helluva big factor. So simply buy what you can afford man...

i say dun worry about beginner guitar .... worry about the beginner.

 

[3notesAbar]

Lets just say that if there was one universal way to pluck a note from a stringed instrument, and a particularly cheap guitar sounds awful when played that universal way, the experienced player (vai for instance) would know how to get around that problem and play it differently, making it sound good. *deep breath*

 

[sanXp]

All of you Vai fans or something? Haha..

 

[Ionized]

I'm a beginner and I just bought a Suzuki strat (the cheapest strat Davis can offer) not too long ago. It's really easy and fun to play with but I can't figure out what the tone knobs actually do. Let's just see how long this guitar and the player will last ... hahaha

 

[3notesAbar]

Have fun man, I regret selling my first bass

 

[Jayshen]

3note was urs a yamaha rbx270j? Still finding the guy who sold one to a 2nd hand shop for only 100+++++++ , its retail price is 540. I saw, i played, i bought it....

Anyway, one way to really save money for beginneers is to go hang around some guitar pros or at least middle level guitarist. Like for my gang of friends, it always the begineer will buy over the more pro guy's "beginneer guitar". Then once he also better and knows what he wants and has the money. He will go and sell his guitar to another begineer and den buy his own Axe.

A bit like recycling.

 

[3notesAbar]

3note was urs a yamaha rbx270j? Still finding the guy who sold one to a 2nd hand shop for only 100+++++++ , its retail price is 540. I saw, i played, i bought it....

Anyway, one way to really save money for beginneers is to go hang around some guitar pros or at least middle level guitarist. Like for my gang of friends, it always the begineer will buy over the more pro guy's "beginneer guitar". Then once he also better and knows what he wants and has the money. He will go and sell his guitar to another begineer and den buy his own Axe.

A bit like recycling.

Mines not a Yamaha. Its a Marleaux btw.

Yeah loh, your DIY 'garang guni' concept is so true. And probably a reflection of the way Singaporeans handle their finances in such hard times.