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Hi, my name is Derek Tarnow. I've been playing guitar for twelve years, and I also teach
and perform. In this segment, I'm going to discuss how to buy a guitar. You know, the
obvious answer is you go to a guitar store and give someone a lot of money, and they
give you a guitar, but there's a little bit more to the process than that. First, you
need to decide what kind of guitar you want. If you're a beginner, you know, how old are
you? Are you ready for a full size guitar, or do you need a 3/4 size guitar? Generally,
if you go to a guitar shop wanting to buy a guitar, they're going to help you out, cause
you know, they make a lot more money off of selling guitars than they do strings and that
sort of thing, and guitar picks you know, cost a quarter. So, go to a guitar shop, find
a guy, you know, feel him out, you know, some guys are, you know, pretty, you know, like
used car salesmen, and and some of them are actually really nice as well. So, feel them
out, check around, definitely don't buy a guitar at the first stop. You want to shop
around if if you have enough guitar shops in your available, in your area to to look
do that. Even if you don't, it's generally worth a drive to check out competitor pricing
and all that. Some things to consider, you know, like I said, how old are you? What kind
of guitar do you want to learn? There's a lot of different thought processes on on how,
you know, what what should a beginner start on. Should a beginner start on just an acoustic
guitar, cause it's straightforward? Should they only you know, uphold the fine classical
tradition of western music, or should they buy an electric guitar and rock out? I tend
to believe that you should buy whatever guitar you want to learn on, because you're going
to practice more, and you know, over time you can expand it to other things if you decide
you really like guitar, which is kind of my personal story. I got you know, electric guitar,
and now I you know, went to college to learn guitar. I play jazz guitar now, and I play
classical guitar now, and I would've, probably if I'd learned classical guitar first I would
have quit immediately. But anyway, another thing to keep in mind is price. How much do
you want to spend on your guitar? I'm sure, if you have ever gone to a guitar shop before,
you know that they range, you know, anywhere from even like a hundred dollars to tens of
thousands of dollars, and you know, there's even some guitars that go for even more than
that. Generally, those aren't in guitar shops though. Anyway, a general rule of thumb is
that yeah, you do get what you pay for, but you know, some some brands of guitars that
are more massly produced like Fender strat, you know, you can get more *** for your buck
in some cases. Obviously, it's important to play the guitar you're going to buy, and actually
play the actual guitar you're going to buy; not one like it. Not one that is you know,
like a different model of the same body type of whatever you want to play; the guitar you're
going to buy. Check it out, play it through your amp, bring in your stuff if you want,
plug it in. You know of course, you know, they might, they might not let you do that
with like the beginning guitar, but if you're getting like a a nice guitar, chances are
they're going to be willing to to humor you a little bit. So really, just shop around;
don't be afraid to check out other places. Maybe even try some things that are like your
second choice. Just check it out and keep an open mind when you're looking for a guitar.