Though my father was happy to encourage my interest in music by getting me a cheap guitar, he didn't know how to play it, nor the best way for me to learn. With the cost of an instructor unaffordable, I had to muddle my way through sheet music and books. More important, I finally learned how cheap my guitar really was: I had to file it down to make playing it less painful, and then the neck came loose because it wasn't reinforced.
Guitars worth having start at around $100 US. But there's no reason to spend more than $200 on a beginner guitar if you get it from a major manufacturer. Fender, Gibson, Ovation, and Takamine decided that people who want low-priced copies of their products might as well buy them from Fender, Gibson, Ovation, and Takamine. Their respective Squier, Epiphone, Applause, and Jasmine lines all offer quality beginner guitars at an economical price, both acoustic and electric.
Now, how much should you spend on lessons? First of all, make sure your guitar teacher IS a teacher and not just a musician who teaches as a sideline. You need someone who can have you understanding basic music theory and reading your guitar's fretboard like a book, not simply duplicating what he can play. A teacher like that is well worth the standard $20 - $40 US per half hour per week if you can afford it. But what if you can't?
Well, for the price of a few months' worth of private lessons, you can take beginner guitar lessons online. You can pay a one-time or monthly tuition for an online guitar learning software program and get access to structured video lessons, musical backing tracks to play along with, and supplemental online support.
One of the most popular online programs is Jamorama, which has nearly a quarter of a million students to their credit. What Jamorama does particularly well is nurture their beginners, going over everything from the proper way to hold the guitar pick to the proper way to sit and stand. You can take a test drive with ten free basic lessons when you sign up for their newsletter. Jamorama charges $99 US for online access and $299 US to have the course sent to you on DVDs. But if even those prices are too rich for your blood, you're not out of luck.
For only $20 US per month, you can join GuitarTricks.com. For nearly a decade, they have been compiling a library of thousands of guitar learning software videos from nearly four dozen teachers, and organized them by genre and skill level. More important, they also have a comprehensive program tailored for beginners -- but you don't have to take our word for it. With absolutely no obligation to buy, you can check out four of their free video classes without signing up, and and additional twenty-four free videos if you do!
Now that you know how to make the smartest choices about guitars and guitar lessons on a tight budget, we hope you'll visit
http://bestbeginnerguitarist.com/jamorama or
http://bestbeginnerguitarist.com/guitartricks and get started on learning how to play the
best beginner guitar that you can.
