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What to look for in your first electric guitar, and everything you need to know about pickups, feel, and tone. With 19 great deals
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Sound
Through all this tech talk, don’t forget that guitars are made to play music, so your guitar has to sound good—more specifically, it should play in tune and have good tone.
Music is made up of notes, and though all guitars play notes, they don’t all necessarily play notes in tune. In other words, not all guitars intonate correctly. To determine whether your prospective guitar is properly intonated, first make sure each string is tuned to the correct pitch. Next, check for proper intonation by playing chords all over the neck. If you don’t know any movable chord shapes, play a D chord, strumming the first three strings, all the way up the neck, or an A or E chord on the third, fourth, and fifth strings. A guitar that intonates well sounds in tune no matter where you finger the chord. Guitars with poor intonation might sound in tune when you play open-position chords near the headstock but sound progressively out of tune as you play higher on the neck. It’s a tricky thing to catch, though, so bring an experienced guitarist or a friend with a good ear to help you try instruments.
Guitar players talk emphatically and endlessly about tone. As with looks, good tone is purely subjective. Inevitably, your tone tastes will change over time, but what matters is that you like how your guitar sounds right now.
There are bound to be tonal differences between the guitars you’re considering (many will relate to pickup stuff we talked about), so take plenty of time playing the candidates through an amp and effects processor similar to what you’ll actually own. Your guitar playing mentor can help you sort all this out, too.
Final-Exam Jam
Buying your first electric can be as daunting as a big test in school—if you let it. But it should be a lot of fun. In terms of bang for your buck, there has never been a better time to buy an electric guitar. Most manufacturers produce really high-quality instruments—no matter where the factory is located—and the availability of imports means you can get a great instrument at a price you can afford.
Though great deals abound, you’re still plunking down a considerable amount of cash for a guitar, no matter what your budget. So although many instruments may sound and feel the same to you at first, keep playing them until you narrow down the choices. And don’t let a salesperson push you into a purchase you’re not comfortable with. Trust both your head and your gut instinct, and you’re bound to find an instrument that will bring fulfillment and satisfaction for years to come. It’s OK if you still play air guitar in private, though. Who can resist?
Get Your Due!
Many reputable guitar dealers include a professional setup—adjustments to help your guitar sound and play better—with a new guitar. So if you like a guitar, but want to improve the intonation or raise or lower the action, a repair person can often fix the problem by adjusting the string height at the bridge or nut or by changing the amount of relief in the neck in a setup. However, if you don’t ask for a setup, it might get overlooked in all the excitement. Before you buy a guitar, be sure you get the salesperson to commit to a setup.
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