How to Choose an Electric Guitar

I've been playing for a couple year and I found many people having problem when buying an electric guitar especially for beginner. here is my tips on how to choose an electric guitar based on my experience..


Ibanez evo..guitar of my dream...I got to have this.

1.first, you need to know your style of playing and music genre you like. If you're a big punk rock fan you might not needing a floating bridge (also called a tailpiece). Non-floating tailpieces are usually more stable (keeping tune and intonation) and cheaper to buy. Beside, knowing your playing style also determine what pick-up type you need. For metal guitarist, you might need hambucking as it produce heavier sound than the single coil pickup.

2.Look at the action. Action is the distance between the fingerboard and the string at any given time. Make sure you hear no buzzing from the guitar when playing a note at a normal weight. Try it at the 5, 10, 12, fret, etc. and listen for the 'buzz' of strings banging on the frets below it. If any guitar is like this, ask the music store (any good one sill do this for you) to adjust the neck if you can try it out in playable condition. If they can adjust it for you, then there is no problem, it just needed adjustment.

The best distance between the string and 12th fret is around 0.5 cm.


3.Choose suitable neck for your hand. Different guitar model might have different fret. If you have larger hand and long finger you might need jumbo fret. Otherwise, use normal or medium fret.

4.Inspect for fret wear, cracks, etc. The obvious stuff.

5.Get it tuned up and play it in the store. Bend the string down and up to see whether it stay in tune.

6.Hook it up to an amp, and see if you like the sound. Each guitar have different tone depending on it's pickup and string. Choose a tone you comfortable with.

7.Have a realistic budget and stick to it. Look around until you find something in your range. You can expect to find something in the RM600 to RM1000 range for beginners. Don't buy an expensive guitar. It does not make you improve.

remember..playing is more important than the equipment you use..

get your tabs here..