Buying an electric guitar

Buying an acoustic guitar

Electro-acoustic guitars with equalizers and tuners

Differences in seating position

Differences in neck width and string position

Solid body guitars without hollow spaces

Half resonance guitars with hollow compartments

Feedback issues (inductive feedback loops)

Buying an electric guitar for beginners

Piezo pickups in electric guitars

virtual guitars and virtual sound synthesis

Using electro-acoustic guitars

Acoustic sound

Electronic connection

Slide controls for treble and bass

Adjusting volume

Different pickup systems

Integrated tuners

Slim neck and low string positions

Origin of feedback

Nylon strings and steel strings

Home-testing the guitar before your purchase

Most popular guitar types

Buying used guitars

Number of strings: normally six

Heavy Metal and New Metal often with seven strings

Sound problems with 7^th string

Cutaways, ribs, neck, head plate, sounding board, body

Machine heads (open or closed-off)

Pickups, bridge, frets and nut

Truss rod and string position

Volume and sound controls, potentiometer

Tremolo unit (for detuning)

Position of machine heads

Quality of machine heads and changing your strings

String position as quality feature

Distance between strings and fretboard

Low position without snaring

Setting up the guitar

Attention to good intonation (Home recording)

Fret thickness and quality

Number of frets (21,22 or 24)

Accessibility of frets

Humbuckers and single coil pickups

Avoiding humming

Mixed setup

P90 pickups

Output signal strength

Playing guitar with or without effects

Buying active and passive guitars

Guitar with or without power supply

Significance of sound

Tremolo (actually vibrato,modulating a string’s pitch)

Alienating the guitar

Tremolo quality and tuning stability

Significance of the neck when buying a guitar

Neck profile and neck width

Slim neck vs. wide neck

Watch out for dots and markings when buying a guitar

Dots on the neck as an orientation

Face dots and side dots

Light and heavy strings

Playing hard vs. bending

Check string type when buying a guitar

Balanced strap attachment

Top-heavy and bottom-heavy guitars

Easy access to machine heads and controls

Using switches and tremolo

Position of strap buttons

Changing the strap pins (safety buttons)

Quickly changing the strap

Safe strap attachment

Dropping the guitar and structural crashes

Tuner

Educating your ears

Learning wrong intonation

Very precise tuning when playing piano, keyboard and vocals

Good strap with excellent strap pins

Cable for amp or PC (mono jack)

Spare strings

Tools (hex wrench, wire cutter)

Guitar stand or guitar wall holder

Dry cloth

Amp for playing loud and free

Effects units (can also be used with headphones)

Foot switch for effects

Effects as source of inspiration for composition

Effects units with drum sounds

Foot bench for acoustic guitar and music stand

Headphones and headphone amp

Finding the right guitar

Don’t compromise

Take your time

Cost of a Guitar

Starts at 100 €

Good guitars from 400 €

Try out expensive guitars

Invest in the joy of playing

Buying a used guitar

Advantages and disadvantages of store purchase vs. online purchase

Testing guitars in store with headphones

Transportation risk with ebay

Testing guitars at home