Boroughs Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar (Various Finishes)

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For those thinking of .. possibly maybe .. would like to .. thought maybe they'd try someday .. picking up a guitar and see if it takes .. take a second and read through this.

Money. Straight Up Flat Bank. I first got on a stage playing guitar for money when I was in the 8th grade. 47 years later, I played lead on two internationally released albums and they send me residuals every month in the mail. If I want some new golf clubs or to buy an engagement ring, I can find a local band and play out for a summer. It's tough working conditions to get that money, though. I mean, you can drink on the job, there's gorgeous chicks everywhere, most everybody is cool you work with and .. you know .. people applaud. You could TRY the local convenience store and there certainly is a plus side to that as your condom purchase amounts would add up to a tidy savings versus taking up the guitar.

Joy. The joy when you figure out a song that is important to *YOU*, personally, is satisfaction on an extraordinary level. Then you have the joy of the orgasm, that's always fairly high on Ye Olde Life Meter. Because you figured out your girlfriend's favorite song and, you know, at that point you get The P Pass. (That's a musician's inside joke. Watch the movie "Rock Star" where every member of the cast there lost their guy card for letting out this secret. The first rule about Fight Club is .. ). Then there's the joy of your child being born. If you decide to take up the guitar .. and you happen to WRITE a song about your girlfriend, she's gonna get pregnant. Nah, nah .. they fool you. They tell you that but they didn't take their pill that entire week. Or they go have their contraception device removed. One way or the other, you write a song FOR a girl .. HEY, YOU'RE A DADDY. Congrats.

Lifelong. This never goes away .. this .. COMPULSION .. to pick up a guitar. Because, oddly, the more you play, the better you get. The better you get, the more you play. Then, you get asked to play by friends, family members .. and hopefully .. a paying audience. For me, it's been just a few years shy of HALF .... A .... CENTURY .. that I cannot sit in a room with a guitar anywhere I can see it .. cannot sit there and have a conversation for more than 30 seconds before I have to get up, go get it and play it. It's a psycho, banzai-nut-job complex ... this "thing" that happens to you .. because that thing has given you so very much in your life. It just granted it to you. Gifted it to you. Because you played it. So, this isn't like taking up basketball or Dungeons & Dragons. You grow out of those things. Or my Lord I hope you do, at least. You don't grow out of playing the guitar. You just get wiser and your lyrics get better.

So, how do you get started?

Well, here's an option on Slickdeals. However, I will tell you that when you purchase a guitar at this price point, you're probably not going to play guitar to the levels I spoke about before. AND MOST CERTAINLY NOT if it is an acoustic guitar. Why? Well, first off is shame. An acoustic guitar is louder, straight away, than an electric. So, you learn in front of a listening audience .. whether they want to be listening or not. That's embarrassing and you'll eventually put it down. In addition, an acoustic guitar .. because it's louder .. makes it HARDER for you to push the strings down with your fingers. And electric guitar can make the strings much closer to the neck because it has a thing called a "pickup" on it that is plugged in to an "amplifier" which then has a "microphone" placed in front of it when you are making millions on that stadium tour in your mind. What's the net result of the strings being hard to push down? Your fingers hurt. Like, a lot. And that's really MOST of the reason people quit guitar. It's too hard on their fingers. Nobody SEEKS out things that hurt them .. OK, there are some very odd individuals that do but it's usually sexual but .. in actual life, you'll not experience the "compulsion" I spoke of earlier when pursuing that compulsion equals pain in the equation of your mind that decides a hobby. Now, uniquely, I happened to live next to a graveyard. And there was this really cool dude who died in like 1937 or something. And his headstone was a BENCH .. which I thought was the coolest thing ever .. so .. I would go and play for Mr. Swanson .. whoever that was .. but the point being .. the complaints when I was learning were at a minimal level when practicing in a graveyard. There was some rolling over but you can just feel it with your feet because it's way underground. Because, make no mistake .. when you START playing guitar .. you're AWFUL. You don't know what you're doing. So, with an acoustic guitar .. you are BROADCASTING at a louder volume that you have absolutely no clue what you are doing .. meanwhile .. making your fingers very sore while doing so. Just a thought you might consider.


YAMAHA PACIFICA.. that's what I tell people on what guitar to start on. Take it to a luthier ("A WHAT?" .. a guitar doctor .. easy to find .. every town has nine, it's state law. They vary in quality.) Tell the luthier you want *THESE* strings put on your guitar. *THOSE* strings will be:


GHS BOOMER ULTRA LIGHT
... or "eights" (don't ask. You'll learn later)

Yes, you are going to bust them. Don't worry about it. Your local music store sells individual strings for like a dollar. If not, they have them on Amazon where you purchase .. I dunno .. 128,977 random replacement strings for $8 .... so don't panic when you bust one tuning it. Bunches of people will come on here and tell you "Don't buy those ..buy this." "You don't want that because.." whatever. They are 48 years old and still play Dungeons & Dragons. Buy Boomer Ultra Lights. Because the PAIN you will experience will be IMMENSELY less than a cheap acoustic guitar .. with neck action so bad it takes a C-Clamp to hold down a note ... strung with some ropes on there from the local yacht club.

Tell the luthier, after handing him the Boomer Eights, you want the action set "under the subway". That's guitar talk for action so doggone low there is gonna be some fret buzz. That's OK .. the buzz is minor, you can still hear the note, and it only happens on the thicker strings. In addition, when you plug it in to your Marshall JCM 800 with 4x12s that sits on top of a slanted 4x12 (stuffed with all Greenbacks, of course) and then run the plug from your guitar through a Revv purple distortion pedal a Lexicon MPX 100 Echo/Reverb and a MXR Phase 90 .. ain't nobody gonna hear no buzz. Mostly because they have no ears .. BECAUSE YOU JUST BLEW THEM OFF THE SIDE OF THEIR HEAD.

So, take Double D's advice ... start with an electric (less shame, less pain), take it to a luthier after buying a set of strings that are roughly 1/8th the width of a human hair and get the neck action set under the subway, practice so long and so hard that your upper back grows in to a slumped over hump .. if you need to free-up the time to practice .. just tell 'em you got COVID and figure out the rest of the solo from "Mr. Crowley" ... then, you know .. buy condoms. By the crate.

Because the chicks .... they just dig it.

If you're gonna make the commitment to play the guitar, that's how ya do it.

And congrats. You've joined a brotherhood. Not one of us exists that won't help you out or have something for you to learn from.

Note: We help each other. Until you get really good and start playing out.

Then the competition starts.

And that's when things get REALLY fun.

DD

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Started cheap here (a freebie, then a garage sale pickup). My fingers hated me. A cheap guitar is harder to play, sounds worse, and goes out of tune after 1 session. A nice set of strings will help, but they only go so far.

Unfortunately to learn the guitar you need to put in the time. I could barely tell the difference in quality early on. If you can't play it well, it makes little difference.

10 years later I have 5 guitars hanging on the wall and the cheap acoustics were given away. I didn't even have the heart to sell them at that quality. My fender acoustic I got through here at $350 is a great instrument.

Just don't go buying something you won't appreciate yet. It takes a bit and you can tweak the cheap ones enough to have fun learning on. This is decent starter. Best of luck!