Hello all, I'm new both to the guitar and to the forum.

I have been trying to teach myself the guitar for several years and bought myself a guitar at a garage sale that appeared to be in brilliant condition. The owner said he bought it and never used it, and it looked like it. I figured it was alright to purchase a garage-sale instrument to learn on, and wait to purchase a nicer one until I got waay better.

But then I had a friend of mine tell me that if I had a really bad guitar, it could actually challenge the learning process and make it more difficult for me. I was convinced he was just trying to give me a reason to upgrade my instrument, so I ignored him and plugged on with the guitar that I'd spent $50 on.

Well, I thought I was doing pretty well- but I got stuck in a rut. I managed to learn how to play chords: C, D, E, Em, A, G. And then couldn't do anything else. And new nothing else about the instrument. Barre chords might as well be impossible... no matter how much I practiced I wasn't motivated and the instrument was just not fun.

My friend came over and let me play his guitar which I think is a Taylor brand. I was FLOORED. The only way I can describe it, is that his instrument took maybe a 1/3 of the effort to play. I hardly had to use any of the effort I usually had to to press the strings down... and they seemed to lay closer to the fret board so they had less distance to travel. Fingering chords all of a sudden became less of a headache and I could spend more time focusing on playing the instrument as a whole. (I still can't strum for the life of me.)

My original guitar must be a wreck. But I just don't understand how they can be so incredibly different?

I have sense bought a new guitar... but can anyone tell me if the one I purchased is any good? I know it's a little late now, but it plays like my friend's does, a lot easier and I really like it. It's a Yamaha F335 BL Acoustic Guitar. A day after I got it, I threw the strings out and replaced them with Elixir Anti-Rust 80/20 Nanoweb Acoustic Guitar Strings (Medium Gauge)... whatever that means.

Thoughts? Was my friend right about having a cruddy instrument impeding the learning process? I thought I was just being practical.

Hey and welcome aboard...The yamaha guitars are pretty well madeand play very well i personally think u made a great choice........if there r any Questions just ask we will try to help
           and feel free to stop by the chat romm sometimes

He's absolutely correct except its not necessarily the guitar's fault, it's a problem with the guitar's set up. And Yamaha  has a well deserved rep as being a maker of nice acoustic guitars. Your original axe is in need of the services a luthier would provide and hopefully you will a good one in one  of your local music stores. A bad setup is for sure an impediment to learning guitar. Myself I like the theory of learn on acoustic but an electric is even easier than a well set up acoustic. Providing of course, that the electric also is set up properly.

Yikes! Learn on an acoustic? Isn't that like reaaally expensive especially for a beginner to invest? You have to first buy the instrument... and then the amp... and you have to always buy a really good electrical guitar and amp otherwise it sounds bad from what I've heard... which means a butt-load of money...

InevitableTheory wrote:

Yikes! Learn on an acoustic? Isn't that like reaaally expensive especially for a beginner to invest? You have to first buy the instrument... and then the amp... and you have to always buy a really good electrical guitar and amp otherwise it sounds bad from what I've heard... which means a butt-load of money...

No no no u can buy a really nice guitar electric or otherwise for less than 200.00 to learn on u just haf to look around

your friend with the talylor is spoiling you lol that is a top notch instrument no matter what model. i am glad your yamaha is more satisfactory. cheap guitars can be ok but when you get your hands on quality you begin to se the difference that the pro's get to enjoy. hang in there though it sounds like you are putting in the effort to learn and to me that justifies upgrading to better instruments. i have a takamine g330 that is middle of the road and comppared to my old acoustic is twice as easy to play so i know how you feel. i still like my old acoustic though cause it is loud and bright sounding. i also would add that being able to fret a cheap acoustic means that when you get you hands around a good one it will seem easy to you so suffering on a lesser instrument can pay dividends later. for example going from acoustic to electric will seem like you can fly all the sudden they require so much less strenght that it is not funny. but they are more sensative to mistakes because pickups catch all extra noise.

Hey......I've been at learning guitar for about 4 months now.  My "coach" (not teacher) gave me his "banger" guitar to use to get started.  It played OK.  But, when I had the chance to play his Gibson or Martin, it was a world of difference.  I couldn't wait to buy a guitar of my own.  I managed to find a used Gibson Epiphone (1991 Model P350E) for a VERY good price.  It plays very comparable to his Gibson B25E.  (BTW these are all accoustic/electric guitars).  He assures me the major reason for the difference is the setup and what he calls a "fast neck".  Right now I have no intentions of plugging into an amp.  I'm a "closet" player strictly for myself.  But who knows............  Bottom Line:  I never realized there could be as big a difference in guitar playability from a "banger" to a quality instrument.