Beginner guitar packsare an excellent way to get everything you need to start learning to play. In one box you will receive everything required (actually you need hard work and I’m afraid you have to provide that yourself). 

Beginner guitar packs are available in electric, acoustic, electro-acoustic and bass guitars. The contenst does vary slightly form maker to maker but they basically consist of a beginner/intermediate level guitar, amp & lead(if required), travel bag, stand, spare strings, tuner, a few picks, a tuition book/DVD. The cost can range form around 50 – 150 pounds depending on quality (you do get what you pay for).

Where can you buy Beginner guitar packs?

Beginner guitar packsare available virtually everywhere that sells guitars. They are available in guitar  shops on and offline, amazon and Ebay also have listings for beginner guitar packs.

Can you feel confident buying from the Internet?

Yes, you can. Take Ebay for example. If a seller is selling low quality rubbish different to what they advertise they will have a lot of bad feedback, and also the guitars sold on Ebay can be found elsewhere on the internet so more info and reviews and the beginner guitar pack you are looking for can be found and then brought for the best price on Ebay.

Can i try before i buy?

Yes and no. You will not be able to try before you buy on most internet sites, but you can go to a shop, tell them what your looking for and use there expert advise to find the guitar you want and fell confident with and then find it cheaper on the internet. You have no obligation to buy from the store if you can get it cheaper elsewhere. Just a note about shops, make sure they show you what you want to see,  not what they want to sell you(only true of a handfull of shops)

To check out what is available visit the site here : beginner guitar packs store

 So you are learning to play the guitar and the time has come to replace your strings.

Guitar strings are like ink cartridges, from time to time they need to be replaced and like ink cartridges there are many different varieties. Choosing new strings for the first time can be quite daunting because there is so much to choose from.

 First things first acoustic guitars require acoustic guitar stings and electric guitars require electric guitar strings so this narrows it down a little.

Gauge

Next to think about is what gauge of strings you want. The gauge of the strings will have an effect on the sound you produce whilst playing. A fuller tone is created by thicker gauged strings, whilst thinner strings produce a lighter sound. For a beginner medium or thinner gauge strings are the best choice because thicker strings are harder to play. String gauges are shown as a series of numbers showing the thickness of each string measured in thousands of an inch e.g. 0.10 . The gauge of a set of strings is usually shown as the gauge of the thinnest string(10) of thinnest & thickest  (10-46).

As a beginner i would recommend that after you have decided on the gauge you want, the only other decision is what make to buy. There are other factors that determine the sound produced but for a beginner they will just lead to confusion. Find the right gauge and then move on to the other factor.

These extra factors are concerned with the materials used to make the string and the winding on the strings.

Material

The majority of strings used on acoustic and all used on electric are made of metal, they are either plain strings or wound strings. A plain string is just that, plain, round usually steel and used for the thinnest strings. Wound strings are used for the thickest strings.

Acoustic guitar strings (steel)

On an acoustic guitar usually the two thinnest strings (string 1 & 2) are plain steel strings, the other thicker four are wound with either bronze, phosphor bronze or silk steel (steel core wound first with steel and then a metal wire).

Acoustic guitar strings(Nylon)

Nylon strings are used on classical or flamenco guitars. They have 3 plain nylon strings as the thinnest strings and nylon wound with silver wire as the 3 thickest strings.

Electric guitar strings

Electric guitars generally have 3 plain and 3 wound strings. The thinnest strings are plain and thickest are wound. The core is either round or hexagonal steel wound usually with nickel wire.

Winding

Wound strings are produced in three varieties.

Round wound -- This is the most common and cheapest type. They have a round or hex core and are tightly wound with a round wire.

Flat wound -- These have the same core construction but the winding material has a rounded square cross section which reduces the squeak when sliding fingers along the string and reduces the area for dirt and oil to build up so extends the life of the string.

Half round -- This type of string is a cross between flat and round. They are made of round winding wire and afterwards ground and polished to give the outer surface a flat feel.

It will take a while before you find the strings you can say are perfect for you but it’s fun experimenting.     

Check out this video to see how strings are made                          

So your child has said they want to play guitar, but your not sure if this is the start of a fulfilling past time or a fleating passion. It is a well know fact that you learn easier and faster when you are young but the strength required in the fingers means around 9 or 10 is the youngest a child should start. At this age a 1/2 size or 3/4 size guitar should be used depending on the size of the child. A full size guitar can be played when getting into the teenage years.

What type of guitar is best for a child and how much will it cost. Well acoustic, electric and bass guitars are all available in 1/2 or 3/4 size. The smaller size of the neck on an electric guitar will make it easier for smaller hands and the low action makes it easier for notes or chords to be played cleanly. They are more expensive to buy upto £100 pounds for a good quality beginner package. Acoustic guitars maybe slightly harder to play due to size, but they can be taken and played anywhere and for the same money you can get a better standard of guitar. The easiest guitar for a child to pay is the classical guitar due to it having nylon strings as opposed to steel, but it may be hard to convince a child that they want a classical guitar.

Money can often be a sticking point for a parent buying for their child beacause they do not know if they will stick with it or give it up after a month or two. That said it is important that the you give your child the best oppertunity to learn, and you really do get what you pay for. A cheap guitar is inherently harder to play and therefore it is much more likely the child will give it up. You should buy the best guiatr you can afford to give your child the best chance.

I would avoid a guitar with a TV character theme on the body of the guitar, although it may initially inspire their interset it could quickly become unpopular or uncool as the childs gets a little older and the guitar could be confined to the wardrobe.

A great choice of maker for a childs guitar is Squire who have a ‘mini’ range of stratocasters. They are made by Fender so the name speaks for itself. They are not to expensive, about £100 pounds, 3/4 size and are real good quality.

So what is a capo? Well a capo is a devise that attaches to the neck of the guitar and is used to shorten the length of the strings, which will in turn raise the pitch of each open string.

Jim Dunlop Trigger Capo

Capos are used to enable guitar players to play songs in a different key to which they were written. They want to do this for a number of different reasons. When playing with a band it makes it easier to play in the same key as the other instruments (piano etc) without playing complicated chords. It is also often used to change the songs key so that the plyaer is able to sing to song comfortablly without it being too high or too low.

Basically the Capo is placed at the required fret at the bottom of the fret just above the fret wire. The Capo forms a barre across all strings and effectively acts as the nut of the guitar, but a nut that can be moved up or down the neck. For each fret up (thats up in pitch/down from the  nut) the capo is moved the chords move up half a step. So a Capo on the 2nd fret is 1 step up, this takes an A chord to a Bb or a D chord to a Eb. See the table below for more translations.

It is really simple to use a capo and can be very helpful for a beginner. Try it yourself, take a simple song you know put the capo on the 2nd fret (or any other) and play the chords exactly the same but below the capo. The song is now in a new key.

Capos come in different styles, a strap on style and a trigger style as in the pictue above. They are both easy to use but a trigger capo is very quick and very easy, just squeeze it and put it were you want it.

The Dummies series of books & DVDs is world renowned for their excellent content and understanding of each given subject, and Guitar For Dummies is no exception to the rule.The great thing about it is that right from the start you are treated as if you have never even seen a guitar before, let alone tried to play one. Due to this you never feel as if anything is being glossed over or forgoten.

The tuition starts by learning the parts of the guitar, tells you how to hold your guitar pick and soon leads on to showing you how to learn you first chord family. The great thing about the book is that it provides you with plenty of exercises and songs after each section for you to work on and are encouraged only to move on when you think you are ready to do so. The only negative thing i would say about this book is the songs you are given to learn, they are old fashioned and boring and to be honest i haven’t heard of some of them. This is probably to do with copyright, but the songs provided do not give you that much insentive to stay with them and you may be tempted to move before you are ready.

The flow of tuition of the book is very natural and even breaks into individual styles of guitar playing so it will last you past the beginner stages and beyond. The book comes with a dvd/cd which has every song or piece of  TAB which is in the book so you can now that you are playing it right or wrong, which is very important for a beginner and builds confidence when it sound the same as the track.

Overall this book is an excellent strating point for the beginner and covers enough area  to last through well beyond the beginner stage. It is clear, unassuming and has every essential technique and lesson you should learn. It is a book that i can really recommed from experiance as i used it when i started to play.

This book is a real deal for the price

PRICE £10 – £16

If your playing classical guitar you will probably mostly be using your fingers to pick, but plectrums are widely used in electric and acoustic guitar playing.
Rhythm guitar players often use thinner picks which produce a brighter tone whilst lead guitar players and jazz guitar players use thicker picks which produce a heavier tone.

The great thing for beginners is that you do not need to worry about choosing which one to use. Picks are really cheap to buy so you can get a whole range of different picks and see which you like best.

Pick some up now

The Encore blaster E99 guitar is a complete package that includes everything needed to start playing guitar.

Included is

• The guitar
• 10W amp
• Guitar strap
• Electronic guitar tuner                                                                                
• Spare strings
• Guitar bag
• Guitar lead
• Tuition DVD

The E99 is a Les Paul style electric guitar. The guitar has a solid body construction of basswood, a bolt on hard maple neck with a rosewood finger board that comprises  of 22 frets. 

The hardware consists of  2 Guitartech humbucker pickups, a 3 way selector switch and 2 volume & tone control knobs.

For the price of the package, sound wise the guitar is punching above its wait. Both pickups perform their tasks well. Clean tones and overdrive sounds are better than expected, and considering the bolt on neck the sustain is impressive.

This guitar is great for a beginner and will even stay with you as you improve. So you will definatley get value for your money.

The series also consists of the E6 which based on the Stratocaster style and the E2 based on the Telecaster style. These too are value for money and offer a good selection of choice. All 3 are available in various colours.

PRICE -- £100 -- £130

I have produced this page for the person who has either decided to or is thinking about taking up the guitar.

First things first, if you are still debating i seriously suggest you go for it. I thought about it for ages and i am so glad i let my heart rule my head. I was asking questions like what if i cant play, what guitar do i want, how do i learn, do i have to read music?

I trawled the Internet searching for answers to these questions but could not find them all together in one place. That’s why i started this site, the complete what, where, when and why, and if there are questions you have that are not answered on this site i will do my best to answer them for you.

I do not claim to be as good as Eric Clapton (or even as good has his left foot) but i have been through the “should i sharnt i” and the “what know” situations. So please have a good look around and help yourself to all the info you want!!

Thanks