Beginner's Guide: Select the Ideal Guitar Gift Today
Shopping for a guitar to give as a gift can be a fun experience. But, if you’ve never purchased a guitar or other instrument before for yourself or someone else, it can be intimidating and you might not know where to start. ECGMusic is here to help you choose a guitar as a gift. Here are some quick and easy things to consider while shopping for a meaningful and special gift, such as a guitar.
Budget - What’s your budget for this gift? You can buy a great guitar that will make a great gift, and you don’t have to spend a ton of money to do so. Of course you can spend as little or as much as you want on the gift that you choose to give, and it all depends on your particular circumstances and budget. Choose a budget that you are comfortable with and stick to that budget. Find a guitar, or even an accessory that fits within your budget.
To give you an idea about what you might budget for a guitar purchase, it’s best to consider the main classifications of guitars. Although there are a number of categories and sub categories of guitars, I am primarily writing about the six string variety. This is not to exclude bass guitars (or any other stringed instrument for that matter), as they are equally loved and worth consideration, but for brevity’s sake, and because this general advice applies to any categorization of stringed instrument, I will focus on six string guitars, in the Acoustic and Electric sub categories. Acoustics can further be broken down to Nylon String or Steel String Varieties. We could continue differentiating sub categories of Electric or Acoustic, and the variations are countless, but for the purposes of our discussion, we will stick to these 3 basic categories; Acoustic Steel String, Acoustic Nylon, and Electric Guitars.
In order to give you an approximate cost for what to budget to spend on a guitar, I’ll give you some examples of some of the items we recommend on the easier side of the budget minded that are looking for great quality and value. Acoustic steel string guitar packs like the Ibanez Jampacks will cost around $169 and they are perfect for beginning students and come with a guitar, electronic tuner, and soft case. Nylon string guitars, such as a Córdoba C1M ¾, are around the same price. In the electric guitar category, we highly recommend the Tagima SixMart, which is an unbeatable value because it has onboard effects and doesn’t require a separate amplifier, and is currently on sale until 12/15 for only $239. These are just some examples of what you might spend, and the sky is the limit from there, but hopefully it gives you a starting point to consider as you shop for your perfect gift. There is always something that music lovers or musicians (or potential musicians) would love to get as a gift from you.
Age - There is no age too young or too old for someone to enjoy the gift of music or a guitar. But, age is a very important consideration in choosing an instrument and style that is appropriate for the recipient of your gift. Generally speaking, children under the age of 4 have a hard time differentiating between a toy and a musical instrument. When parents come into our brick and mortar shop here at El Cajon Guitars and Music and insist on buying their small child a stringed instrument, we recommend a ukulele as an inexpensive substitute for a guitar. There are smaller guitars that work great for small children, but there are a number of factors to consider with smaller scale instruments, and that is a topic of discussion for another day. When it comes to everyone else 4 and up, we are firm believers that everyone can enjoy playing a guitar or other musical instrument in some capacity.
Experience Level- Is the recipient of your gift new at playing a string instrument? Have they ever played any instrument of any kind? Or have they been playing for a long time and they are looking for something new or different?
For beginners, we generally recommend a nylon string guitar. The nylon strings are a bit softer on beginner’s fingers. Here, in the nylon string category, we cannot recommend the Córdoba nylon string guitars enough. They make amazing acoustic guitars for all levels of experience because they have a variety of models and sizes of nylon string guitars. They make beautiful acoustic guitars with or without pickups and they are an amazing value and quality across the board. In fact, when it comes to nylon string (classical style) guitars, Córdoba makes amazing guitars for any level of musicianship, including intermediate and professional players.
For buying a gift for players beyond beginners, it’s important to consider the recipient's musical preferences. What kind of music do they like to listen to? What kind of guitar do their favorite musicians play? This can help you narrow down the choices and find a guitar that they'll be excited to play. Although playing guitar on any type of guitar is fun, and to be fair, creativity and genres of music aren’t limited to one type of guitar or another, we generally associate certain types of music with the instruments that they are performed on.
Now I’m not saying that you can’t play rock on a classical or nylon string guitar, you absolutely can and I encourage you to do so. But, certain types of guitars do lend themselves better to one art form or another. I’m not saying that Joe Strummer couldn’t play a mean nylon string guitar, I’d bet he could. But, I don’t think he played on stage with a band with one because when you add drums, bass, and microphones to the mix, an electric guitar really helps cut through the mix. So, let’s just say (in general terms) that I’d recommend electric guitars for rock, metal, country, jazz, or any other type of music that you picture would require amplification for other instruments. Solid body, hollow body, and semi hollow body guitars, are all electric guitar sub categories and again, the makes, models, configurations, and colors are infinite.
The bottom line is that experienced guitar players love playing a variety of guitars and styles. When choosing a guitar as a gift, think about the musical tastes of who you might be buying for. I’ve never met a guitar player that didn’t love having a variety of acoustic and electric guitars. Steel string Acoustic Guitars are always fun and the portability, convenience, feel, looks, and sound are hard to beat. On acoustic steel string guitars, aside from color, sound, and feel, the type of wood is obviously a major consideration. Features like solid tops are desirable, but can add to the overall cost of the guitar. This is also true of built in pick ups and tuners on acoustics.
When it comes to brands, marketing and name recognition can often result in buyers just choosing an item because they know the name, but often paying more and getting less. This is understandable, and most people don’t take the time to read articles like this and research. Suffice it to say, that there is an entire universe of guitar makers that offer value and quality at all price points. Some of our favorite brands are Breedlove, Córdoba, Ibanez, Teton, and Tagima to name a few. Many of these brands have been around for some time and have impeccable reputations for their quality and value. However, it is a relatively new company and was founded in 1990, by pioneering California luthiers Larry Breedlove and Steve Henderson, here in San Diego County, before moving to Bend, Oregon. Tagima Guitars, although originally hailing out of Brazil and being huge throughout South America, only recently opened Tagima Headquarters in Huntington Beach, USA. Tagima offers an amazing variety of guitars at all price points, everything from entry level to Brazilian series guitars and everything in between. Ibanez is another one of our favorite manufacturers with an interesting history and a huge catalogue of guitars to consider. All of our favorite brands offer a wide range of products for any level of musicianship.
In conclusion, when looking for a guitar as a gift, consider your budget, the age of the recipient, their skill level, and their musical styles. We highly recommend that you consult with your locally owned and operated guitar and music shop because independent music store owners are passionate about helping people with such important buying decisions. We aren’t trying to build rocket ships and fly into outer space, we’re just here trying to help people find great guitars for gifts so they can make music and meaningful memories. Please let us know if you have any questions or need any help finding an amazing guitar for a gift. We are always available at ECGMusic.com, or via email at info@ecgmusic.com
One last and crucial piece of advice; make sure that the guitar you chose is easy to tune and holds its tuning. This is the most important piece of advice that I can give you because a guitar that won’t stay in tune will frustrate any level of musician, especially beginners, and they might give up. That’s the last thing that we’d want to hear! We want as many people to play music and have as much fun as possible. Have fun and enjoy it all.
