FAQ

We hope that you find this information useful! Here are some frequently asked questions about lessons and purchasing a guitar:
 

1. How long will it take?
Depending on your natural abilities and your willingness to practice, you should be playing simple melodies 3 chord songs within the first month. Everyone is different, but if you practice everyday, within the first year, you should be able to play more complex popular songs. The more you practice, the better you will be! We hope you will enjoy the process of learning as well as playing itself. The important thing is "Your Doing It". 

2. What kind of guitar should I buy?
Most people know someone or have seen someone playing the guitar and that is what inspired them to want to learn. If you have always wanted to play like Stevie Ray Vaughn, an electric guitar might just be your best choice. Most of the acoustic guitar you hear in popular rock music is played on a steel string acoustic guitar. Eric Clapton played tears in heaven on a nylon string (classical) guitar. Children often start on a nylon string classical guitar not only because the strings are easier on the fingers but also, the body of the guitar is generally smaller. However if your child is big enough to play an electric and that is what they want to play then you may be making a mistake buying some other type of guitar. We can help you determine the appropriate size for your child, if you can come in to the store. 

3. What Brand Should I Buy?
Of course we think you should buy the brands we carry, how ever our unbiased answer is: There are many good brands on the market. Here are a few things you need to establish before you buy.
A. Find a famous maker brand name: there are many good brands on the market, depending on who you talk to, some are good and some are not. We have found that you can find good and bad guitars within each brand name. Try to stick with some of the companies that you have heard of, that have been around for a long time!

B. After you have established a credible brand name, find a store with a good reputation. If you know someone who has purchased a guitar from the store your looking at and they are satisfied, that should help you feel more comfortable.

C. The five things that we stress paying attention to when buying a guitar are Brand, sound, feel and appearance and price. The first thing that will catch your eye is the appearance of a guitar. Please make sure you play the guitar, listen to the guitar and of course compare price with similar models. If you don't know how to play the guitar, ask a salesperson to play several of them for you. Try some inexpensive guitars and have them play some expensive guitars. See if you can tell the difference. If you think you have found a guitar that sounds good to you, have someone else play several guitars while you look in the other direction. See if you can pick out the guitar that you liked. Look to see how close the strings are to the fingerboard. If the strings are hard to push down, your fingers are going to get sore a lot faster. This is called the action. Listen to the treble notes and the bass notes. Do they sound clear or muted? Play the guitar with a pick somewhat forcefully and see if it projects well and if it has a good sustain. It you buy an inexpensive guitar you may have to sacrifice in some of these areas. But if the guitar doesn't play easy, you will never be satisfied with it. Remember, you get what you pay for, both in service and in quality!

4. How much is this going to cost?
Not all guitars are created equal. Our standard for entry level guitars is that they must be able to play in tune. If you purchase entry level guitar, make sure that after you tune it, it will play in tune. Many times I have heard the comment that someone does not think their guitar will stay in tune. Usually what is happening is that the guitar doesn't have true pitch when you play some of the fretted notes, this will give the impression that the strings might be slipping. If you are experiencing this problem, tune your guitar with a chromatic electronic guitar tuner and then check some of the fretted notes up and down the neck. If the intonation is off, some of the fretted notes will register out of tune although the open string is in tune. If you take good care of your guitar it will last for years and years, provided you get a quality guitar to begin with. Lessons presently cost $20.00 per hour, usually once a week for guitar. Guitar lessons are held Monday through Saturday in the afternoon and evening hours.

5. We are concerned that it will be too loud.
Practice guitar amplifiers come equipped with a head phone jack that you can plug any set of headphones into. Inserting the headphones cancels the speaker so that the sound only comes out of the headphones. 

6. Can I learn the style of music I like to listen to?
When you first start playing, you usually will learn some simple songs that are easy for beginners to learn. We will try as soon as possible to begin to show how to play the kind of music that you want to play. Most of the popular music that you hear is a little more difficult than you are going to be ready for at first. However, we will focus on what you want to learn as soon as possible! 

7. What about those mail order and internet places?
Because of the many considerations involved in choosing a guitar, we think it would be best to make your decision after you have taken some time to look and listen. 10 guitars of the same model will all be different because wood has such unique characteristics. So you are going to want to try before you buy. Service is very important to all of us and it is very hard to get the service you deserve from a company down the road several hundred or thousand miles. Please remember, you get what you pay for! We often have sales on our guitars and drums etc., and you don't have to pay more than you would to order something from a catalog, you’re just going to sacrifice the help that we can give you, if you purchase one of our products.

8. How old do you have to be to start?
We now have 1/2 size guitars that would be appropriate for a 7 or 8 year old. If you start your child at an early age, they will begin by learning single note melodies and simplified chord fingerings. When their hand can reach all the way across the fingerboard, they can learn to play full chord fingerings. If your child can read and has a desire to learn to play guitar, we encourage you to get involved in music lessons. Children that start at an early age will better develop their musical ear.

9. Can I teach myself?
Yes you can. We sell teach yourself type methods and video's. Many adults are just too busy to commit to a lesson once a week. There are some great books available for you. We have found that if you take lessons, you can learn faster than if you try and teach yourself. We want to help you turn your desire to play into reality, and we can best help you if you take lessons from us. If that doesn't work out, come by and will help you find the right self teaching book! We have some great self teach methods that are available with an Audio CD so that you can listen to examples on your stereo.

If you live in our area, we invite you to come in and spend some time with us. 
We will be glad to help you select the instrument or accessorie that is right for you!
 

Guitar Instructor Mark France's Home Page 

Information on Guitar and Bass Guitar Amplifiers

Last Edit 12/12/2009

Comments? Contact Albany Music & Sound at:mailto:albanymusic@juno.com

Back to "albanymusicandsound.com" Home Page