While looking for your first acoustic guitar, there are many things to consider.

No one wants to spend a whole lot of money on their first guitar in the event that they may not keep with it. However, you may be taking a greater risk buying a cheap guitar.

If you buy a cheap guitar, it will be much easier to get discouraged. A poor quality guitar won’t stay in tune very long if it will even hold a good tune at all. This and other poor qualities make it difficult to get a good sound.

All aspiring musicians want and need to sound good in order to be encouraged to grow and develop musically. A cheap guitar with poor sound may cause them to be discouraged and stop playing music all together.

So when buying a guitar for a beginner, I would strongly recommend buying a used guitar for several reasons.

As with all wooden instruments, the wood sounds better as it ages. Therefor buying a used instrument will usually get you a better sound. It may have a few dings or scratches, but the sound is the important part.

Another thing that gets better with age is the price of the guitar. Used guitars cost considerably less than new ones even though they may sound a lot better.

Do not buy from a pawn shop if it’s your first guitar because their job is to sell you at the highest possible price regardless of its value. Rather check in newspapers or on craigslist.org in your area so you can meet and play the guitar before buying.

Most important of all is to remember that acoustic guitars all have a unique sound. Even though it is a popular model mass produced by machinery it may not sound like the other similar models. And a popular name doesn’t make it sound good either. If you know anyone with guitar playing experience, take them along to help test it out.

Remember that the first guitar you buy may decide whether you stick with it or not, so choose the right one.