Posted: 1/5/2026 6:32:24 PM EDT
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I've suddenly got the itch to finally learn to play guitar.. Have (or had) some decent musical background in my former life.. As a kid, my parents made me play piano for 10 years or so.. I hated every minute of it.. Never got to play what I wanted, always had to play classical. Fast forward to the college years.. was in several garage bands playing bass. had a lot of fun, then life sent us all on our ways. I'd always bang around on the drums, diddle on the guitar, but never really tried to learn the instrument. I'm at the point in my life I'm wanting an acoustic to play around the house for nothing more than the shear joy of it. I'm 30 years out of the loop and have no idea what a decent acoustic is these days. Any recommendation for a $500ish guitar I can start learning on? Thx! |
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This is also a great choice. Taylor GS Mini |
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What type of music do you like? If you like rock, go ahead and get a good electric. It will help you to practice if you're playing songs that you like. I started on the piano like you, then went to drums, then trumpets and other three valve brass, then to synths, electric guitar, and bass. The thing is, play what you need to sound like you want to sound. I understand, playing an acoustic is the best way to build fundamental skills to a point, and to learn the neck, but face it, you're almost as old as I am. I'm 59, but I started playing piano at 4 years old, my mother was a music teacher. I played snare and bass in middle school, tri-toms and quads for the marching band at the end of the eighth grade, then switched to trumpet and flugelhorn in high school. I was asked to play synths in a established rock band in 10th grade, the added the other instruments over the next couple of years. What I'm trying to say, is you aren't going to stand still, if you love doing it, you'll want to expand on what you can play. You don't have the time left that I and others did that started young, but that won't matter. The instructions you can get on youtube is fantastic, but do get lessons from someone along with that. Work on getting the basics down. Learn your scales, learn your neck, learn different picking and strumming techniques, all of the basics. A lot of people see the fundamentals as crap that just takes too much time, but if you l earn them, it will speed you up, allows you to progress faster. You can turn your amp or effects to a clean sound, back the volume off some, and you're close enough to acoustic sounds that you can get close enough for practice. |
| If you can play piano snd have no dexterity issues, you can play guitar NP. I'm 56 and have played violin, dbl bass, bass and guitar going back to middle school but really want to pick up piano and maybe fiddle now that I have a love for classic country and bluegrass. My violin stage was just MS orchestra. |
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If you're looking for an acoustic it would be really hard to beat a Yamaha in your budget unless you find something used locally. I was recently (last 6-8 months) out shopping with my niece and played several dozen models from different brands and Yamaha was the standout. |
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 We Build Guitars for a Living… These Are the Brands We Would Play (They're Not What You Think) This is a good watch. They do like Yamaha also. They have a series of videos where they torture test and cut guitars in half to check build quality that are fun to watch. |
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Originally Posted By RickFinsta: If you're looking for an acoustic it would be really hard to beat a Yamaha in your budget unless you find something used locally. I was recently (last 6-8 months) out shopping with my niece and played several dozen models from different brands and Yamaha was the standout. |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
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This
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Originally Posted By LRShooter: Yamaha for $429. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/FG830--yamaha-fg830-dreadnought-natural The Yamaha is a lot better guitar than it should be for the $$$. I got my son one recently. And I have the folk model. Along with too many other guitars. Another great choice is the "Little Martin" |
Gnu User, Clumsy Migratory Off-topic Herd Ungulate
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My suggestion is a Yamaha A1M. I own the suggested Taylor GS Mini and the A1M... For an adult novice, I wouldn't suggest the Taylor GS Mini as a first guitar. I'm a small guy with small hands and there are are times I feel crowded. Mine is just a 'couch guitar'; an excellent sounding, playing and stable 'couch guitar'. |
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Originally Posted By splitbolt: My suggestion is a Yamaha A1M. I own the suggested Taylor GS Mini and the A1M... For an adult novice, I wouldn't suggest the Taylor GS Mini as a first guitar. I'm a small guy with small hands and there are are times I feel crowded. Mine is just a 'couch guitar'; an excellent sounding, playing and stable 'couch guitar'. |
Pour over coffee is best coffee.
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Originally Posted By corwin1968: I know the GS Mini has a huge following, but I've messed around with several models at GC and they just sound like toy guitars, to me. I guess that comes from only ever having played full size dreadnoughts. Hey now! My 'first guitar' was a plastic Mickey Mouse POS.  It is, what it is; a small acoustic. |
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OP here.. So a bit of time has gone by, and I still have yet to buy a guitar.. However, my buddies son plays, and has a stockpile of guitars.. He said hell, why don't you just start playing on one of his kids that he rarely plays.. So he brought me a epiphone LP. I picked up a little practice amp, a mustang LT25. I've been enjoying working on chords and finger placement, and damn are the tips of my fingers some kind of sore.. I've been following some guy on YT, justinguitar and working on the basics. It's harder than I thought it would be, but I didn't think it would exactly be a cake walk anyway. It's almost comical how small this guitar looks in my hands.. LOL. I'm a big guy, 6'6", 315lbs.. At first I had wondered if I needed a bigger guitar, but the interwebs said suck it up and learn proper fingering technique, so that's what I've been doing. I'm 4 days into my adventure and having fun. Thanks for all the recommendations! |
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Learning finger placement and muscle memory is tedious and easy to lose motivation. I started up again, last I played was high school and now I am retired, I started a few years ago when my wife was going through cancer treatment as I needed something to give my brain a break from life. Anyway, I found an app Called Chordify. It plays songs on you tube and shows you the chords and finger placements while it plays the songs. It is a great motivation to be able to play different songs with simple open ( cowboy ) chords as you learn. It worked great for me. It isn't perfect, many times it is just the chord for what it hears as a tone in the song whether or not their are any guitar chords in the song or not and the timing is usually off, , but at least it will be playing with a song. Something to consider. |
Mach
Nobody is coming to save us.
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Nobody is coming to save us.
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Originally Posted By Mach: Learning finger placement and muscle memory is tedious and easy to lose motivation. I started up again, last I played was high school and now I am retired, I started a few years ago when my wife was going through cancer treatment as I needed something to give my brain a break from life. Anyway, I found an app Called Chordify. It plays songs on you tube and shows you the chords and finger placements while it plays the songs. It is a great motivation to be able to play different songs with simple open ( cowboy ) chords as you learn. It worked great for me. It isn't perfect, many times it is just the chord for what it hears as a tone in the song whether or not their are any guitar chords in the song or not and the timing is usually off, , but at least it will be playing with a song. Something to consider. |
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Originally Posted By Skunkape71: Very cool, this is exactly what I need.. I completely get learning the basics and proper technique, but I need some fun stuff along the way to keep me motivated. Thx! Originally Posted By Skunkape71: Originally Posted By Mach: Learning finger placement and muscle memory is tedious and easy to lose motivation. I started up again, last I played was high school and now I am retired, I started a few years ago when my wife was going through cancer treatment as I needed something to give my brain a break from life. Anyway, I found an app Called Chordify. It plays songs on you tube and shows you the chords and finger placements while it plays the songs. It is a great motivation to be able to play different songs with simple open ( cowboy ) chords as you learn. It worked great for me. It isn't perfect, many times it is just the chord for what it hears as a tone in the song whether or not their are any guitar chords in the song or not and the timing is usually off, , but at least it will be playing with a song. Something to consider. |
Mach
Nobody is coming to save us.
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Nobody is coming to save us.
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