Strollers Music School – Edinburgh

learn how to make music, not just how to play it…

What kind of guitar should I get?

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What kind of guitar do I need to learn on?

When you first start playing guitar the selection of guitars available to you will seem overwhelming so I thought I would put together a quick guide to help your selection.

1) Kids guitars

Under 12 years old
A full-sized guitar can be very bulky and unwieldy even for a full-sized person so it is really important to make sure you get a smaller scale guitar so as not to put kids off playing.

I generally recommend getting a 3/4 size classical nylon string to start with. The reason that you want to start with nylon string as opposed to steel string is that the strings are softer so won’t make your fingers hurt as much to start with. This will give them a chance to build up protective calluses. Furthermore, nylon string guitars generally have a slightly wider neck which helps at the beginning of your playing when your fingers aren’t quite as accurate as they will become when you are more experienced.

I recommend getting a Palma 34; they are very reasonably priced and a good place to start. If you want to spend a little bit more money then I suggest you go to either of the following shops and ask for their advice;

Over 12 Years Old

Once you have grown a little bit it is worthwhile getting a slightly larger guitar. You can get a 15/16 size steel string acoustic or nylon acoustic. If you want to play classical music or flamenco music then I recommend you get a nylon string guitar. If however, you want to play more modern styles of music then a steel string guitar would be good for you.

Some nice 15/16 size steel string acoustics are these;

  • Taylor Big Baby
  • Martin LXM

Electric guitars

You can even go electric as electric guitars are usually smaller than acoustic guitars which makes them easy to hold despite being a little heavier.

One of my favourites to start with is the;

Squier Stratocaster

2) Adult Guitars

The kind of guitar that you should get depends on your own body shape and style of music you want to play.

If you want to play acoustic guitar music such as folky styles like James Taylor or singer songwriters like Van Morrison here are a selection of the types of guitar you should be looking at;

Big Guitars

  • Dreadnought
  • Jumbo

Small Guitars

  • 15/16 Scale or Travel Guitar
  • OM/000 size guitar
  • parlour guitar
  • classical guitars (nylon string)

Electric Guitar

If you want to play more electric sounding music then you need an electric guitar (these are also easier to play barre chords on).

For vintage style rock ‘n’ roll and blues these are the types of guitar you should check out;

  • Stratocaster (very versatile for all styles)
  • Telecaster
  • Les Paul
  • SG
  • Semi-acoustic (ES–335 etc)

For more modern sounds like heavy metal you should look at;

  • Ibanez
  • Jackson
  • Charvel

I hope this was helpful for you. Don’t hesitate to get in touch by e-mail if you want a little bit more advice about what kind of guitar you should get.

How to rehearse at home

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You don’t need to go to an expensive rehearsal space to rehearse music with a full band anymore. You can now do it in the comfort of your own home without bothering anybody. Below is a list of everything that you will need to get started.

  • Electric guitar/bass amp modeller
  • Digital drum kit
  • Vocal microphone
  • Jamhub silent rehearsal system

Electric guitar/bass

Playing through your Marshall amp feels and sounds amazing. However, your neighbours might not agree with you! Instead, you can get what is known as an amp modeller to plug your guitar into and listen to with headphones.

Here are some examples

Digital drum kit

Get a digital drum kit so that you can practice silently. Here are some of our recommendations;

– Roland TD-1  if you are on a tight budget

– Roland TD-30 if money is no object!

Vocal microphone

You will need a microphone and XLR lead. I recommend getting a Shure SM 58 microphone.

Jamhub rehearsal system

Finally the exciting bit. The rehearsal system. You plug all of the electric instruments and microphones into this. Each musician then gets their own headphones mix so they can decide how much of every other musician they hear, as well as how much of themselves they hear. This means you don’t have to hear as much of the singer as the singer would normally want you to hear! You can also take the output from the system and record it so that you have demos to work on.

More info at Jamhub.com

Come and try our system

If you want to come and try out our system just give us a shout to arrange a rehearsal!

How to practice more efficiently

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As a music teacher, time and time again, I get asked by the students “I’m not sure if I’m really making any progress,how am I doing?”

A few years ago, I started recording students once in awhile to track their progress and the results have been amazing.

Now, when I get asked that question all I need to do is play it back to them and they can instantly hear the improvement.

Recording as a practice tool

Part of the benefit of going to a music teacher is that they can give you instant feedback on whether you are doing something correctly or not. However, you don’t need a teacher for this. If you get into the habit of recording yourself during a practice session you can then listen to yourself afterwards.

This is beneficial because it is very difficult to actively listen at the same time as playing. So, once you put your instrument down and attentively listen to your own playing, warts and all, you can start to make a list of things that you need to work on as well things that you are good at.

The horror of hearing yourself

The first time you hear yourself talking on a recording it is cringeworthy. This is the same for everyone. However, the more you do it and incorporate it into your regular practice routine then the more comfortable you will be with the situation and can start benefiting from giving yourself critical feedback.

What equipment do you need

You don’t need to get studio quality recording equipment for this exercise. I quite often record on my iPhone using the voice memos app. However, you can get really nice quality stereo audio recorders if you want something a little better.

I regularly use my Zoom H5nto record practice as well as high-quality demos. I even use it for video lessons.

Good luck!