With such a wide variety of guitars, styles, brands, models, where does one begin the process of deciding which one is the best one to buy? The list of manufacturers alone can be daunting. Is hand made better than mechanical made. Some say hand made is the best.

There are a number of factors that can eliminate many of the choices, but ultimately it all comes down to personal preference. The type of music you like to listen to, which is most likely what you’ll like to play, or want to learn to play, plays a big part.

A common thought seems to be that acoustic guitars are best suited to country, jazz and that style of music. Electric guitars it is said are deemed to be best for rock, pop, the blues and so on. So if you want to go with this train of thought, the type of music you will be playing the most will also narrow down the field for you.

If you want to play a bass guitar, then your choices are automatically a lot slimmer. I have been told that tuning a bass guitar is difficult, but then again so is any guitar until you learn how to do it. Steel guitars have their own unique sound, and if that interests you, then that is the way you should go.

The acoustic-electric is a unique guitar. It is unique in the sense that it allows you to play both electric or acoustic on the same guitar. The switch is as simple as plugging in or unplugging the patch chord. An acoustic-electric, just as the name sounds, is an acoustic guitar with a built-in electric pick-up. There are also a wide range of manufacturers, models and price range in acoustic-electric guitars.

How much do you know about the artists you listen to? Do you know what style and brand of guitar they play? If you want to reproduce sounds similar to theirs, you may do best to have the same type of guitar as they do. It’s hard to get the same sound from two entirely different types of guitars.

Most music shops though are pretty good about showing you the different guitars, and letting you see how they feel, and hear what they sound like. For beginners, unless you’re certain you want an electric guitar, the acoustic-electric makes an excellent beginner guitar.