There are a great number of guitars out there, that’s for sure. Electric, Acoustic, bass, steel, classical and acoustic-electric just to mention a few. Then besides that there are a huge number of brand names for guitars. You have Fender, Yamaha, Gibson, BC Rich just to name a few. How does one go about deciding with all these guitars to choose from.

The style of music you’re going to want to play as well as the places you’ll be playing in will definitely have an impact on the choices you make. Let’s face it, if you’re going to be playing dances, or other such gatherings with lots of people, you will most likely need a guitar that can be amplified. That pretty much eliminates acoustic.

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’re interested in playing steel guitar or a bass, then you have already narrowed the field down a lot. Now you simply need to choose between brand name and model. It has been said that learning to play a bass guitar or a steel guitar will take considerably more time and effort than learning to play either acoustic or electric.

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.

If you have a preferred artist, and you want to simulate their sound, then that answers a lot of the questions for you on what type of guitar you should buy. It is pretty hard to simulate the sound of an electric on an acoustic. If this is the style of music and sound you are going to be looking for the majority of the time, then that is the type of guitar you should be looking for.

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.

Wendy Racklave writes for Playhouse MM which has details of inexpensive Ibanez bass guitars and affordable vintage bass guitar.

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One of the biggest advantages of playing the electric guitar is its ability to create different and unique sounds. Because you are using electricity to create the sound that you hear it gives you the ability to manipulate the electrical signal the guitar creates. Today Im going to write about the three most common electric guitar effect pedals.

The first effect I want to talk about is the Overdrive, or Distortion pedal. These pedals add a warmth and thickness to the sound of your electric guitar. They do this by clipping and compressing the original guitar signal.

You can choose from hundreds of different distortion pedals. Everything from heavy 60′s fuzz to light distorted overdrive is available in a distortion pedal. So it goes without saying the you must have a Distortion in your effect collection whether you’re playing Metal, Country or Rock-N-Roll.

The second effect I’d like to talk about is the Delay Effect. The delay effect is created by replicating your original guitar signal and playing it back at an interval after the original signal. You can have the signal be repeated once or as many times as you wish to create the desired echo effect.

You will use your delay effect primarily for increasing the depth of your guitar sound as well as layering the repeats to create complex harmonies. Using shorter delay times to thicken your sound and longer delays to create rhythmic harmonies are essential functions of the delay effect. Delay effects are used in every musical genre there is.

The third type of effect pedal you should have is the Chorus effect. Chorusing is created when your original guitar signal is slightly delayed, modulated and then combined with the original guitar signal. The effect created simulates the sound of multiple guitars being played at the same time.

Guitarists use the Chorus effect to thicken the sound of their guitar. When a stereo chorus effect is used the spatial separation of the signals can give a lush, full sound to the electric guitar. Chorus effects are used in every type of music played on electric guitar.

At some point in their development, all guitarists begin to search for more sounds for their instrument. Guitar effect pedals offer an easy and affordable way to increase your tonal pallette. That’s why I recommend Delay, Chorus and Distortion as your top three choices for getting your effects collection going.