Review: Gibson Guitars

Buying a brand new guitar, electric or acoustic, can be a stressful event, especially for new musicians. Not only are guitars difficult instruments to understand, but there are what seems like an endless amount of options available to purchase. We have talking in detail about specific Gibson guitars before, but here we are going to give you some advice on what steps to take before you purchase a new guitar.

Figure out your budget

As with any purchase, your first step should be figuring out what your needs are and what your budget is. Are you looking for an electric or acoustic guitar? Is this just to practice on, or is it a performance guitar? What are you willing to pay? Since we love our Gibson guitars here, I can tell you off hand that you can usually find lower level Gibsons for around $200-$300 on sale, but they also range up in the thousands of dollars. This is similar for other manufacturers; starter sets can start at under $200, but custom or vintage guitars can go into the thousands or even above $10,000 in some cases.

Do some research

Once you have figured out your style and price range, it is time to do a little research. Go online and find out exactly what you can get for your price range. Look at multiple sites and different manufacturers to get a good feel of what you can expect as your final purchase. When I am looking at a new guitar I like to give myself a price range, and then I will go see what I can get at the low end versus the high end of that range. Sometimes the difference is so small that I know I can go with the cheaper guitar without sacrificing quality. And personally, since I tend to stick with Gibson guitars (though my last acoustic guitar was a Martin!), I know that I am not usually sacrificing much quality at all.

Try out the guitars

The next step is one of the most important things you can do, and is often not done by new buyers: go to your local guitar store and try out the guitars. No matter how pretty a guitar is online or how many features it may have, nothing will tell you whether it is the perfect guitar for you like playing it will. I know it can be intimidating, especially if there are the normal show-off guitar gods shredding as loud as they can, but this will be worth it. Set aside a good chunk of time and find a good stool so you can play as many guitars as you can as comfortably as possible. My suggestion would be to start out with a really expensive guitar, something totally out of your range, so you can get a feel for what makes a great guitar so good. Again, because of personal preference I would stick to Gibson guitars, and you would be perfectly happy playing a Gibson Les Paul Standard Electric if you need an idea of where to start out.

Compare and contrast

After you’ve finished shredding on your dream guitar, it’s time to figure out what exactly made that guitar so awesome. The best way to do that is to go to the other extreme; find yourself a cheap starter guitar. Play your heart out on this one just as you did on the expensive guitar, but take note of the differences. What makes this one sound so much worse than the expensive one? Is it harder to play? Does it lack the personality that the dream guitar has? Think about all of this before you move on, because these subtle (or sometimes VERY obvious) differences are what will help you find the perfect guitar for you.

That’s it for part 1 of the new guitar buying guide, but check back soon for part 2. And as always, keep your eyes peeled for more news and reviews on Gibson guitars, as well as plenty of other guitar equipment.