One of the most asked questions when I was running a music store was 'How do I choose a guitar? There are so many of them.'

Allow me to distill a lot of experience buying and selling guitars...

First of all, you must ask yourself some deep questions. What are my real goals in seeking a guitar? What is it that makes me do this? Is it for personal enjoyment? Is it for harmonious living? Is it for fame, fortune, and or money? Is it an instrument to play or am I seeking an 'investment'? All of these things will play an important role in your decision.

But there are some common properties of guitars (and any musical instruments, actually to any products at all).

The first is quality of purpose. The purpose of a guitar is to produce sound, so here we are judging this ability. Does it sound good? Does it sound acceptable for my purposes?

This is a deeply personal judgement. The sound I like might sound horrible to you. And you must never judge a book by its cover. If you were to play six guitars of the same model produced on the same day in the same factory, you will find that they each sound different. You have to play each one to find out.

For an example of what you are listening for, here are a few qualities representative of some of the instruments I've played.. "Boomy" has a deep sound on the heavy (low) strings. 'Crisp' is where the high strings ring out, also could be described as 'bright'. Some of the mass produced import models could be described as having a 'cardboard' or muffled sound. This is not always the case!

One out of a thousand guitars will have a sound which hits you deep and personal - if you are lucky enough to find it. But don't overlook everything else on a quest for this magical instrument. It took me 35 years to find my first one. I've now found three. You might need something to play in the meantime.    

Next is quality of manufacture. We aren't going into 'brand names' here - those belong in a category called 'cosmetics'. We are merely judging how well the thing was made. Is the finish good? Is the neck straight? Or does it seem inferior and shabby? How does it feel? Is it easy to press the strings, or very difficult?

Now we get to looks or cosmetics. Here we can talk about brands. This is about image. Does this instrument project the image you wish to be associated with? Does it look cool? Is it a rare instrument? Is the color appealing?

Our final category is cost. Can I afford it? If this is for an investment, what is the rate of return?

These are the major buying factors, and the reason why you need to be honest about your intended purpose. You will often find that the last category (cost) is always a tradeoff with the other factors - its suitability. The more expensive instrument will usually be the more suitable one in most of these areas. If cost isn't a concern, it is a lot easier to find the right instrument. But cost usually is a concern, which is why you need to acknowledge it. The right guitar for you might cost $20,000. But if your entire music budget is $200, you're going to have to make tradeoffs.

The first and probably most important tradeoff is the sound. An instrument that sounds great is going to make you a better musician. If you like what you hear, you're going to play more, and if you play more, you'll get better and make better music. It's a vicious circle, and a very good vicious circle for a musician to be in. If your purpose is to create joyful harmony, you won't be able to skimp here.

If your purpose is to impress your friends with feats of fast fretting, you might wish to trade sound for looks or playability. This is where performance and audience will determine your priorities. A folk musician, a heavy metal musician, and a country musician have different audiences. These will require different looks, no matter what the sound. In fact to the professional musician in this day and age, sound is secondary. Image is the most important factor. This isn't a critique or judgement call. It is an acknowledgement of the way things are. if you wish to succeed in the business aspects of music, you are going to have to focus more on image marketing than producing good sound.   

If you are playing only for yourself and maybe a friend or two, and this is your only desire, get yourself the best sound and playability that you can afford. Forget about looks.

If you're looking for an investment, you can likewise probably forget about sound. You can even forget about quality. Rate of return dictates that you'll be looking for a couple of specific models by a couple of specific companies. But I would like to stress on you that the reason that instruments have had high rates of returns had nothing to do with sound or even quality. The highest returns come from instruments which nobody liked when they were created, but which grew into favor years later. This makes them rare. If you are buying a rare investment grade instrument, you must always be considerate of the fact that for some period of time nobody wanted this instrument, and the cycle might repeat.

The exception to this rule is hand made instruments. These are rare because each one is unique. In this case you need to examine all the details. Does it sound good, play good, and/or look good? Just because it is rare doesn't make it a good investment. It has to be desired by somebody who will actually buy it from you - usually for one of these reasons. 

If you are just learning to play, and you don't know what sound you are looking for, go for playability. You want it to be easy and not painful. Painful is bad. If it hurts - you aren't going to play it every day and it will only be a matter of time before you stop playing completely.

Acoustic or electric will depend on your desired audience, intimate or public.  If you want to be a rock star, and you want to play for thousands or millions of people, get an electric. If you want to sing love songs to a particular person, get an acoustic. The acoustic guitar is more spontaneous and intimate because there isn't any setup time or extra equipment needed. The electric guitar requires a bit of technology expertise, but can produce a much wider range of sounds. Each has its purpose. 

Hope this helps somebody.