At Dawsons Music, we believe that good sound advice is the foundation of our relationship with our customers. So whatever playing standard you are at or whatever stage of buying you find yourself, just ask us what you’d like to know. No fuss, no pressure, just down-to-earth, honest, true and accurate advice will be given.
The following beginners guide is a quick introduction to some of our key instruments. For more in-depth articles, visit Our Blog.
Nylon string guitars are often referred to as classical or Spanish style guitars. Beginners often start out on a nylon string guitar as they come in a range of sizes to suit all ages, and also because nylon strings are softer on the fingers than steel strings.
For a beginner's nylon strung guitar or classical guitar, we recommend the Jose Ferrer; those at an intermediate level should try the Farida C6 while the Admira Seville is well suited to a progressive guitarist.
Most adult guitar beginners will start out with a steel-string acoustic guitar as it is generally believed to be the easiest instrument on which to learn. Although they can be played finger-style, steel-string acoustic guitars are more often played with a plectrum. These guitars come in a range of shapes and colours - the most common design is called a dreadnought.
There are many different manufacturers of steel-string acoustic guitars. For beginners, we highly recommend the Redwood D204; the Yamaha F310 is also very popular. Farida offer a fantastic range of value-for-money guitars - the most popular Farida acoustic guitar with adult beginners is the Farida D8.
Some models, such as the Farida F8CE, have a facility that allows them to be amplified - these instruments are known as electro acoustic guitars. If you wish to plug your electro acoustic guitar into an amplifier, it’s best to go for a dedicated acoustic guitar amplifier, as these are designed specifically to sound as natural as possible and not to alter the basic tone of your guitar - a great choice for beginners is the Stagg Acoustic Guitar range of amps.
Electric guitars come in a huge range of shapes, styles and colours, meaning there’s an electric guitar out there to suit the taste of every beginner! The majority of solid body electric guitars are influenced by three iconic designs: The Fender Stratocaster, Fender Telecaster and Gibson Les Paul. The most popular electric guitar brands in our stores are Farida and Squier.
To hear these guitars properly, you will need an amplifier. If your guitar is just for home use, you should purchase a practise amp that’s no more powerful than 30 watts. Some practise amps also offer a range of sound effects and most are fitted with a headphone socket for silent rehearsal. Popular beginner amplifier brands are Stagg, Marshall and Line 6.
Many manufacturers produce a complete guitar pack - including the instrument, amplifier, strap, leads, strings and, in some cases, a gig-bag and tuner – to make getting started even easier. We offer some great value guitar packs from the likes of Epiphone, Farida and Squier.
Bass guitars produce lower notes than a normal electric guitar, and typically only have four strings (although five and six string bass guitars are available). The bass guitar is also bigger than an electric guitar and has thicker strings and a much longer neck (short scale bass guitars are available for younger beginners). Popular brands for beginner bass guitars are Epiphone, Farida and Squier.
Just as with an electric guitar, to hear a bass properly you will need an amplifier – a practice amp under 30 watts is best for home use – but make sure you purchase a bass amp as the sound produced by these instruments could damage a normal electric guitar amplifier. We find that Marshall and Fender bass amplifiers are particularly popular with our customers.
Dawsons stock bass guitar packs that contain everything you need to get started, including an amplifier, strap and leads, from Epiphone, Squier and Hartke.
Drum kits come in two basic formats: acoustic or electronic, although more frequently known as digital drum kits. Acoustic drum kits normally consist of a bass drum, a snare drum, up to three tom toms plus cymbals and hi-hats - this is often referred to as a 'five piece' kit. A good starter kit will normally include all the drums, a set of sticks and a stool. Younger beginners may find it difficult to play a full size drum kit, so purchasing a junior set is advisable – Stagg and Essentials both make junior kits.
Of course, acoustic drums are naturally loud, and so you should consider investing in a set of silencers - these are pads that sit over the drum skins to muffle the sound and make your rehearsal time much more pleasant for your neighbours!
Electric drum kits consist of a set of electronically controlled pads rather than drum shells, meaning you can create sounds way beyond the traditional drum sound. They are ideal for practice as they are much quieter than an acoustic kit - headphones can be plugged in for private practise, or you can plug them into a dedicated drum amplifier to get a bigger sound – and, as they’re much smaller and lighter than a traditional drum kit, they’re much easier to set up and move around.
We stock a huge range of electronic drum kits, such as the Essentials Digital Percussion Drum Kit and the Yamaha DTXplorer. Roland are one of the pioneers in digital drum manufacturing and produce several kits ranging from the Roland HD-1 V-Drums Lite starter drum kit through to the flagship Roland TD-20KX.
Most digital keyboards have 61 keys, and will produce a range of different sounds, from pianos and organs, through to guitars, flutes and drums. They also feature collections of rhythms and drum patterns that you can play along with.
Keyboards often come loaded with other features as well - for example, the facility to record what you play, the ability to play more than one voice at the same time, and special connections that allow you to plug your instrument into a computer.
If you are just beginning to take lessons, we would recommend that you buy a keyboard that features touch sensitive keys, which responds to how hard you press the keys, as they will allow your playing to be far more expressive. We don’t recommend that piano students practise on electronic keyboards; as the keys on a keyboard are much lighter, the way the instruments need to be played are completely different.
Popular choices for beginners are the Yamaha PSRE233 and the Yamaha PSR-E413 keyboards.