Acoustic Guitar buying and playing

[Wildflower]

Anticipating years to come of roadtrips and campfires on unschooling feildtrips with our burgeoning brood, dh and I want to buy and learn acoustic guitar. We both read music, played a little piano and a few Dylan songs (just a few chords, really) on guitar years ago, but basically need to start from scratch. Any advice on what kind of used/otherwise affordable guitar to buy? We'll want to play folksy, singalong stuff, not Spanish or classical really, just Beatles and kid type songs,...any idea how little we can get by with spending? I would spend next to nothing and just get something to start learning on, but dh would rather get something with a beautiful tone to it that will inspire us to practice,,,and what music do you players like to play? Thanks!

[lilypad]

I can't really help with the buying question since we just have a VERY old cheap guitar that is about third hand. But since I enjoy music but don't have a finely tuned ear, it sounds great to me. So I would say go for as cheap as possible. The best way to find music is to do a web search and type in the word "tablature". I have'nt done it for a while so I can't remember what the best sites are, I think there is one called OLGA or something like that. Most of the sites have guitar music for every song you would ever want to play, and most of them when you print them out have the fingerings for the chords you need for the song. I have printed out tons of Indigo Girls music like this, and I must say that I can play a fairly mean version of "Closer to Fine" even though I have never had a lesson.:cool: Good Luck!!

[forestma]

Hey, happy tunes!

I haven't played in a while, not an expert at buying either, but...one thing you can do if you go to a guitar/music store is ask to have someone there play it for you to check out the tone. There are nice guitars out there for reasonable $. Make sure the guitar has easy 'action' I believe is the term. That means you don't have to have a grip of ms. universe to hold to strings down, very key in starting to play until those calluses on your fingertips develop!

A really, really great book for you would be "Rise up Singing". It is a compilation of 1,000 tunes and many are easy to play.(I look for A,D,E, and G chord songs!) Love that book!

I love to play various tunes, ones I've written, grateful dead, neil young, and assorted kiddie tunes and others from rise up singing. Guess I'll have to cut my fingernails and start playing again!

peaceful music,
michelle

[flutemandolin]

Good for you!!! Definitely shop around and go for the one with the absolute best tone you can find. Go to a guitar shop, spend some time, play a few tunes you know really well on them, and if it doesn't feel absolutely right, don't buy it. Check the classifieds for good used guitars as well. I am in love with my Taylor 512, which is fairly pricey new but dh found a bargain on a used one. But it's probably not one you'd want to take camping...
AS for music, all the above recommendations are good, and I've also enjoyed a site called "Cowpie Song Corral" (sorry don't have the URL handy).
Good luck & have fun!!!