Since I am just starting to learn (at nearly 50 years old) I ended up buying a cheap beginner guitar (Ibanez IJV50) thinking that I should make sure that I'll actually be able to play before investing a large sum of money... I was also in a hurry to get a guitar in my hands and know that I'll want to spend a lot of time researching before I actually buy a "real" guitar. :)

Anyway, I was pretty impressed with the sound on this guitar and it really seems to hold a tune pretty well but just in the last couple days, even though the needle on my electronic tuner is straight up E on the 6th string, it just doesn't sound like it did before. Could this simply be due to the quality of strings? Can anyone give me any suggestions as to what brand and type of strings I should use? Also, should I get in a regular habit of replacing the strings periodically or do you only replace them if one breaks?

Hey btw... I know that eventually I want to buy a good quality acoustic electric; any suggestions regarding that are also greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions offered.