Originally Posted by: samataBut, you buy a guitar the same way you buy anything else. Especially if you don't know about it....you get on the Internet, and you LEARN about it. You learn what makes one guitar good, and what makes another one cheap. Is it the wood? The pickups? Then, I went to Guitar Center and other music stores, and just browsed. I spent a long time doing my "due diligence". I didn't want to get a cheap guitar, but not knowing if I was going to play, I didn't want to spend $5000 either. I went several times to the stores before I bought. Looking at a guitar I liked, then getting on the Internet and researching THAT guitar.

after seven years I still do the same with any guitar/amp I like, it's a lot of work and sometimes I didn't feel like doing it, but it always paid off! it gets difficult when it's a personal preference (like whether you're a Gibson or Fender person, those are only solved by playing both for a while), but that's all for your road to guitardom!