action?

I have heard the word action a few times when looking at buying a different guitar for my birthday and I am not sure what this is talking about. Is action good or bad? How can you measure it?

Action is the distance (or height" of the strings compared to the fretboard. Lower action is easier to play on, but you can get string buzzing if it is too low. Higher action is harder to play on, but can sometimes give a little more sustain to your notes.

There is usually a "standard" height, but it goes by personal preference as to what someone prefers. I like my action to be as low as possible without causing string buzz so that I can play faster.

Thanks, that clears up a lot for me.

Action sits alongside set-up where guitars are concerned. Further to the excellent advice from hunter 1801 it might be useful to research more into it. I was learning for a year before my guitars were set up properly and the action was where I wanted it. Differs from guitar to guitar too. Learning became easier once this was sorted, guitars sounded better, intonation was correct. The Guitar Tech. section of the forum is very good. Steven gives detailed advice about any problems related to guitar set-up, action strings etc. Good luck.