Hi,
I've played around with acoustic in my youth but never got real serious. Now I have a yearning to learn to play in my retirement years and am looking forward to the GT method! Haven't owned a guitar in years. I bought a cheap beginners guitar to start with but it's a 38inch. It seems a bit too cramped for me, (68 years old, 6 foot, 300 lbs. ). How do I know what size acoustic I should be learning with?
Hey & welcome to GT.
The best way to find a guitar that works for you is to try a bunch of them. Go to your local store & explain your concern & try some guitars. You won't know if yours is actually too small unless you try some others for comparison. As a beginner it might just be that you are unaccustomed to the instrument. Or it might be that you could benefit from a larger guitar.
What kind of guitar do you have? I'm not sure what 38 inches indicates. The overall length of the body? Guitars are typically measured by their scale length: the distance of the strings from the nut to the bridge. And then by their nut width, which is the spacing of the strings at the nut. Some guitars are indeed smaller & work better for people with smaller hands. Conversely, some are larger & work better for larger people!
So, I encourage you to do some hands on investigating! Have fun with it & let us know if you have more questions.
Christopher Schlegel
Guitar Tricks Instructor
Christopher Schlegel Lesson Directory