Re the resist buying on recommendation rather go and assess for yourself thing for a first guitar -assumed a beginner knowing next to nothing about guitars and can't even play a chord.
I'm as cynical about the LMS walk in sale's droid ultimate motivation in 2019 as you could possibly find, but in my view and experience, a beginner just isn't equipped to make a properly informed decision, other than possibly the colour on preference, and acoustic or electric based upon a preconceived perception. Unless researching, seeking advice and buying online making a balance of probability decision accepting the responsibility and risk it may not be right, even I think listening to the sales droids in two or three shops worthwhile. Assess the droid, but not on whether you like him/her or not. Listen attentively, ask questions, including their demo - don't fall for the sales techniques e.g. putting it in your hands, capitalising on buyer excitement caught up in the moment, flattering attention, etc. Then, walk away and analyse what s/he's said without pressure in your own time, with a cooldown interval of at least overnight.
Second or subsequent guitars after playing a while, by all means do the in store tactility and tone assessing yourself for sure. By then you'll have explored and developed an increasingly practical and knowledgable clue about neck profiles, radius, nut width, string spacing, string gauge, scale length, opposed vs inline tuners and their various options, overall physical balance of the guitar (Cof G) and comfort features, cutaways, body and arm tucks, body thickness, timber and weight, pickup types and tones if electric, bridge types etc.
Anecdotally, here's why.
I bought my very first guitar in 1973 with my own money earned from an after school evening job in an era before that was easy to do so with as it is today with so many McCompanies employing casual youth labour. Guided by schoolmates and the salesperson, I bought a Yamaha nylon Classical (equiv of today's C40) knowing nothing about guitars. Whilst it served me well enough, knowing now what I do, I wouldn't have chosen it given the choice today, unless of course, I intended heading down the Classical genre path or had giant hands, the main encumberance of that instrument for me and my primary objection for rejection. The great thing is, today, you don't have to! There is so much more choice all of which is affordable.
Move on to the rebirth after my 45 year hiatus, and my first re-entry guitar (from my experience of also having owned an electric prior to the hiatus) was an electric. But I was buying blind. Over intervening years I'd forgotten pretty much everything, and certainly couldn't play even a chord when I decided to action my impulse and buy.
Although in the just over a year since I have bought all my others online, I bought that first in Nov 2017 as an intentional LMS walk in, listening to, analysing and ultimately heeding the small LMS sales person's advice. Although I was advantaged in knowing I wanted electric to learn on knowing how much easier they are to fret, I couldn't play a note, and felt justifiably awkward -vs embarrassed, handling any guitar to strum six open strings or even trying to assess a neck other than whether it feeling akin a length of 4" × 2" or not, as it was pragmatically pointless. There really was no point then in trying to assess guitars either overall or on feel personally, as I had insufficient experience or pertinent knowledge to do so. In the end, I had to wait 10 days for my guitar to be ordered in, as I wasn't taking the available unit in the model I decided upon, effectively the shop demo in a 'choice' of its colour. But the sales assistant had turned my direction from going with an Epiphone SG or conventional Squier Tele I originally had in mind to a HSS Strat clone. Whilst he had other objectives in mind too in his sales presentation, in retrospect, he also listened to where I wanted to go and what I wanted to play musically, and gave me generally sound advise. If I only had one guitar, the one he recommended was perfect for my needs then, now, and reassessing it at this time, will serve me into future too.
I think that the thing with any first guitar is to listen to those who do have the experience, assess their motivation, bias, and sincerity, then just dive in without either over-analysing it all to death or being afraid of making a mistake. Buy a reasonable piece of kit within a budget which won't break your personal circumstantial bank and have you crying if it turns out to be a choice which in hindsight could have been much much better. It's just a material thing. You can change it and buy another if in hindsight it turns out to be a duff choice. That's how I approached it. I'm still playing that 'first' guitar I bought in 2017 almost every day. It'd be every day, but with a stable of guitars now (I'm committed), it has to 'share'.🎸🎸🎸🎸🤔
