Guitar Accessories – Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar? Part 1
There are a number of guitar accessories that you might want to buy for your guitar. Guitar accessories are relatively cheap and if you are buying a guitar, you might be able to pick up a good deal if you want to buy a number of accessories as well.
Here is a list of guitar accessories to consider (in order of the most popular):
* Guitar bag or case
* Guitar tuner/pitch pipe
* Guitar strings
* Effects pedals/Foot Switches
* Amplifiers
* Guitar stands
* Plectrums (also known as picks)
* Guitar Leads/Cables
* Guitar straps
* Guitar Capo
* Guitar Slide
* Headphones
* Metronome
* Cleaning and maintenance (polish, nut file set, wrench set, fret file set)
* Footstool
* Stringwinder (also known as a pegwinder)
* Straplok set
* Power adaptor for effects pedals
Guitar Bags and Cases
If you plan on gigging a lot or travelling on planes/trains etc. I recommend buying a guitar case, otherwise a padded gig bag will do just fine. The Kinsman guitar cases and guitar bags are a very good quality and are also one of the most popular. The Kinsman guitar bags come in three grades.
1) Standard – hardly any padding and one small pouch for music books and accessories
2) Deluxe – quite well padded, with two pouches
3) Premium – extremely well padded, with large and small pouches and a shoulder strap.
The Kinsman guitar cases are made for Stratocasters, Telecasters, Les Paul shape, electric, acoustic or bass guitars.
Guitar tuner/pitch pipe
There are hundreds of guitar tuners to choose from on the market. The best brands in order of popularity* are:
* Korg
* Stagg
* Yamaha
* Intelli
* Seiko
* Qwik Tune
* Boss
* Ibanez
The two guitar tuners that stand out from the rest are the Stagg Automatic Guitar/Bass Tuner and the Korg GA-30. These two guitar tuners are sold more than any other guitar tuner on the market.
Guitar strings
It’s always wise to have a spare set of guitar strings to hand. You never know when one will brake and leave you in a difficult situation.
You will need to buy steel strings for electric, bass or acoustic guitars and nylon strings for classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitars
Here is a list of the top brands of guitar strings, in order of popularity*:
* Ernie Ball
* D’addario
* Martin
* Fender
* Elixir
* GHS
* Augustine
* Earthwood
* Dan electro
* Gibson
* Markley
* Newtone
* Savarez
* Rotosound
* Darco
* Dean
* Elites
* Thomastick
* Tonesearch
* Maxima
* Warwick
* Rickenbacker
* PRS
* Legacy
* John Pearse
* DR
Effects pedals
For some groovy sounds you will need to buy an effects pedal. The two most popular are the Jim Dunlop GCB-95 Original Cry Baby Wah Wah Effects Pedal and the Ibanez Tone-Lok Series SM7 Smash Box Effects Pedal.
Here is a list of the top brands in order of popularity*:
* Ibanez
* Jim Dunlop
* Korg
* DigiTech
* Vox
* MXR
* Yamaha
* Danelectro
All guitar amplifiers sound different. Some (like Marshall and Line 6) are good for Rock and Roll, others have a softer and less bright sound like the popular Vox amps and Mesa Boogie.
For beginners, I would recommend either the Peavey Backstage or the BB10 blaster amp.
The Peavey Backstage is by far the most popular and best value for money beginner’s guitar amp on the market.
To be continued – Part 2
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