Hi everyone I'm Maddie
I've been playing guitar for like a year, so I'm a bit of a noob at this. But I want to keep doing something I love because it is just so much fun.
This looks like a great place to learn so I think I'm in the right place

Hey Maddie from a cold and wet Sydney,

It's great meeting you. Where in Australia are you from? There are quite a few Aussies in the community by the way.

This is a fantastic place to learn, share, be motivated and get inspired. You'll pretty much get as much out as youi put in and then some. Neil is a genius and the community is the most supportive you'll find. The biggest regret you'll have is that you don't have enough time to properly explore everything the site has to offfer and especially the tease that is the lessons library.

One of the best ways to progress is to jump right in and record a video. Regardless of your level, it's a great way to keep track of your progress and you'll get fabulous feedback whether it's from one of our many advanced players in the community, someone who's tackled the same song or Neil himself.

Don't forget to have fun.

I hope we see you in the forum and posting soon.

Enjoy and feel free to tell us a little more about yourself.

Michele

Thanks Michele! I'm from the Gold Coast but I've been to Sydney a few times...not sure I like the weather there as much, but it's a great city.
I've started out on a 30 year old wayne dreadnought guitar, but I'm thinking about getting a new one. Its in pretty good knack though (looks just about new, and keeps in tune pretty well), but I want to have a good all-round guitar to play with at home. Any suggestions?

Hey Maddie from Adelaide. As Michele said, a few of us here. Gotta get in for an intro before you get corrupted by those wacky Yanks and Canadians. My 26 year old Daughter lives on the Gold Coast....not a bad spot! If I can suggest, I reckon Takamine make a great guitar for a really good price. My assumption is that you want to go for the entry level, and Tak are a really good option in my opinion. Of course there are many more. Find one that speaks to you and that feels good in your hands.

Welcome aboard.

G'day, Maddie. from a (finally) sunny Seattle in the upper-left corner of America. As Michele and Tony said, you'll meet lots of Aussies on TG. They're nice folks who like to hang out here when they're on parole.

Take your time buying your next guitar. You'll get lots of information on this site about the guitars that people own, and some of it will actually make sense.

As Michele said, have fun.

- dennis

Hey Maddie,

The Goldcoast is a nice place to visit. I have an uncle in Tweed and the weather is sweet there, well when it's not flooding. The warm is nice.

I started on a Yamaha FG415, I solid spruce topped dreadnought which cost me about $450 new at the time. It served me well for a while and then I was lucky enough to pick up something more suited to me in body shape and style with a seriously nice sound. I like to fingerpicking a fair bit and I now have a Larrivee which has a slightly smaller body and a wider neck. You ready need to play a few things to work out what will suit you best in sound-profile, style, shape and budget of course. If you're lucky like me you can pick up a really nice used guitar. But, of course you need to know what you're looking for and about the things that can go wrong if you go down that route (not that I knew much about buying a guitar when I got my second one ).

The hunting is fun, if crazy making. It's a good idea to take someone with you who knows what to look for. I suggest you read some guitar reviews and play a lot of them (though i do find it daunting to walk into a shop and just start playing). Enjoy.

Michele

Hi Maddie, welcome to TG from Montreal Canada. You are definitely at the right place to learn to have fun playing guitar. You might want to consider to have your guitar tuned up by a luthier. They would fix the height of the strings, fix the frets if they need to, which would improve the action (making easier to press on the strings), bringing your existing guitar to the ideal condition for that model of guitar for very little money . You might like it enough to keep it, maybe as a second guitar if you decide for a new one.

Marc