Can You Hear The Difference? First Acoustic vs. Dream Acoustic Guitar

The shootout starts around 6:45 if you want to jump straight there, but I wanted to tell the story of my first guitar before the comparison!

I was a manager at Sam Ash for over eight years. Every night while we close the store I would go to the acoustic room and pick up every single guitar that I couldn’t afford. The one Guitar that kept speaking to me was a Taylor 410 CE. I must’ve played that guitar every night for years, but I couldn’t afford it. So one night I was stuck at the store doing inventory and one of my managers hands me a guitar and says can you find the SKU for this item it didn’t have a tag. I was like are you kidding me? When I open the case it had a birthday card signed by some of my coworkers and all of my family and friends surprising me with a 410 CE for my birthday. I’ll never forget that day. And I’ve been playing The same guitar for the last 15 years. Because of that guitar I was able to write songs and get gigs that eventually paid for the house that I’m in now. Lol crazy man!

The Taylor is worth 10 times more purely due to the history it has with you.

when his first guitar is far costlier than your dream guitar

This guy's guitars: $500 and $5000 My guitar: $50

The first guitar I ever bought was due to some really sad circumstances. My dad was diagnosed with Cancer, and had played guitar for years. He told me to sell his guitars when he passed away. Suffice to say I wasn't happy with that, went out and bought a guitar and learned how to play. He has passed away some 6 years ago now but I practice and play every day. I still have my first guitar, and even his first guitar. Wouldn't change it for the world.

When I eventually went to buy my 'good acoustic', I went to a little store in Sint Truiden called Mick's Muziekgamma. The shop owner, Mick, is a wonderful no-nonsense guy. I once asked him what to look for when buying a drum set. He said: "Hit it. If it makes noise, you're good." As a beginner I often went to him because I thought my guitar needed fixing. On several occasions he tested the guitar and just sent me home again. "Guitar's fine, practice more. No charge." This time, I asked him if he had a decent acoustic, preferably used, that would 'be good enough to gig'. He said: "Weeeelllll, you could buy my old guitar. 's Been my workhorse for 20 odd years when I wouldn't risk my Martin." So I opened the case, expecting some roadworn axe... and it was just immaculate. It almost literally sang to me like in the movies when they open the treasure chest: "Aaaaaaaaaa!". There wasn't the tiniest scratch on it that I could find, not even worn frets. It's a 1990 Martin Shenandoa HD 2832 and Mick made his own bone bridge for it. Not top of the line by any means, but man, to this very day it is the best acoustic I've ever played. Then one day, years later, I was working at a music festival when a friend called me to say my apartment was on fire. I rushed over on my bike during the hottest day of the year and saw that one side of the building was almost completely destroyed. The side of the building where I kept all my guitars next to the wall under the sloping roof. When the firemen let me go inside to get my stuff out, the entire place was black with soot, drenched in water and a good part of the roof was just gone. I had kept my Shenandoah in a cloth-covered styrofoam case, which had holes melted through to the inner lining and glass shards sticking out. When I pulled the guitar out, it was still in tune. All I ever found in damage was a tiny crack in the lacquer. It's still the best acoustic I've ever played.

I was 14 years old. I had gone through 3 guitars that were unusable. There was a CD/movie store in the mall. I’ll never forget playing the only and last guitar they had there. It sounded like heaven. Only defect it has was it was cracked from the button. Damage wasn’t so big that I knew I could fix it. My dad ended up paying for it. I think it was $80. I loved the hell out that guitar. Everyday after school and play for 4 to 5 hours, I would be in the computer listening to music and finding the melodys in the frets . I was clueless there was guitar tabs or YouTube tutorials. This was 2006. I would watch movies without bringing my guitar with me. I had traveled all over Mexico and I had written the states of where I had traveled. I got married in 2011. My marriage was so toxic that I remember my ex wife exploded on me to shut the hello up. That she was tired of my playing. I remember getting so emotional that I broke that guitar. That my own wife didn’t support my love of music. I regretted breaking it. All my years of hard work , memories & traveled went away. I had boughten a Breedlove. It was nice but it didn’t have that bright tone that cheap $80 guitar had. My marriage had come to an end. All I had was my clothes & guitar. I had quit playing guitar for 3/4 years after my divorce. I had my Breedlove in storage. I wanted to get rid of it. But I remembered the good memories I had with it. I used to play & sing songs to my daughter when she was in the womb. It had meaning. I’ve had it in storage to give to my daughter when she’s older. She’s 8 years old now. I had upgraded to my dream guitar. A Taylor 214ce Deluxe Grand Auditorium. Been loving it ever since.

My first guitar was a Stella my Dad won in a poker game. I was in the 3rd grade and took it to school in a garbage sack. (the cool kids had cases) Fast forward 50 years...I'm a full-time working musician and somehow came across (what I thought was) my first guitar on facebook marketplace. I immediately went and checked it out. And yes, from the moment I held it, I knew it was mine, bent tuning peg and all! The story on how the guy aquired it checked out. Stella is home now...

my great grandpa is 98 and he has the 23rd Gibson ever made. it’s crazy!

There's definitely a difference but it's important to recognize that "first acoustic" is a "dream acoustic" for MANY people. Most players are rocking $200 epiphones. That Taylor is a lifetime guitar.

Rhett you touched a nerve with this one. My first guitar was a Martin D-35 purchased off the wall from Zaverellas music in Northern Virginia in 1970. I was playing drums in a garage band with friends and wanted something to entertain myself with and my guitar playing friends all told me this was a good one. Years went by and I travelled all around the country eventually hitting 48 states and I gave up the drums as I found I didn’t make the grade when I got to the Bay Area in California and turned into a reasonably competent guitar player but through it all it was me and my old Martin. I wrote with it, gigged with it and just plain old lived with it for 40 years till one day I didn’t have the next months mortgage payment and I sold it. I felt pretty good about it as I had payed $600 with a HSC and I sold it for $3000 but within a few months I began to regret what I now view as a moment of weakness and I know now that I sold one of my best friends to pay the rent. Jeez am I a dumb fuck or what. Anyhow if you’ll take a bit of advice from an old picker and I might add an admirer......Don’t ever sell that Taylor. That’s a job for your grandkids when you’re dead and gone. Thanks for letting me rant and keep on pickin’, Rick

Mine is a $30 acoustic made by a local brand. Been playing it for the past 12 years. It's now scratched, has minor damages, one tuning peg handle is broken(I use a pincer to tune it). Still sounds so beautiful.

Not my first, but my favorite still is one that my wife owned when we met. I had been playing for about 8 years and when we started dating I saw in the closet at her house this old Washburn dreadnought acoustic. Not a lick of visible wood, the whole thing is solid black. It had 3 strings, and they were rusty. I asked her if I could take it and clean it up, and she said "oh I got that for a guitar class in high school. It was like $115 Christmas special at Guitar Center. It's not really worth cleaning up". 21 years together later, that guitar has been used on 7 different albums, helped me write a ridiculous amount of songs, and it's been to 4 countries and roughly 22 states with me. I've spent well into a $800 having it setup again and again every few years, entertaining luthiers with "what can we do with it now". But I know, there is no other guitar on the planet, that connects with me the way that one does. I'm up to 17 guitars in my collection, between electrics and acousitcs, but that guitar always sits near my work station ready to write another song.

Your first guitar was $500?😅 I'm getting my second guitar for $200.

I arrived in Hawaii in 1978. I was 21 years old. I had one cheap guitar or another since I was 12. When I got to Hawaii as a young airmen living in the barracks, I needed to find a guitar. I picked up the local newspaper and found a 3-4 year old Yamaha (Nippon Gakki) FG 300. 42 years later, that guitar still sits by my bed and I pick it up every day even if only to play it for a few minutes before going to sleep or when I wake up. It has not been in a case for at least 40 years and it still looks wonderful and plays great. Over the years I've accumulated at least 14 or more additional guitars, both acoustic and electric, from Ovation to Fender to Gibson to Epiphone and more, both 6 and 12 strings. I love them all and never plan on selling any of them as anyone reading this would understand. But my unquestionable favorite remains the Yamaha. One of the tuning keys stripped a couple years ago so I had some gold Grovers put on it that beautifully match the dark patina of the almost 50 year old wood. It still sounds as good or better than any other acoustic I've owned or played and seems to sound better every year. I keep reminding my 15 year old daughter and my wife how important that guitar is so when the day comes and I am gone and my guitar collection goes up on Craigslist, my daughter will keep the Yamaha for the rest of her life to think of me. 🤞

So just a few weeks ago my older brother offered to sell me his 2004 Taylor 514ce for an amazing price. I had owned a number of laminate guitars through the years, but never had a really great"forever guitar." I had always dreamed of having a Martin, but could never afford one. When I saw the intense beauty of the 514's red cedar top and solid mahogany I was already in love with the instrument. But when we put on new strings and began playing it, I had the kind of Christmas morning feeling all through me. I had played a number of Taylors, Martins, and Gibsons in recent years, but none of them to me sounded as good as the 514 now aged 16 years. I don't know if that's a fact, but when you have something amazing that's now your own, nothing else compares.

The Bourgeois: ''I hate it when you talk about your ex''

Having listened to my brother play the guitar for more than forty years, I decided to try to learn to play the guitar. So, no problem off to my local guitar store. I spent several hours looking at guitars and driving the salespeople crazy with a million questions. I made my selection, Fender F230 about forty years old, but I felt like the condition was great. A little background, I am a mechanical engineer and worked in the aerospace industry, I really did not have time or interest in the guitar, now that I am retired why not. Things were moving along playing scales so much my wife asks if I could practice in my shop and not in the house, sure. Well at 72 years old some things take longer to learn and do, fingers don't move as well and for sure not a quick. Two months into my new adventure I suffered a tragic accident. Clearing some brush and fallen trees using a chain saw, a slip and I fell onto the saw cutting my ring finger of my left hand. Surgery was required to repair the damage. Today the finger is working albeit a bit slower and it is hard to bend into some of the chord positions, but I am still trying to play. I have been watching your channel along with Rick Beato and others. I am watching the fingerstyle and the timing, Thank you for the videos. I may not earn a Grammy, but if I can play some easy tunes and have fun learning then it is worth every second and dollar. The comments are long, but you said you like to hear from us. Keep up the great video work.

Im on my first guitar still, and I’ve only been playing for about a month. I had a bulging disc in my back which prohibited me from doing all that I usually do like running and basketball. So I needed something to do, and I had always wanted to learn guitar. I found my dad’s old guitar which was his first and only, and he hadn’t played it in nearly a decade. I played everyday for hours for 2 weeks, and buying a guitar for myself hadn’t even crossed my mind due to needing to save up for the semester. One day I’m practicing in my room, and my parents walk in with a fender box. I was beyond thankful, and I hope one day that my kid will learn on my CD-60