The first decision to make is a fairly general one and will hinge on what playing style you personally want to go into. Do you want to become a singer-songwriter? Get an acoustic guitar. Are you into heavy metal? Get an electric guitar. Some styles are pretty obvious, but for someone who is into multiple genres, the best bet may be to look at pricing. Generally speaking, an acoustic guitar will be slightly more expensive than an electric guitar of comparable quality, particularly if it was hand-crafted. However, with an electric guitar, an amp is also required to play.

This seems like an obvious answer, but one of the best options in this scenario is to talk to someone who works at the guitar shop. It's likely that they have dealt with many people who were unsure what guitar to buy, and even many who did not even know how to play the guitar in the first place. But sometimes, it is nice to have a little more background knowledge.

Two basic categories of acoustic guitars exist: dreadnoughts and classical guitars. A dreadnought is the acoustic guitar that is most common; it can be heard in old Beatles albums, as well as in Eric Clapton's acoustic work. It has steel strings, which is the central differentiating piece between a dreadnought and a classical guitar, because classical guitars use nylon strings.

Electric guitars usually conform to two bigger categories as well: single-coil pickups and dual-coil pickups. The difference in pickups on a guitar directly affects the tone of the instrument, and the difference is largely based purely on personal preference. Single-coil guitars, like the Fender Stratocaster, are generally used for country, blues and rock music, whereas dual-coil guitars, like the Gibson Les Paul, have a “heavier” sound and are used in music as diverse as jazz to heavy metal. However, in the hands of the right player, any instrument can be used for any style of music.

Guitars can vary in price, being as low as $100 for a standard, entry-level guitar, to being well over $5,000 for some of the higher-end models. Most people would likely recommend getting a cheap guitar to start, so that if you abandon it, there is a minimal financial consequence. I tend to believe that the likelihood of abandoning the instrument goes down if there is a financial investment. Not only because there is an underlying obligation to stick with it because of the money, but because cheaper guitars are actually much harder to play than their more expensive counterparts (although this should not be taken as a blanket statement, as there are exceptions to every rule).

Want to sound like Hendrix? Get a Fender Stratocaster and a loud amp. Want to sound like Slash? Get a Les Paul and a funny hat. Want to sound like Bob Dylan? Get an old acoustic guitar, beat the hell out of it and do not take singing lessons. Want an original sound that is all yours? Spend a few hours—possibly even multiple visits—in a guitar shop and just mess around until you find a sound that resonates with you. Most guitar shops do not mind this (well, perhaps as long as you shy away from the $5,000 guitars as much as possible) and it is probably the most effective way to find the guitar that is just right for you.

Guitars are more affordable and accessible now than they have ever been, and most guitar shops also offer free lessons for a limited time when a new guitar is purchased (not to mention the online resources that are available). There has never been a better time to make the jump to guitar playing.