Practice Guitar
 

Hi All, Happy New Year!


Some advice or shared thoughts please!

I have sold most of the guitars I rarely use so I am left with my Martin Om28, my strat and an old Yamaha dreadnought which is more of a Jumbo size and I struggle to play because of its size.

I find I am playing my Martin all the time, even to practice. I am thinking about buying another OM / 000 size mid price guitar as my practice guitar.

What do you do? Do you regularly practice with your best guitar? I know a guitar should be used but I wonder if a second acoustic makes sense. Thanks for any thoughts. Thanks.

I don't have a practice guitar, I play them all, whether it's practicing or performing (for my friends, I'm not a professional gigging musician).

I don't really have a desire to purchase a "practice" guitar. The only think I've been thinking about is a "travel" guitar, like something I wouldn't lose sleep over if, once we're able to travel broadly again, TSA were to "work their magic" on it.

I don't understand the concept of a practice guitar. This suggests that you're nervous about wearing out your "best' guitar. The whole point of owning a guitar is having one that we prefer to play it all the time because -- well -- it's the best.

I understand not wanting to take a more expensive guitar out to play in public, or taking a second "beater" on the road as a travel guitar.

So -- no offense meant -- to answer your question -- a second "practice" guitar makes no sense. But that's just me.

I primarily play my Avalon (my best), Guild D-120 and Larrivee as I expand my Celtic journey. My J-45 (my 2nd best) and Martin I tend to use for other things so they have been sitting unplayed for a while.

If you want another guitar, get it. You don't have to make up an excuse with us, :D

I can see the point of a 'practice' or 'couch' guitar- one you can leave laying around, not having to put it away safe and sound in it's case. I currently have an old Conn (Tokai) that is my beater.
Why not look around for something like a used Yamaha AC3R, Seagull folk, etc.

I've never really thought of having a practice guitar. I practice on all of them, roughly equally. And even if I had a very expensive guitar, I think I'd do the same with it. I have multiple guitars for the variety of sound they produce.

if you have other people in the house that might be bothered by late night practice, you might consider a Yamaha Silent guitar. The nylon model is quitter than the steel string model. With headphones or ear buds they sound great.

I used to worry about needing a practice guitar but ultimately realized that what's the worst that's going to happen from playing it too much? Needing a refret? That's not the end of the world.

I practice on all my guitars.

I suggest you make the best music you can every time you take the guitar out of the case. They all have their idiosyncrasies, so play every day on your performance guitar. They're hard to wear out.

Both of my current guitars are wonderful (see sig) and I play both daily...including practice sessions. I find practice much more fun when I have the tone and playability of a great guitar to keep me inspired.

Thanks everyone. I will buy another decent guitar and rotate them for practice. My wife won’t mind, haha.

That's what I was thinking...

I would say whatever gets you to practice more is the answer. For the answer is always yes. For today, it’s all practice for the day the open mic’s come back.

Having a second guitar that is a “more worry free” instrument certainly has its place. You might consider a carbon fiber guitar that doesn’t have the same susceptibility to humidity and temperature changes as your OM.
During the winter months I have come to play my carbon fiber more often than my OM-28 because the former is on the stand and the later is in its case(with a humidifier).

I have no affiliation with the seller but there is an Emerald X20 in the classifieds.