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Lesson 2
Prepare Your Guitar
2.1 Introduction
When you're a beginning guitarist, you probably don't own a Taylor, a Martin or a Lowden guitar. Don't worry - if you like playing guitar enough, you will own all of these guitars one day. But right now you may own just a student's instrument, or less, or much less. That does not matter. My first guitar was forty years old, sounded like a banjo under water and looked like a truck ran over it. As long as you're a beginner, almost any guitar will do. But there are a few crucial conditions:
 The neck of the guitar should be straight;The frets need to be in relatively good shape; The action should be low;The strings should be new and thin. So, what does this all mean?
2.2 The neck must be straight
Depending on the type of strings and their thickness (gauge), the strings pull at your guitar with a force equal to some 80 to 150 pounds. Your guitar should be strong enough to withstand this force. For this reason, nearly all steel string guitars have an adjustable, steel reinforcement bar (truss rod) inside the neck. When the neck of the guitar bends forward by the force of the strings, the distance between the frets and the strings (called the action of the guitar) will increase. This will make the guitar harder to play. The truss rod can then be used to set the neck straight again.
In order to check if your guitar's neck is straight or not, simply put the guitar in front of you with the body on the ground, and look down along the neck. You should see something like this:
 Check by looking down along the neck
If the neck of your guitar is severely bent, you will see it immediately. If your guitar has an adjustable truss rod, ask someone to try and straighten the neck for you. If your guitar does not have an adjustable truss rod, as is usually the case with nylon string guitars, there is not a lot you can do. You may want to replace the strings with an 'extra light' set, which may relieve the neck a little, or simply lower the string tension, but it probably means that your guitar will be hard to play in any case. This does not always mean that you cannot play it at all, it just requires more force.
If you see a warped ('spiraled') neck, you may have to go look for another guitar. Warped necks are often impossible to play, and cannot easily be repaired.
 a warped neck
A more accurate way to check for neck straightness is the following. Press the upper, thick string of the guitar down, at the position of the first fret (using your left hand). Keep your left hand where it is, and press the same string at the fret where the neck joins the body of the guitar (typically the 12th or 14th fret), using your right hand.
 checking the neck by pressing down the low E-string
The string, which is under tension, will be perfectly straight between the two frets. So you can use it as a ruler, or a 'straight edge'. If you pluck the string (using a finger of your left hand), the string should sound without rattling against the frets. Yet, halfway the neck, the string should be as close as possible to the frets, half a millimeter at most. If the distance between the string and the frets is more than that, the neck should be adjusted backwards. If the string touches the frets, the neck is bent too far back and needs to 'released'.
If your neck is not straight, you should only adjust it yourself if you know what you're doing. Otherwise, ask a friend or your local music store.
2.3 The frets need to be in relatively good shape
On steel string guitars, the frets will wear out over the years, because the strings will create dents in the frets. Some areas (depending on the guitarist and his playing style) will wear out sooner than elsewhere, but most 'erosion' typically takes place at the frets near the head the guitar. Most of the time, this is not a big deal. However, as the dent gets deeper, as a result the string will be pressed closer to the fretboard, and this may cause 'string buzz'. The string starts to buzz against a fret somewhere higher up the neck, which is a nasty sound. Severe dents in the frets also make the guitar harder to play, even if the neck is perfectly straight.
Refretting a guitar is a relatively easy job, but not always cheap. Typically, you only refret a good guitar. If you think your guitar needs refretting, ask your local music store about their opinion. If a fret job costs as much as a new guitar, the choice is often simple.
2.4 The action should be low
The 'action' of a guitar is the distance between the strings and the frets. Low action (strings close to the frets) allows faster and easier playing. But if you pluck the strings loud, they may buzz against the frets. High action allows higher volume, and sometimes a better tone, but also requires more force in your left hand and, typically, more 'pain'. Higher action will also slow down the speed of your left hand.
The proper action of your guitar is a personal thing. Fingerstyle guitar typically allows fairly low action. Unfortunately, most guitars have their action set way too high. So odds are high that you have to lower the action of your guitar.
The action of your guitar comes in two parts: the nut action and the saddle action. The nut action is determined by the depth of the slots in the nut (the little 'comb' at the head of your guitar, which guides the strings to the tuners). Check the nut action as follows:
Press the low E-string (the thick, upper string, closest to you) at the position of the first fret. Check the distance between the string and the second fret.  Checking the nut action (1)
Release the string, and check the distance between the string and the first fret.  Checking the nut action (2)
In the ideal case, the two distances indicated earlier are exactly the same. If the distance between the string and the first fret is much more than the distance between the string and the second fret when you press the string down, your nut is too high. Your guitar will be hard to play at positions close to the head. In this case, you have to get a narrow file, pull the strings out of the slots (you may have to lower the tension first) and carefully file out the slots a little. Do this EXTREMELY CAREFULLY! If you file away too much, the strings will buzz as soon as you touch them. A tiny drop of cyanoacrylate glue (crazy glue) may come to the rescue in this case. Dip the end of a needle in a drop of glue, and apply a tiny drop in the nut slot. Make sure it dries well before you put back the string. The saddle action has to do with the height of the saddle, the narrow strip (made of bone or plastic etc.) in the slot on the bridge of the guitar (the bridge is the wooden plate glued on the top).
 Bridge (wood) and saddle (bone)
If the saddle is too high, the guitar will be hard to play. The saddle action can be determined by the distance between the strings and the 12th fret. On my guitars, this distance is never more than the thickness of a nickel (some 2 mm).
 checking the saddle action
Most guitars come with a relatively high saddle, so you may want to lower yours. The best thing is to take the original saddle out, and leave it untouched. This will be your backup in case you mess up. Get yourself a new bridge saddle (the're available all over the internet and in most music stores) and first shape it similarly to your original saddle (make sure not to touch one of the flat sides, which will be the bottom). Put the saddle back in your guitar and check if it fits. Then remove it again, and sand it off at the top, with a file and sandpaper, carefully shaping it to your liking. Make sure the top profile, as seen from the side, is identical to the original saddle. Put it back regularly, check often, and proceed slowly. Play your guitar hard every time you try. When the strings just begin to buzz when you play hard, you're done. The strings will not buzz if you play normally.
I believe that every serious guitarist should be able to adjust the action of his guitars up to perfection, depending on his personal playing style(s). This is a matter of purchasing the proper tools (fret files, nut files etc.), and getting experience. Use an old guitar to practice. Buy some spare nuts and saddles in case you mess up. Note: if you have a relatively good or expensive guitar, leave this sort of work to a professional, until you have mastered the craft!
2.5 The strings should be new and thin
When you're a beginner, make sure to buy an 'extra light' set of strings. These strings will sound very thin and clear and probably lack volume and body, but they will also be much easier to play, because the string tension is relatively low. That is important when you're a beginner. In the case of nylon strings, it does not really matter what gauge of strings you buy. Nylon strings have low tension anyway, and are much thicker, so they will 'cut' less in your fingertips. Never put steel strings on a nylon string ('Spanish') guitar! It will most probably ruin the instrument because of the high string tension.
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