I've been playing the guitar for over eight months now, and during that time I've relised why everyone keeps saying my guitar is terrible. Well lets just say its a Marshall and move on shall we? ok. Im looking to buy a new guitar, hopefully under £200. Any help on whats good? I apologise for the pink writing.

depending on the type of guitar you want, you can pick up a 2nd-hand mexican fender stratocaster/telecaster for that price, or possibly an epiphone les paul for a few pounds more, deffinitely worth etting 2nd hand though because for 200 quid you wont get much better if at all than your current marshall axe

please RMFP... read my fine posts... on this topic

all the information you need... proabably none of which you want...

but IMHO you're never gonna get that "magic bullet" recommendation, you HAVE to know what you're dealing with, weigh the pros and cons of every possiblity

and then you have to go PLAY the thing to know whether it's right or no...

so... go RMFP... read my fine posts

Just get  something that feels good, and sounds decent, you can always make them sound better.
And its not the guitar, if you just started playing man, every guitar you touch is gonna sound bad, no offense, but thats how it was for me.  Now even the most garbage guitars can sound decent. Its all in YOU, not IT.

just keep on playing with your guitar and get strength in your fingers.
you choose a better instrument later. 8 months is very short.

good luck

if.. IF your any where near london, try denmark street near oxford street and soho. Its basically a road of guitar and drum shops. the people around there are really cool, and if you go somewhere like Andys, they will help you find a good guitar that suits you for not much money at all.
I've bought loads of stuff from around there, and its all been really good quality.
Otherwise, find a guitar shop near you and just play a few till  you find something that works for you.
It doesnt HAVE to be the best quality guitar to sound really good, because there are tequnics you can use to improve the sound and sound quality once you have got a bit more experince.
have fun 

My favourite guitar is my cheap  old Tanglewood accoustic. Its the one I learned on and so its the one I know the best and it knows me. I own a couple of much more expensive guitars  and I can honetly say that I can get much more out of the Tanglewood than any of them.

this is true...

if you know how to play a guitar, you know how to make it sound good.

i'm not saying that there's no such thing as a crappy guitar, but once again:

if you know how to play your guitar, you know how to make it sound good.

thank god for nunly81 - at LAST someone's arguing that its the player that's important - NOT THE GUITAR!! 

if someone asks a builder how they managed to make that wall so straight, he doesn't instantly reply "Ive got a really expensive trowel"!!!  ITS HIS ABILITY AND EXPERIENCE!!!

having said that, threes still no point is playing an instrument that isn't inspiring you.  go down your local guitar shop and introduce yourself to the guys there.  explain what you're looking for, what music you like listening to and how much you wanna spend.  if your respectful of their experience and listen to what they say then i can guarantee that they'll be happy to spend ages with you finding the right guitar for you.  lets face it ... they work there because they like talking about guitars - if your polite and nice to them then they'll be more than happy to talk to you and advise you.

final comment - dint get hung up on brand.  if you took two guitars of identical quality and put two different names on them (perhaps "Gibson" and "Tanglewood") then i can guarantee that the gibson would be more expensive.  there's a lot of brand snobbery in guitars ... and unless you careful, you WILL pay more than you have to.

again, listen to the guys in the shop and trust their experience.

have fun !!

jackson brownes guitarist play a hondo ...

You don't give us many clues as to whether you play acoustic or electric? and in what style? (i.e. wild & bendy or soft & strummy ). Nevertheless check out some of the other posts on the Gear Forum hints & tips on buying either.

ENTHEON The Electric Guitar Buyers Guide:
http://forum.bandamp.com/Gear_Talk/6231.html

ENTHEON The Acoustic Guitar Buyers Guide:
http://forum.bandamp.com/Gear_Talk/6228.html

SMOODS thinking of buying a new guitar:
http://forum.bandamp.com/Gear_Talk/3615.html

and as we say on here... 'always listen to RandomDave'.

Now to SETUP - I worked in a music shop in my formative years and one of the many things I learned was that without the correct setup & the strings that suite you, even the most expensive Gibsons & Fenders play like ***t. If you are on limited funds, a new set of strings & a decent setup may do the trick in the short term, while you practise your art and go try as many guitars as you can in your local music stores.

So what is setup ?? the short answer is; where you pay a guitar tech. to get you the lowest possible action (the height of the strings above the fretboard), without the strings buzzing (unintentionally vibrating against the frets) from any string in any position along the entire length of the fretboard. This involves adjusting the truss rod to tension the neck against the combined string tension etc. etc. amongst other things, which is why it is best left to a guitar tech. (I have seen too many DIY efforts).

You can figure out from the above, that changing the guage of strings you are using will affect the neck tension and therefore the setup requirements. So decide on the string guages you are comfortable playing first (by playing different guitars at yer shop & asking 'wot strings are on this?'). Style of playing tends to dictate the string set you decide on (see first paragraph). Keep in mind that you can buy strings individually, so if you play electric & use a set of 009's (the guage of the top E string) but the standard set comes with an 016 3rd(G) string and you find this too heavy, then you can buy individual 015 (or 014) strings instead, rather than change the whole set to the lighter 008's.

Playing a badly set up guitar when you are starting out is going to dent your confidence and may even put you off playing. Go and play a well set up instrument in a shop where they know what they are doing and will give you the time of day - make is irrellevent. Then you'll know how it feels to play something that you're not having to fight all the time and hopefully find out that you don't play as badly as you thought.

P.S. NEVER buy a guitar unseen over the Internet. You wouldn't buy your Wife over the Internet would you ! Well to a guitar player it amounts to the same thing.

JB plays a Honda? what?

My husband bought my Taylor 350CE cutaway BEAUTY on the internet.

she's a wonder.  mint....not a scratch on her....hardshell fits like a glove....action to die for.

maybe he just lucked out.....but you HAVE to research the seller.

mb

Maybe you should get an Ibanez I think it is a little early to b going for the Really good guitars. ex. Gibson, Fender
I do think epiphone might suit you.
I have been playing guitar for 5 and a half years.
The guitar I am buying is a Fender Mexican Deluxe Strat.

I Have An Ibanez RG Series Guitar With Upgraded Japanese Pickups I Bought For £200 You Might Want To Have A Try At Ibanez, Their Guitars Have A Unique Sound But Its Quite Nice...