Richard Garza: You know, I heard it on the radio a couple years ago. It went something like this. It said buy a guitar and be a star.

[over the hills and far away playing]

And so I did. And I thought this would lead me down the road to fame. Well I'm still looking. But over the years I've found out that the road to fame is one that you need to make choices. What I'm here today to do is to help you realize that purchasing a guitar is a process of evaluation and examination.

The first thing you need to do is you need to try to figure out what guitar will fit my needs. Second thing you need to do is you need to check the guitar for any flaws that it might have, because the manufacturer does not make them perfect. And the third thing you need to do is you need to learn how to take proper care of your guitar, learn the techniques that will make your guitar last as long as you would like it. This guitar right here I've had for 12 years. It cost me $1,400 and it's my baby.

Well-- to stop fiddling around-- let's start off by saying I have owned 25 different guitars. This one right here I've had for 12 years. I mostly play electric guitar because I used to be in a rock band. Well I've been through about 20 different electric guitars and-- let me tell you-- I'm still looking. Through a little bit of research, though, I can give you some tips that will help you out.

First thing you need to do is decide what type of guitar you need. Now, as most musicians do, we subscribe to flyers and to circulars-- mailers-- like this. This is Musician's Friend. There's other ones called Manny's Music and are several others. What this thing does right here, it gives you a selection of guitars.

Now depending on what type of guitar you want to play, you can be an electric guitar player or you can be an acoustic guitar player like this one. However, let me let you know, with an electric guitar they don't play by themselves. You need to get an amplifier and effects, and that cost a lot more money. Good thing about the acoustic is you get a pick and you can go.

So there are different types of-- the guitars also come in different types of strings. This one right here is a six-string. We also have 12-strings, which makes the guitar sound a little bit brighter. And there are four-strings, and those are usually called basses.

One thing that people do take into consideration whenever they're thinking about buying a guitar is they already got a preset notion in their mind. So what they do is they try to buy by manufacturer, by type. Usually people go out, they look for Fender, look for Gibson, Guild, PRS, Ovation. This right here is called a Takamine. It's a subsidiary company of Yamaha.

Another thing people do whenever they buy a guitar is they buy it for the color. Now one thing about these circulars, you can pick which guitar you want, and they even give you quite a few examples of colors you can buy. You can buy solid colors, or you can buy sunbursts, you can buy glitter, you can buy all kinds of guitars. Personally I like black guitars, because the way that the lights used to shine on me when I was on stage jamming it made me look real-- at least I believe it looked good.

[laughter]

And another thing I would tell you to do before you buy a guitar is look into all the warranties that they have for this guitar because this is a purchase that is very expensive. Like I said, this is $1,400 right here. Being a college student, $1,400 is tough to come by. So please check out warranties. Make sure that they'll take care of the guitar if there's something wrong with it.

So let's progress on to the way you can look for flaws in your guitar. It was Dan Erlewine of Guitar Player Magazine, wrote in his November 28, 1998 edition, there's one thing you can do that'll show you five different things you can look for in a guitar. He suggested this-- he said, hold your guitar up like this and look at it in this fashion.

Now the five things you're looking for. You're looking at the neck, which is this part of guitar right here. He said you look for the frets, which is this part right here-- these little silver things. You're looking at the bridge, which is where the strings come up and go over the neck. You're looking at the nut, which is where the string is going to and go to the tuning keys.

Now the first thing he said was, look at your guitar like this. First thing you want to do is look at the neck and make sure it isn't bowed-- or bent up like this-- because that could affect the sound of your guitar. You can hear a little bit of a twang. This guitar is 14-- I mean 12-- years old so it's got a little bit of wear and tear on it. However, I do try to take care of it.

He said the second thing you need to look for is the frets. Make sure that these things right here are all level. Make sure that they're all level, not one is sticking up above the other. Make sure they're not sharp either, because if you start playing you might be able-- you might tear the string, and it'll break, and then your guitar goes out of tune.

So third thing you need to look for is at the bridge. Whenever you look at it you want to make sure that all the strings are on the same level. You want to make sure that no string is above the other and make sure this bridge right here isn't too sharp, because if you're playing it, it could wear on the string and it could break.

And the fourth thing he said you look for is the nut, right here. This is where the strings come into and lead to the tuning keys. Now what Dan said was, if it's too deep you could be playing, it could wear on the string right here and it could break it at this point. Or, he said, if it's too shallow you could be playing, it could slip and your guitar could go out of tune. So it's something you need to look for.

And also he said, check the tuning keys right here. Feel them like this. Make sure that they're solid. Because if they're loose, guitar could lose tone, your string could slip, and then you'll have problems.

So let's move on to how you take care of a guitar. As you can see, this guitar right here-- like I say, it's 14 years old. One thing I would do is I'd clean it regularly. Now for those of you who don't like fingernails on the blackboard you might want to listen to this.

What I do is I take this rag right here and I run it across the strings. And what this does is this takes the acid off the strings. It makes them last longer, gives it better tone, gives it better quality.

And also, after I play it every time I wipe the body of the guitar. This takes the acid off the guitar, also off the paint. It makes it shine, it makes it look pretty-- you can see yourself-- and also it makes it last longer, keeps it pretty.

One thing I would suggest that you do after you play it and you put it up, use a gloss or a polish. Now this is a combination of a string polish and a body polish. I would suggest you use it, you put it on there, you wipe it on, you let it harden, and then you wipe it off about three minutes later.

So as you can see, there are many different things that will help you on your road to fame. If you follow all these instructions you too can be on a stairway to heaven.

[stairway to heaven playing]

Thank you.

[applause]