We asked guitarists what their biggest obstacle was while learning to play. Answers ranged from difficulty learning complex hand mechanics to painful fingertips to overall instrument size, weight, and cost. We took these problems to our builders and design team and challenged them to find a total-guitar solution. There are no shortcuts to success when learning to play guitar, but there are a few things that make the journey a little easier, and we included them all in our new EasyPlay guitars. When you're learning guitar, play smarter, not harder.
Before the calluses comes the pain. We're not going to lie. It hurts. Those sensitive fingertips go through a lot of torture in those first few months, and many want-to-be players check out around this time.
We shortened the scale length on our EP guitars to lessen the tension on the strings. Then we swapped out the strings for lighter weight ones, and developed a custom action setup specific to our EP Guitars to get the strings closer to the frets. This combination of enhancements makes the strings easier to press down when making notes and chords and takes the pressure off of your hard-working fingertips so you can keep learning with less pain and less breaks.
Nothing sucks the joy out of learning to play faster than practicing hard-to-reach chords until your hands cramp. Some seventh and ninth chords will tangle your fingers and feel impossible to reach. You'll need yoga for your fingers after practicing some of those.
Chords are the building blocks of music, and playing things correctly with the right fingering from the very beginning will set you up with a strong foundation. We shortened the scale length on our EP guitars from a traditional 25.5" scale length to 24.75". This minimal change makes all the difference for your hands. It reduces the distance between each fret just enough to help you better reach and master every chord from an A major to that dreaded F major barre.
There's plenty to consider when choosing a guitar. Aside from sound and style, comfort is a top priority. Neck profile, body shape, body depth, scale...these things all play an important role in how comfortable and easy a guitar is to play. Larger instruments can be unwieldy and uncomfortable for new guitarists.
EP guitars are all about comfort. We made the body shape and depth smaller than a typical acoustic, easier to hold, and we designed the neck profile for maximum comfort. But it's not just about how it feels when you hold it. Size impacts sound as well. The smaller body size of an EP guitar produces a more even tone to help you learn notes and chords as you play.
