Dear Khatt,

Go for it!

The guitar is probably taking over from the mandolin/octave mandolin as my main intrument now and I've been learning/playing it for the past 40 years. It's not too difficult to get to a reasonable level of proficiency fairly quickly. You'll need to get over the initial bother of building up callouses on the tips of your fretting fingers after which you don't get the initial soreness from the strings cutting in. I'm getting fairly heavily into jazz guitar at the moment which is a whole new level of complexity (and probably bars me from the Mudcat!) but you're never to old to learn I say!

For trying out some axes, I'd recommend the Acoustic Centre which if I remember correctly is in Wapping, just near the Dockland Rail Station. They have a good range from decent beginners guitars to top level so there should be something there to suit your budget. As many have extolled here, the LaSiDo range (Seagull, Simon & Patrick, Art & Lutherie, Norman) are pretty good value for money although there are plenty of other decent but afforable makes. Now...if you want some trhing good, I'd recommend a .... (no, better not, 'Spaw will be winding me up again!).

All in all, if you fancy a guitar...go for it. Reasonably easy to get started and an ultimately highly rewarding instrument.

Peace

Richard