If you're like me, every few weeks or months you start thinking about a new guitar.  You research the announcements about Gibson's latest Darkfire or Fender's 50th anniversary Jazzmaster guitar and you think "I gotta have that."  Hours are spent trolling the guitar shops, reading magazine reviews, looking for good deals online.  If you've got more guitars than decent pairs of shoes, you've got what Walter Becker calls Guitar Acquisition Syndrome.  It's all good, except for one thing: it takes time away from playing.

So my firm recommendation is: assuming you've already got one decent guitar, don't buy a new guitar in 2009.  Don't think about it.  Don't read about it.  Don't research it.  Nothing.  Nada.  Instead, put your time, money and effort into things that will truly improve your playing: like learning new songs, styles, techniques or scales. 

Last year, I managed to play guitar 360 days of the year.  Between family, work, exercise and travel, that didn't leave a whole lot of spare time.  Admittedly, I had a bit of a binge buying several cheap guitars in the last year to stow at my relatives houses to get more practice time. (And I'll be updating some of these reviews with videos in the coming months.)  Nonetheless, my advice is focus your time on where you're going to get the most benefit: practicing.

(Unless that Nigel Tufnel Ernie Ball "Mr Horsepower" guitar goes on sale.  Then all bets are off...)

• Guitar Acquisition Syndrome: Walter Becker, book by Jay Wright
• GuitarVibe: How to Get More Time for Guitar