I'm going to buy a guitar  

Good for you for deciding to play guitar and buying your first guitar. You never forget your first guitar, I still have my first I got when I was little kid.
You might find some good links on this site for guitars

http://www.wonderverb.blogspot.com

Enjoy playing your guitar.

Hi, I Started with an acoustic and then bought an electric a few years later to try that. There are some different techniques in playing an electric like bending the strings. Are you stuck on an electric? I think it is harder to learn the basics on an electric guitar. In any case I think buying any decent guitar will cost you $235-250 minimum. That does not include a $25-75 case $40 quartz tuner, $100 Amp etc. My Dream guitar is $900 . One test ask someone to tune the guitar for you. Hold down the same string at each fret going toward the body of the guitar. If it is tuned you should hear the sound change evenly as you move up. If you hear a clunker you will know that 1 of the frets has a small defect and when you hold any string near that fret you will never get a true sound unless you go through an expensive repair. If it can be easily tuned the neck has no hidden cracks and tuning pegs are in good shape.
Bring a friend who can play or ask someone at the store to play a couple of your guitar choices so you can hear the guitar.
If you take lessons with a Music store that rents instuments they can offer you an inexpensive very basic student guitar to start until you see something that catches your eye and ear. It is hard to sell used guitars to get your money back on it. When you are ready to by don't go cheap. I hope you have fun.

Judging from your name and pic I'm assuming you want an electric guitar? First off, that's is good choice, I'm not sure why someone posted here that it's harder to learn the basics on electric. Totally wrong, I've been playing and teaching guitar for over 20 years and I highly recommend starting out with an electric.

Keep in mind with an electric that you will no doubt need an amp and probably some effects pedals or units so it will cost more in the long run, but they are much easier to play and more versatile.

I strongly suggest that you don't skimp on your first guitar. If you get a guitar that isn't of good quality, it won't play well and won't sound good and you probably won't want to stick with it. It makes learning an instrument that much harder if you are fighting the guitar because of low quality.

My best advice would be get a middle of the road Ibanez. They play well, sound good, are of excellent quality and very affordable. It would be a good idea to bring a friend to look at them with you, decide on a model and then price shop around for the best deal. (Only for new guitars)

Granted some may say that no two guitars are the same, even of the same model, and that is true. However if you go with a good brand like Ibanez, the production quality is good enough (espeically on this low end of a guitar) that you probably won't notice much difference, if any at all from guitar to another. A great place to find new guitars online is at http://www.music123.com/ I've done a lot of business with them over the years and have found them to be cheaper and have better customer service than musicians friend (enemy.)

Some specific things to look for is to make sure the neck is straight and not bowed, and also to check every note on every string, on every fret to make sure that rings clear and does not buzz when you play the note. Also try to find something that is comfortable, over flashy or looks.

I personally am fond of floating temelo systems, but it does make the guitar more expensive and it is harder to maintain, so you may to look for a "fixed bridge" guitar.

Hope that helps, if you have any other questions let me know.

Acoustic Guitars have tougher strings, and are harder to hold and bend. So it basically builds up stamina faster.

My first guitar is a FirstAct one, it is decent, around $120. But I suggest saving up for a nice $300 one, you'll be more satisfied in the end.

Hi Metallideth, my advice on this would be to learn the basics on an acoustic guitar first as I did the same befor switching to the electric. In my opinion it´s a better way as some start one at all into electric using effects and amps & what else and not being able to play in a propper way as I heard some shreeding on a guitar and not being able to bend a note to the right pitch and mostly sound out of tune and they even don´t recognize it, also it´s an expencive way to say. Better get a good quality acoustic you feel comfortable with in first place and learn the basic things as chords, strumming & picking techniques and also melodys. Then after you will see if you stick up with it as learning to play guitar isn´t easy and it takes years of practice in becomming good at it. If this all is what you want then you still can switch to an electric guitar later on, that´s my opinion. I hope this helps you a little to decide what to do cheers :)