lower my action

Action is pretty important and can be lowered on just about any guitar. If the action is too high and you are just starting out, you can get easily discouraged from the extra effort it takes to fret the strings. But after that, it's a matter of personal style, taste and even the gauge of strings that you use.

Electric guitars are usually easiest because there are saddle adjustments that will lower the strings. Acoustic guitars usually need to have the bridge, saddle or nut ground or replaced.

Here is the way I look at it:
Electric, I'll tinker myself using this site:
http://www.mrgearhead.com/ If you have a specific name brand guitar, check with their website to see if they have their own procedure for set-up.

Acoustic, I'll bring it to a qualified guitar tech.

Without making things too complicated (hopefully) you will probably see the phrase 'truss rod' when you research 'action'. But a truss rod will only go so far and shouldn't be used exlusively to lower action.

Hope this helps.

-Steve

You didn't say if this is an acoustic or electric. It's a good idea to try to learn as much as you can about your guitar's set-up. It's fairly easy to learn how to change strings, and adjust the string height on most guitars.

Acoustic, Lowering the action may require removing a bit of material from the saddle. Raising it may mean a new saddle or a shim under your existing saddle. If some strings are fine and others are too high or low, you should consider recontouring the top of your saddle.

How to, If you need to lower the height of your saddle, sandpaper attached to a flat surface works well. Simply slide the saddle back and forth across the abrasive, being careful to keep the bottom of the saddle flat. It helps to mark with a pencil how much material you wish to remove and then sand to that mark.

Electric, here's a site that will explain the different adjustments and different bridges. String Height and Bridge Adjustment

joe