Hey guys. I've just gotten here on campus at college and realized that one of my many goals in life is to learn how to play the guitar. And, seeing as how my personal selection of music is hard rock and metal, I decided I'd try to emulate the demigods that i listen to. So anyways, my problem is, I'm looking for a good guitar and amp setup, that's cheap. Any help from you all would be most appreciated.
I've just started learning too, but I just pinched a mates guitar and amp I think Yamaha make some cheap stuff that is ok... just to get you started
The Squier kits are pretty much all you need to get going. Whilst the equipment doesn't have the best sound in the world, it's a great starting point if you want to start chugging ASAP. My advice, if you REALLY wanted to learn and appreciate the guitar as an instrument, would be to get yourself a relatively cheap nylon strung classical guitar. First, get over the randomly strumming/picking any random chord phase. Next, learn the basic pentatonic scales, chords, notes, octaves, power chords, barres, string bending, etc. Then learn how to play jazz - the chords, scales, rhythmn, etc. Basically, all I'm saying is instead of throwing yourself into palm muting power chords for the rest of your guitar-playing life, learn the instrument. It'll make you a better musician, on a higher level than other guitarists, and provided you're well practised - you'll kick any chuggers arse when shredding. If you just want to play, the Squier kits are pretty much all you need to get going. Whilst the equipment doesn't have the best sound in the world, it's a great starting point if you want to start chugging ASAP.
I can understand what you're saying. I guess my next question is. If i'm going to buy a guitar, should i buy a quality guitar to begin with, or just buy a cheapo one to screw around with?
Get a cheapish one. Go into a shop, tell the salesman your budget and your requirements, and he'll make a recommendation. If you're just after an electric - a Yamaha Pacifica 112 is lovely.
Pftt if you really want to learn the electric guitar, than most guitars under £100 is pretty pointless, there tones are nasty, and the action on them is pretty poor, if you want a cheap start up guitar, look at the Epiphone gibson copies, they range from £120-300 (unless you want the epiphone complete copies then your looking at £600 ) but ive used a Epiphone Les paul special 2 for about 2-3 years and its great, got a lovely tone for the price and a nice shape and colour, mm black, getting rid of it this christmas though as investing in a Gibson SG Voodoo Yamaha ones are ok, but there a bit scratcy and have that annoying punk-pop tone to them, if you want quality for the price go to epiphone (but for the love of god keep the **** away from encore and vintage). From what ive heard the squire kits are ok too, just dont like the shape of strats and tele's though...SG & Les Paul > * - M@ ps are there many guitar players on the forums (I guess JADS is one ) As we should have a musical instrument forum, or at least a guitar set up- equipment pro's and con's thread Amp and lead wise, unless your going to have £1000 to spend on heads and stacks, any amp will suit you really, if your playing electric for rock/punk etc have a look into a cheap distortion pedal, if your in america you can get em off ebay for around $30 for DOD ones, or $50+ for some nice BOSS ones... guitar playing is class, and a great skill/party piece to have, or band wise
STAY AWAY FROM CHEAP GUITARS Sorry, I had to make that clear. If you really want to learn to play, buy the best guitar you can afford. A cheap guitar will probably be badly setup, sound crap, difficult to play and will have no resale value should you wish to upgrade later. Note that there is a difference between inexpensive guitars and cheap guitars. Oh, and for the love of God get it from a real instrument shop, not an argos! If you're going to get anywhere with the guitar then you're going to want to practice. If your guitar is pants then you're not going to want to play it, hence you'll not get very good. I would also recommend staying away from Nylon string guitars if you wanna "Rawk", mainly for the same reasons as above. It is perfectly acceptable to learn proper technique and theory on an electric! Anyway, ranting aside, here are my recomendations: Squire make pretty decent guitars for the money (and they have that all important Fender link). Also worth a look are the "Vintage" brand- www.jhs.co.uk, along with a brand called Cort who aren't very well known but make good inexpensive guitars. The Yamaha Pacifica range comes recomended too. As for amps, I would recommend a small marshall practice amp or a Behringer V-amp. I would stay away from Epiphone unless you're desperate for the headstock to have the word Gibson on it. I know there are some absolute beauties out there, but Epiphone have a bad reputation when it comes to quality control and the quality of their components. To be honest, the best advice is probably to go into a guitar shop with a mate who can play, and have a look at what's in your price range. Finally, the forums at www.regentguitars.co.uk are very good at recomending guitars for beginners. EDIT: I've just noticed you're in the states. That widens your options a lot because its not even funny how much cheaper guitars are there. You could probably pick up a Fender Mexican Tele or Strat for not a lot more than the guitars I've mentioned already! Cheers Sam
thanks for the posts uncle and M@...i was taking a look at fender telecasters...they just look nice to me...from a lot of the reviews I've seen they're pretty well made and they're not terribly expensive if you can find a good deal...but yeah...i'm thinking of just running into a guitar center and talking to someone...i was also looking at the fender frontman 15r....i think it was....any thoughts?
hmm....i've been reading a fair bit and looking about the net and stumbled upon an ibanez beginner's package the JS40 Jumpstart Package...any thoughts on it? falkram
Exactly what I was thinking. They run < $300 here in the US at Musician's Friend. Actually those Squire's have a decent sound if you use a good amp with it - not as good as a full-blown Strat, but nice none-the-less.
yeah....just an update....i've basically just begged my mother, promising a kidney and half my liver, to get me a gibson sg special for basically every holiday for the next decade....it's only $650 though, american made, satin black finish.....very, very nice....and since it's such a badass guitar, I will play, and want to play, and it'll last....
Now that sir is a good deal SG's are great guitars... $650? Goddamn I hate you- they're about £500 here! :'( Sam
Uncle Physchosis wanna tell me where you can get a Gibson SG for £500 in the UK , im having to order mine in via my music shop, so has to come from texas..wee (btw about the vintage brand, from what ive seen with my mates guitars there completle shod, the pot caps fall off, the pickups crackle and the tuners loosen really badly over time).
Its an SG special he's ordering. They are slightly different from an SG Standard, which costs a lot more. I've seen the specials lots of places for £500. Try regentguitars.co.uk (very good shop, you get a free setup with every guitar, and their tech is VERY good) Sounds like Epiphone to me mate I have a Vintage and it's lovely. I also know 3 or 4 other people who have one and they all love theirs too. As with all guitars at that price range though, you do need to try before you buy. Another brand thats well worth checking out is Tokai- they make fantastic guitars for the money (especially their LP's at about £700) Sam
yeah, basically all that i'd heard about the sg special was pretty good...so i decided....that i had just the right amount of self esteem...to beg...but yeah...i thought that after seeing the exact same guitar for $850 everywhere else, that this $650 was a steal...the only difference, and i mean only, is that the fingerboard is ebony, and not rosewood.
Heh completly the opposite here, I have one of the cheaper epiphones, and I love it, never had anything wrong with it and the actions great, wheras have a few mates who have had vintages and just got rid of them as they fall to pieces, there a copy of a copy is the saying round here... (anyways enough vintage/epiphone bashing tbf there both copy makes and with the low standards theres always a few that slip through, not like there hand made or anything *mmm PRS*) But yeah mates got a tokai guitar and its really nice for the price, and an AXL one, but I think there company name has changed now, beautiful telecaster type guitars for around £250 and such a low tone - M@
AXL are still AXL, but theyre being distributed by a company called British American (possibly their own brand). Best budget guitars that my shop has ever stocked, made in the same factory as the Squiers and easily their equal. I agree that sub £100 guitars should be avoided, but the gap is closing somewhat - compared to what i had to learn on when i started, todays budget guitars are often a dream to play. The AXL strats that we stock @£110 put many of the more expensive guitars in our shop to shame. The most important thing in a purchase is a good solid body and a decent bridge and tuners (these can be the most expensive to replace). A good set-up is a must, and most guitar shops should be able to do this (the bane of my existence and generally its the more expensive brands like Gibson that are delivered in an unplayable state, its quite shocking....)
Yeah ive heard gibsons come with the action terrible, so was going to go down to Birmingham to Sound Control, as apparently they will set it up etc for £40, which aint that bad really, get it restrung, and probably update the pickups when i can afford to get some decent EMG's.....el jimbob, what are good pickups to get, as all I really hear about is EMG, EMG, EMG, so don't know if theres any hidden gems of pickups (I like a nice thick bassy tone) - M@
Seymour Duncans and Kent Armstrongs get a good write-up. As for Tokai, the real beauties are the Japanese ones, which start at around £600. They're ppppuuuuuurty. Sam
