My son started to learn to play the guitar 2 or 3 years before I did. He had been learning for a while when it was time to get an electric. His teacher had been down to the shop beforehand and had made a note of a few guitars which he should choose from. My son made his choice based really on looks, the teacher then turns up at the shop tries the guitar and says he should have a different guitar and eventually he finds a squire strat and says this is the one. My son sounded good on the guitar doing pentatonic scales and blues based music. At about the same time as my son lost interest in playing guitar I started. No lessons for me, all the money was spent on my sons lessons. I had to struggle along on my sons three quarter size classical, I tried the Strat but I sounded awful, it was ugly and vowed never to touch it again. I always preferred acoustic but it kept nagging me that I might miss out if I didn't get an electric. Eventually I bought a Les Paul copy and for the last 14 months or so its been ok. I've never felt at home with it but at least it sounded better than the strat. A few months ago I played a friends 335, it looks the business and I think this is what I need. After playing it I tried his Fender Tele, didn't want to but gave it ago. He had done all the settings running through a mesa boogie amp and it sounds great. I convince myself its the amp and push away all thoughts of a Tele (too much like a strat for me). But deep down I know the truth and was just coming round to the idea of a Tele when 3 days ago I tried the Strat again, strangely it doesnt look or feel like how I had remembered. I try it and it feels and sounds right, I seem to have so many different sounds with this guitar.
This guitar was pretty cheap about £120 five or so years ago but it plays great, Im still a novice but now I can mute and generally just play the strings I want to. I would never have even tried one if it hadnt been already in the house but luckly for me someone who new a thing about guitars choose it, sadly he died this year.
Its all been a bit like like wanting to go out with a beautiful girl but then realising its her friend who you never realy noticed who is far more intresting and fun to be with. Three days is a short time and this might well be infatuation but I hope I will remember to keep an open mind from now on.
No need for a new electric now, Im off to google Mesa Boogie :wink:
nice!
Anyone's guitar choice is definitely a personal opinion. I started on an Epiphone LP-100 (Les Paul) because i thought it looked awesome and I liked the idea of a les paul.... It never really felt right in my hands and I returned it and got a Fat Strat.... from there on out, every guitar I have (kept) has a strat style body and a similar neck. It just feels good.
You might have progressed enough to the point where you appreciate the strat
good luck
interesting story. in the back of my mind, while reading, I heard myself saying, 'a crappy guitar can sound good with a good player'. the guitars you did try out are all so very different from one another. I can understand how one may feel better than another....but it isn't so much the amp, pedals, settings and guitar. it is the player.
I think eventually your skill level will improve and you will probably surprise yourself on many kinds of guitars.
I love single coil guitars. hence, I own a strat and a tele. my strat is so versitile. it is my main instrument for many styles of music.
keep us posted. I am curious about your journey.
good for you, i hope other beginners read this.
#4491....
great story, thanks for sharing.
I went out to buy an acoustic a while ago and had - after a lot of research - decided to buy a Maton and narrowed it down to 2 models. When I went to the shop, they had a huge room full of acoustics, and after taking my time and trying out a great many of them, I ended up buying a completely different guitar simply based on the fact how it felt in my hands, how easy it was to play and how well it sounded. I also bought my son a acoustic beginner's guitar pack and found the guitar to be terrible, certainly not (for me anyway) something that will make learning either easier or more fun. When he is keen to play again, I'll take him to a shop and let him try a few out. Can't wait...
An open mind is a smart mind !
Well, I don't know about others, but my tastes are always changing. I used my Strat for years and it was a very versatile guitar. Then a few years back I joined a group that played old, but heavy Rock like Black Sabbath. My Strat just sounded too thin and twangy for this type of music. I got a LP Studio and it had the heavier tone for this style of music. But I couldn't quite get great clean tones with the LP I wanted. All the notes were always rounded off, lacked a little bite and sparkle. I then picked up a SG and it was a nice compromise, a little brighter than the LP, but not twangy like the Strat. Then recently I joined a new group, we are playing Classic Rock, but not as heavy, stuff like the Beatles. My SG was just a little too dark for many of the songs. So now I am using my Fender Tele and I have really grown to love this guitar. It is tight, you get great note definition on chords, especially when using a little overdrive. And it can get some pretty heavy tones with pedals and if you spend a little time tweaking the EQ on your amp. I love the bite of the notes, this guitar sings. I used to love the tone of humbuckers, but now I have come to love the tone of single coils much better. And the Tele is very versatile, you can play anything from hard Rock to Jazz or Country. They have a fast neck and are easy to play up high. Really a great simple guitar. :D
Who knows?, next year I will be raving about the LP again. :roll:
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
A little thought that came to me well playing, I now always play wearing a strap and I am either stood up or perched on the end of bar height stool so I am almost still stood up. I think this has contributed to the strat feeling different, obviously the better noises come from me being a couple of years further down the road but I also realize wearing a guitar strap has got me to actually have the guitar in a better position. Where as before I was huddled over the guitar if playing on the sofa.
I'm sure that at some point I will get a more expensive guitar but just at this moment this cheap Strat seems right for me.
It's all about personal opinion like everyone else says
I own a MIA tele, and MIM nashville Tele, and all depends on what you are playing to, when i want to play a little more blues or jazzy stuff or clean I like to you my MIA tele because i think it gives it a warmer feeling to it, but for heavy distortion or turbo overdrive I pefer the Nashville tle, because of the extra pick-up which gives kind of a strat feel to it. I personally don't like les pauls for some reason, My hand just doesn't like it and also its just not my style. People tell but Les Paul is better because its more expensive, it might be true for some people but I just don't like them. If someone gave 3000 i wouldn't buy a les paul I would rather just buy another tele and get a good like a Fender 412 Hot Rod deville, which is the amp i want to get, its runs really good with the tele.
