I Want An Electric Guitar...

Check the sticky post in this section for "beginner guitar" choices. Some good stuff there. Based on your price range, check out Squier guitars - should be a good place to start. Also, check out their "starter packs" which contain a guitar & smal amp.

If you want to buy an amp separately, the Epiphone Valve Junior combo amp is a good place to start looking.

Both of my suggestion fit your budget, here in the U.S. From what I here, guitars and amps can be much more expensive where you are. Check the local prices.

My first electric was an Encore Les Paul style guitar for around 100 quid - there pretty decent for the money you're paying. Squire strats and teles are also pretty decent, but I'd go with a Squire tele rather than a Squire strat model, since the tuning can be pretty unreliable on the Squire strats and may put you of playing/cause difficulty if you're new to guitar. The Yamaha guitars are also well made - I'm not sure how much the Yamaha Pacifica retails at off the top of my head (may go off and check then repost later), but if you think you'll continue playing for more than a year and you can afford it, I'd go with this guitar out of the options I've listed. Yamaha entry-level guitars are well made and (as I recall) they really focussed on cornering this part of the market and succeeded.

As for strings, I use Ernie Ball slinkys (gauge 10-46) but whatever electric you buy will probably come with lighter strings (gauge 9-42 I think, its 9-something, the Ernie Ball ones are called Super Slinkys). I've also tried (and sort of liked) Fender Bullets, but they're only really for Stratocaster guitars. Ernie Ball are probably the biggest selling/most widely used electric guitar strings, and RotoSound are also v. well respected string makers. The type of strings you use will depend on personal taste, playing style, genres of music you play, etc., so don't worry about this too much right now. You can always change string-type, string-gauge and/or string-company until you settle on a personal favourite. But I would sggest getting an established brand like Ernie Ball or RotoSound - you can get Encore strings and other company's strings at a cheaper price, but they are more likely to snap, cause intonation problems, etc, so its worth the extra couple of quid. And, as I recall, provided you wipe your guitar strings down after playing, as a beginner you'll find your strings can last for ages.

You can use any amp with any electric guitar. My Encore guitar came with a small Kustom practice amp, which seemed like a good deal at the time, but the amp was terrible and quickly became neglected (as soon as I could afford a better one). The main thing for a beginner is to get one with a headphone socket if possible, since you're neighbours will probably object to you playing constantly (mine still do, but I've upgraded to an amp which totally drowns them and the police sirens out, lol :roll: ). There are loads of people on this site who could give better amp advice than me.

Thanks very much for the replies and advice :mrgreen:

As was mentioned, check the beginners buying guide.

A quick bit about electrics.

There are solid body and hollow bodied and semi hollow electrics.

On solid bodied electrics there are basiclly two types, determined by the pick up configuration.

SIngle Coil -vs- Humbuckers

SC usually have a bolt on neck and are either a Strat (or knock off or "S" Type) or a Telecaster or (T type)
HB usually have a set neck or neck through body. The two most popular being the Les Paul and the SG.

There are advantages and disadvantages to both types. Set Necks seem to have more/longer sustain.

SC have a thin bitey tone. HB are warmer but have more power (easier to drive an amp into distortion).

Hollowbodied guitars are favored by Jazz and Country and Rock-a-billy types. (I still haven't figured out why yet).

Either way, it comes down to personal taste. Just like Ice cream... do you like chocolate/vanilla or strawberry?

The number one thing I'd recommend would be this.. DON'T LET YOUR EYES DO THE BUYING!!!! Pick up as many as you can and feel and hold them all.. Playability and feel are more important than looks.

About the Amp... I'd recommend you look at an Amp Modeller, a Pod or Zoom or Korg or V-Amp. With any one of these you can emulate dozens of amp types very easily. If you go the traditional route with a low end practice amp, you/re pretty much stuck with that one sound and you could quickly become bored with it. Electric is all about crazy sounds, distortion and sustain sustain sustain.

Happy Hunting :)

For your budget you're realistically looking at a 10W practice amp and a guitar along the lines of a lower end Yamaha Pacifica.

What I would suggest though, is find someone who is knowledgeable about guitars and investigate the second hand market. I got my Epiphone Les Paul Standard for £160, they're close to £300 new, and there was nothing to suggest it wasn't new (only had been played a few times in fact). Something like a Pacifca (mine was about £200 for the 112XJ but there are cheaper versions) will no doubt also be available at probably not far off half their new price and probably with no losses.

Ditto for an amp too, a 10W practice amp (like the Marshall MG10CD) are OK for starters, but you'll probably find yourself wanting some more before long, so I'd suggest looking second hand for that too.

However, I would steer clear of eBay and the like unless you have the chance to have someone in the know inspect the guitar before the auction ends . . . there's some duff ones out there.

HTH. :)

Thanks for the advice! Looks like I'll probably have to save up more than I expected, though :D I'll certainly keep my eyes peeled for places that sell second-hand guitars. Cheers again =)

No recommendations for the Epi Valve Junior amp wise? Less than 200 bucks canadian and I love mine :D