New to Guitar world,

Hi and welcome Dragoonx!!! :D

I'm pretty new to learning guitar as well so take this advice for what it is. :)

I think a big incentive to deciding to play guitar (and more importantly continue at it after you first realize you aren't very good at it starting out :) ) is to play what interests you.

You say "heavy music" so I'm taking that to mean metal of some sort. My advice would be to go and get an electric guitar and amp and if you are wanting to self-learn then get something like Troy Stetina's book "Metal Rhythm Guitar Vol. 1". Power chords are pretty easy to learn and Stetina starts slipping in more conventional open chords as the book progresses. More importantly, you start right away playing some heavy stuff and that goes a long way towards keeping your interest high. And of course there's lots of lessons available here at GN as well as other sites.

As for guitars/amps, there are starter kits available that include both. It's a tough decision - too cheap and you risk being turned off by likely-lower quality and more expensive you risk losing money should you decide that guitars are not for you (but then you could probably sell it and recoup some of the loss). A lot of people would argue though that 90% of the sound is you and not your equipment so keep that in mind as well.

You probably want a guitar that has humbucker pickups as opposed to single-coil pickups if you are going for heavy. Mine is a cheap strat knock-off with single-coils and I find it a bit too "nice" for metal but I've decided once I can play a certain riff I'm rewarding myself with a new guitar. :) (current one was part of a starter kit and otherwise I'm pretty happy with it - Eleca is the brand)

Hrm... what else? I'm sure others will add their input too. Good luck, Dragoonx!! :D

I was also wondering about the neck through construction on some guitars. Is it a big difference if it has that or a bolt on construction? I usually get paranoid about little details like this when buying something I've never done so before XD

It seems the price difference between those constructions are huge. Also whats a decent watt amp I should be aiming for? 10-15 ok? ^^;;

Welcome to GN.

If loud rock/metal is what you're going to be playing, then what you want to BE playing is a guitar suited to that genre. I sometimes wonder how many kids have been put off playing guitar because their first guitar's been a cheap nylon strung acoustic with a wide neck bought by their parents!

Humbuckers are good for metal, but to answer another question first, you're not going to need a huge amp just yet. Possibly you might want to look at something like a 15W Roland Cube, or a Vox AD15....loud enough to scare the neighbours, and both of them capable of putting out some modelled heavy rock amps, but with plenty of variety should you want to diversify - plenty of metal/heavy rock bands do a couple of acoustic or quieter numbers.

As for guitars - the best way to find out is to try a few. Look at some of your favourite music on youtube, look at what the guitarists are using, try and find something similar.

:D :D :D

Vic

Hm As a beginner should I be too worried about what the guitar is made out of?

Hm As a beginner should I be too worried about what the guitar is made out of?

My vote is no. I'm also a beginner, and my electric appears to be made of lead. At least it feels like it, based on weight. Sounds okay, though, and the sounds get better and better as I practice. More than construction or brand at this point, I'd look for one that FEELS good in your hands. YOur left hand fingers are going to get VERY sore in a bit. Might as well get the one that feels smoothest, rightest, and BEST in your hands. If you really don't play at all, have a friend who does teach you a couple of chords, or one lick. Then try everything in the store that looks like what you want.

In response to your earlier question- if you wanna play an electric, get an electric. I've said this on a couple of threads, and will again here: Playing the guitar is FREAKING DIFFICULT. It's also a hell of a lot of fun. But to keep going, given how hard it sometimes is, you have to love it. Get the one that makes the music that made you want to play.

Get a decent small amp. I bought a 10 watt piece of %&/$ and regret it a lot. Never sounds quite right. Roland 15, which a friend of mine has, is cool, makes a lot of cool sounds.

Best,

Ande

PS- for metal, maybe the low end of the x-series from Washburn?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-SG310-HiPerformance-Electric-Guitar-Pack-with-Valve-Junior-Amp?sku=514491 , I'm also new and this is the package I will be ordering today or tommorw.

Hm As a beginner should I be too worried about what the guitar is made out of?
As a class I think we put to much emphasis in the quality of the first guitar. A short story. My first musical experience was being assigned to the wrong class in Junior High. So instead of getting a trumpet I got stuck with the clarinets which were left.

Now there were not mom & pop clarinet stores nor music superstores which specialized in horns. Maybe Sears had a clarinet in there catalog. What I learned to play on was the school's plastic clarinet. And I never got a real African hardwood horn but I did play and make music.

Because of market forces you have everything. Mom & Pop stores with a staff eyeing you for future sales. Superstores with multiple models, all good in their own way. Even the local discount store will give you the choice of two or three different models of guitar. In the end if you are dedicated and want to make music enough any will do.

So where to start. I believe that you should look at the guitarist in the acts you most want to be like. If he plays a guitar set up like a strat or tele get a starter kit with that type of guitar. If it is a SG/Les Paul type get that kit. From there it will be months before you know if playing guitar is for you.

And at that point the cost of cables, effects boxes, amps, upgrade guitars or pickups, guitar set ups, replacement strings, batteries and on and on when compared to the initial cost of the first guitar will seem like nothing.

Just say I don't believe its the limits of the guitar which cause people to quit. Its the inability to coordinate their hands fast enough to make music which cause people to lose hope and quit long before they reach the limits of their equipment.

While Miles Davis may have been the son of a dentist and able to get a quality instrument I do wonder what Robert Johnson or any other one our ancestors had as his first guitar?

From http://robertjohnsonfilm.com/

WHAT GUITAR DID HE PLAY?
Robert Johnson played more than one guitar during his short life. According to Johnny Shines, he primarily favored the Kalamazoo, a budget line Gibson, and the Stella which sold for about $12. Considering these inexpensive instruments, the sound Johnson created is even more amazing.

In the "Dime Store" photo, Johnson is holding a 14-fret flattop Kalamazoo with a capo across the second fret. It was this guitar he probably used during his recording sessions. In the "Studio Portrait," Johnson holds a Gibson L-1.

Hey D,

How much do you plan on spending on a guitar and accessories?

Most of the time when you are begining a starter kit is the way to go. You typically get everything you need, it just happens to be a lower quality product. Its still good enough to learn on though, so if you decide you want to keep playing you can then go into guitar stores and play on the higher quality items.

Anyway, if you give a price range people here are very helpful and can come up with a list of items you'll need. Personally I'm acoustic, so I wont' be able to help at all. As for starting out though, most people say Electric is easier to start out on, not necessarily better but easier. Acoustic typically requires a little more finger strength and can be a little more painful (so I hear). I would say you'd have no problem starting on electric, and I'd love to get into it one day myself.

-t

That package that PillowPantss looks like it would be good for a starting rocker. I got news for you too. I accidently picked one up one day while amp shopping. I though it was the 400. Regardless, I plugged in and played and found it to be a rather easy play. Hung it back up on the wall where I saw the $149 sigh. I was quite surprised.

I have been looking at the various brands and and 2 stuck out to me just from personal taste. A few Deans which were slightly expensive around 400+ and various BC Rich. For BC Rich I really liked the Warbeast although that seems sold out just about everywhere; was thinking of settling on one of the low end Warlocks instead. As for budget i would say somewhere around the 300 range. Decent amp should be around 100 bucks I take it. Warlock Bronze series goes for 170 roughly it seems. Although I hear very mixed reviews.... some swear their lives by it; others claim faulty parts.

I've never played BC Rich, so I don't know about them. I do know reviews though. You gotta get an averge feeling. Someone may not like the tuners, pick-ups or fret-work on some $200 guitar when they think it should be as well constructed as some $2,500 Paul Reed Smith. :roll:

If it's pick-ups, that's something else. Many people don't keep the stock pick-ups in their guitars. I'm guilty, but only on 3 1/2 guitars. :oops:

Alls I'm saying is look at the reviews, but don't worry too much if one or two people claim to not like the tuners or something.

Just make sure you get a decent amp that fits your playing desires. Ask your salesman which amp to get in the low price range and explain your musical tastes. Last thing you want is some Fender 30 with a muddy/weak distortion setting. Vic mentioned the Roland Cube. I know there's a setting on my 30 that rattles windows. (well, my friend's windows as I lent him the amp last week)

Welcome to the forum! This is a great place for learning, knowledge sharing and just plain fun. I'd like to relate my experience as a beginner with my month-old equipment.

The first thing I did was read; all types of forums and webpages to gain general knowledge. Then I started asking myself questions as to what I wanted to play, which is some of almost anything. I played (not well) power chord rock, metal and progressive as a teen. Now my tastes include jazz and I'm really interested in learning blues and blues/rock, coming full circle. So what type of guitar will do all of that? Most of them, however I've always been a fan of the humbucker sound musicians whose music I enjoyed play. Having tried Les Paul, Flying V (traded a week later for a Strat body, hard to play sitting down!) clones I wanted soemthing different and with a good acoustic sound. Viola! An ES-335 would work for me.

So I started concentrating on reading up on the 335 and what models were decent. There are quite a few, but the ones my local places carried were Ibanez and Epiphone, so I went to take a look. The body is a bit bigger but lighter than the Les Paul si I adjusted quickly. I tried them unplugged first, as I was getting the amp later. To me, the Ibanez rang loud and clear compared to the Epiphone Dot and Dot Studio. I fell in love with the Ibanez AS-83, but they're hard to find as they've been discontinued. Irrational or not, I just did not want the AS-73 which sounded great. I looked at Washburn and Jay Turser. At this point you can see I was trying not to spend a lot, just get something I could learn with yet like enough to enjoy which would keep me playing (another circle). So after reading reviews (grain of salt needed) and checking eBay to see how various models were selling, I picked Jay Turser from an internet reseller.

Nine days later the JT-133 was in my hands, and after inspection it looks like I got a nice one. No paint flaws, action was pretty low and no buzzing frets. After finding an online "E" I standard-tuned it by ear and tried playing what I could remember. It rings clear without an amp! If I couldn't modify it I would still be perfectly happy with it, but I do plan a couple. The nut is plastic, so I'll get it replaced with bone or syth-bone. The bridge pickup is not as bright as I'd like; adjustment may take care of this. The rest is cosmetic, and none of these will make me a better player so I consider the guitar a win. I also have not had it set up yet but the case I ordered just came in so that will be done very soon.

Amp. Again I did all the reading I could, and tube seemed the way to go. Two problems; I'm on a budget, and reviews on most models in my range were not that good. Then, they sound best when you can give them the volume to breathe. The times I'd be able to do this would be few. I still drooled over the Fender SuperChamp XD, Peavey ValveKing Royal 8 though. This led me to check out solid-state offerings (just learning, right?). Read about the usual suspects then happened across the Roland Cube 20X. Listened to the demo on the website and was hooked until I saw VOX had similar offerings. What to do but check them out. I made the mistake of taking my wife with me, who was immediately intimidated by the size of some the amps at the local Guitar Center. She kept reminding me I was after a small, practice amp so my search narrowed quickly. No luck on the Roland, but they had the VOX DA5 modeling amp with a 6 1/2" speaker and switchable wattage(1.5 to 5 watts). Bought it on impulse.

Got it home, plugged in to check it out. The settings do very well for me from clean to hi-gain drive. Plus it has built in effects like chorus, reverb, flanger, phaser and combinations. Being able to change the wattage is great for the times I want to practice while my wife is home, plus it's tiny!

So why am I going to Guitar Center tomorrow to look at other amps, two days after the 30-day return policy is up?

I rushed it. I should have come back alone and really checked out other amps and looked elsewhere as well. The 6 1/2" speaker does ok and there is absolutely nothing wrong with the amp, but I don't "feel" it so isn't right for me. My original choice was the VOX Pathfinder 15R, and I had already ordered it. The day before we went to Guitar Center I got an email stating the last one had sold the morning I placed my online order, and it would be three weeks before the replacements would be in. :x I settled in anger; when I called Abes of the New England area to cancel, it only made it worse to see the amp still available on the website. :?

Sorry to be so long-winded (you've probably bought your equipment by now :oops: )The point of all this? Take your time and do your research so you won't regret (hopefully) your purchases. It worked for the guitar, and I'm still shopping for an amp because I was impatient. Lesson learned, but I'm really happy that I've taken up the guitar again. Good luck!