I want to buy an electric guitar, and I need advice.
Ok, so I’ve been playing alot of Guitar Hero. I think I have pretty much maxed out my enjoyment of the product, and I want more. I used to play the drums in High School, and I miss the “feeling” of making music. Anyone who plays an instrument probably knows what I am talking about. Classic rock is my favorite kind of music and I think it would be neat to be able to sit in my apartment on a boring Saturday afternoon and just jam along to the radio. You know, pick along with some Peter Frampton, Led Zepplin, etc etc. I also figure this would be a good instrument to play in my apartment because I could wear headphones so as not to disturb the neighbors.
So anyway, I know nothing about how to play guitar. I know even less about how an electric guitar even works. Given that, I don’t know what a good deal for a guitar is, who makes good ones, etc. I am on a limited budget, and I don’t ever intend to use this instrument for anything professional.
A guy I know at work says he can get me a deal on a Washburn guitar (I can’t remember what model), an amp, some headphones, and whatever connectors it is I’ll need. All this, he says, can be mine for the low low price of approxmiately $250. Is this a good deal? Are Washburn guitars in general pretty good for what I’m looking at doing?
Check ypur local retailer. There is a big distance between cheep electrics and ones you’d want to play. Washburn was a “real” brand (literally) 100 years ago but I think it’s currently a Sam Ash house brand, so be careful–not because Sam Ash makes it crappy but because there are better brands for not too much more than the price. Compare and contrast the axe because there’s a distance between cheep guitars and not-so-crappy ones–you’d be surprised how cheap you can get a real Stratocaster for (about the same as what your “pal” is asking). The way to tell appears to be how far the frets stick out, for some crazy, “let’s see how cheep we can make this,” reason. To play a guitar you need to seamlessly move from fret to fret and some cheep ones I’ve played have frets that stick out. Sure, you could file them down, but you want to play, not fuck with your guitar, right?
Ok, additional question: how do I tell if a guitar is “cheaply” made? I don’t want to end up with the Ford Focus of guitars, but I don’t exactly need a Beamer either…
Yes, actually, you do. You need the best guitar you ENJOY playing. Trust me, as I am an inveterate cheapskate, the better the instrument the less likely you are to say, “This sucks! I couldn’t play THAT in a million years!”
A cheap instrument hobbles you. To succeed you need an instrument that does’nt stand in your way. Something from Sam Ash may or may NOT fit the bill. Try playing it, as crappy as it may be. You may, or may not, find it works for you.
What is the model of the Washburn? I could go take a look at it and see if it is worth that amount this weekend. Is it used? He’s saying he’ll get the guitar, amp, headphones and all the accessories you mentioned for that price?
You need to know right from the start that guitars are no different than anything else in that you get what you pay for. A great guitar starts at about a grand. Very playable ones start at around 500 dollars, in my opinion. As a beginner, you are going to want to make the best possible investment right up front, because as Dropzone has said, you do not want to try to learn on a bad guitar, and there are tons of them out there. To be completely honest (and IMHO), I wouldn’t try to learn on any electric guitar that I had paid any less than about 500 dollars for (new). I say this knowing that learning to play the guitar can be frustrating and the more problems you introduce along the way means the more likely you are to just give up. Then you are out 250 dollars and will never pick up the instrument again and the possibility that you could have been great at it is all but gone. To me, that is the greatest tragedy.
My advice? spend 500 dollars on a good electric and wait on the amp. You don’t even need one right away. An electric guitar without an amp is nowhere near as loud as an acoustic, but you can hear it just fine and anyone outside of the room you are in cannot. Personally, for a beginner, I think that is a win/win situation when others share the house with you.
I have been playing electric guitar for 40 years (and boy are my arms tired).
Anyway, I started out with a cheap electric guitar but I did learn to play it. (I guess some folks are more determined than others).
In just the last few years, there have been a great many good and inexpensive electric guitars on the market.
Check out Agile guitars. (I own one and it’s quite good).
Another great inexpensive guitar is the OLP MM1
here’s a link to Musicians Friend:
Read some of the reviews. Yes, it is $200 but sometimes you can get a good special from them (or other companies) if you get a blemished version. You could also check out E-Bay. (I also own an OLP MM1 and am very happy with it).
I own a Fender Squire (the “cheap” line of Fenders). It goes for $100 but I’d rather have an Agile or an OLP any day.
These guitars are usually made in South Korea or China (hence the low price), but they are quite good.
No, I don’t own either of these but the reviews I’ve read on many different websites have good things to say about these guitars.
Oh and the price for either of those Dean Guitars is $99.99
Don’t think you will have to lay out a lot of cash to get a good guitar.
Here is a good review site for guitars. I have purposely linked to the electric guitar section. The amount of reviews (and guitar companies) is huge but you’ll be able to get some ideas, and I’m sure others will post to this thread and offer their suggestions. http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/all/1
**wolf ** and **Euth ** have covered the bases. My advice is to find someone you trust who knows guitars and have them check it out - and help you with an initial purchase in general…
Do a search on this board - there are a bunch of threads about first guitars and how to set them up…
If you’re interested in testing the waters to see if you will enjoy a real guitar, and if you have the aptitude for it, consider going to a pawn shop. Sometimes you will score a deal on a fairly decent instrument for very, very cheap. Keep it for a few weeks and see how it goes. If you’re not enjoying it as much as you thought, sell it back to the pawn shop. If you are, sell it back to the pawn shop and get a better one new.
I picked up a very playable bass guitar ten years ago at such a place.
Well, I did it. For the low low price of $160 (including shipping), I am the proud owner of a Squire Strat Bullet, a 15-watt amp, a gig bag, a tuner, and a book of about 50 billion cords that confuses the heck out of me. The guitar definitely works and is in tune, as I had an associate of mine belt out one heck of an imitation of Teenage Wasteland on it. Didn’t sound quite as dirty/screechy (what word do I want here?), but I think that is more of the fault of the cheap amp than the guitar.
Now, how the heck do I learn to play this thing? I’ve been trying out some of the recommended beginner cords from the cord book, but I just can’t seem to get how to transition between them. I think my hand is set wrong or something, as I can’t seem to only push one string down. I’m bound to at least be pushing two at a time. Do I have fat fingers or something, or am I doing this wrong? The ends of my fingers are pretty close to bleeding, but I figure another week or so I won’t even notice this.
Also, and I’ll probably get a lot of flack for this, but I don’t want to learn theory. Yeah yeah, I know I should, but if I start out learning theory then I’m going to lose interest in this pretty damn quick. I know how to read rhythm music (I played the drums for 8 years), but I don’t know the whole E, G, flat, sharp, etc stuff and I do not have the motivation to learn at this time. I want to be able to play something recognizable to keep me motivated, then I’ll work on learning the exact names of cords and such. A book that says “put fingers here for this kind of sound” rather than “this is a G cord, you must memorize 80 of these damn things before moving on” would be ideal.
Can anyone recommend a book or website or something to teach me what I’m looking for? Got any random advice? Note that I don’t have access to a computer with sound, so ‘teaching videos’ aren’t really a useable option.
