# Picking up the guitar **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-the-guitar/525419 "2010-01-18T14:09:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BigShooter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f07891/32.png) [@BigShooter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigShooter)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-the-guitar/525419/21 "2010-01-19T20:05:51Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > \*\*Crotalus \*\*is right that I tend to champion the “whatever keeps you playing” angle. Not much to add - sounds like you are thinking about electric, which is cool - as I have said in many other threads, I like to play unplugged electric in front of the TV, especially during baseball season - I can focus on all the repetitive stuff I need to work on - chords, scales, song parts - in a semi-focused sorta way. > > Beyond that - the Epi Valve Jr. amps are cool, provided you are okay with a simple tube amp with no bells and whistles (hobbyists love modding them, too). You could also choose to go for a 15watt Marshall or Line 6 - digital aspects to it, but with lots of features at a point in your playing when learning how to work with tubes isn’t really a top priority. Or find a used Fender Blues Jr. for $350 or so - great amp with a tube heart. > > Gotta run. Hey, I though that was me that said that “whatever keeps you playing” stuff? 😃 Great minds think alike, **Wordman** … Great advice from everybody so far, so I didn’t really come here to add anything. I just wanted to say how cool I think it is to see so many guys starting the guitar a little later in life. Inspires me in a way… I’ll shut up now - I got guitars to build :D… ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-the-guitar/525419/22 "2010-01-19T20:13:18Z")
> [@mack](#): > > You can start with your favorite guitar players, solos, passages, etc.. If you look into it a little bit you’ll discover what the guitarist was playing at what time. Maybe that’s the kind of guitar you want to think about getting. Since pro level guitars are so expensive you’ll want to look at a model with at least a similar pickup configuration and (maybe) body style. Then you want to look at the plusses and minuses of said guitars, read reviews (no shortage of these on the net), handle some at a music store, ask around here, and so on. It’s funny–I remember, when I was playing a bunch of Guitar Hero a while back, that I started hearing songs… _differently_ somehow. Until I started playing that game, I’d listen to a song more or less as a unified whole–I might focus on the guitar if there was something interesting about it, but I’d be just as likely to be interested in the rhythm or the vocals. (Or all three at various points in the song.) Guitar Hero forced me to pay attention to the guitars especially. I guess I’m gonna have to start listening to things that way again. 🙂 WordMan: Thanks–I’m gonna see if I can find that thread. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-the-guitar/525419/23 "2010-01-19T20:51:51Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > WordMan: Thanks–I’m gonna see if I can find that thread. Here’s a [recent thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=546972) where I pasted a link… ---
**Author:** ![kevlaw](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kevlaw/32/2281_2.png) [@kevlaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevlaw)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-the-guitar/525419/24 "2010-01-20T00:48:26Z")
I am about 2 years into my addiction and my teenage son is a little further in. Here’s my experience report. 1. \*\*Electric vs. acoustic. \*\* I got an acoustic first and an electric 2 years later. I regret the 2 years when I did not have an electric guitar. I don’t do anything electricky with it, I just find it so much easier to play. My son was electric from the start. He messes around with sounds and distortion. I just play it like it’s a guitar. 1. **Amps.** It makes me sad to think of an electric guitar with no amp. 3) **Lessons.** Get a referral if you can. Find someone you get on with too. BTW I went with a Jazz dude and he knows more about rock and blues and pretty much every kind of music than I can imagine. He does keep throwing ninths into all the riffs that he teaches me though. 4) \*\*Choosing a guitar. \*\* I was completely intimidated by this the first time. If you can’t play, every guitar sounds crap and feels awkward. My second guitar sold itself to me. I was determined to get anything but a strat…until I played the strat. I paid $300 for the (new) acoustic and $450ish for my used strat plus $200 for my used Fender Blues Junior (which sounds heavenly). My son got a starter guitar w/ amp (Hamer Slammer) for $200 and both are extremely adequate. 5) Anything else y’all guitar heroes care to add. 🙂 I have been having a lot of fun with Garage Band recently. I have a [Rock Frog](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rock-Frog-Portable-Interface-Guitar/dp/B000Y8970C/) that lets me plug into a mac or pc. I now realize that I previously had no sense of rhythm 🙂 I love jamming with friends but - since I have no friends - jamming with my self is a close second. I lay down a basic rhythm and fiddle around over the top of it. It’s addictive. I waste whole days. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-the-guitar/525419/25 "2010-01-20T06:07:03Z")
Re: **Amp** : I’m not going to gainsay the advice from the others about the coolness of tube/valve amps. A guitar amp is important, even for a beginner, if the tone brings you back for more and you keep playing. However, you can do some very cool stuff without an “amp”. For example, I’ve used a [POD](http://line6.com/products/detail/4) plugged into a home theater reciever into low-end studio monitors, and it rocked quite well; I love the cleanish/just-dirty tone very much, but there were some awesome crunch tones available in that unit. Lately I’ve been experimenting with [Guitar Rig](http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/guitar/guitar-rig-4-pro/) using my PC + Ableton Live, and it sounds really great and is a great deal of fun. Lots of flexibility, lots of different components to plug together and see what they do and how they sound, and its very seductive. Also probably much more money than the OP interested in spending, but its very powerful and I get quite a lot of tones I love. Do not write off software/hardware solutions, many people use them and they can be pretty cool, and rattle the windows and foundation quite well. All that said, the important part is: get the equipment that inspires you to play, that’s all that’s important. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-the-guitar/525419/26 "2010-01-20T16:58:06Z")
Suggestion: don’t buy a cheapshit guitar to start with. Spend a couple of hundred on a good, basic acoustic. If you stick with it, you can then upgrade to a better model. If you get a cheapshit guitar, you’ll tear your hands up on it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/picking-up-the-guitar/525419.md?page=1)