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BUGGER�GHO�T
2003-11-21, 01:39 AM
I need help. I know jack shit about guitars. My friend is offering to teach me, but I need a guitar (electric). (we plan to be in a band)


I need a electric guitar, a good one. Plus it needs to look good. But also not too high in price ($599+). It doesn't need to includ the amp, I already got one in mind/got one.

And do you have sugjestions on cables? I'm 6'2" and I came upon alot of 5 foot cables on some sites which i'm definitly not getting.

Plus any additional stuff I would need? (I need a case for carrying I know)

Asking not for flames, only help.

Thanks in advance. ;)

Squeeky
2003-11-21, 01:42 AM
Your gonna pay $600 on a beginner guitar? Buy a cheap one $100-150 and work on that for a couple years until you get good. Then upgrade.

BUGGER�GHO�T
2003-11-21, 01:48 AM
I'm buying one that I'm gona keep, and this money doesn't come up alot....for a young guy like me.

And the beginner guitars dont have that much stuff, well they come with like everything you need, but i just want the good looking/using guitar. All my other friends learned off from the bigs, thats the path i'm going to take.


Plus the beginners ones look like shit.

Squeeky
2003-11-21, 01:55 AM
Who the fuck cares what they look like? :rofl:

NightWalker XI
2003-11-21, 02:26 AM
For a beginner like yourself there is not competition, look up Yamaha Pacifica

BEST.STARTER.GUITAR.EVaR

Firefly
2003-11-21, 08:03 AM
MusiciansFriend.com

Or you can go to local music shops and find second-hand guitars that are great, AND cheap. I own five guitars (and two bass guitars), and three of them are pawn-shop specials. The best sounds I have ever gotten have come out of those pawn-shoppers.

Being 6-foot doesn't mean anything when you've got a five foot cord. Is your guitar at the top of your head? Nope, not unless you're doing some wacky 80's Hair Band playing style. Your guitar will be hanging around waist-area, so that's probably what, three feet? Plus you can also use the five-footer to go from your foot pedal to the amp. They sell cords that are longer than five feet, and if you can't find one, you can get two and splice them together *OR* get a simple extension plug adaptor that allows you to plug two cords together to make one longer cord.

The type of music you plan to play really determines what kind of equipment you get. If you're doing Moldy-Oldies and covers of 70s bar hits, you're not going to want an ESP 7-string. If you're doing punk, you're not going to want a Fender strat (which to me is a piece of shit). If you're doing hardcore or some "nu-metal" or whatever they call heavy metal these days, you don't want a hollow-body Gibson. That's the first thing I'd like to know... which means I'm offering to help.

By the way, I own a Gibson SG, an Epiphone Les Paul, an ESP Custom 7-string, A BC Rich Warlock, and a Gibson ES175 hollow-body. In case you're wondering.

xuur
2003-11-21, 11:19 AM
Fender standard Strat. got mine for under 300 and I'll put it against any guitar out there for that price. since you're just starting, its pretty unlikely you'll notice a ton of difference between a std strat and some custom Les Paul you pay 10x for. go on the cheap for now, grab a few FX pedals and a crybaby and have at her.....erm...it.

you wanna customize it, cover it with bumper stickers.

:D

Firefly
2003-11-21, 12:04 PM
I think the Strat sounds like flabby anus, but it's a good starter guitar. You can dress up ANY sound with the right foot pedals. Distortion, chorus, wah-pedal, and sometimes even a separate distortion pedal. But in the end, I'd take on your Fender Strat with my pawn-shop Memphis Melodymaker that I got for $50, armed with a pick, my tube amp, and a cheap Shred-ped.

It's not necessarily the guitar sound either- the more crap you tack on, the more different sound you're going to get. Any craptacular guitar player can sound like a pro with a crap guitar, an FX board and some pedals and a quality amp.

Like the 80s bands. Living proof that no-talent prettyboys wearing sissy makeup and carrying label-bought/label-paid-for instruments can get plenty of na-na.

Mr1337Duck
2003-11-21, 12:07 PM
A pretty nice guitar... get one like mine. The 1986 Strat I ordered arrived, I get to play it when Christmas rolls around. It's black with a black pick guard. And that thing is beautiful, I've snuck a look at it. I started looking for a guitar kinda like what the guitarist in POD had in the sleeping awake video.

xuur
2003-11-21, 01:15 PM
the Strat sounds like flabby anus

LOL cute. Never heard one myself (the flabby anus part) but I think alot depends on what sound you're after and the style you use.

Straight up, no FX, a Strat is a nice electric blues box. simple, decent tone. action could use some work out of the box but still..not terrible.

yeah, you can get some that sound great for speed metal but suck at anything less or get ones that sound great played easy but blow when pushed.

a matter of taste I suppose.

check your local pawn shops. decent guitars can be found there, but do your homework to know worth before shopping...as pawns often rip the unsuspecting.

Squick
2003-11-21, 01:27 PM
I can vouch for MusiciansFriend.com... I bought a high end pro audio amp from them, and the tech support is absolutely amazing... One of the techs actually had the same amp and was able to help me out almost instantly.

As for electrics I recommend Epiphone for a beginner guitar. You are looking at less then $200 most likely for a nice one; and don't forget that Epiphone is made by Gibson, so they are very good quality, I have had mine for about eight years now, and even with heavy play I have only had to swap strings, everything else has held up like a champ.

Squick

Mr1337Duck
2003-11-21, 02:38 PM
My old acoustic, 1987 I think, maybe older, was an epiphone classic. Can someone clear this up for me? My friend says there's three types of guitars, acoustic, classic, and electric. I say just acoustic and electric, classics have a hollowed out body, and the fact that they have wider necks doesn't stop them from being acoustic.


Who's right here?

Squick
2003-11-21, 02:53 PM
As far as I learned Mr1337, the difference is actually in the strings... The classical guitar uses plastic-based strings for the top three.

Paingiver
2003-11-21, 03:44 PM
fender strats and teles are definatley really sweet :groovy: . I have a dark blue fender squire telecaster. Squire versions of fenders are alot cheaper than the real versions and they don't sound that bad. im in the same position as you bugger, im trying to start a band myself with some of my friends we got lead guitarist(me :cool: ) , a bass( my friend Jack), a rythm guitar(my friend Jim), and a drummer,( my friend Alex). So far we've been doing pretty well, we just can think of a good name for our band :rolleyes: , if anyone knows any good band names please post

Andok
2003-11-21, 04:05 PM
I registered to this board just so I could reply to this post:

Bugger, the type of guitar you want will be very dependent on your music style and your individual taste. If you are old enough, you should visit some local clubs that host live bands. When you find a band that has a guitar sound that you like, ask the guitarist what kind of setup he has. Most musicians will be happy to tell more than you would ever want to know about their rig.

When buying a guitar, the more expensive guitars don�t necessarily sound better. In fact, you�ll find that some of the best tones come from guitars that cost around $400. Also, I wouldn�t recommend that you buy a used guitar unless you have someone with you that knows his shit about guitars. Like Firefly said, you can find some very good guitars in pawn shops, but I also see lots of pawn shop guitars that are overpriced or have fucked up necks. Finally, don�t stress too much about finding the perfect guitar for your first purchase - most musicians go through several guitars before they find one they want to keep, so it is highly unlikely that you will stick with your first guitar.

As a blind recommendation, I suggest that you try a Fender Telecaster. It may not suit you, but it is a good starting point in your search. Also, buy a hard-shell case!!! Never ever carry your precious instrument in one of those crappy gig-bags. Trust me on this :-) You�ll also want to pick up a tuner.

By the way, here�s the setup I normally use at our shows: a slightly modified Fender P-Bass and an AMPEG SVT Classic head with an 8x10 cabinet.

Setari
2003-11-21, 04:15 PM
ooh ooh i been to the gibson factory....Well yea but Gibsons are great but most are pretty expensive.

Onizuka
2003-11-21, 04:34 PM
Okay, try and find a GOOD used Fender, made in mexico, for a good price. Dont get a piece of shit and dont pay too much. Both of these things can be solved by getting a used one. As for a rock band, if you have no idea how to play guitar, wait at least a year. :p

Firefly
2003-11-21, 04:54 PM
The reason I think Fenders sound like a porn-star's anus after a DVDA movie is because my very first guitar was a Fender strat, which I had hoped would have good sound for some heavy metal. I have to admit, it does have its uses but none of them are for my genre and taste. So hence I am a bit biased against it. One of my short-comings, I suppose.

As far as I know, and I'm no guitar history expert, there are two base classes of guitars- electric and acoustic. Classical guitar is a "style" of guitar-playing and a "brand" of guitar. I have never seen an electric Classic guitar, unless it was miked through an amp or had an attachable "remote" pickup (for reference, see Nirvana Unplugged's video segment of "Man Who Sold The World"). I have, however, seen nothing but acoustic Classical guitars. They have three plastic strings like big-ass fishing line almost, and three metal strings.

You can argue semantics all you want- acoustic and electric. Now you can also come up with some lame-ass middle ground like Acoustic-Electric, but if it's got electrics on it then it's a fucking electric. Would you say "No way dude, there's three types- acoustic, electric, and Jazz guitar"? No.

Classical guitar: style of music, type of acoustic guitar. That's my opinion, based on logic analysis but no empirical proof or "expert documentation".

Neon Apocalypse
2003-11-21, 04:58 PM
ibanez is cheap

Nimbus
2003-11-21, 08:02 PM
Personally, I'd listen to Firefly. He sounds like my friend Luc, except less vulgar and pissed off.
I love guitars. Unfortunately I'm tone deaf, can't tune them. Go drums.

VashTheStamped
2003-11-21, 09:54 PM
:lol::lol::lol:

http://64.219.210.106/gut.jpg

Squeeky
2003-11-21, 10:22 PM
gogo gadget adsense!

Dizik
2003-11-22, 03:34 PM
If you're just starting out to play guitar, here's my suggestion. Go to a pawn shop or another store with preowned equipment. You'd be surprised at what you can find at those places. And if you don't know how to play yet, don't plan on starting a band. It's going to be a while before you should even consider it.

Hamma
2003-11-22, 04:20 PM
I wish I could play an instrument. I've heard Squeeky is pretty good at the Skin Flute.

1024
2003-11-22, 04:29 PM
it's all about t3h drums.

BUGGER�GHO�T
2003-11-22, 04:37 PM
My friend is gona teach me first, i'll probably be learning just how to play whatever songs he makes/gets off the net.


And i was going to pick drums (he offered me either elec. guitar, bass, or drums), but my house is too small and I dont know where the hell would I put it plus my parents would be yelling all the time plus my brother would break it the next day.

Kaikou
2003-11-22, 04:49 PM
When in doubt, get a Fender. I'm getting one for christmas (it's a monopoly...when it's the ONLY thing you ask for, you're gonna get it :p)

Fenders and Gibsons are really nice guitars.

Just know that learning guitar ain't a "learned in a week" thing. Especially electric.

Squeeky
2003-11-22, 04:50 PM
Skin Flute :lol:

Haven't heard that in awhile.

Firefly
2003-11-22, 05:33 PM
Just know that learning guitar ain't a "learned in a week" thing. Especially electric.
I have this old-as-hell poster, it shows tablature for three chords: E, G, and A.

It says "Now you can play punk rock".

Onizuka
2003-11-22, 06:45 PM
<--- Instrument Fanatic.

Oh, who said electric was harder than acoustic? Trying playing classical guitar :ugh:

RagingSpeedhorn
2003-11-22, 08:41 PM
A few pointers:

1. Les Paul style guitars give a fuller sound
2. Humbucking pick ups give a fuller sound
3. If you're learning, dont splash out on a top of the range 'tar.
4. Make sure the action is good
5. Looks mean nothing, sound means everything
6. If you're gonna play metal, use heavy strings and plectrums

3 golden rules for metal playing

1. Buy a decent amp with a bit of power
2. Buy a multi-effect pedal, such as a Zoom GFX700
3. Use drop D tuning, to do this tune down the bottom E to D. You can now fastriff powerchords using one finger. Used extensivly by a lot of bands, and it means you can learn to play the whole catalogue of System Of A Down songs in about 5 minutes.

Kuraltai
2003-11-23, 10:55 AM
Bugger,

The guitar make and model choice is personal preference .. as seen by the previous replies. I personally like semi-hollow body guitars, but that's irrelivant for what you're wanting.

There has been some good advice given so far .. Firefly, Andok, Squik and RagingSpeedhorn .. and of course the skin flute. :rofl: *ahem*

I would also suggest that you and your friend go to a local music shop and let him play some of the different guitars they have and choose what YOU feel sounds like what you want. You will also want to check out the various effect pedals/switches that enhance the sound of the guitar you choose.

Edit: The BC Rich Warlock is a radical looking guitar that I'd choose for looks alone, been a long time since I played one though. Hmmm .. hey Santa! :D

Firefly
2003-11-23, 12:59 PM
Edit: The BC Rich Warlock is a radical looking guitar that I'd choose for looks alone, been a long time since I played one though. Hmmm .. hey Santa! :D
Through the proper amp and a metal pedal, it's a radical looking guitar that I'd choose for looks alone too, but also because of the wall of sound that bad larry can throw out.

Sound = priority

Nimbus
2003-11-23, 02:57 PM
Dammit. You guys got me intersted in guitar again. Unfortunately I can't tune them worth a crap. I'll have to get one of those fancy-pants tuners to help me out.
Looks like me and my checkbook are going to Dave's Guitar Shop tomorrow.