PedeBeater

I wanna learn to play the electric guitar. So i plan on purchacing a starter package in the near future. I would appreciate it if nobody ripped on me about my guitar choice, because I do not need the best quality guitar to get started. I've been looking at the Behringer MetAlien set for a while now, and from what I have read it seem so be a great starter set. But now I'm thinking that maybe its worth it to spring the extra $50 and get the Ibanez set that Behringer based their design off of... Any help on choosing along with learning the basics?

Behringer
http://www.zzounds.com/itemBEHIAXE629

Ibanez
http://www.zzounds.com/itemIBAIJX20


Thanks a bunch for helping me out, I don't know much about this stuff as of now.

feo

I've been playing guitar on and off for 5 years now. I first learned on a cheap acoustic. I spent maybe 2 years playing on that before getting an electric. But ever since my amp broke last year, I barely ever play, it at all.
I think repetition is really the key to getting things down, but you cant "over" practice them. You also learn faster when you're enjoying what you're doing. It's also good to be able to play many different genres. Dont just focus on one. Be well rounded, believe me on that one

slipknotedddd

My Feedback: (11)

I am gonna say this from 37 years experience playin 10 different instruments.. Call Dave at Sweetwater.com x. 1271. You will save a ton of money versus goin through Musicians friend, zzounds etc. They are a full retail business and could care less about whether u enjoy what u buy.. The guys at sweetwater.com are the best in the business in my experience.. You can buy for example a Mexican made Fender strat for less than $350. THe only differnce being one is made in Mex and is $700 less. Line 6 is makin the most amp for the money right now and are a top notch company. Im not gaining a thing from this but buy as much guitar as u can afford. They carry all the brands and you can find out with a phone call.

fasterrcs

well guitar choice is not to important when first starting off but a bit nicer then the cheapest is a way better buy. you want one that will stay in tune and has good action because once you start learning songs and the guitar keep going out of tune it wont sound good and you may get discouraged. when i starting playing 30 years ago a had a cheap guitar and i did more tuning then playing. buying a guitar from online is hit or miss because you cant play it before you buy it. the best way if possible is to go to a music shop and bring someone with you who can play and have him help you pick a good playing one. if you want to learn any song let me know i have a program called guitar pro with 260000 songs just about every one you can think of it has drum for most songs and shows you the fingering makes learning faster and easier here is the site http://www.guitar-pro.com/en/index.php but don't buy it i can email it to you its only a few megs, the song are about 200 megs and can be downloading from file shearing programs like bareshare or limewire i can also email you bareshare lite which has so add-ware or spy-ware

hands without shadows

If you buy something cheap now, you will appreciate the difference when you buy a nicer guitar. Don't buy crap, but if you buy a really nice guitar now you wont know how nice it actually is.

If you start on acoustic you will appreciate the difference when you buy an electric and will probably end up being a better player because of it. I learned all my chords and scales and stuff fairly well on an acoustic and then switched to electric. After that switch I was comfortable playing chorus and had the muscles and skills to start learning to solo. Learning to solo is harder if you started on electric.

I advise lessons, at least for a bit so you don't pick up any nasty habits that you don't know about. Smaller shops tend to give better lessons. Dont settle for group lessons, get one on one time.

RCtruckRacer

I started on a really cheap accoustic - and I highly reccomend you don't start there. Often, cheap guitars are nearly unplayable and you'd be doing yourself a disservice by starting out with one. Fingerings can often be made twice as difficult on super cheap models. After a couple of months of struggling on el-cheapo I bought a used Samick for $100 (which I still have btw) and got proper lessons at a community college. What a difference!

Being as how I am classically trained, I am partial to that method. The best books you can buy (IMO of course) are the Christopher Parkening Method, books I and II. If you get through both of those you're on your way to being dangerous, and will be able to pick up any song with time and determination.

If you find that you like classical guitar music, pick up the Frederick Noad books. They are some of the best realizations of guitar period music available.


EDIT: I forgot to mention the one thing I thought was most important! Duh.... anyway, when you start out it is very important to do proper warm up exercises, and practice techniques that will inhibit injury from playing (known as repetitive motion disorder). There are many, many exercises available, depeninding on what direction you take when starting out. Don't skip those! [8D]

Pearl_414

Here's a sweet guitar, it's fairly priced, you can probably get it for 4, or 6k, perhaps less, listen to it on the link below, crystal clear. Don't let homeboy on the vid fool you, he has years of college/music, cool tune.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX61Jlvd-Yw

feo

4 or 6k??!?![X(]
My first guitar was a $200 acoustic Suzuki. I now have 3 guitars, but none of them cost over $400.

Pearl_414

I call 60 to 80k high dollar for a guitar. I used to live on a budget also, until I started specializing in North American loopholes.

feo

I've honestly never seen or heard of a guitar costing any more than 20 or 30k. What kinda guitar costs 80k?

slipknotedddd

My Feedback: (11)

The Martin D100 acoustic is $100,000 at First Quality Music in Kentucky. That really not what this guy asked about. IT doesnt matter how much your guitar cost if you cant play, its just another piece of furniture. Help him out.

carlpearson

Guitar Recommendation
For a beginner, i recommend an ibanez. The RG is a great guitar that comes in various configurations, then again the Ibanez G series is decent too. There are cheap and expensive ones.Of course, for the Slash-fans, nothing beats a Les Paul (or, the Epiphone version Stay away from a Fender or Gibson because they cost too much. The best brands for a metalhead like you are Ibanez, ESP, Jackson, and Dean. Don't get a package because they are pieces of crap..If you are going for the metal thing, then a good amp is a must..for a starter, a small marshall or fender amp would suffice..maybe 10 to 20 watts..anything more than that and you will just be wasting money until you decide whether or not you wanna keep playing...and for free online lessons, there are plenty of people teaching Guitar for beginners on YouTube, and if you have iTunes, there are plenty of Podcasts which you can learn from. Dont waste your money buying DVDs and learning things, people sell those just to take your money. Learning guitar can be really easy for free. As soon as you learn all the basic chords, you can play pretty much any song you want, be sure practice as well..


[link=http://guitar.about.com/library/blguitarlessonarchive.htm]Guitar Lesson Archive[/link]
[link=http://www.expertvillage.com/video/129840_guitar-music-theory-major-3rd.htm]Video Lesson Series[/link]
[link=http://www.guitarlessonsreviews.net/Guitarlearningtips/]Guitar Learning Tips[/link]

Hoping this might Help you...........

The_Shark

get a washburn, cheap and quality, dean is ok, but the electronics are cheap.

warheadforever

Beast thing said!

I have been playing for 8 years, have always been blessed in that I never had to deal with really cheap junk.

Me recommendation is just get a Martin, they may be expensive, but if you don't like it, wait 10 years and sell it for stupid money. D28s can fetch up to $38,000 dollars...I am not kidding ether.

warheadforever

That guy knows his stuff.

slayerphonics

There is no need to go out and buy a top dollar guitar for your first guitar,

Ibanez makes a great quality cheap guitars and is a decent place to start.

Buy your self some tab books of music you really like and find some friends that play to, it helps to watch people play.

Hardest thing at first is going to be the damage your fingers take from playing,.. I remember when I first started I wanted to play so bad but my fingers where so sore I couldn't touch the strings,

Once you get better and you think that your going to enjoy years of playing guitar then buy something a little better.. also a good amp makes a world of a difference.