Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

As fun as Guitar Hero on the Wii is, it still doesn't quite satisfy my urge to rock out my favourite tunes, so I've decided to learn for real.

I have a friend who is a guitar tutor, so I will definitely be booking some lessons with him (poor guy has no idea what he's in for!) as well as using tutorial books etc and I expect to have to put in a LOT of practice! :lol:

So I thought i'd see what the .Org's guitar players would make of the stuff I'm thinking of buying to get me started...

I was thinking of this guitar and probably this amp.

Just wondered if anyone has owned/played either of them & what they thought? Most stuff I've read online says the guitar is a good one for a newbie, and also I'm mostly into rock/metal stuff so that's why I've picked them...

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Nice choice of instrument to learn.

Ive got a load of "how to" books and cd's from ages ago if they are any use.
Ive even got a spare peavy 15w practice amp too if its any help.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

A mate at work has already offered me his practice amp to use till I get my own and he's a lot closer, but thanks for the offer anyway.

Out of interest, what books did you use? I've looked around the internet and there's so much choice out there it's hard to know what'll be any good.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Off the top of my head, cant remember what they are called as they are stored with my spare amp etc in the attic.

I know theres some metallica tab books, spare tuner I think theres a zoom digital effects pedal up there too from memory.

Most of my stuff got pushed to the back of the attic when the fun adjuster moved in with me :(

I'll have a proper look sometime this week.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

I am interested in this also.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

do BMW do guitars ?

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

I've wanted to learn for years and I did actually try when I was about 18/19 but I never had the patience to practice & stick with it, or anyone that I could ask for advice. Hopefully now I have a few mates that play it'll mean I have more incentive to stick at it and improve, plus I'm a bit more patient these days.

More than anything though, I'm 30 next year and learning guitar was always on my 'things to do before I'm 30' list! :lol:

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Go for it, its never too late to do the things you wanted to do when you were young. I got my bike license aged 45.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

I have a Les Paul copy by Vintage. Beautiful black number with gold pick ups and machine heads. I also have a zoom 707 MkII that keeps me amused for hours!
The amp is carp, but it does for my little house, shame I don;t have the old Vox valve amp I used to have kicking about.

I play completely by ear, never learned tab, can't read it, nor know what chords or notes I'm playing. I've been learning to play for around 15 yrs now......I can;t play....honest! ;-)
I have a 30 yr old Tanglewood acoustic which is my baby, I learn everything on that first. If your fingers can play fast enough on an acoustic, the electric is easy peaasy :-)

Get one and play along to all your favourite tunes, you'll soon get the hang of it. Its how I learned....Slash taught me everything I know!

lol just found a review of the guitar I have. It says pretty much what my mate said when he first picked it up and played it. He has had a few Les Pauls over the years and he said he'd be inclined to say it played better than his!!

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/r...ge/V100BB/10/1

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

good choice in guitar, epiphone are usually slatted but for the money but i like them and i'd have one for the money, pick-ups might be worth upgrading in the future if you fancy a bigger amp

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Youll play much better if you use your hands...


;)

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Great guitars for the money (mine is a tobacco sunburst finish). Many pros rate them as better than Epiphones.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

sniggers....ahh well, you know you're a full on rock god, when you can play it with your teeth:p

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

well, firstly, get this - acoustic guitar and electric guitar both rely on the same bsic rules of playing guitar. So learn everything and anything you can get your hands on that sounds good to you!

Secondly, take it easy. I always found elarning songs I enjoyed helped. Get used to making chord shapes before trying to blitz up and down the fretboard like Steve Vai - you can actaully do some serious injury if you try going to fast, too soon! Warm-up stretches are important

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Good excuse for a lunge then:confused:

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

I've got an Epiphone Les Paul, I havent played it for ages, but when I used to it was really nice to play.

I'd be more inclined to get yourself an acoustic and learn on that first.

1. It'll be cheaper
2. I found the electric made me lazy technique wise, whereas on the acoustic everything must be right and you cant get away with poor fretting etc etc etc

If your going to get lessons then this wont be so much of a worry as your teacher will make sure you dont get into any bad habbits.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

I tried, its slow going at first so i got fed up, too fiddley. Now i want a keyboard.

Goodluck

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Indeed, an acoustic makes your fingers work harder and ultimately make them stretch further. If you can get solos knocked out on an acoustic as quick as they are supposed to its easy peasy on the electric .:smt033

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Playing can be great fun as long as you don't get carried away and 2 hours turns into 8! :grin: A good source of free learning materials including videos from a qualified teacher is justinguitar.com. His vids are also on youtube, several hundreds of them. When looking for gear consider imuso, gak, and also Dolphin music. Google them.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

White Rabbit, if you are serious i have a friend in Bristol who is a guitar teacher.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Epiphone guitars are very good. My Black Beauty is a great guitar and has done me for hundreds of gigs.

If you can stretch to it, i'd consider looking a little bit higher in the price range if you can (about £100ish more for an Epi. Les Paul Studio)- purely because you'll get a guitar that'll have longevity as you get better- ie the build quality, pickups and wood will be much better.

But asides from that, that Les Paul Special a superb guitar to get you started.

The thing I'd say for starting with an acoustic is that the really cheap acoustics can (not always though) have a really high action and being quite challenging, may be a lttle off putting to start with. There's no reason why starting with an electric can be detrimental to your technique- it's about what you put in more than anything.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Don't forget to look around music shops near you, a lot of them will have packages on and you can give the guitars a go before you buy them. if you do decide to get an acoustic rather than an electric I would put some nylon strings on till you get your finger tips toughened up a little bit ;)

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

why:confused:

My son plays with steel strings on his acoustic and hes eight years old. Hes only just starting to play and he doesn't complain. I have 10 gauge on mine. Not sure what he has on his though

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

I personally wouldnt recommend nylon strings to anyone.

*This is my opinion*

They are rubbish and sound rubbish.

If you want to lighten things up a little, use a lighter gauge steel string instead.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

I can't add anything to this thread other than 'think of the neighbours'...

Andy no way are you 30 next year!! You really have surprised me, I'd have put you at 25 - 26.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

There a lot easier on the fingers than steel strings and in my experience they didn't snap as much when i was starting off learning i snapped a fair few strings tuning them they nylons were a bit more resilient as well as depending on how soft the skin on your fingers and how much your playing its not beyond the realms of possibility to cut your fingers (I know, I've done it my self years ago) and ist not like you cant change them later on. 50 pence per string it was last time i got a string so its not exactly a huuge expense.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

If your just learning start with 9s or 10s. You shouldn't have a problem. I use 11s/12s on mine, but using these it's a hot harder to bend notes, do vibrato, etc.

As for the Epiphone les paul, I had one as my first electric guitar. Its plastic coated wood, as some of the finish had cracked and fallen off mine. I don't really like playing it too much, (I think due to the scale length) but it's got a great sound. Turn the tone down, run it though a cranked marshall and welcome to 1966!

I much prefer fender American strats, but they are a lot more expensive!

Dan

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Ok...being a little maestro ill stick my 2 pennies worth in.

The epihone was the first guitar I brought. The guitar is tight. Bends are slightly harder to achieve but what this made me do is learn and stay determined to get this instrument sounding right. The action was also set quite high so this caused my fingers to work harder holding barre chords and playing mid - top range solos or riffs. It worked. When I got my first California strat I nearly pushed the strings of the fret board. The playability factor was phenomenal and I just could not put it down. The amp you are looking at would be more than enough for what you need to start with. If you decide to join a band in the future you will need to re think but it’s down to what you want to do. I run a line 6 pod x3 live if my amp also made by line 6 and I can say their stuff is very good quality. The clarity is clear and has a good range.

Agree with what everyone is saying about buying acoustic first. there are up sides and down sides to this such as not getting the tone or sustain you may be looking for if you learnt on electric.

There are many techniques and styles to learn on the guitar. Start with some easy 3 chorded songs and keep the repetition going on them. I have successfully taught a friend to play and although he said I made him do the same song every week after 6 - 8 weeks he was playing it well. When I introduced another song with the same chords he played that well too. It was then a case of flowing this around the fret board and 6 months later he is doing well.

I am a self taught guitarist. IMHO this is the best way. Lessons can be expensive and you may feel your not achieving anything by undertaken them. try buying a few beginners guitar books first. Learn chord shapes and train your fingers to hold these shapes fluently with your eyes closed.

There is nothing you cannot learn with the aid of the internet now. If I’m learning a new song and get a bit pickled I look on you tube. It’s amazing how many breakdowns are on there and how well some people teach.

I found it always helps to play with friends. You can bounce ideas, techniques, styles of each other and it helped my ability two fold.

I would recommend 10 gauge strings to start. I started with 9's but found i was a little heavy handed in the strumming department and tended to break the little e string continuously. Not saying you will but playing with a medium gauge string will allow you to get used to these early on. I would also buy a wide range of pick gauges to use. There are many out there and each specific to a persons suit. I play with a .75 and nothing else. Buy one of each and find what feels comfortable for you.

Last but not least, if you want any further advice or any songs to learn PM me and ill help you out as much as I can. Just remember not to give up in the first couple of weeks if you don’t think you’re improving. I recorded myself on day one of learning and then again at monthly intervals. You will notice the difference!

Enjoy it!

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

well fellas, I can honestly say I have never in fifteen years cut a finger playing steel strings. may have broke a few nails, as I don't use plectrums. My dainty girly fingers must be well hard compared to man hands ;-) They are however pretty scabby on the ends, feel like brick layers fingers!

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

I recall my what I want to do by 30 list ! was ages ago and I achieved about 3 of 10 items..

now working on my what I want to by 50 !.. aagghhhh



I dont play guitar but i am a good strummer.. ohh yessss

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

If you still have your finger callouses then steel strings are fine. If, like me, you've not played for a decade or more and you pull your (very cheap) Les Paul copy out and muck about for half an hour, you'll find your finger tips hurt like hell. Can't say I've ever had cuts from them though...

By comparison the spanish guitar I got my daughter for her birthday this year is very easy on the fingers and I'm building up my resistance again nicely thanks to it's nylon strings. As a softy office worker I can vouch for the softer strings being quite a help to get going again.

On the accoustic v electric debate my school music teacher always banned us from bringing in the amplifiers until we could show her we could perform the set unplugged first. I found that learning on the less forgiving accoustic always helped in the long run.

Got to say that although I'm rubbish, and I'm never likely to use it outside the house any more, I have enjoyed picking up a guitar again.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Pansies! playing until you bleed is a rite of passage!

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

i too have just started, well september...wanted a guitar for my 42nd b'day...started with a cheap acoustic(£15 antique shop)...and very soon after my wife bought me a fender electro acoustic for my b'day......fingers have hardened nicely with no bleeding/cuts and 2 months in and can now play a few songs albeit not great but know 6 chords or so...and alot of songs are only 3 chords( i like johhny cash stuff)...so if i can learn at 42 im sure u younger lads/lasses will soon pick it up..wish id started many years ago:D

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Thanks for all the advice peeps. I'm pretty determined I'm going to go electric straightaway rather than acoustic cos most of the music I like is rock/metal, and I figure I'm more likely to get better if I'm playing stuff I like. I can see what people mean about acoustic being better for technique though, so I will probably get one at some point in the future.

I might see if I can spend a little more on the guitar and get slightly better hardware, but then I originally wanted to not spend much so at least if I suck it won't cost me much! :lol:

Must be my boyish good looks ;) Thanks mate that has made my day!

While we're on the subject, #6 on my list requires 2 (preferably willing) lovely ladies & a LOT of custard. Any volunteers? :wink:

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

I was just going to ask what else was on the list............








but now I think I will run away very quickly and not ask.

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

What is it with blokes and custard:confused:

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Good decision - if you want to play electric guitar get an ELECTRIC guitar. You can still, if you so desire, fit heavier strings/tune half a step up and raise the action to get the extra finger work-out. The right hand technique on an electric guitar is different (pinch harmonics, more palm-muting) and you will at some point need to find how to get a sweet tone through the amp. Also, if your guitar has a good, easy action you are less likely to get hacked off and quit! Good luck - and don't forget - practising scales and chord changes is boring but vital to progress! (in other words, do what I didn't and don't try to be a god before you can fly!)

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

Any recommendations for an SG?

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

I just looked up the Les Paul Studio's - the black/gothic ones are bloody lovely!

I might see if I can get one on the Arts Council's interest-free scheme that I just found out about. 30-odd quid a month at 0% for a nice guitar & amp is VERY tempting!! :twisted:

Re: Learning electric guitar - your thoughts please...
 

I think I am going to go for a Spider as well. But what guitar? The Studio does look nice. Maybe discount for a pair? :lol:

Any details of the Arts Council scheme?