I wish...to ROCK

Floofy

So, I'm looking to start myself off learning guitar. Electric, rocktastic guitar.

I have a vague idea of what I need from checking other FAQs and advice pages- a smallish amp to begin with, strap, leads to hook up to the amp, plectrums, tuner, case/bag, maybe some spare strings. Some places seem to sell starter kits with all this and the guitar included but I'm a little skeptical about how decent the guitar would be in a setup like http://www.guitarcenter.com/Squier-by-Fender-Stop-Dreaming--Start-Playing-Affinity-Special-Strat-Pack-With-Fender-Frontman-15G-Amp-104487442-i1175988.gc]this

The major downside is I have no idea what to look for, pricewise or physically, in a starting guitar. I really am rather in love with the Epiphone Les Paul Special II range, particularly the black:

But I don't know if they're considered decent or what. Is there anything to consider as a female player in terms of sizes etc?

Basically, what was your starting guitar, and are the ones I've mentioned any good?

Quoth

I started on a classical acoustic guitar, so your mileage may vary, but I've played both Fender Strats and Gibson Les Pauls and I preferred the former because of how I started. It has a slightly thicker neck, which was what I was used to at the time.

That said, depending on how small your hands are, you may be more comfortable with a thinner neck; however, if you start out with a thicker neck, you may find it easier to switch later. Don't psych yourself out about size, though; my guitar teacher had freakishly tiny hands and she could play a stand-up bass with no problems. It's all a matter of practice.

Reznik

I started off using my brother's Squier. It was... okay, I guess, but it felt really cheap. Currently I have an Epiphone SG Special (http://www.woodbrass.com/images/woodbrass/ESGSCHCH1.JPG) and I like it a lot more.

However, I actually do most of my playing on a little 3/4 size acoustic. AFAIK it'll build up your finger strength faster since the strings are (generally speaking) harder to fret on an acoustic than an electric. Also when you screw up on an acoustic it doesn't sound as bad as on an electric :P

You seem set on an electric but I'd still like to throw out the idea of getting a cheap acoustic for the actual learning process and then picking up an electric once you're a bit better.

Armored Gorilla

I play infrequently, need to get back into it. My guitar is an Ibanez Iceman (http://vintageibanez.tripod.com/iceman.html). It sounds great, but it is STUPID heavy. My dad owns a 3/4 scale acoustic-electric Ovation which is pretty comfortable to play. My favorite guitar to play so far has been my friend's Alvarez electric guitar; it's light, a comfortable size, and all around solid. I didn't even know Alvarez made an electric guitar until I saw it with my own eyes.

i n c u b u s

My advice to you is this: You really cant go wrong with the epiphone and squier starter packs. You're just starting out and you don't want to spend too much money just yet because you're not really sure if it's something you'll actually get the hang of.

I actually started out on bass and then taught myself guitar 8 years ago but my first bass was the squier bass pack. It was like 300$ and had EVERYTHING I needed to get started. Infact I still use some of the stuff that came in that pack even today. I'm positive the electric guitar strat pack will do the same for you. My first guitar was an epiphone sg special, much like the les paul special you're looking at there. The pickups actually busted on me for no reason fairly soon. It was ok because the warranty so epiphone sent me my money back.

My advice, buy a pack from either squier or epiphone, get a hang of playing, then when you get good enough upgrade your guitar so a step higher that way you can use all our other equipment from the pack to save money.

Dehumanized

The guitars offered at Rondo Music are surprisingly good quality for the price. The electronics tend to be weak, but the overall guitar build quality is otherwise pretty good.

Shipping is pretty fast and they have good customer service. I bought one of these from them as a backup guitar and had very few complaints:
SX SST62 CAR

Total cost to me was something like $140, carrying bag and shipping included. You'll probably want to buy an amp and other accessories locally after trying some stuff out. I'd be wary of the "starter kits", they tend to be a bit overpriced. You probably won't get dodgy parts from them, but you'll pay more than you have to.

i n c u b u s

Dehumanized wrote: »

The guitars offered at Rondo Music are surprisingly good quality for the price. The electronics tend to be weak, but the overall guitar build quality is otherwise pretty good.

Shipping is pretty fast and they have good customer service. I bought one of these from them as a backup guitar and had very few complaints:
SX SST62 CAR

Total cost to me was something like $140, carrying bag and shipping included. You'll probably want to buy an amp and other accessories locally after trying some stuff out. I'd be wary of the "starter kits", they tend to be a bit overpriced. You probably won't get dodgy parts from them, but you'll pay more than you have to.

I second this advice!!!! I highly recommend these guitars, theyre cheap and very good quality. I bought my latest bass here and I absolutely love it!

i n c u b u s

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/navigation/electric-guitar-value-packages?N=100001+306243

That site is really great for buying music gear and that page lists all the packs they sell. It looks like epiphone makes a les paul II pack =]. If you like the looks of that guitar I'd say go for that pack. The guitar itself is good quality for beginners and trust me, you not only have to like the way your guitar sounds but how it looks as well.

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-Les-Paul-Special-II-and-Amp-Pack?sku=513150

Thats the pack with the guitar you like and it comes with all kinds of colors from red to sunburst to black.

Rook

Might be worth having a look through this web page from justinguitar.com. Coincidentally justinguitar is a great site to start learning from, nice guy, helpful advice good videos and just enough of a prod to get you to learn things on your own.

Another couple of good sites for mass reviews is http://www.harmony-central.com/ and http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/ just don't take any one person's review too seriously and just look for general trends so you know what to ask about.

There's a few things that if you sit near a computer can save you a bit of money. I use APTuner as a guitar tuner, just plug the guitar or amp into a PC. And http://www.metronomeonline.com makes a great err.. metronome. Not much but it makes the starting out costs a little bit less.

I'd definitely get a guitar you want to play, rather than settling for something else just because it's in your price range. And expect to pay just as much for an amplifier as the guitar itself. A crap amp will make even the best guitars sound rubbish. I think the Roland Cubes and Vox Valvetronix are fairly good practice amps you might want to look into.

If you're not sure what the guitars are going to feel like, I'd go into a music store and say you're interested in buying but not just yet and want to get a feel for the weight/size of a guitar.

Six

The Rondo music stuff is very good for the price. I\'d recommend it.

Pick yourself up a cheap starter amp - the line 6 stuff is fine.

if you don’t get one of the starter packs, pick up most of the stuff that comes with them - some picks, an extra pack of strings or two, a string winder, a cable, a strap, etc.

Budget for having your first guitar set up properly by a guitar tech (~$50). One of the main reasons people don’t stick with learning the guitar is that their guitar is hard to play. One of the main reasons a guitar is hard to play (aside from being poorly made), is that it’s set up improperly. Assuming you buy a decently made instrument (and all of the suggestions so far have been decent), getting it set up well will make a big difference.

I also suggest taking at least 5-6 lessons. It\'s so easy to pick up bad habits at the beginning that will be hard to correct later if your playing advances. Just getting the basics down correctly right from the get go is a good idea.

Good luck!

Wetsun

Budget for having your first guitar set up properly by a guitar tech (~$50). One of the main reasons people don’t stick with learning the guitar is that their guitar is hard to play. One of the main reasons a guitar is hard to play (aside from being poorly made), is that it’s set up improperly. Assuming you buy a decently made instrument (and all of the suggestions so far have been decent), getting it set up well will make a big difference.

This. Mine only cost $25, from the same guy who gave me lessons. But man, that thing was set up shitty out of the box. Alternatively, you can google for how to set up a guitar's action/intonation/pickup-height/truss-rod. There are pretty detailed instructions out there. But, you can really fuck up the neck if you do something wrong, so be careful. Ideally, you can find someone willing to set up the guitar and show you how to do it properly at the same time.

Size-wise, my girlfriend picked one of these up in a thrift-shop: http://www.fenderhellokitty.com/. The neck is a little bit thinner than average (nothing ridiculous, though...seems to be full-size apart from that), so it would be nice and easy for smaller fingers to start with. After I set it up, it plays really well too.

Dehumanized

Yeah, getting a tech to look at your guitar before you do much with it would be a good idea. I didn't when I was first playing, and until I learned how to do that sort of stuff on my own (which I highly recommend as you go along! playing around with maintenance and settings can be a lot of fun) I had to struggle with shitty action and a generally poorly calibrated guitar which made learning much harder than it should have been when I was just trying to get down how to play a few chords.

Floofy

I'd like to say thanks for all the suggestions and advice. Definitely going to get myself a few lessons to start off, thankfully I'm familiar with music notation and theory from other instruments. And certainly going to ask about setup from someone who knows what they're doing, I'd never have considered that as an isssue, so cheers Six.

I'm going to go in to my local guitarry shop when I have the moeney come through and try the weight/handling of a few, also get and idea of size like I said. I can't imagine it's too much of an issue, I have freakishly long piano fingers anyway. The only thing is I tend to dislike the atmosphere there, it's a bit aggressively professional. There's a lot of very good people coming in and trying out the instruments, and I'm a little afraid of being a total newbie. But I know they sell the Squier packs, and I'm going to see what they recommend.

acidlacedpenguin

if it helps fender/squire scale length is typically 25.5" where gibson/epiphone is typically 24.75" This means that the frets on the gibson are slightly closer together. This might help you out if you've got really small hands.

also, don't be afraid to ask questions when you go to the music store. I know its really intimidating to go to one, hell I'm still a little afraid and I've been playing guitar for 5 years. If they're a musicshop that's with a damn, they'll be helpful and won't look down on you for being new. If they're jackasses, absolutely don't buy anything from them.

They'll respect that you want to get into the most awesomest past-time ever.

Six

If you do buy a guitar from a local shop, ask them to throw in the setup for free. On a superchearp guitar, they might not, but you will likely be able to get a deal.

Don\'t worry about being intimidated by other players. Everyone was in the same boat at first

Mishra

If you have a friend who plays have them go with you, it certainly made me feel better and they can play the guitar to give you some idea of the sound. A guitar you like the sound of is a guitar you play more often. If not ask the guy at the stor to play it for you.

The Cheese

Dehumanized wrote: »

The guitars offered at Rondo Music are surprisingly good quality for the price. The electronics tend to be weak, but the overall guitar build quality is otherwise pretty good.

Shipping is pretty fast and they have good customer service. I bought one of these from them as a backup guitar and had very few complaints:
SX SST62 CAR

Total cost to me was something like $140, carrying bag and shipping included. You'll probably want to buy an amp and other accessories locally after trying some stuff out. I'd be wary of the "starter kits", they tend to be a bit overpriced. You probably won't get dodgy parts from them, but you'll pay more than you have to.

Rondo isnt such a great deal if you're outside the US. The prices are the same obviously but you'll often get hit with huge shipping and brokerage fees.

Check craigslist for used Mexican Fenders or Squiers. Those are your best bet for a first electric.

Dehumanized

Yeah, that is sadly true. I forgot to check the OP's locale before recommending them. It's not quite as amazing of a deal buying from out-of-country, but a good baseline to look at what exactly you can expect to get for your money. Sorry guys, please move to America.

Demerdar

The Epiphone Special II was my very first guitar and it served me very well.

Get it.

acidlacedpenguin

Also I don't want to be that guy but rondo stuff looks like a steaming pile. Super El Cheapo guitars might seem like a good idea, but often they'll have major issues, and sometimes these issues are unfixable. I was just trying to set up my sister's cheapo strat copy that she bought from a similar company except adjusting the the action and the intonation on the bridge did nothing, the truss-rod nut sheared in two when I tried to adjust it, and the frets weren't even seated right to begin with.

having all of that stuff fixed would have probably cost twice as much as she initially paid for it.

with that said, that Epi Special II is a fine guitar. I'd recommend you stick with the budget faces of the big companies (like Squire, Epiphone, jasmine, or OLP) since with these you'll at least know that you'll get a playable guitar.

vegeta_666

Demerdar wrote: »

The Epiphone Special II was my very first guitar and it served me very well.

Get it.

Same here. I own the exact one you have linked in the OP and it is excellent.

Black guitar=fingerprints though. Which may get annoying for some, but, it's not that big of a deal. At least for me anyways.

OremLK

acidlacedpenguin wrote: »

Also I don't want to be that guy but rondo stuff looks like a steaming pile.

It's not

A lot of this stuff is as good as Epiphone or low-end Fender for half the price. These companies don't have the strength of brand name to work off of, and they also don't have to deal with retailers but can instead sell direct, so they typically price much lower to make up for it.

Six

acidlacedpenguin wrote: »

Also I don't want to be that guy but rondo stuff looks like a steaming pile. Super El Cheapo guitars might seem like a good idea, but often they'll have major issues, and sometimes these issues are unfixable. I was just trying to set up my sister's cheapo strat copy that she bought from a similar company except adjusting the the action and the intonation on the bridge did nothing, the truss-rod nut sheared in two when I tried to adjust it, and the frets weren't even seated right to begin with.

having all of that stuff fixed would have probably cost twice as much as she initially paid for it.

with that said, that Epi Special II is a fine guitar. I'd recommend you stick with the budget faces of the big companies (like Squire, Epiphone, jasmine, or OLP) since with these you'll at least know that you'll get a playable guitar.

The Rondo stuff is on par with epiphone and squier and other budget brands.

Jimmy King

I agree that the Rondo stuff should be decent. I haven't heard about their lower end stuff much, but I have heard nothing but good about their lower to mid-range Agile guitars that Rondo Music sells, which is also a store brand specific to them. My guess would be they all come from the same supplier and same factories.

OremLK

Yeah, Agile. That's the one I remember from a couple years back, everyone who bought one said it was better than their Epiphone, almost as good as a Gibson LP, and so forth. Should be a great guitar.

Floofy

So, I went down to the guitar shop today and was looking around with my boyfriend, talked to this one guy that worked there who was pretty cool and ended up deciding that the Squier pack (mentioned above) would be the best deal, £149 as opposed to around £250 for another setup with everything bought individually. And out of the blue my boyfriend bought it for me, right then. So I have a guitar!

Going to hunt for a tutor to get me started, it came with a basics dvd which seems okay, goes through the first few main power chords etc.

DEAR GOD MY FINGERS HURT WHEN WILL THEY STOP FEELING LIKE DEATH?

Anyway thanks all! Expect me in other guitar threads.

Six

Play until your fingers bleed!

Jimmy King

Floofy wrote: »

So, I went down to the guitar shop today and was looking around with my boyfriend, talked to this one guy that worked there who was pretty cool and ended up deciding that the Squier pack (mentioned above) would be the best deal, £149 as opposed to around £250 for another setup with everything bought individually. And out of the blue my boyfriend bought it for me, right then. So I have a guitar!

Going to hunt for a tutor to get me started, it came with a basics dvd which seems okay, goes through the first few main power chords etc.

DEAR GOD MY FINGERS HURT WHEN WILL THEY STOP FEELING LIKE DEATH?

Anyway thanks all! Expect me in other guitar threads.

Congrats, have some fun with that thing. Just got my first guitar back in February. I think I'm the only person in the world to not have sore fingers when I started playing.

You might try picking up some stuff called finger ease. I've been using it lately because it helps keep my alien acid sweat from causing the strings to become corroded within 30 minutes of putting them on but, as the name suggests, the primary intended use is to coat the strings in such a way that they don't hurt your fingers as much. I have no idea if it really helps with that or not.

Demerdar

It's painful, but totally worth it!

Six

Jimmy King wrote: »

Floofy wrote: »

So, I went down to the guitar shop today and was looking around with my boyfriend, talked to this one guy that worked there who was pretty cool and ended up deciding that the Squier pack (mentioned above) would be the best deal, £149 as opposed to around £250 for another setup with everything bought individually. And out of the blue my boyfriend bought it for me, right then. So I have a guitar!

Going to hunt for a tutor to get me started, it came with a basics dvd which seems okay, goes through the first few main power chords etc.

DEAR GOD MY FINGERS HURT WHEN WILL THEY STOP FEELING LIKE DEATH?

Anyway thanks all! Expect me in other guitar threads.

Congrats, have some fun with that thing. Just got my first guitar back in February. I think I'm the only person in the world to not have sore fingers when I started playing.

You might try picking up some stuff called finger ease. I've been using it lately because it helps keep my alien acid sweat from causing the strings to become corroded within 30 minutes of putting them on but, as the name suggests, the primary intended use is to coat the strings in such a way that they don't hurt your fingers as much. I have no idea if it really helps with that or not.

Stay far, far away from finger ease. This stuff can ruin your guitar if it gets under one of your frets. The fret will pop out and be virtually impossible to put back in permanently.

Just be sure to wash your hands before playing and wipe down the strings after you're done. It'll make sure your strings last for quite a while and won't get covered in gunk.

Jimmy King

Six wrote: »

Stay far, far away from finger ease. This stuff can ruin your guitar if it gets under one of your frets. The fret will pop out and be virtually impossible to put back in permanently.

Just be sure to wash your hands before playing and wipe down the strings after you're done. It'll make sure your strings last for quite a while and won't get covered in gunk.

Son of a bitch. As to my strings, seriously, I do wash my hands before playing and wipe the strings off after playing. They're literally corroded before I'm done playing the first time. Oh, well, not going to sidetrack this thread with that.

Six

Might want to try coated strings, like Elixir. I like them for acoustics, but not so much for electrics. They work for some people who have problems with regular strings corroding too fast.

Dehumanized

Floofy wrote: »

So, I went down to the guitar shop today and was looking around with my boyfriend, talked to this one guy that worked there who was pretty cool and ended up deciding that the Squier pack (mentioned above) would be the best deal, £149 as opposed to around £250 for another setup with everything bought individually. And out of the blue my boyfriend bought it for me, right then. So I have a guitar!

Going to hunt for a tutor to get me started, it came with a basics dvd which seems okay, goes through the first few main power chords etc.

DEAR GOD MY FINGERS HURT WHEN WILL THEY STOP FEELING LIKE DEATH?

Anyway thanks all! Expect me in other guitar threads.

Congratulations! Just keep playing, your fingers will eventually toughen up and develop nifty callouses. Whenever I stop playing for a month or two I have to redevelop them. Moral of the story: never don't practice...

cooljammer00

I'm really tempted to get a joke guitar, like the WangCaster or the Hello Kitty/Powerpuff Girls guitars, or even Daisy Rock.

Arenow

Dehumanized wrote: »

Floofy wrote: »

DEAR GOD MY FINGERS HURT WHEN WILL THEY STOP FEELING LIKE DEATH?

Anyway thanks all! Expect me in other guitar threads.

Congratulations! Just keep playing, your fingers will eventually toughen up and develop nifty callouses. Whenever I stop playing for a month or two I have to redevelop them. Moral of the story: never don't practice...

This is so true. I just came back from a month without a guitar and now my fingers hurt like fuck, it's a painful flashback to newbie times. Truth is, play a little bit every day, just for 10 minutes when you can't find the time. Force yourself the day you don't feel like playing, and when you don't feel like doing scales, just improvise some chords or try to come up with "Iron Man". Find out what amuses you, and enjoy it at the very best.
In the end you'll find yourself planning to stay for 10 minutes but ending up an entire hour on the axe!

Jimmy King

oh, oh, oh. One thing I didn't see mentioned. Get some strap locks. At best, after a month or two you'll be really tired of having the strap pop off while shifting around and possibly needing to catch the guitar while playing standing. At worst you'll need a new guitar because missed that catch.

I recommend either Schaller strap locks, based on tons of recommendations by people I trust, or a DiMarzio clip-lok (sometimes clip-lock - I've seen it both ways on websites) strap. Just don't get the horrid YJM clip-lok strap... and if you do, I demand pictures to laugh at.

Rook

Floofy wrote: »

DEAR GOD MY FINGERS HURT WHEN WILL THEY STOP FEELING LIKE DEATH?

I started about 2 weeks ago, and played for about an hour and a half a day, took about a week for them to stop hurting.

Kinda funny to have people wondering why it hurt to type at work.

cooljammer00

Rook wrote: »

Floofy wrote: »

DEAR GOD MY FINGERS HURT WHEN WILL THEY STOP FEELING LIKE DEATH?

I started about 2 weeks ago, and played for about an hour and a half a day, took about a week for them to stop hurting.

Kinda funny to have people wondering why it hurt to type at work.

I remember when I first started, my fingertips were numb and had a sort of disembodied feeling to them. Like I didn't have fingertips at all. The numbness seemed to work its way down my finger up to about a quarter of the way down the nail?

I'm good now, but it was weird.

acidlacedpenguin

cooljammer00 wrote: »

I'm really tempted to get a joke guitar, like the WangCaster or the Hello Kitty/Powerpuff Girls guitars, or even Daisy Rock.

woah hey, Diasy Rock aren't joke guitars. They're actually quality instruments.

OP, Keep it up with the fingers, it won't be long until they don't hurt from playing.