Beginner guitar or bass

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mithra6 said:
most of instrument buying is in your gut ..... Music is about feeling. That's it.
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yeah. the instrument (both the specific model and the more general 'bass or guitar' thing) often chooses the player, i find. i play guitar, but my first love is the trombone... i played cornet before that, and we never really got on :p as soon as i even picked up a trombone, before i knew anything about how to play it, it felt like it sat comfortably sat in my hands - like a little switch which the cornet had never been able to reach was flicked ( :o cheesy i know, but thats honestly the best way of describing it.) its interesting - a lot of trombonists i know are very similar people, as are a lot of the guitarists, singers, trumpet players, saxophonists, flortists ... blah blah blah... and i know a lot of them started out on instruments they didn't like, switched, and immediately started progressing at a rate they never did on their previous instrument.

go and hold a few guitars, and a few basses. see which feels righter. and then decide neither of them are very good instruments and what you really Want is a trombone... :p

Andy
 
I am going to jump in on the side of learning guitar first. The transition to bass later is (as others have said) a lot easier than going the other direction, and far more of your skills will transfer.

Also, bass is an ensemble instrument; you will have a harder time of it working by yourself in the early part of your development than you will on guitar. It is very hard to learn songs on bass by yourself, while on guitar you can accompany yourself singing.

Everyone is a solo act in the beginning. You will learn more about the overall structure of music in learning to play guitar (or keyboards) than you will on bass. Virtually every bass player I know started on guitar.

Here's something else - I don't know how old you are, but if you are still between K-12 ages and the school you go to has a music department, you might pick an instrument and go out for band. Music is much greater than simply learning an instrument, it is a mental exercise; I got a huge boost in learning music from playing trombone in middle school and high school band. The basics in theory of melodic and chord structure that I learned there have served me well and still do to this day, and it's been MANY years.
 
GGun makes a good point there to bass being an ensemble instrument. I was lucky to be friends with someone picking up guitar at the same time I was picking up bass.
 
And one more piece of advice: you've got to be bad before you can be good. Everyone is terrible in the beginning, and only those who have the persistence to get through the bad period ever get to be any good. So, get out there and be bad exuberantly and as much and often as possible; the more you play EVERY DAY, no matter how terrible it sounds to you (and everyone within earshot), the faster you'll get through to the good stuff. Fear of failure guarantees failure.
 
This is one of the local music shops 99 Dollar Guitars Are any of those decent ones? I was think about this one...J. Reynolds - Solid Body Electric Guitar It looks nice and its listed for $200 at some other places. I dont know what any of the things like Double Cutaway Electric Guitar w/3 sgl-coil or Electric Guitar w/2-sgl coil 1-humbucking P mean. I decided I want to play the guitar also. I figured it would be fun to bring along camping or hiking or to the park. And also I am 23 so high school band is not gonna work for me. :)
 
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You are going to have to decide which instrument 'calls to you' first. Once you've decided bass or guitar, find someone who can play and bring them to the music store with you to help you find an instrument that is playable. While I agree that harder action makes well setup guitars easier to play, as a part time teacher, I have seen several students lose interest because their instrument was too hard to play and frustrated them. The early stages of learning a stringed instrument can be very frustrating and somewhat painful, so the better the instrument is set up, the easier the early stages of learning will be. Well set up does not necessarily mean that you have to spend a lot of money. There are quite a few very playable starter level guitars out there, but there are some terrible ones as well. If you don't have a friend to help you, then you will have to find a salesperson who can, which is not always an easy task. ;) Good luck and let us know how you make out.
 
I'm not familiar with those brands, but I'm sure someone here is.

I will say that these are Fender copies, and I think you would be better off with a Squier which will be a little more, but you won't get pissed off at it as quickly. As GB says above, it will probably be easier to play.

Maybe someone has a better idea.
 
missingabutton said:
I figured it would be fun to bring along camping or hiking or to the park. And also I am 23 so high school band is not gonna work for me. :)
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Those are all electric guitars and will need amplification. For camping, hiking or hangin' at the park you'll need either: A) an acoustic guitar, or B) a cordless amp (rechargable battery powered).

I've read Hondo has a good rep for build quality to cost ratio. For a beginning guitar you can't go wrong. They also make an acoustic guitar I think.
 
Ggun posted some great advice there! Playing every day and making a God-awful racket is all part of the learning stages of the guitar. :o
 
The guitar you linked is a copy of Fender's Telecaster, which happens to be regarded as an extremely versatile instrument, not a bad punk choice either (Stooges, for example). The Teles are known for having a trebley sound, described as twangy, bright, or sometimes honk-y. Most of the classic Led Zeppelin songs were recorded on a Tele, the Stairway solo included.

The"2 sngl 1 humbucking" is a copy of Fender's Stratocaster, with a "humbucking" pickup in the bridge position. If anything, even more versatile than the Telecaster type you linked, capable of more aggressive sounds, but a Strat will require a bit more maintenance than the Tele, due to the bridge construction.

For portability, look at the Roland MicroCube, which is $125 anywhere, and will run off AC or batteries, and happens to sound great. It is nowhere near loud enough to play with a drummer, but by the time you are contemplating putting a band together, you will be wating to upgrade your equipment anyway. The Roland will be a keeper practice amp anyway, I've played guitar for 17 years, and I bought the Roland because the sound was extraordinary for a tiny amp. I still haven't figured out why I need it though...

There are some decent first time buyer's facts here, with a couple odd statements, most noticably calling what everyone in the world would describe as an Explorer as a "Rockwell." Otherwise, this will allow you to speak basic guitar.

Finally, unless you know a guitar player, you probably won't save any money on a $100 guitar. Simply speaking, they might well be decent to fine instruments, but they will require work you don't know how to do.

These are pretty clear directions for how to get a guitar ready to play. If you can read through them, and say "oh yeah, I can do that," then you can go to your $99 store, or try rondomusic.com, or eBay. If not, you will have to pay for a setup ($40 or so) or suffer with a bad playing guitar. Then again, if you can make a setup a condition of your buying a guitar at your $99 Store, you are ahead of the game. You may want to install better pickups later on, they are often a weak point in a cheap guitar.

Maybe a better choice is to move into the $200 range, where you can get the Squire, or a used Mexican Fender, used American-made Peavey Predator or Reactor (woefully underrated guitars), used Yamaha Pacifica, many Ibanez choices, some Epiphones, etc. A guitar store should be willing to do a basic setup to get you to buy one of these, and you will have an instrument you can have some confidence in immediately.

Eek! I didn't mean to write a book here!
 
I have narrowed it down to two choices LP Special or SG Special which do you guys think is the better one? I really do appreciate all your tips and info. Really helps out.
 
missingabutton said:
I have narrowed it down to two choices LP Special or SG Special which do you guys think is the better one? I really do appreciate all your tips and info. Really helps out.
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These guitars are very similar, both in sound and playability. The Paul is a bit heavier.
 
Go somewhere and play them both, and pick the one that feels better. Or whichever one looks better to you.

The reviews seem to be in line with inexpensive "starter" guitars. I'd try to demand a setup (action adjustment) as a condition of purchase, it will probably need one.

Review for LP Special II

Review for SG Special

If you get to a shop that has them, and find you are not enthusiastic, check out these; the Agile LP's have a cult following on Harmony Central, I think the SX strat and Tele copies look great. They also have a SG type (Valkyrie) and some more unusual designs. Figure on adding $15 for shipping, and assume you will need a setup, say $40 (or get some allen wrenches and have at it). I would expect the Agiles are superior to those Epi's, but having a local dealer to work out problems with can be a great resource.
 
I would definitely start with guitar. Though it looks more antimidating, it really isn't. Besides....who wants to be the cheeszy dorky bass player!! (Joke). Seriously, you will find the transition from Six string to Bass much easier than Bass to guitar. The main thing is to have fun learing the instrument. Enjoy sounding bad till ya sound good!! Like all have said here..We all were and some of us still are horrible players. Main thing is to practice practice practice!!! (My first electric guitar..........a custom Harmony classic!!!)
I'm teaching my daughter to play guitar, I'm making her play an acoustic with nylon strings her first year. She'll thank me later on.
 
Missingabutton...

If you can try those out. I'm personally an LP guy and I love them. I have a higher end LP, but I hear even the low end ones are decent. LPs are well known for their sound. The pickups they have make less buzzing. I would go for it.
 
Sorry I havent posted in awhile. I was waiting for my tax return to come back so I could buy my guitar and it finally came yesterday. I think this is the set up I am gonna go with Squire Bullet and the Roland micro-CUBE. Do you guys think that is a good setup? I also found a friend that will give me lessons with payment of beer.
 
That's a good choice for a starter set up, not even bad for an intermediate player. My advice at this point is...don't pay your friend/instructor (with beer) untill after the lesson. Learn all you can and don't forget to have fun. Don't get discouraged if your fingers wont do what you want them to, it takes a while and a lot of practice to develope finger dexterity and strength.
One more piece of gear I recomend is a tuner. Playing/practicing on a properly tuned instrument will help you develope an "ear" for how things should sound.
 
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