Best Guitar for Total Beginner?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Keno53
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I will also go with Ibanez for the beginner. They are nice looking, and their necks are thinner than the Fenders or Gibsons. I would also suggest starting with .09 strings since they are the easiest to play if you don't have callouses, .08's may cut you if you play for too long at first. And yes, don't be afraid to go to your local music store and try as many guitars as you like and don't let the Steve Vai's wanna be's intimidate you!
 
Steve Vai!! <shiver>, so many years of my life wasted with Vai, Satch, Dream Theater, Metallica...oh..what? sorry.

Anyways....I loved the Taylor 414ce advice..very solid, indeed. But hey why not start off with the 5 series...the 2002 models are smokin. Hmmm, think its time for a new Taylor.

Pacifica over squire anyday. Whatever you do - DO NOT buy a peavy...raptor or predator. Lets just say I once got a splinter from a raptor. Not fun.

The actual reason I am posting though is again in regards to taylor 414ce man - solid advice...though, I think the better you get at guitar - the more you realize that acoustic and electric guitar are almost completely different instruments. totally different ways of approaching them. Someone who is accomplished on an acoustic guitar is most certainly not going to be able to pick up a Les Paul and play like Jimmy Paige.

Not disagreeing with your advice...I think it is much better to learn to play guitar on acoustic...even if your only goal is electric. But, in that case I would say play acoustic for a year or so...get down some of the basics of guitar - and then start working on making the electric. Whole different world.

-wes
 
Whatever you do don't get a "flying V". These are show guitars and will constantly slide off your lap if you ever are doing some sit down practice.
 
Are you guys even paying attention? He's wants an electric to record home studio stuff.

A halfway decent electric is easer to play than an acoustic. My vote is for either an Ibanez or the Pacifica.

The Pacifica mainly because Yamaha generally builds very good gear for the price.

The Ibanez because they generally make good guitars that sound decent and are easy to play.

Most importantly, if you can play a little, go to the shop and audition them for yourself to determine what YOU like.
 
Sure, we're paying attention; we know he wants an electric, and that (by his measure) he's a "total beginner." I bet he's a better player than that but is just modest about it online.

Here's the thing: (Gospel according to Treeline) a "total beginner" will advance faster, and understand more quicker, by starting with the best acoustic he / she can afford, than by doing anything else. Period.

Learning the basics on an electric Is Not A Good Idea. Get your basics down on an acoustic - 6 months to a year - and then make the move, at which time you'll begin to soar. Trust me and 30 years of bloody fingers on this one.
 
SAVE your 200$...then save another 250$...then track down some poor fucker who really needs some cash and is willing to part with a quality instrument like a gibson or fender...once found, you will like it so much that it'll be a long time before you embarrass yourself again by asking anyone--which guitar is best for 200$---they're all peices of shit that will teach YOU to suffer from frustration.....except---once in a great while you may find a really killer guitar leaned up against a tree at a yard sale for 25-50$....but, if you don't know it's a killer guitar, your fucked....it takes TIME to catch on....
 
As a first acoustic, a Taylor 414 might be a little pricey. They usually run somewhere around $1100. You might want to look into a Taylor Big Baby (much cheaper, still Taylor quality). It's a 15/16 size.

If you're looking for something mid-range and full size, I can recommend a Takamine. I play a Takamine EG330-C and a few times a week I play a Taylor 615ce (whenever I can get my hands on it). Occasionally we trade guitars for a song and I have a chance to compare the two first hand. Although my guitar looks and feels "cheaper" (mainly because of the laminate), it has decent sound with at least semi-new strings. I've noticed they become dead pretty quickly, then level off. I realize this is probably due to the acid in my fingers though. The sound of the Taylor is noticeably better and more even and balanced between highs and lows. It's also easier to play. It requires less pressure on the strings and sounds decent even with lighter gauges. My Takamine sounds really thin if I don't use at least 12's.

I guess what I was trying to say in all that was that the Takamine is a great value for a mid-range guitar.

As for an electric guitar, I would recommend avoiding anything with a floyd rose and my experience with an S470QS sort of turned me off of Ibanez electrics.
 
"Probably looking at electric so as to record tracks easier in the home studio...hoping to find something under $200 that sounds fairly decent. "
 
ToyL

has got the right idea....
Find someone that you know who has "SOME" knowledge of guitars and go and find yourself a high end USED instrument.....

Sorta like buying a car...ya know?
Good used ones are WAY cheaper than brandy new ones....

More bang for your buck...


Good luck
 
This is the part where I say I used to run the guitar department for a large music store (always at least 600 in stock) and . . . yadda yadda yadda . . . Yamaha Pacifica routinely smoked everything in it's price range . . . blah blah bah . . . Ibanez would be next choice blah blah blah, half the price tag of Squier was because it has 'Fender'written on it . . . yadda yadda yadda.

If you want to learn to play guitar, I would go with an acoustic - Taylors are excellent guitars, but also Yamaha make great entry-level acoustics, too, and you can probably get a used one in your price range.
Just FYI, my 16-year-old nephew has a Taylor acoustic and a Yamaha Pacifica with Peavey amp - anyone surprised?

Also, if you go to the store and can't play, don't try to play 'Stairway to Heaven' (it's a standard $5 fine in any US store) and by all means crank the amp - just be aware if someone is on the phone and wait until he's done - that way you won't piss off every one who works in the store.

Good luck,

foo
 
Good advice is to go into the local pawn shop and find you guitar, and stay away from the squier fender knockoffs. The best begginer guitar is the Sammick artist series LP knockoff. Barr none you wont find another under 200.00 as solid and gibsonlike as one of these. They even blow the Epiphones out of the water.

As Ive said Many times If you bring your musicians friend catalog to the pawn shop, You Can negotiate down almost anything.

Ive seen that Pacifica at 65.00 as well as the sbg200 for 65.00.

Squier stuff for 50.00

The sammick stuff is usually arround 200.00 but the best choice.
 
Pacifica, Ibanez

hear hear! I second that. BTW, I think it's bullshit to advise a 'total beginner' to save up to $500 and get a decent/elite guitar,

I've played guitars for 10 years now, I've had crap and glory in my hands.
Crap=Altai, Animal, Action, Rickwood, cheap fender wannabe's. Some epiphones, not all of them. B.C Rich koreans/japanese...

Glory=some Samicks (value wise, not best quality/tone wise), Ibanez (the whole enchilada), Jackson, I think needs to be mentioned here more. The Pacifica's (especially the pricier ones with the Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio's). the new Mavericks.
some higher priced Fenders and somehigher priced Gibsons. PRS, and a very cheap, but stunning Cort Viva.

the problem for beginners (unless they want it), is that both Gibson and Fender do a) not always live up to their rep. b)have a very distinct sound, not that versatile. O.k. granted, you can use a Strat for surf, funk, some rock (Blackmore and his wannabe ;) Malmsteen). But as a beginner, investing in a Ibanez or a Pacifica with at least one humbucker pick-up, will be much more versatile, than either a thinny, sharp tone (Fender) or a thick wooly round tone (Gibson).

just my €0.02
 
Here's a shot in the dark:

If you go the acoustic route, I would go for a Larrivee. They're cheap, but high-quality instruments that play really well. I would take a $500 Larrivee over a $1000 Taylor anyday.

Just my 2 cents worth...
 
Always best to buy quality, even as a beginner. Martin or the Sigma by Martins are the best. Check pawn shops....... And use extra light strings, elixir's are the best, until you get all calloused.
 
if i was u, id go with a jackson, the necks are a little wider, and the action is low, so its easy to play. Most have duncan pickups, so they sound at worst good. Also, get one with a middle pickup, so that you can develop good technique. I started playing classical, then electric, but with only 2 humbuckers. When i got my tex-mex fender, the middle pickup got in the way of my playing, and it took me months to get over it.
 
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