Guitar buying tips

[duragezic]

Finally this weekend before I go back to school (yes, I put off buying since like March), I NEED to buy a guitar.

I'm thinking of a Fender, Ibanez, Gibson, or Epiphone. I'm not sure if I'll be able to afford a Gibson so I wanna see how the Epiphone Les Paul are. My bro has a Ibanez RG320QS which I play and like so I may get an Ibanez. Fender.. well I'm not sure I want a Strat because from what I've heard I might want two humbuckers. I don't want a tremolo bridge since I have no interest in whammy bars and the TRS-2 on my bro's Ibanez is just a pain more than useful to me. But I'd like specific recommendations as well.

I mostly play Punk Rock. I also like other 'rock' like CKY and Incubus, but I don't want to get a guitar for only that. I may want to learn some older rock or lighter stuff down the road, so a fairly versatile guitar is a priority. My budget is $400-600, maybe a tad higher, but I also need a hardcase.

I also want to know what to look for when examining/playing them at the store. I want to find one and walk out with it that day since I'll be driving 2 hours one-way to get there. Though if the price seems very high and I know it's much cheaper from Musician's Friend I could order online after deciding, but if I'm driving that far I should just buy it there (plus I'll be tempted to have it for the week vacation I have before school starts ).

The store also has their used selection online. I wonder if it would be a good idea to buy used if in good condition, since I'm on a budget and not a great player to where it might not make a difference.

 

[dwell]

Repost

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=38&threadid=1909620&enterthread=y

j/k but that thread does have a lot of good advice for a first-time buyer.

I'd definitely go for the Epiphone LP Standard if I were you. Great guitars. Only draw back is the pickup, but you aint going to get decent pickup on a guitar less than $600. You can also get some pretty good LP clones from Rondo http://www.rondomusic.net/electricguitar.html. Look at the Agile series.

 

[Platypus]

Read the thread dwell posted, I made a rather large post as did others.

 

[stars]

http://ibanez.com/guitars/guitar.asp?model=RG321MH

I grabbed one of these a few weeks ago. Cheap, decent neck, and good overall feel. The pickups arent the greatest but will do fine.

 

[Kalmah]

First pick up the guitar and look down the neck and check to see if it's warped in any way. (especually if it's a used one)

Second, try to play something by Yngwee Malmsteen.. If you can't play it then it's not a good guitar.

 

[electricJ]

Now I play bass instead, so I won't bother giving an opinion on what guitars you should look for. However, I highly recommend the used market as you'll get so much more for the same amount of money.

 

[Rock Hydra]

My 2nd guitar was an ESP LTD EC-50. GREAT guitar for the money. I mean EXCELLENT GUITAR FOR THE MONEY. I swapped out the bridge pickup for an EMG-81 later on and it sounds great. I beat the piss out of it, though I think it's time to have it professionally set up, since it hasn't been set up since I got it and the fret buzzing on the high B and E strings is startign to get really noticable. Especially when I detune.

Another learning tip...People say drop tuning is cheating, making it easier, blah blah. It actually adds a level of complexity that can hinder the inital learning process. When you start learning, play songs in a standard tuning. Most commonly E, though my friend started learning in D.

 

[platinumike]

I dont wanna start a new thread so I thought I would post here. I read that entire thread that was posted above. Iam still confused exactly which guitar to buy. Right now I have a rogue dreadnought acoustic that I got off of musician's friend a few months back. I think I've done pretty good teaching myself. I only know like 5 chords, but I dont think im that kind of player. I usually just go to a guitar tab site and start playing some metallica tabs or whatever I like learning. I wanna get an electric guitar now, just not sure what to buy. I actually wish someone could just pick one that is an all aroung gurantee buy.

 

[Kalmah]

Originally posted by: platinumike
I dont wanna start a new thread so I thought I would post here. I read that entire thread that was posted above. Iam still confused exactly which guitar to buy. Right now I have a rogue dreadnought acoustic that I got off of musician's friend a few months back. I think I've done pretty good teaching myself. I only know like 5 chords, but I dont think im that kind of player. I usually just go to a guitar tab site and start playing some metallica tabs or whatever I like learning. I wanna get an electric guitar now, just not sure what to buy. I actually wish someone could just pick one that is an all aroung gurantee buy.

Don't worry too much about the guitar. Worry about your practice and self-discipline.

NOBODY can tell you which guitar is best for you. Some people like different qualities in their instrument. Goto a guitar store, and try as many out as you can. Find what you like best for the price and buy it.

 

[Christobevii3]

Epiphone sheraton II. Play one, they are very well built for the price.

Be prepared to replace the switches, jacks, pots on cheap guitars though.

 

[duragezic]

Yeah I read that thread when it was around. Definitely some good info there. I have a few things I can check out on guitars to make sure they are in decent condition. But as far as recommendations, that thread seem more towards a first guitar. I've played a couple of guitars over the last 6-7 years. I started with an acoustic. And my brother's Ibanez I've played so much it's almost mine since I lived in the same house for much of the time I've played guitar. So it's not like I'm a beginner. I want a good guitar that will last me many years, and something that I can buy a new amp with a few years down the road.

The guitar store I'm driving too is pretty good size but doesn't have all brands like Rondo. There is Ibanez, Gibson, Epiphone, Jackson, etc... as well as used ones of other brands.

So as of now I think I'll look to play the Epiphone LP and some Ibanez ones. If the pickups aren't the greatest I could change them out, right? A co-worker got a good price on some EMG pickups on Ebay. I have soldering and electronic skills so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Stuxnet]

Do you guys feel that a beginner should take private lessons, or is guitar something that is well-suited to self-teaching? I know how to read sheet music (was a music major at one point) and have a solid foundation of knowledge regarding chords, progressions, etc. However, I know jack about guitar (including how to tune it).

My goal is to become fairly proficient and I just don't want to learn bad habbits that will hinder my learning down the road.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: jbourne77
Do you guys feel that a beginner should take private lessons, or is guitar something that is well-suited to self-teaching? I know how to read sheet music (was a music major at one point) and have a solid foundation of knowledge regarding chords, progressions, etc. However, I know jack about guitar (including how to tune it).

My goal is to become fairly proficient and I just don't want to learn bad habbits that will hinder my learning down the road.

I've always held firm that a beginner should take a minimum of 6 lessons to get fingering techniques down. If you screw this up at the begining, you'll spend months unlearning your your mistakes.

 

[Stuxnet]

Thanks, Fritzo. I suspected as much, but needed confirmation.

 

[letdown427]

Originally posted by: jbourne77
Thanks, Fritzo. I suspected as much, but needed confirmation.

I taught myself for about 6months I think (on an acousitc), using guitar tab sites on that there interweb. I think it might be a good idea to do some basic stuff yourself, so your fingers get used to actually moving and being pressed into strings for hours.

I had lessons for about 4 years after that.

You might waste the time you get in lessons because your fingers are still in a non guitarist state(ie just plain old uncooperative) and you can't practice what you've learnt because your fingertips haven't worked up some callases yet, so it just plain hurts.

I don't know though, I mean, chord fingerings and the like, jeez I don't think learning the exact specific fingering for a chord is so important, I mean, at beginner level, you aren't going to be learning anything that requires amazing speed flicking between complex chord shapes that simply have to be fingered in the correct way to maximise efficiency just to keep up(are you EVER really going to need that?) so just getting your fingers cooperating is the main thing I think. Whatever fingerings you use, once they're in 'muscle memory' you'll be able to flick between them as casually as typing.


@Fritzo I'm quite curious to hear what sort of techniques you mean? As I interpreted it at first glance to mainly be chord related?

 

[jjyiz28]

try out the guitars that you mentioned and get the one that feels right in your hands.. i'd say that is the most important. you might find that you like a thinner or thicker neck, or alighter/heavier body. teh guitar doesn't make the guitarist, its the skills. lots of ppl are caught up on having several guitars (electrics and acoustics), when they suck like sh1t.

 

[ZOOYUKA]

Check out the Standard Telecasters, I feel they are a great bang for the buck.

 

[Norton]

The best advice is to stop reading internet forums on this! Swapping pickups , changing electronics , learning to change strings on a floyd etc. are not what you need to be dealing with right now.

This is your first electric and there is no one right answer. Everything about this is subjective. My advice for what your asking would be maybe a Fender Standard Tele for a single coil guitar or a Shecter Omen 6 for a humbucking guitar. there are tons of choices out there though.

Find something that feels good (neck , weight , comfortable sitting down with it, etc.) and that looking at it makes you want to play. Then turn off your computer and get to work.

 

[imported_Nacelle]

I have a Shecter Omen 6. I went around to differant stores and asked for their oppinions. Most said it was a good guitar for rock. I'm not that good. I've been teaching myself by going to the tab sites. I have a few clips of me playing on my site. Scroll to the bottom. Sorry about the bandwidth limit. You might have to check back later.

 

[bleeb]

Buy an electric acoustic cutaway.

Taylor 514 CE... yeah baby!

 

[rpc64]

Some good advice so far in this thread. I have been really liking Ibanez lately. If you want a versatile guitar, I would recommend the Ibanez SA-260. I got one a few months ago and like it a lot. It has two single coil pickups and a humbucker at the bridge. PLUS, the humbucker is switchable so that you can make it sound like a single coil as well. So it rocks pretty hard with the humbucker, or you can select the neck pickups and it has a great clean sound. It should be in your price range, I got mine for about $479.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: letdown427

Originally posted by: jbourne77
Thanks, Fritzo. I suspected as much, but needed confirmation.

I taught myself for about 6months I think (on an acousitc), using guitar tab sites on that there interweb. I think it might be a good idea to do some basic stuff yourself, so your fingers get used to actually moving and being pressed into strings for hours.

I had lessons for about 4 years after that.

You might waste the time you get in lessons because your fingers are still in a non guitarist state(ie just plain old uncooperative) and you can't practice what you've learnt because your fingertips haven't worked up some callases yet, so it just plain hurts.

I don't know though, I mean, chord fingerings and the like, jeez I don't think learning the exact specific fingering for a chord is so important, I mean, at beginner level, you aren't going to be learning anything that requires amazing speed flicking between complex chord shapes that simply have to be fingered in the correct way to maximise efficiency just to keep up(are you EVER really going to need that?) so just getting your fingers cooperating is the main thing I think. Whatever fingerings you use, once they're in 'muscle memory' you'll be able to flick between them as casually as typing.


@Fritzo I'm quite curious to hear what sort of techniques you mean? As I interpreted it at first glance to mainly be chord related?

All beginning gutarist tend to keep thier fingers flat against the fretboard, muting out the other strings. They also hold the string down too far away from the fret (it should be right in front of it), picking and alternate picking, finger placement on chords....there's a ton of stuff that you learn in your first few weeks. If you get it right from the start you don't have to worry about it again later on.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: rpc64
Some good advice so far in this thread. I have been really liking Ibanez lately. If you want a versatile guitar, I would recommend the Ibanez SA-260. I got one a few months ago and like it a lot. It has two single coil pickups and a humbucker at the bridge. PLUS, the humbucker is switchable so that you can make it sound like a single coil as well. So it rocks pretty hard with the humbucker, or you can select the neck pickups and it has a great clean sound. It should be in your price range, I got mine for about $479.

Oh, as far as the most versitile guitar, you'll want to consider a Deluxe Nashville Power Telecaster . It's got hot Tex-Mex pickups, and a piezo pickup (so you can switch between electric and acoustic sounds on the same guitar). I just got mine today I'll post some sound samples later if I get a chance.

 

[stars]

A common thing I seen when I taught was people picking up bad habits by trying to teach themselves. Take lessons. After the first year or so depending on how you apply yourself you should be able to continue learning on your own. And picking a good teacher is another topic in itself.

 

[imported_Nacelle]

When I got my guitar, I had neither the time nor the money for lessons. I was lucky to have money for the guitar it'self. Since I play for my own enjoyment, it wasn't nessesary either.