Guitar Tips

[PeaveyFury]

I've played bass for 10-12 years now, and have finally decided I'd like to start picking up guitar as well. I stopped by a guitar shop this week to look around a bit, and I admit that I have no idea where to start looking (bass is or was pretty straightforward to get going with). I'm not looking to break the bank on a guitar, but want something that plays well, looks good, and isn't overly complicated for someone who is just starting out.

 

Any recommendations for brands, places to buy, success stories, tips, etc?

[eanelson4]

Whats your budget? That will base what kind of recomendations I could give you.

[PeaveyFury]

Probably no more than $500.

[BillScottCanRake]

I've got a co-worker who has played in a band for 10+ years.

 

When I asked him about your question, the first question he had is what sort of sound are you going for? No sense getting a Strat if you aren't looking for that type of sound.

[Crazyk1294]

Ibanez has some nice guitars in that price range. http://guitars.musiciansf...XSEM=0&CAWELAID=148404582 Epiphone Les Paul's are OK too, but they're really heavy, but you should be used to that having played bass...

[PeaveyFury]

When I asked him about your question, the first question he had is what sort of sound are you going for?

 

I guess the easy answer is that as a beginner, I'm not looking necessarily for a particular sound per se. My musical tastes trend more towards classic rock (Beatles, Skynyrd, Clapton, etc), but also more retro sounds as well (Rockabilly, etc). A Gretsch would probably cover the latter part, but I'm concerned that might limit the former a bit.

 

Have you played an Ibanez crazyk? I've looked at some Epiphone Les Paul's and they seem like solid guitars. I know that Epiphone is kind of the step-down brand for Gibson (much like Squier for Fender), is the quality still up there? A traditional Gibson Les is probably well out of my price range, but would going with a name brand like Gibson, Gretsch, or Fender be more advisable than going with a step-down?

[ajgodson]

I've played an Ibanez for years and had great luck with it. They're good quality at a midrange price.

[BillScottCanRake]

This comes from my co-worker friend.

 

 

Here are the things I think you should consider:

 

FEEL

I would suggest trying a bunch of different guitars to find out which ones feel comfortable to play. Try them on with a guitar strap.

I love the sound of Fender Stratocasters, but I find them uncomfortable and awkward to play, so I rarely played the one I used to own.

 

 

PICKUPS/TONE

There are basically two types of electric guitar pickups: single-coils and humbuckers.

 

Single-coils are the types of pickups you would see on a Fender Stratocaster. They sound thin, twangy, airy, brighter.

They also pickup noise. For example if you played your guitar in front of a television screen, the guitar would pickup a lot of hum.

Example of single-coil tone: most country music, Dire Straits, the Police, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hendrix, Tom Petty, early REM.

 

Humbucker

Humbuckers have two coils and are designed to "buck" the hum that you get when using single-coils. But this tends to make the tone fatter and darker. These are the types of pickups you would see on a Gibson Les Paul.

Examples of humbucker tone: most hard rock, most jazz.

 

Personally, I like single-coil for clean sounds and humbuckers for distorted sounds.

 

Figure out what type of music you would like to play, and find out what kind of guitars those bands use.

 

PRICE/QUALITY

Usually, on cheaper guitars they skimp on the electronics (pickups, switches, knobs) and hardware (tuning pegs, etc).

Expensive guitars may have more decoration.

Expensive guitars may have a body made of one piece of wood as opposed to multiple pieces of wood glued together. I don't know if the difference in tone is noticeable. And if there is a difference, is it enough to justify the extra money?

 

Some people buy a cheaper guitar and change the pickups later when they get the money.

 

Fenders cost a lot of money, especially if they're made in the USA.

Gibsons are very expensive, except for some lower end Gibson SGs.

Paul Reed Smiths are very expensive, except for some cheaper "Santana" models.

So you may want to avoid the above.

 

Here are some decent lower-end guitars:

Epiphone - they mostly are clones of the Gibson guitars.

Fender Squier - they are mostly clones of the Fender guitars

Greg Bennett (Samick) - they are pretty much clones of Gibsons and Fenders. Actually, I think Samick makes the Epiphone guitars.

Peavey

Washburn

Ibanez

 

I would make sure that you don't get too much string buzz when your fretting notes or bending strings.

I would make sure the tuning pegs turn smoothly.

Also, you may want to have a music store "setup" the guitar so it plays nice.

 

I try to buy used guitars if possible to save money.

 

AMP

If I was buying a guitar and amp, I would spend more money on the amp than the guitar. A lot of people feel (myself included) that a cheap guitar through an expensive amp sounds better than an expensive guitar through a cheap amp.

I think Peavey and Crate tube amps sound pretty decent for the money.

[OldHoss]

Go to your nearest Guitar Center and play every guitar you can get your hands on. Play the guitars out of both solid state and tube amps (you'll notice an immediate difference) I'm sure you'll annoy the 17-year old clerk who thinks that he's cooler than you are -- but he probably deserves it anyway. Much like buying a bass, I assume, pay attention to the things you like about a particular guitar: type and number of pickups, width of neck, number of frets, size and shape, access to the frets, and of course the sound. You'll be surprised how quickly you begin liking the sound or feel of one guitar over another. And some guitars just feel right in your hands.

Once you know what you like, see what you can find on craigslist, or used in local guitarshops or listed for sale on a brand/model fansite etc. (I own a telecaster -- and one of my favorite websites is: tdpri.com -- you can find answers to any telecaster related question in the forum and find plenty of reasonably priced guitars for sale in the classifieds and a reasonable assurance that you're not getting scammed). And I've even bought a guitar off of ebay, but I have to admit that I held my breath until it arrived safe and sound (too many chances for something bad to happen). Unless you absolutely must have a brand new guitar, a used guitar would be my choice. Unless it's a collectable guitar, like cars, you lose a lot of value as soon as you take it home.

Here's what I have:

Guitars:
Fender Standard Telecaster (MIM) 2002 in Midnight Wine with custom hand wound Rio Grande Tele Pickups. I love Teles. I hate the color and I would have preferred one with the "U" neck, but I found this one used for $200 on ebay. Too good of a deal to pass up.
Burns Marquee "S" in Greenburst. Three single coil pickups, like a Strat. I saw this guitar on a website and fell in love. The US importer went out of business in 2003 or 2004 and I bought this one on closeout from a guitar store in Las Vegas in '06 -- the only place i could find one. $600, new.
Xaviere XV-600 2007 in Sonic Blue. Two HB pickups. http://store.guitarfetish.com/xvsoblwichdr.html This isn't a great guitar. But for $225, new, delivered with a case, you won't find a better guitar. Also, I had great customer service from guitarfetish.

Amps:

Orange Crush 15R. Simply awesome tone from this Solid State Amp. Highly recommended.
I also have a no-name tube amp from the 60's-70's that's a bit scratchy but has an awesome tremelo.

And no matter what you do, I recommend getting the guitar set up professionally -- it'll be $50 well spent.

Oldhoss

[PeaveyFury]

Thanks for the input everybody- I think personally I've ruled out Fender, both due to price and the type of sound/body that I'm looking for, and probably Gibson due to price as well. I'm going to look strongly at Epiphone Les Paul's, and Gretsch Jets at this point and also poke around at Guitar Center as OldHoss recommended.

[And That]

Peavey, when I got my guitar (I was a beginner at the time), I got an Ibanez hollowbody guitar. The reason I went Ibanez is because I've played their basses for years and I love them. The reason I went hollowbody is that I could play it as an acoustic when I needed to practice at night, and plug it in to sound sweet as an old-school bluesy guitar. I love it, and I paid about $275 for it a few years ago. It even works pretty well (well, it sounds unique) with distortion pedals. And it sounds really sweet with wah-wah and reverb.

 

Edit: It's actually a semi-hollowbody.

[PeaveyFury]

Cool, since a lot here seem high on Ibanez, I'll take a look at them as well.

[PeaveyFury]

Toby, I'm assuming this is similar to your guitar?

 

http://www.guitarcenter.c...tar-104613005-i1326064.gc

[And That]

Yah, that's more or less it. My model is obviously a couple years older, plus it has a pickguard and the bridge is torqued to the end of the body. I really like it, but of course try it out before you buy.

 

Here's a really bad picture I just took of her:

 

http://images.yuku.com/image/jpeg/1331584b99d4972c26a45fa3002cecee84e349f.jpg

[Crazyk1294]

PeaveyFury[/b]]Have you played an Ibanez crazyk? I've looked at some Epiphone Les Paul's and they seem like solid guitars. I know that Epiphone is kind of the step-down brand for Gibson (much like Squier for Fender), is the quality still up there? A traditional Gibson Les is probably well out of my price range, but would going with a name brand like Gibson, Gretsch, or Fender be more advisable than going with a step-down?

I own an Ibanez accoustic and used and Articore this weekend for recording. I also own an Epiphone Les Paul. They are both quality guitars. The electronics can sometimes be sketchy from what I hear an the Epiphones, but I haven't had a problem...

[OldHoss]

Another shameless plug for guitarfetish, but I've read about people buying a cheap used Ibanez artcore and then throwing some of the guitarfetish retrotron pickups in and getting that real Gretsch-y sound for real cheap. You can do it yourself if you know how to solder. If not, a guitar shop can do it for cheap.

 

Guitar Fetish Sound Samples

 

And regarding epiphones, I think it's totally hit or miss. I've played some that sounded just as good as a Gibson and some were horrible. I wouldn't buy an Epiphone without playing it first. I have an Ibanez acoustic, which I like. And I've never heard of any quality control problems with them. Not sure if they're still made in Japan or if they've been outsourced to China or Indonesia.

 

From what I read the quality heirarchy in Asian-made guitars is as follows (from best quality to worst): (1) Japan; (2) Korea; (3) China; (4) Indonesia.

 

the only thing I don't like about the Ibanez electrics (never an artcore) that I've played is that they have a very wide, thin neck, which isn't for me.

 

Again, best of luck.

 

I've also been reading about his guitar company, which now has me jones-ing....

 

Reverend Guitars

[DuWayne Steurer]

I had 2 Epiphone Les Pauls that if they didn't say Epi on the headstock, you wouldn't have known they weren't Gibsons.

 

On the other hand, I had an Epi SG that sounded and felt like you were strumming a rock across a dirty rubber band.