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Your first guitar / Recommend a guitar for a beginner?


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I assume most people on here started with a fairly atrocious guitar on which they learned to play guitar. Usually as gift from parents, or because you didn't know what to buy (ooh it says stratocaster on the headstock!), they are monumentally terrible. My first electric guitar was a Hohner Rockwood, which came with an amplifier, and my God was it awful. Of course I only found this out when I played a nice guitar and went back to my piece of crap.

So, with a budget of 150, what would you buy for a beginner?

I would probably recommend an Epiphone SG like this one:

ep_sg_special.jpg

It will be nice to play and sound quite good. I would imagine the only problem with this guitar (for a beginner) would that be it will go out of tune all the time, like most Epiphones I've ever played. Plus, it is 129.

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I'd stretch the little bit extra and get a Pacifica 112. They seem to be a step up in quality of contruction and materials used. They, to me, just feel alot more solid than a Squire Affinity Strat for example. :)

My first guitar was a Washburn WG500 as I got one very cheap. It was quite nice for what it was and unfortunately it got me addicted to Floyds (it had a licensed one on it).

Can't complain about that though :D

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Guest DustyDeviada

I would always advise people to start on an acoustic, but if they have to have an electric I would go for Pacifica or Squier, I've had a few over the years and they've been good, to be be fair mine were before they started this Chinese made "Affinity" stuff. I've got a Japanese Squier bass from 93 which is fantastic.

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I would advise bidding on Ibanez RG5xx (the first number should be 5 or higher) on ebay for 150 until you get one. Replace the average stock pickups with good pickups of your choice in a year's time (or whenever you have 100 to spair) and you will have a guitar on par withthose costing many times as much (at least as far as tone and playability goes).

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I would advise bidding on Ibanez RG5xx (the first number should be 5 or higher) on ebay for 150 until you get one. Replace the average stock pickups with good pickups of your choice in a year's time (or whenever you have 100 to spair) and you will have a guitar on par withthose costing many times as much (at least as far as tone and playability goes).

Pickups weren't realy my biggest issue when I started out. I was more into nailing the mystical F major and looking shit hot in front of a mirror.

Started out learning on my old man's Yamaha acoustic (was pretty fortunate he plays too), and then I got an Aria Pro II second hand for my first electric guitar. For a first axe, it was absolutely amazing: humbucker so I could play grrr metal (which split) and a really nice neck. Only let downs were the dodgy bridge (to this day I've not been a fan of floyd roses), and some slight electronics issue, but you can expect those second hand.

And I've still got it! Can't bring myself to sell it for the measly sum I could expect to gain. Really needs a new bridge and that p90 I keep promising it, but the neck pickup still throws out some sweet blues.

ariaaaargh.JPG

So my final advice to beginner guitar buyers... find somebody who knows their stuff to help you, buy second hand, and go for a guitar that can compensate for different styles of music (Telecaster, Strat, HSS Superstrat). Finally, don't give BC Rich a second look.

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Well, of course those are a bit more specialised. I the eastern ones are alright pieces of wood, they're just really limited in genre for a person who's just starting learning (and probably even properly appreciating) music. Also, learning is a lot easier sitting down if you're an awkward teenager, so you don't want a spikey Warlock digging into your leg :)

A strat shaped body is a safe bet for comfort and the all important cool factor :p

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Well, of course those are a bit more specialised. I the eastern ones are alright pieces of wood, they're just really limited in genre for a person who's just starting learning (and probably even properly appreciating) music. Also, learning is a lot easier sitting down if you're an awkward teenager, so you don't want a spikey Warlock digging into your leg :)

A strat shaped body is a safe bet for comfort and the all important cool factor :p

Can't go wrong with superstrats IMO. :D

I find Warlocks pretty comfortable to be honest. The mid-priced models aren't bad.

The cheap ones which I'd consider 'starter' guitars aren't worth it atall. Nothing to do with versatility or anything: they are just terrible instruments and something far superior can be had instead for equal price or even less!

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i was abroad for about 10 days, and missed the gtr more than i thought... so i tracked down the local music store and shelled out 70 quid for a cheap gtr that i would either leave in the hotel, sell back to the store or just plain trash it... it was a maxtone "handmade custom" for which read hand made by an indonesian machine and just as customised as the other 500,000 that came of the line that year...

surprise is it was pretty damn good for a 70 quid gtr... strat copy, reasonably stable trem, hot pickups, very flat neck... plays well sounds good you could do well worse for twice the mulah... never seen a maxtone in the uk though...

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I reckon you could do a lot lot worse than the Pacifica.

I'd be interested to see what the Vintage guitars are like (as they seem to be getting pretty good reviews).

Also those Squier Custom Tele's would be a reasonable starter.

But what do I know, my first guitar was a Fender/Squier? Bullet that the bridge screws kept on droppingto the scratch plate... Whadya expect for 129 from Brucies (when it where the Bon Accord Centre is now!).

In case yourmaths is pish yes it was fecking years ago (almost a quarter of a century ago!)

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My first (electric) guitar was an Epi Les Paul Junior - about 99 new when I got it in '97 - and it was nae bad at all.

For someone wanting a good electric on the cheap, I would say Get A Westfield Les Paul (E4000). I've worked in guitar shops for years, and it's still the best budget electric going for under 90 that I've ever played. Anyone who tells you otherwise is talking nonsense. Fact. The Westie Goldtop especially is a great guitar by any standard, and I know countless people who have upgraded the pickups on an E4000 and gig/record with them quite happily.

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Guest DustyDeviada
But what do I know, my first guitar was a Fender/Squier? Bullet that the bridge screws kept on droppingto the scratch plate... Whadya expect for 129 from Brucies (when it where the Bon Accord Centre is now!).

Well, Squiers only started being made about 84 so I guess it was a Fender.

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I learned to play with one of these and a 30 year old copy of Bert Weedon's "Play in a day"

000_0836%20(Small).JPG

If was starting again today, I'd go for a Squier Custom Tele II

Bert Weedon - a true legend !!!

I remember him being on the telly and my dad saying "Wow! he's good, bet you wish you could play like that instead of thon racket you make".

In response, I got out my Aria Strat & HH Combo and did the solo for "Highway Star"

"Pish" was my dad's assessment of my near-perfect rendition of the Blackmore classic.

"Fuckin' punk rock shite that, who do you think you are?? - Sid Rotten??"

Yes, my dear pater, a man with his finger firmly on the pulse.

(he's got nae pulse noo tho' - coz he's DEID - pick that oot ya auld cunt!!!)

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