I’ve been itching to play the electric guitar for YEARS and finally have the financial means to do so. I’m looking to buy an electric guitar, what’s a good one for a beginner? I personally, don’t know anyone who knows how to play the electric guitar. ( i come from a family of nerds, and as such all of my friends are nerds like me!) I really don’t have the time to take guitar lessons, and I would like some advice as to what instructional books I could utilize to attain my goal. i’m perfectly okay with not being the guitar hero, but i love the sound of it songs, and i don’t have too many hobbies. so to refresh:
I would like to learn to play electric guitar
What is a good beginner guitar I can buy?
What is a good instructional guitar book I can buy?
From my understanding, I would need an amp for a guitar, any pointers on that either?
any and all advice is INCREDIBLY helpful!
plz don’t be mean if i don’t really seem to know what i’m talking about!
p.s. my budget for the whole thing is about 300. and i’ve been searching on amazon, and i found a nice cherry red fender that i like and it comes with an amp, instructional dvd, guitar picks, carrying case, strap, etc. for under 179. fender is a good company right? (again, i am completely clueless to guitar stuff!)
First off, as I tell everyone when starting, forget brand names. There are a lot of really crappy starter guitars that are "brand name". Instead of thinking in terms of "what brand do I need" here is what to look for in a guitar: 1) It needs to have a straight neck and be free of dead spots. Some guitars will have certain spots on the neck where you go to play a note and you get a "thunk" with no note. That’s called a dead spot and brand new guitars sometimes have them and that’s an example of very poor quality control on the manufacturer’s part. There isn’t much you can do to fix it so you want to make sure there are no problems. 2) You want a good set up. The guitar should not only hold tune while playing it but should stay in tune as you play up the neck. This is called intonation. The 12th fret should be in tune one octave higher with the open string. This can easily be tested with a tuner. If not, it can be adjusted easily enough but a brand new guitar shouldn’t have to go straight to the local guitar shop for a set up job. It should be set up right the first time when you buy it and be ready for you to play. 3) You need to make sure you can play it. If the neck is too thick for your hands you will struggle with it. If you have large hands and the neck is too small it will also be a problem. It needs to be comfortable. 4) You need to of course like how it sounds and looks. You don’t want a cool looking guitar that sounds like crap, but at the same time you don’t want an ugly one either.
For your situation, I recommend a starter pack that includes a guitar, amp, cable and tuner which is all you need to get started. Many of these also include a case or gig bag. I would also recommend a stand for your guitar. That’s all you need to get started. As for learning to play with out lessons, I would recommend Guitar for Dummies. I am actually a bassist but I was very impressed with the bass version of this book and the guitar version should explain all the concepts with the same patience. Most importantly, it has a CD so you can hear how examples are supposed to sound and it will cover everything you need to know about the basics and getting started. You might even get this book before the guitar as it has a lot of great advice in picking out your first instrument. Good luck!