Evening all,

Looking for advice on getting myself a guitar.

Bit of background, when I was a kid I played a wee bit. I was never very good and couldn’t read music or anything but I loved making a noise with my electric guitar… I sold it around 21 years ago and never played since…

Lately though I keep coming back to wanting one. But this time I want to learn properly and actually be able to play something.

I’m thinking acoustic is the way to go as then I can just pick up and play (or attempt to play) anytime. Although I have seen some nice looking electric guitars in the local small ads…

Anyhow, 21 years on I figure there has probably been a lot happening and I’m completely unaware of what is good or bad? Although I figure the well known companies like Fender, Gibson are probably still up on top…

So, I don’t want to spend too much as I know I can’t really play. But I want to spend enough to get something half decent. I sort of remember playing a cheap nylon stringed thing that I hated! That will just put me off so I want to avoid rubbish.

I’ve had a look around the net and there is so much I just don’t know where to start!

So, an acoustic, steel strung, 2nd hand, not too expensive but not cheap rubbish.

Anyone here selling one?

Oh and any pointers on good methods of learning would be cool too.

Cheers!

d-_-b

Acoustic wise, ave a look at Takamine and Yamaha – try and get someting with a real wood front as opposed to HPL (laminate), often sound much better.

If you have any music shops near that do second hand stuff, see what they have and have a strum, you need also to like the feel of the neck etc, which is something you can’t so on a website.

2nd hand Yamaha would be my shout.

Gibson acoustics are expensive

Fender acoustics are pretty crap

Justin Guitar for learning: https://www.youtube.com/user/JustinSandercoe

I got a cheap Yamaha F310 on Gumtree, I think they’re about £100 quid new, often come with a few extras, ours came with a stand and DVD. Much better than the old Guild copy I got in a second hand shop.

At the cheaper end, give something like this a try:
http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/preowned_guitars_detail.asp?stock=PX161025303174004

Id highly recomend sigma

They are martin guitars made in china.

As epiphone is to gibson they are built out of good wood to the same spec just not by american hands

Although i have a cheap nice acoustic you can have for £50

Email me on timdrayton@live.co.uk an ill send u some pics

Lovely tone and a nice low action

I’d second Justin guitar, I’ve found it worth getting a couple of his song books then using the video tutorials alongside. Play everyday, even if it’s only a little bit.

Acoustic will be harder to get a good sound out of than electric. These days if you want to go electric and have an iPad, laptop or PC you don’t need an amp and can plug into the tablet or computer and run an amp sim like Bias FX. This is good if you have to keep the noise down as you can use headphones. If you want to go with the amp option there are loads of good small 1-5 watt amps around these days.

If you are set on acoustic then Yamaha are always a good bet and GuitarGuitar’s own brand Freshman are excellent value too. If you want to spend a little more then Faith are worth a look. Spend enough to get a guitar with a decent action but don’t spend too much as the sound of an acoustic guitar depends a lot on the player and you’ll never know how good or bad a guitar will sound in your hands until you get a reasonable level of proficiency. Acoustics also sound better with at least medium gauge strings on them but don’t be afraid to start on light strings and work your way up to heavy gauges as you get stronger- it took me 16 months to work up to mediums coming from an electric guitar background where I was using light gauge.

Best to decide what your goals are. If you just want to bang out the chords to Wonderwall that’s a different proposition to getting good at say fingerstyle which will require at least one hour a day practise.

Get what you want, don’t make do with an acoustic if an electric you want. Small practice amp and guitar on a stand why would it be a hassle to just pick up and play ? I am an eternal accoustic beginner 😐 the Justin Guitar website/video/etc are excellent and cover different levels and styles.

Good luck

thanks everyone. Tim, I’ve emailed you.

Interesting to see the comments re: electric… I didn’t even think of plugging into a tablet, phone, laptop etc.

I clearly have quite a lot to learn…

Look at thomann, the Harley Benton (own brand) are stunningly good for the price they are. Get the telecaster 🙂

+1 to everything here really, especially justinguitar. It’s a bit likes bikes though so don’t go too cheap. You’d never advise a friend to buy a cheap BSO as they would have a bad time but neither would you advise them to get a top end bike.

So, I don’t want to spend too much as I know I can’t really play. But I want to spend enough to get something half decent

Second hand is a good option if either you know what something good sounds like or you have a friend who does. Otherwise it’s a lottery as with bikes

I don’t know what a good target is though :(. I got a small guitar new for my daughter a year ago that sounds really good and plays easily. 100quid Hudson at new, but I can play (a little) and I had time to look around. Others might have a better idea

I find acoustics hard work even with custom light strings and they sound pathetic with my usual 9-46 strings. A two-step bend on an acoustic is unpleasant.

I use an electric with headphones most of the time. You learn to play clean and drone/buzz free in a way you’ll never learn on an acoustic

In terms of what you can play an electric can be made to sound like an acoustic with the right effects box but an acoustic doesn’t have the versatility of an electric.

This Thomann T-style cost 90e, I spent another 30e on parts and about 10 hours setting it up and it’s really nice to play. I use modelling amps – a Mustang II in the vid:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVC7ACQCqn4[/video]

I would also suggest trying an electric. They’re generally easier to play than acoustic. I regularly play mine unamplified (e.g. whilst watching TV), so they’re no less convenient to play. +1 to headphones comment.

😀

I use an electric with headphones most of the time

Now this and other comments regarding electric guitars have got me thinking…

I think I want to go electric 🙂

Which then brings the question – what should I avoid when buying electric?

Feel I guess will be most important, closely followed by sound.

What brands to avoid? I recall Encore guitars at school being really cheap crappy horrible things…

By coincidence, after 20 years i gor my adoustic out of the left. Its still in good nick and i managed to tune it, i might start to learn but it oreviously got left aside as electric was easier.

Incidentally, when i googled about it, some surprising stuff popped up. Its an Aria 9400 which i bought in 1990 for £60…anyone know anything about them?

Epiphone for Gibson type, Squier for Fender type. There are some cheap Jackson’s around if you like the pointy metal thing.

Epiphone for Gibson type

I had one of those. It was nice.

Best off-the-shelf budget guitar I’ve ever played is my son’s Butterscotch blond Classic Vibe Squier Telecaster that’s under £400. He’s worn the frets flat with all his bending so I’ve ordered a new Warmouth neck for it – that I’m prepared to buy a £300 neck for it says a lot about the quality of the Squier (a refret would cost more than the Warmouth neck as it’s Maple fretboard). Before the neck change it was the only guitar I’d left as stock, even the stock pickups sound great.

I only play electric these days, but I don’t think you can go wrong learning on an acoustic. A nice acoustic sounds really rich, and sounds better for strumming chords etc. I suppose it depends on what sort of styles you want to play, but I don’t think it does any harm to get started on an acoustic.

Personally, I find that electric guitar takes a fair bit of confidence to sound good.

It’s important that the guitar is set up well, so it’s worth buying from a shop which will do that for you, or allow something in your budget for a luthier to tweak the guitar.

We all find our own style and preferences, and you can adapt to a guitar, but it’s better to start with something half decent and which plays well.

As with acoustics, Yamaha make some pretty decent electric guitars. I play a Yamaha Tele even though I have some more expensive guitars.

Gibson SG – I’m 40 now and I when I was a teenager I thought these were the dugz bawz. I still do…

Epiphone SG is rather tempting…

The genuine Gibson SG is a nice guitar. The Epiphone I tried would have nneded a lot of work to make it play well and the pickups were rather muddy – worse than the cheap Fender ones on a Fender Blacktops.

Acoustic? I’d avoid dreadnoughts or jumbo guitars as they’re very uncomfortable to play seated.

Better looking at ‘travel’ (ed Sheehan size) or parlour/ folk sized acoustic guitars. Can recommend tanglewood, but the ‘vintage’ brand is quite good (their v880 is most popular).

The electro-acoustic versions are good as they often have tuners built-in.

If you’re going strictly electric, something like the squire vintage modified jazzmaster is great. Some people moan about the authentic tremolo but all that string length means a super resonant guitar that sounds amazing.

I think Epiphones have moved on somewhat. Difficult to tell from the real thing.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADKF4D-TqLE[/video]

I love those blindfold challenges, they got the Classic Vibe Tele and American Tele wrong!

Edit: Chappers spotted that Epiphone SG straight off but on the sound rather than playability which suggests they are better made.

One of my pro-guitarist mates swears by Epiphone SGs. He reckons they are as good as the Gibson ones, if not better, for a lot less money.

The Les Pauls are supposed to be pretty good too! I suspect they are better than my Gibson… but try not to dwell on it 😉

But everything is dependent on budget, how if feels in your hands and how it sounds. If the feel or sound are rubbish you won’t want to play.

I was never really a fan of Fender as I just thought they were a bit ugly. But then I got a shot of an American beat up old telecaster. Now I wasn’t keen on the looks but it felt fantastic and sounded really nice.

Several years on that tele shape has grown on me somewhat… Squire… hmmmm

And I always loved the look of Ibanez….

I need to go visit Guitar Guitar don’t I…

lol

I find acoustics hard work even with custom light strings and they sound pathetic with my usual 9-46 strings. A two-step bend on an acoustic is unpleasant.

Horses for courses really but I disagree with that comment, I have a martin DRS1 whichbis one of thier cheaper ‘real wood’ models, ok it’s an £800 guitar, and probably above the OPs budget but it’s an absolute cannon, really loud and rich. Also light strings on an acoustic might make them easier to play, mediums will give a fuller louder sound.

Also a laminated acoustic will always sound weak, you need one made out of proper wood. Or at least one with a proper wood top.

Hi Matty, we’ll both post a vid of a song with lots of one step and two step bends in the first three frets and see who has bleeding fingers at the end. I’ll do Telephone’s Cendrillon using 9-46 and you use medium 12-something. I can’t do two a two-step bend second fret b-string with custom light 11-56 without risk of cutting my finger.

and about 10 hours setting it up

and that is why you don’t want to buy a guitar online (Thomann). It is possible to work on both acoustics and electrics and make them sound great but if you could do that you would have started this thread…

…yet. It’s like wheelbuilding. It looks terrible but a bit of confidence and time will get you there with guitar fiddling

My temptation would be to go to a real guitar shop, explain what you want and let them recommend. I’ve been to a few guitar shops and and long as you say what you are trying to do they are good. That’s how I ended up with the Hudson that I had never heard of before but is great in that price range. Just don’t go too cheap or you could end up with something you don’t want to play

(ps. I am 100% sure that Edukator is a better guitarist than me, no comment on his abilities. My guitar playing is like my mtbing, I might have a nice bike/guitar but I’m a mincer)

go electric, plug into an ipad or pocket amp etc. You’re a grown up, get a nice guitar. If nothing else it’ll hold its value. or buy second hand. I dunno. get a telecaster, theyre great.

On topic Q: What do I need to plug my guitar into my iPad/iPhone?

Something like this

Myself I use a desktop PC and plug into a Scarlett 2i2 audio interface and run Bias FX on the PC either standalone or as a plug in in Reaper. From there into two JBL powered studio monitors

@goldfish24

Ikmultimedia sell the ‘irig’ guitar interface. Easy way to connect guitar to iPhone.

I generally recommend electric’s for beginners…..much easier to play imo.

(This is based on 12 years as a full time guitar teacher)

Agree that a yamaha acoustic is a good way to go if you do stick to acoustic. As is justinguitar……otherwise, try and find a decent local teacher and get some lessons. Well over 50% of lessons/tabs online are utter nonsense with incorrectly transcribed music. Seriously, none of the pro’s that I know have any inclination/time to be putting up youtube tutorials/tabs!

I’ve been playing for 22 years and built/modified a fair number of guitars. In the last 15 years or so Squier and Epiphone have come on in leaps and bounds, I have more Squiers than anything else in my collection and rate them highly. I have a couple that are highly modified (thinline tele with locking tuners, new bridge, b bender and rewired and a Supersonic that has been totally rebuilt) but the two that I have left standard are, ironically, the two that are least collectible (VM Jaguar and J. Mascis Jazzmaster), but I just can’t fault them. If squier can get it right with the much more complex Jag and Jazzy then they can pretty much build anything right.

I have a couple of epiphones, a Les Paul standard and a Goth Thunderbird bass and they are both well made and solid instruments, I’m just more of an oddball fender type fan. If you like the SG then Tokai are worth a look, their Gibson copies are legendary, and they have the right headstock, unlike epiphone.

There’s a lot of high-tech stuff on this thread. I learned to play on a Spanish guitar that my late sister owned. The tone is lovely and the “soft” strings make it easy for a beginner to play. Plus you can pick it up for a few minutes without the need to switch on and adjust the electrickery.

goldfish24 – Member
On topic Q: What do I need to plug my guitar into my iPad/iPhone?

POSTED 8 HOURS AGO #

Apogee Jam 96k is great for that. Used with Bias to get some very pleasant tones. Good flat (frfr) headphones are also recommended to get the best from it.

I’d definitely go electric OP if that’s what you want. A great budget guitar not mentioned yet are either the PRS SE line or the LTD line 401 and 1000 lines I’ve played or owned are great.

What part of the country are you in and what is your budget?

Yo homes, keep an eye on gumtree, guitars are hard to learn and so get sold on cheaply after very little use, squier’s classic vibe and vintage mod range are very decent, their affinity models less so. You’ll also probably find a practice amp and cable all bundled up and ready to go in nearly new condition, have you got a mate who plays that you can take wih you?

Morning all,

Thanks for all the info! ALl very very useful and interesting.

I’m just outside Glasgow and budget at the moment I’m thinking around £100.
I’ve been offered a Yamaha Pacifica for little money that I’m going to look at this evening and will probably buy. It’s close, cheap and my son has a Yamaha bass guitar which he loves so I figure it should be pretty well made and be not too bad….

If I stick to it and start to learn then I’m thinking just after Christmas I’ll look to spend somewhere around £200, maybe more… on what I don’t know yet? But this info and me playing will help decide 🙂