I’ve been keen to learn how to play the guitar for years and now I’m actually going to get around to it.
I have no interest in getting an acoustic, so it is definitely going to be an electric.
I’ve looked around some forums, but they all seem to say “buy a Gibson” which I’m not going to (they cost a fortune).
I’m thinking a les Paul copy. A maximum of £250. I don’t mind used but don’t really know what’s good. There are epiphones, tokai, ESP, etc etc. would like to learn some rocky stuff (the strokes, white stripes etc etc)
Can anyone give me some pointers please? What to avoid, what to look for. There a lot of tech speak which I don’t understand but I want something quite basic. I know it’s not going to be brilliant or sound the best but just don’t want to buy something wholly unsuitable. I’m not a small chap and have largish hands so perhaps a bigger neck?
Thanks for any advice.
PS; I really don’t want an acoustic.

Why not go into a shop and try a few and see what takes your fancy?

Good point mac (and i intend to), I just worry that they’ll see someone clueless and try to sell me what they have. I’d like an idea of what I want before hand if possible.

You can play anything on a Strat.

It would be possible to pick up a nice MIM Stratocaster on fleabay for around your budget and its would be more versatile (and lighter) than a Les Paul

I’ll watch this thread with interest, I’ve wanted to learn guitar for a while. I’ve got 4music on in the background, they’re counting down the top 20 Foo Fighter singles and thought to myself that i should get round to learning!

try a few shops, you may get lucky with something a bit “better” second hand. As for new epiphone les pauls would be fine as a starter guitar or something from Yamaha in the same price range would be equally good.

guitar threads are always good as they nudge me to spin my chair round and get one down off the wall to get some practice in (though not so much on sunday evenings as a marshall stack to be quiet loud 😳 ).

a proper usa les paul is about 1800 quid. a proper usa strat is about 1200 quid. i would go and try a few guitars in the shop, and there is no need to blow more than 300 odd quid. but dont get a 80 quid shitter, as it will be horrid to play.

apparently the “Vintage” brand of Gibson copies are quite good too. an SG would be lighter than a Les Paul.

I’d recently been looking at Washburn WIN series as a lighter, more sculpted version of a Les Paul, but hey, I’m a drummer, I have no need for any more guitars (and yes, I know it’s like bikes – optimal number of guitars is n+1, where n is the number you already have)

In that price Range the Squire Classic vibe are by far the best in class. When Telecaster hunting I played a dozen around various shops ranging from £200 to £1000 I ended up with the £200 CV Tele. It wasn’t as good as the 1k ones but it wasn’t £800 worse and it was better than all the others.

Thanks chaps. So, is the popular thought that a strat would be best suited?
Weight isn’t a massive issue really (unless it makes it harder to learn).

Vintage are great guitars for the money, I’d definitely consider one of those if I were you. All of the ones I’ve played have been great.

I don’t really like strats much, they’re a bit ordinary and I’ve never really got on with bridge singlecoils, unless they’re p90s or teles! Strats are just a bit too “ordinary” for me. I’ve been pretty impressed with the Squier Vintage Modified – I have one of the P Basses and it resonates so well. You can feel it vibrating through your body when you play it acoustically 😀

I’m quite out of date now as far the budget brands go but Vintage used to be absolutely superb at the price. Epiphone by comparison could be pretty nasty- my brother has an Epi LP Standard and though the woodwork and finishing were decent, the electronics were horrible. I ended up just replacing it all for him, it was such a waste of a nice guitar. But word was that was going to improve.

And I’d second Mickyfinn’s comment on the Squier Classics, they’re fantastic value, genuinely nice guitars. The Vintage Modifieds are similiarly good. Love the Tele Custom.

it certainly makes it harder to play an hour set on stage under hot stage lighting conditions.

Try a few. See which ones you like the look of, the feel of, the sound of. take a guitar playing mate with you to the shop. Don’t forget you’ll also need a guitar amp and probably, eventually, one or more FX pedals (unless the amp has built in FX).
otherwise you may as well buy an acoustic.

Oh aye… I’ve got a wee crap practice amp somewhere which you’d be welcome to, can’t remember whereabouts you are… Probably not worth posting but if you’re ever anywhere near Edinburgh I’d happilly offload it 😉 It’s one of the wee 10W starter things you get in guitar packs (labelled up BC Rich in this case but they’re all basically the same, ie, crap but better than nothing)

Wouldn’t worry about weight unless you’re small, my LP weighs in quite heavy even for an LP and it’s not a problem for gigging. Lots of people think weight adds to the tone and sustain. I have no idea whether it’s true or not.

Oh and the most important thing to invest in after the initial guitar purchase is a good tuner.

Thanks for the very generous offer northwind, alas I’m bristol based so collection is not an option.
I don’t think I’ll be gigging any time soon am as I said, I’m not a small chap.
Oh and what’s a tuner?
What do you think of these?
http://www.gak.co.uk/en/vintage-v100afd-paradise-flamed-amber/53965

http://www.gak.co.uk/en/vintage-v100it-flamed-iced-tea/17936

If you are really set on a budget electric, I’d be concentrating more on what amp I want rather than the guitar. The guitars themselves show little difference in sound between expensive ones and cheap ones conpared to an amp. I bought a £70 orange crush off the internet and it sounded awful, really muddy and dull. I’d et a cheap les paul or SG copy and spend everything else on the amp.

Lastly….good luck and stick at it!

Without meaning to sound patronising, a tuner does just that – lets you tune your guitar 😛 Something like this – http://www.gak.co.uk/en/korg-pitchblack-chromatic-tuner-%28black-chrome/19372

Oh and lessons are really valuable when you’re first starting out. I know a few guitarists who are self taught/learnt from books and tabs and you can tell those who have only played alone and those who have learnt from playing with others!

If you’ve got an Xbox 360 or a decent PC, get Rocksmith! It’s kind of like Guitar Hero, except you play with a real guitar – it starts you off just playing the key notes, and adds more as you improve until you’re playing the song properly.

It’s also got lots of technique lessons and exercises (and an inbuilt tuner, so you’re always in the correct tuning for the song you’re about to play). Only downside is the lack of metal on the song list.

It’s not a substitute for lessons with an actual human being, but it’s a nice addition to the learning materials,

As a guitarist of 12-13 years I found Rocksmith impossible to play well without actually knowing how to play the song in the first place 😆

Vintage are decent for that kind of money as said. My pick for a starter guitar would probably be a Yamaha Pacifica, the 112 range are great for £199, spend the rest of your budget on lessons. If you want to spend a bit more, Ibanez make nice axes for £300 or so upwards, the ART series are pretty nice for the money, bit more of a ‘metal’ sound.

Try them out though, when you first start you need to want to play, so get something you like above all else.

Vintage Strat (and I say that as a Les Paul man). Lovely guitars, I could use a Strat type guitar in my collection and keep toying with one!

Son maybe selling his Fender Deluxe Super Strat if you are interested?

The squire Jmascius jazzmaster is a fantastic piece of kit, buy one of those then in 10 years time you’ll be able to sell it for what. You paid for it new or more.

In nigh on 30 years of guitar dabbling I’ve never once played a start that gave me the wow buzz.
Tele’s and Les Paul’s are proper mans guitars. Starts are (Geoff Beck excepted) middle age wannabe safe guitars.

Therefore based on this forums demographics you need a Strat 🙂

I’ve been buying Squier japan e series strats like theyre going out of fashion this year. amazing quality 250-350 quids

HS anyone any experience of cort guitars? They seem highly rated. The CR250 has caught my eye.

Right then

Epihone do a nice one called a special 2. It’s a great guitar for a beginner, easy to like. well made, sounds nice. For Strats I’d go for squire, 2nd hand standards are about £250. Get a small amp (I use a Roland 15W )

In lots of ways leccy is harder, you need to be quite careful to play one well (any idiot can play 5ths 8) )

Find a teacher. Bet you buy an acoustic 😆

Hey that’s a lovely strat! 🙂

30 years guitar dabbling – geoff beck mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm okay then 🙄

Thanks all. I’ve looked at the special ii emsz. Opinions seem to be that there are better value options though.

Find a teacher. Bet you buy an acoustic

Found a teacher. Bet I don’t. 😀

I have also heard/read very good things about the Yamaha Pacifica 112 as a beginner guitar, I would defiantly give one a try. Something like Yamaha Pacifica 112

One thing to bear in mind about les Paul’s (although you sound very keen on one!), is that they have a shorter scale (neck) length than a strat/most other guitars, so as you have big hands you might feel a bit cramped in the higher frets – probably not a problem for the first little while when learning, but could make things more difficult when you start improving.

As lots of people have said, I would recommend trying before you buy. If you can make a day trip to Guildford, in my experience, the guys at Andertons are great and they have a big range so you should be able to compare a few different guitars there.

The other thing I would really recommend, if you can stretch another £20 – 40, is getting the guitar set up by a proper Luither (I know a great one near reading). It made a huge difference to the ‘playability’ of my guitars (gibson les paul, fender deluxe strat) and I think would probably make a bigger difference to a ‘budget’ model which may not have been set up very well at the factory.

Bristol based? Get yourself along to Electic Ladyland in Old Market. He won’t try and sell you a guitar and looks a bit nuts, but he’s one of the nicest blokes I know!

Treble Rock (Clifton) is good and won’t sell you a duffer. Rikkaxe in town is to be avoided at all costs – the guy’s an absolute tool. Drum Bank (Gloucester Road) is good, but I’ve never bought anything from them. Reverb or whatever they’re called in the centre will sell you the latest flavour of the month.

I would avoid new budget guitars (vintage, cort etc) and get a used Tokai or Epiphone and take it to be set up, which should cost no more than £100. If you’re getting a les Paul (or copy) make sure it has a solid top and a set neck. Don’t be swayed by pretty flame maple tops that are super thin and do nothing to the tone.

If you don’t know much about guitars, I would buy from eBay without speaking to anyone. Get yourself to Electric Ladyland and speak to Steve. Make sure you set aside a good hour or two though!

Very observant Steven 😀
That Yamaha looks a bit too van Halen for me. Maybe I’m vain but its like a bike. When I look at it, I should want to use it, like my Santa Cruz!

I think the cort cr250 in trans black has captured my heart!
Justin, what do you think of heron music?

Hey that’s a lovely strat!

yes it is 😉 , he’s moved onto a ibanez now.

Was a good guy last time I went there. Not a massive range of stuff, but won’t give you any bullshit.

Haha Do Rikkaxe still have that buzzer to let you in?

Do you have a point plumber?
So I’ve been playing for quite some time and I think Geoff Beck actually makes a Strat sound interesting unlike the usual, rea, knopfler, yngwie, Blackmore types 😉

I think he’s making a point that you’re spelling Jeff Beck’s name wrong, and that anyone who had been playing 30 years might not make the mistake.

But of course, I could be wrong 🙂

Who the ***k is jeff beck? 😀
It’s all music. It’s all good.

Oh, sorry. thanks for the offer but that strat doesn’t do it for me.