FIRST electric guitar?
Short and sweet. Tommorow I may be going to Guitar Center of Sam Ash to look at electric guitars.
I've been playing as a beginner on acoustics for 2 months or so now, and most of my favorite songs that I want to practice are played best on electric.
I don't want to waste my money on the wrong guitar. Does anybody have any pointers, or some great electric guitars?
I don't know where to begin. How do I buy a good amplifier for a guitar? Does it matter what kind?
Hello there,
First thing you have to decide about electric guitars is what type of bridge you want. A fixed bridge stays in tune better and you do not have to adjust the tremolo each time you change strings. However, if the songs you play will need a whammy bar, you need to get a guitar with a tremolo bridge. If you go with a tremolo bridge, then you have to think about whether you want a Fender style tremolo bridge or a Floyd Rose locking style tremolo bridge. You have to decide that before you buy. It is cost prohibitive to retro fit a tremolo bridge onto a guitar that does not have one. You are usually better off selling your guitar and buying one that comes with a tremolo already installed. Since the tremolo does require some adjustments from time, you time, if you don't need one, get a fixed bridge guitar.
Fixed bridge guitars. Typical examples include the Les Paul, the SG and the Telecaster. The first 2 are Gibson guitars and have a Gibson scale neck (24 3/4 inches). The Tele has a Fender Scale (25 1/2 inches). So you need to decide which neck scale is more comfortable for you to play. Then look at body weight and balance. What is a good fit on those 2 depend on your playing style and your personal preference. Then when you figure out the style guitar you find most comfortable, you start considering the tone. Humbucking pickups sound different than single coils. Some humbucking pickups are high gain and great for distortion, but not as great clean. You have to get the type of pickup that sounds good to you.
Tremolo bridge guitars. I roughly consider these all to be Strat clones of some sort. The Fender Strats come with the Fender style tremolo (but some models have a Floyd Rose). The Ibanez and the like come with the Floyd Rose (but some also have Fender style bridges). After you know which type of tremolo you want, then you consider the neck scale. Most tremolo guitars have the Fender scale, but there may be some Gibosn scale guitars (I can't think of them off the top of my head). Also body shape, weight and balance. By then you have found the type of guitar that feels most comfortable, and are ready to consider the tone. Same thing about pickups as above.
Amps. Here is where most beginners mess up. They under estimate the importance of the amp and speakers in the quality of the sound. When testing guitars that you are considering buying, I always say you should take along your amp to see how that guitar sounds. A beginner does not have an amp yet, so they test the guitar using a store amp. They buy the guitar and then pick up a cheap amp. When they get home, they are not so pleased with the sound. I do not like the sound of the small practice amps. I think the speakers are lousy and make you sound thin and tinny. A great guitar played through a lousy amp or lousy speakers will sound lousy. A mediocre guitar played through a good amp and good speakers will sound decent. If you don't have enough money to buy both a good guitar and a good amp, get a good amp and go with a mediocre gutiar. Doing the reverse is a waste of money. Take a look at the 1x12 combo amps. A combo amp is where the amplifier and speakers are in the same cabinet. 1x12 means it has one 12 inch speaker. I have never seen a lousy speaker in a 1x12 combo from Fender, Marshall, Peavey, Crate, Vox, or Line 6. All those brands sound a slightly different, but all are good. If I had to recommend one amp for a beginner it would be the Line 6 Spider 30 watt 1x12. It is a versatile amp. You can play about everything on it and sound good. Because it comes with several built in effects, a beginner does not need to buy pedals. Later, you may want effects pedals to get the exact tone you want. But a beginner does not yet know what that will be, so the built in effects works well for them.
Also, ask to see their used gear, both guitars and amps. You can sometimes get a better deal buying used. In fact you generally can get higher quality gear for what ever amount you spend.
Later,
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