So I'd like to learn guitar

you can get a good guitar at a pawn shop for your price range...good luck...and remember...practise, practise, practise...

 

Check out this cool guitar link.

http://guitar.to/folder/guitar.html

 

personally, i started on electric and it was fine. it really doesn't matter imo what guitar you start with. whichever one is cheaper or easier to get, i guess. go for a lotus if u can find one. or a peavey.

 

Awsome link Oily. Thanks.

 

Combine that with http://www.tabrobot.com, where you can look up the chords for your favorite songs, and you can learn the basics by what I found to be the easiest way: by plaing the chords along with songs that you like.

It won't sound exactly right, but it will at least match the song. This way you can get proficient at changing your fingerings with reduced boredom.

 

One bit of advice: don't buy too cheap. Cheaper guitars can be more difficult to play, depending on how they're set up. You can get a good, playable one for less than $300, but make sure you try out several guitars before you pay for one.

The main thing I think you're going to be looking for is called "action". Action refers to the height of the strings off the fretboard. Action that's too high can be hard for a beginner to wrestle with (harder to manuever your fingers around), and action that's too low can make it hard to form and hold chords. You'll have to play a number of guitars before you find one that feels comfortable to you (or you may just get lucky like I did, and find that the first acoustic you pick up has perfect action for you, a nice rich sound, and costs less than $400 ).

I would recommend learning on an acoustic. For one, it will be easier on the ears of anyone that has to listen to you as you learn. For another, I think (and this is strictly personal opinion) that by beginning on an acoustic, you can pay more attention to learning the playing techniques properly.

One other piece of advice: tuning. Buy a pitch pipe and and an electronic tuner. Tune the guitar often-- as a beginner, you will be surprised to find how quickly the electronic tuner says your strings are out of tune. Check the guitar with the tuner, then try to tune it against the pitch pipe. This way you get the best of both worlds-- you're training your ear, and you also have independent verification that the guitar's tuned properly (thus avoiding the dreaded "flabby newbie" guitar sound as much as possible).

Good luck. Let me (and the rest of the BBS) know if you have any questions. Really, Jeff's probably the person to ask. I think he knows a lot more about it than I do and I also think he knows it the right way instead of the cribbed-together Cliff's Notes stuff that I've learned over the years.

 

I would suggest you start with an acoutstic. I bought my first one for $60. I wouldn't spend too much, until you see if you are progressing at a reasonable pace. Start with easy 3 chord songs and keep playing them until you are able to make the fingering changes. It is difficult and sometimes frustrating at first, but don't give up. Everybody struggles at first. I started with Beatles and Buddy Holly songs. Buy a book that shows the major chords and just sit down and practice them over and over. You will have days where the chords are easy to play and then there will be days where you struggle. Keep at it!!!

 

i started playing on an electric guitar and when i went over to playing acoustic i struggled a bit until my hand got used to it. i'd take everyone's advice and start acoustic and build up the strength that way, moving over to an electric later should be no problem at all.

 

Oh and one other thing: if you sign up for guitar lessons, make sure the instructor actually gives you lessons. An ex-girlfriend of mine signed up for lessons, and all the guy wanted to do was show her the chords to play a three-chord song, give her a tape of it, and tell her to practice.

 

I agree... get some tabs, a guitar, a book called The Guitar Handbook, an electronic tuner (about $30) and learn to play gee-tar!

 

Can anybody teach me to play like Cory Morrow?

 

Thanks guys. I think I'm inspired.

 

I think almost anyone can learn to play guitar... it just takes time, patience and a tuner... for gods sake, buy an electronic tuner. If you're gee-tar isn't properly tuned, it will be a lot harder to play and learn...

good luck to all our new budding guitarists, coming up next, the cc.net internet band!!

 

A couple other piece of advice:

If you're going to pawn shops, look out for the Bajo Sexto (sp?) guitars, which will be all spanish and flowery looking (they're tuned differently) and classical guitars (which have 3 steel and 3 nylon strings). The classical ones have wider necks. I learned to play on my mother's old classical guitar, and I still have problems with the narrower necks.

Be prepaired - your fingertips will hurt and get calouses, and your fingers will hurt because they won't be strong enough. No big deal. It'll go away in a few days.

On buying a guitar - The cheaper guitars generally are thicker and heavier for their weight. The guitar you choose, most of all, should be of thiner/lighter/finer construction than others in the price range.

Be wary of guitars with rusted strings - they've probably been ignored. Dents and scratches are fine, but look to avoid cracks in the grain of the wood.

Make sure that the little metal 'frets' that run down the length of the neck aren't overly worn.

Finally, look down the length of the neck, and make sure that it doesn't bow or warp as you travel down it's length.

I guess that's about it.

 

Vengeance,

I assume at this point that you're going to look at acoustic guitars. If that's the case, find someone who knows something about acoustics and have them look at any instrument that you think you might buy. A thrashed-up acoustic will sound bad and will be expensive to repair.

If you decide to buy electric, however, I would look at the new line of Danelectro Guitars. They're decent instruments that sound good for a variety of music (with the exception of maybe death metal) and can be had for around $200 (less if you buy one used).

As for amps, look for an old (by old I mean 30-40 years old) Alamo, Kay or Silvertone tube combos. Although these amps are somewhat limited in sound and features, they are cheap (I see them for $90-$120 all the time), are soldily built (point-to-point wiring), sound good at low volumes and (most importantly) will probably make you some money if and when you sell it in order to buy a louder amp. Avoid Crate amps at all costs - they sound horrible and have no resale value whatsoever.

One thing I would advise against is using tab. Although I use it myself, it's better to learn how to read music now (every other instrumentalist manages to do it so I don't know why guitarists can't). Buy a Mel Bay Chord book and use that to learn the chords. And if you can afford it, take lessons with a good player who knows music theory. Although music theory can be boring, it really does give you the ability to play better (despite what certain punk rock artists would tell you) and opens new creative doors.

Enough for now. I think everyone in this thread has given you enough advice to get started. Good luck.

 

Man would that be an "interesting" sound!

 

Very nice guitar to start with. You should have no problem learning to play on that guitar. Wish I could have started on one as nice.