Wannabe Guitarist!

[Warrior of Ice]

Hey could anyone help me! I have wanted to play guitar for almost two years and have saved up money but sadly i know next to nothing about what i should buy like what is good bad decent good for starting etc. I have a very basic understanding about guitar but i kinda need help and some ideas from any of you guys here who play and know a decent amount. I havent been able to really find anyone who plays guitar or likes metal and knows stuff so this is kinda my last resort. Any help would be very appreciated!

 

[Ultimate_Symphony]

What kind of help you need?

 

[Ultimate_Symphony]

Oh man looks like i'm not reading very well today
You wanna buy a guitar right?

you can look on any of these brands Jackson, ESP, Fender, Ibanez and some others (the guitars that soilwork use are damn good) I had some very good guitars that I found on the net I gotta search for them and see if I can give you the sites. It's pretty late now so I gotta go i'm pretty sure some guitar gurus are going to post soon

 

[Warrior of Ice]

yes im sure a guitar guru will pop up and write a page worth of info but hey i need that!!!

 

[Ultimate_Symphony]

oh btw if you need help on theory and that kind of stuff this page is pretty good for learning techniques (basic techniques and more advanced sweep, taping etc)

Guitar wannabe look here damnit

hope that helps

 

[Pharaoh]

Depends on how much you have to spend. Do you have a music store you can trust nearby? My advice is to just go and try out guitars, see how they feel to play. Ibanez is a good starter guitar. Don't worry about not being able to play, just get one that you can afford that has a comfortable feel to it. Then learn tab and chords, and jam to music.
My first electric played like a truck. My fingers bled. But that was 1966!! Times have changed. You can get one of those small Marshall practice amps for a pseudo-metal sound just to learn. They're fine. Practice a lot, you need callouses, takes awhile.

 

[Yngvai X]

Well, I suggest spending somewhere between 300-400 dollars. I say that much because anything less than 300 will be a peice of shit that plays very badly. For that price range, the best guitars are the Mexican made Fender Stratocasters. The good thing about these are that they already play well and if you ever wanna upgrade your pickups or anything its very easy to do so.

 

[The Yngster]

Im also a beginner, been playing for a few months. I started out with this piece of crap 60 dollar kid guitar, and I hated it, it hurt to play. Just last week I picked up a Fender "Fat Strat", which is a Stratocaster with a humbucker on it. This apparently is better for playing metal music. I got it for a little less than 400 dollars, but I think its well worth it.

 

[Dieblo]

hey another apprentice here, but my question goes like this: what is the difference between all the kind of bridges, Floyd rose, non-locking tremolo, locking etc, and wich one is better for a beginner. thanks guys.

 

[sweepking]

I am working through Metal Method right now. I think it is a good beginner video but some of the ways he describes scales is confusing. It is good for learning little licks and practicing some techniques. I am on level three now.

 

[Warrior of Ice]

ok all this info is helping! but i want to know is it worth getting guitar lessons or just play until it sounds right?

 

[Ultimate_Symphony]

Getting lessons is pretty good way to start, especially for someone that doesn't know a lot of the basics but don't live through the lessons, some lessons are good and then when you feel that you know pretty much your way through the guitar you can start learning on your own (that will help you to get a style of your own and you won't have anyone telling you the ''way'' to do it) the internet is very helpful on this.

 

[Pharaoh]

I think Ultimate Symphony's advice is perfect! Mike Romeo had classical lessons (but just for awhile). Pull out whatever you can from all sources of info and develop your own style. But don't rush it..it takes time and work!

 

[brokkel]

try to find some tabs from your favourit bands on www.mysongbook.com or metaltabs.com and then practice, practice, practice until you can play every last solo of Divine Wing Of trage.. oops , I let myself go there a bit

 

[Ultimate_Symphony]

Originally posted by Pharoah
I think Ultimate Symphony's advice is perfect! Mike Romeo had classical lessons (but just for awhile). Pull out whatever you can from all sources of info and develop your own style. But don't rush it..it takes time and work!

Exactly, Mike is the best example that I know of

 

[suacy]

concerning the bridges, a fixed bridge might be the best way to go as a beginner, if just for simplicities sake. "floating" tremolo systems like the floyd rose are a pain in the ass to deal with unless youre really used to them. locking ones just lock the string in place. you can have one at the nut (the top of the neck where the strings get sent off to the tuners) and such.

as far as classical training and the like, if youre still in school you could ask for some sheet music from the band teacher, and then look up some online lessons on reading music. reading music is really a must, and the longer you put it off the worse it is.

 

[Kronos66]

in fact the best advices i can give for a beginner that wants to buy a guitar is :
-go in a shop and try guitars
you don't really need a $2000 guitar to start...
i still can recommand the one i have : washburn N1A Nuno Bettencourt model : pretty cheap, but a goddamn good sound
- a $2000 guitar ? sure, but if you have a a cheap ampli, it's totally useless...
-if you have a friend that play guitar, ask him to go with you in the shop.

et voila

and you can try some instructional videos, like for example Petrucci's Rock Disciple.... EXCELLENT stuff ! a lot of good advices, a lot of good exercices (like for example chromatics, great thing to work synchronization left/right hand)

 

[IntoObscurity]

Dude, definitely start on acoustic. It might suck a bit at first, but it will be sooo worth it. Your finger strength and agility will be so much better than if you start on electric. I personally like Alvarez, but they can be a bit pricey depending on your cash flow, they don't really start below 300 dollars or so.

 

[metalfox]

a spanish clasical guitar dude

 

[whyekong]

Well, there's no quick and easy way to master the guitar. I guess the best method would be taking lessons from someone who can teach you the music that you want to play. Of course, you'd have to master the basics first including picking, bending, hammer-on's etc.

When I started playing, I took classical guitar lessons as a start and made zero progress, simply because the classes were boring and I became disinterested very quickly. I started to improve and developed a passion for practicing when I began learning simple songs that I enjoyed (Metallica, GnR etc). You definitely learn quicker if you are interested. Once I learned the basic blues/rock stuff, I began taking an interest in faster and more exciting stuff like Yngwie and neoclassical music. A friend of mine could play Yngwie's stuff note for note, so I learnt alot from him (sweep picking, harmonic minor runs etc).

Learning how to read tabs and covering songs is also a good way of improving your technique and getting ideas. Remember to always practice with the metronome and start at a steady pace.