Poll: The Beginners Guide To Guitars, Other Musical Instruments And Equipment Sticky

[EvilGrin]

Seeing as my other thread was closed before i could get all my questions answered....

On here: http://tuneinn.co.uk/pages/guitar/guitar3.htm
Is the Fender Squier Strat Pak worth considering as a first purchase?

Also, could someone recommend me a decent first-time accoustic please? Someone in the last thread mentioned a well thought of Yamaha but no one had a chance to answer.

Yamaha Pacifica 112, roughly same price as Squiers, but its a much, much better guitar, especially for learning on. When I decided I wanted to learn, I went out and bought a Vintage VS6-B (SG Style) and had it set up professionally by Regent guitars, my fiancée has a yamaha pacifica, set up by them too. The pacifica is a lot easier to play than my vintage, and I still use it for practicing with instead of my vintage! I tend to use my guitar to rock out a little bit on as it sounds better for heavy rock due to its humbuckers, but the Yamaha is better for cleans.

Anyway, if you don't get the guitar you buy properly set up by a professional, then honestly don't even bother, it'll buzz, rattle, have bad intonation, sound crap and you'll give up.

http://www.guitarampkeyboard.com/en/yamaha-pacifica112j/1269 looks like a good deal for starting out, you just need to add a practice amp to that and you're good to go. And hell, its cheap as chips. Also, Kustom make good practice amps, i've got a KGA16DFX which has added effects, it serves me well!

 

[beachBOYken]

hi

must say yamaha make some great value guitars , my last 2 have been yamaha , which was a electric acoustic and bass cant remember the models.

 

[Master Skooter]

Would the Yamaha in the OP suit an 11/12yo child?

My daughter wants an electric guitar for Xmas & i haven't a clue which guitar/amp to go for.

 

[Holliday]

I see the general consensus seems to be for the Pacifica 112, however, I've recently been looking to buy my first guitar to start playing and it seems to be a toss up between the Pacifica 112-L or a Fender Squire-L.

Since I'm left handed both guitars seem to be quite a bit more expensive and 'rare' in comparison to the right handed style. Was tempted to buy both the guitar and amp off Ebay, but being the inpatient person I am and ability to get outbid on items in the last second almost everytime I've decided to go for new.

My choice is;

Squier Frontman Strat Pack (Brown Sunburst) - Squier Affinity Series Stratocaster and a Fender Frontman 15G Amp + a strap etc. - £149.00

or

Yamaha Pacifica 112-L (Yellow Natural Satin or Mist Green, RW) - £145.00
But this would mean I'd need to buy an amp, preferebly a cheap one.

I'm swaying towards the Pacifica mostly due to reading the posts on here, what would you suggest?

 

[Jive-Zombie]

I've only had 2 guitars that were both beginners costing about £50 and £80 which i bought years ago. I didn't know much about guitars and bought them thinking they'd professional quality...

I've been looking around lately and have seen this... Electro Acoustic Yamaha CPX - 900 for £450...

Has anyone got this or would they recommend it?

 

[georges]

Cheap strings in bulk:
http://www.webstrings.com/

 

[stude1983]

i started with a fender squier strat and have had that for ten years it was a good guitar to begin with but recently gone for a gibson sg, i will never go back to fender the sound quality is awesome! theyve also got a nice punchy sound to them !

 

[Pkiely]

Hi folks. For Xmas I was looking to treat myself. Been playing the guitar for a couple of years now, started out with an Acoustic (ok was a bit tough but I think worth it because I stuck it out until I got a Pacifica112 + starter amp and can appreciate the differences).
Since I upgraded my acoustic to a Yamaha FG720S 6 months ago, it's now time for me to look at something else.

Now as I understand it theres not really much point in upgrading my Pacifica considering the amp I have (I don't mind it), I'm looking at some options...

Someone referred me towards effects unit, specifically Zoom G1/2 unit, which aren't pricey (£60-£100?). http://www.zoom.co.jp/english/products/g21u/index.php is the latest one with USB port which would interest me since I'm a pc freak afterall... the list of features really astounds me for that price though to be honest. It says it can pretty much give me the quality sounds of a large range of amp's and famous effects, amongst other features.

Whats your verdict on this one ? Any good? My pacifica has taken quite a beating (for example: the jack plate broke, the wires all broke off and I replaced the socket/internal wires for that with some spare Soundcard -> cdrom wires lol (they worked great!)... 1 day I'll just have to save up and buy a new guitar/amp at same time, but that'll slaughter my wallet.

 

[Mooron455]

Got to be the strat, that was my first guitar so easy to pick up and use, the reaction on it is amazing, better reaction than all the other guitars at least

 

[Larnica]

Hiya.

Whats the difference between the Yamaha 112 models, I noticed some have L or V or even J at the end of the model names

Thanks!

Larnica

 

[1pudding1]

Ive got an acoustic guitar from my Uncle. Whats the best book/online guide on learning how to play?

 

[DEL 707]

I was looking on www.musicianshop.com at the Starter guitar and acoustic guitar pack.

Does that look like a good deal for a beginner?

 

[hargi]

Just got my bass guitar out again to try to learn properly,m What would be the best way of doing this? I normally try to find tabs of songs that i like then play along, most of the time i get my rythem wrong.
Or some of the easy songs like
---------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
---------22222222---------00000000----
22222222---------00000000-----------

I find it really difficult to keep up

 

[Nix]

Just learn songs you know and enjoy to begin with, there's no rush.

 

[PuG106]

Hey Guys, me and my younger brother have just bought a starter guitar kit, only saw this sticky afterwards.

Just wondered if you think its ok?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SB-ELECTRIC-G...ryZ47074QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Cheers

 

[hargi]

Back again,
How important is a bass amp for a bass? Currently im using my 10w cheep one i got with my electric guitar. How much difference is it going to make to change to a Bass one? Also how much which one should i be looking at? i dont want a loud one as im only playing in the house and we have neigbours lol. any recomendations.
Also is it worth getting one of them mecranome things cos i generally get my timing wrong.
Thanks

 

[SexyGreyFox]

Back again,
How important is a bass amp for a bass? Currently im using my 10w cheep one i got with my electric guitar.
Also is it worth getting one of them mecranome things cos i generally get my timing wrong.
Thanks

The main difference is the speaker because of the frequencies you are putting through it.
Bass speakers will be able to handle the lows much better but if you're not playing very loud then I wouldn't be worried too much.
If your computer is in the same room then I bet theres some freeware metronomes or even drum machines you can play along to.

 

[Dist]

Does anyone have a link to a site explaining the different types of effects pedals, and what sort of sounds they make?

I tried learning the guitar a few years ago (only a simple guitar and amp, nothing special) but i got a bit fed up when i couldnt get it to sound the way i wanted to. So i was thinking of trying again to learn but this time buying a effects pedal to make it actully sound a bit better (i know it wont make me a rock star just by getting the effects, but having my guitar sound like a proper guitar would keep me playing it). The problem is, i have no idea what effects pedal i need to get the sounds i want. From what i read so far, if i want to get a a metallica sort of sound, a distortion pedal should be used, but what effect would i have to use to get the sort of sounds that dragonforce guitarists make?

 

[Tobes]

EDIT: Don't worry.

 

[Masterdog]

Does anyone have a link to a site explaining the different types of effects pedals, and what sort of sounds they make?

I tried learning the guitar a few years ago (only a simple guitar and amp, nothing special) but i got a bit fed up when i couldnt get it to sound the way i wanted to. So i was thinking of trying again to learn but this time buying a effects pedal to make it actully sound a bit better (i know it wont make me a rock star just by getting the effects, but having my guitar sound like a proper guitar would keep me playing it). The problem is, i have no idea what effects pedal i need to get the sounds i want. From what i read so far, if i want to get a a metallica sort of sound, a distortion pedal should be used, but what effect would i have to use to get the sort of sounds that dragonforce guitarists make?

Personally I can't recommend Line6's guitarport enough for amateur guitarists such as you and I. It's more expensive (around £100 I think) than a single pedal but has a huge variety of sounds and is very easy to use. It's also handy as a learning aid. I'm not sure if there are any specific Dragonforce sounds on there, but there must be something very similar.