Any Guitar Players? Beginner's Question

I could have sworn I saw at least one or two folks on here that play guitar. Anyone?

I've been wanting to learn for a while, and finally found a used electric guitar that I could learn on without out much cash. Being used though, some of the strings can stand replacing. Anyone have any suggestions on types of strings? She's a Fender Strat if it makes a difference. There seems to be some variation of both material and guage size.

I played a little bit of guitar in high school, although I mostly played bass. Since you're just learning, the particular brand of strings will be of little consequence. 99% of it is personal preference, IMHO, I know that there are some technical differences between types of strings, some could be judged to be objectively "better" than others and whathaveyou but they are not going to be noticable when you are starting out.

Much more important than the strings are having someone teach you how to tune properly.

Hey man,

Good luck with the guitar thing. I've been on the road for years playing the drums and now run a small recording studio in the midwest. If I can make a suggestion for you, it might get you the most bang for your buck. Get one of the Variaxe's made by Line 6. You can probably pick one up at Sweetwater.com The reason I suggest this is because they have amp simulators built in which enables a huge pallet of tone options. You can play the guitar directly from headphones or plug it in to your computer or stereo system without having to dump hundreds of dollars in to an amp. Once you get it down you can also purchase other amp simulators from line 6 to diversify your tone options.

Hope that helps

Just go to your local guitar store and ask them for some medium gauge electric strings and let them pick something out for you. It should work fine.

Lighter gauge are better for more lead guitar type stuff (better bend, easier to fret) and heavier gauge are better for rhythm guitar or heavy metal. Medium is a nice intermediary for someone who's learning and might want to try out a little of everything. I personally use mediums anyway since I don't do much lead guitar stuff and I don't need a heavier gauge to get a real heavy metal type of feel.

I can concur with everyone's input, but I have more to add.

I've been playing guitar for 35 years. I've been in a number of bands in several states and have played in bars as a side job in college.

I can honestly tell you that you should go get your guitar set up by a professional (music store). Ask to see the person who will be setting it up so you can talk to him/her. Tell them what type of music you are interested in. This will determine the type of set up (low, medium action) and best strings for your application (light gage for bending, medium for overall, heavier for blues, etc). Heavier gaged strings are difficult to bend and may require you getting a new nut or your old one cut. These are important decisions because if you convert back to light strings you will have to get a new nut cut for your neck.

I have 3 Strats and a '76 Telecaster Deluxe, electric/acoustic, 4 amps and and sh*t-load of effects.

Send me an email tonight and I'll send a lot of info on learning, playing and set-ups for the Strat.

Same goes for anyone else...

[email protected]

I agree with all the above.
Heavier/thinger gauged strings have a warmer, fuller sound and are a little harder to play at first..also they will not give you that "lead" playing sound on the
thinest strings.
As homebrewer 99 said, ask the guitar dude at the store and tell him the style you want to learn.
I played in a punk band for a few years, and didn't even bother with the 2 smallest strings..I went with four..no kidding. I went with a really low, fast action setting.
You may also want to consider getting an electric tuner for about $30...no point in wasting time/frustration in struggling to tune the thing. You will eventually learn how to tune by ear.

Best of luck !
(Ibanez les paul copy 60s/70s -the ones i think they got sued over).

Throw the strat in the garbage, then get yourself a les paul, or SG, or flying v, or a tele. Then put some 9's or 10's on there and your done.

MrBeerCommunity said:

The reason I suggest this is because they have amp simulators built in which enables a huge pallet of tone options.

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Actually, the Variaxe has guitar simulators (called models) not amp models. I'm a purist and don't dig them but that's just me. They're pretty fun to play around on.
As far as strings go, at this point, you can get the cheapest ones you can find. Find a favorite brand a bit later. Rock on!:rockin:

Oh, and you should chuck that Strat, but don't get a Gibson, everyone knows PRS is where it's at!

One of my amps is a Line 6 Vetta Combo. It has 128 memory banks of different amp emulations as well as 60+ effects built-in. The pedal for the thing cost me $400.

homebrewer_99 said:

The pedal for the thing cost me $400.

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Man, you should have put that $400 towards a Mesa Road King! I thought I knew you...

Agree w/ above. At least to start out, get it set up at the shop. Unless you know who owned it before, it would be good to get it checked out to make sure that it is good to go and all true. Though lighter gauge will give you a better finger feel and are more bendable, you will need to learn to restring it, as when starting out you will break some. I would recommend medium. If you really want to get your digits in shape, go with heavy gauge types.

Sounds like there are some knowledgeable folks here too. I am just a hack, though I have been hacking for 10-12 years, off and on.

Wrong Forum, Anyway I used to own a Music store,75 % of us for Electrics use a 10-42 guage. Fender bullits are good cause they don't get jammed in the stupid wammy bar rig, Strats don't distort enough for my liking unless you put a humbucker on it. Good for blues and country JApan makes the best ones now..
Better shut up before the beer guys chatch us..

My old Ibanez has 2 humbuckers, and a double coil pick-up....nice.
Feed that through a Traynor (RIP) 2x100W speakers...with a Boss distortion peddle that looked like bus peddle.

Chairman Cheyco said:

Man, you should have put that $400 towards a Mesa Road King! I thought I knew you...

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Sorry, but I don't care for their sound... Anyway, the amp alone cost me $1600.00. The $400.00 was just for the pedal...

Ah, a guitar thread! (btw: I posted this grinning guy in one of my posts, and now he is here as an option for everyone!) Where is my free t-shirt?

I have been playing a few years. From a semi-noob to a noob, yes, get your guitar set up by a professional. Many people have given up learning due to having a hard to play guitar. A fairly low action with light to medium strings to start with. Especially while learning barre chords. DR Pure Blues 9s are easy to bend and fret. They sound great as well. Get a couple of extra high E strings while you are at it. You are liable to break one or two of them before the rest of the set wears out. Really, any name brand set of strings would be fine.

You might check out the DVD lessons created by Doug Marks at www.metalmethod.com He has sold tens of thousands of the lessons, and they are highly recommended by a lot of folks. Even if you aren't into metal, which I'm really not, they cover all the bases.

You Les Paul players can keep them heavy chunks of cord wood! If I wanted to lug around a lumber yard, I would visit Home Depot!

Strats, Strats, Strats are where it's at. Well, Tele's are nice too. Hooya!

Valvetronix amps rule the modeling world...

Also check out the forums at www.fenderforum.com

.

i've been hacking/playing for a little over a year now...

Agiles are great guitars for the money, huh?! Looks like they expanded their lineup.

SwAMi75 said:

Agiles are great guitars for the money, huh?! Looks like they expanded their lineup.

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I love my Agiles and yes they are a great value...
Not very well known and that's probably a good thing.

They actually have become more expensive because of the devalued US Dollar...

Because of this some of the less popular models seem to have been cut from the stock.

Anyway, for anyone in the Guitar market you should check out this site:
Rondo Music

For comments on Agile you go go the forums here:
Harmony Central Forums - Electric Guitar
and
The Agile Guitar Forums

For Reviews you can go here: (this seems to have an error right now, but should start working)
Harmony Central Guitar Reviews

Great looking collection there, Project. Is that blue Agiles a hollow body? (can't quite tell from the pics)

Darth Konvel said:

Great looking collection there, Project. Is that blue Agiles a hollow body? (can't quite tell from the pics)

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thanks Darth,

it's supposed to be a semi hollow. in reality only the top half of the guitar is hollow. the lower half is solid.

it's called a HARM 3. It's become my number one!!!

Nice looking collection! While we're sharing...


Maybe these should be in the kid pics thread?

Chairman Cheyco said:

Nice looking collection! While we're sharing...

Maybe these should be in the kid pics thread?

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those are nice Chairman Cheyco

are those are PRS guitars?

didn't PRS just beat Gibson in court regarding the single cut version?

Yup, that one on the right is one of the first singlecuts produced after the lawsuit was settled. The judge ruled that "only an idiot would confuse the two guitars at the point of purchase."

PRS's press release said that Gibson should compete in the marketplace by building better guitars and not by litigation. Meow. :rockin:

Chairman Cheyco said:

The judge ruled that "only an idiot would confuse the two guitars at the point of purchase."

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I think one of the Gibson lawyers said the same thing. RAWK ON BROTHA :rockin: