Starter Guitars?

Dean guitars are great, and im not just saying that because I own one 🙂
For acoustics, dont over look Maton’s. Im not sure if they are freely available in the USA or other countries but they definately make quality acoustics. No comment on the electric range though.

If your looking into second hand guitars and you see and Jackson Performer. PS1 PS2 PS3 possibly they made a PS4 or others, not sure. Give it a try. They can look real beat up but I never played one that didnt sound nice.

And likewise with pavel’s comment on not buying cheapo guitars. Many cheap guitars are cheap because they are poorly constructed with cheap materials.

Take some time to find an axe that feels good to you, even if it means saving up a little while longer before you actually buy what you want. Also dont allways rely on the words of a guy working behind the counter of a music store. Just because they work there, it doesnt mean they know what they are talking about.

Dont be affraid to ask the storeman if you can try the guitars on the top shelf… Some stores are a bit tight about letting every man and his dog play on the $5000 guitars. But if you have the chance, it will give you a good indication of how a quality instrument will feel and sound, as opposed to the more economical/cheaper gutars.

@Pavel Denisjuk 143 wrote:

Starting with Squier is not advisable as it’s a crappy guitar and people often loose motivation when thinking: “Ah, that guy has such a great guitar, why do i have to play this crap? I better quit!”

So, don’t get the cheapest guitar out there. 🙂

I totally agree…my first guitar was some generic electric that just sounded horrible. I had some moments where I wanted to give up because it was such a crappy guitar…I brought this up to my guitar instructor (Sean Conklin woo!) and he took my guitar and shredded away and told me I could make some great tunes with it if I just stuck with it. I eventually bought a couple better quality guitars but I still have that first one and I’ll go back and play it every once in a while. If it wasn’t for Sean showing me what it was capable of, I might have quit.

Hang on there guys, I’m going to have to massively disagree with some of you here.

First off, the RG350/370 for a starter guitar? If anything is going to put of a new guitarist is a floating bridge. Most if not all new players barely know anything about guitar and just want to get playing ASAP, having a floating bridge is not going to help.

Second, have any of you actually played any of the new Squiers? For the price, I’d be hard pressed to find a nicer playing guitar. Infact, the Standard series and above are guitars that I would gladly take on stage and be confident it will sound ok and not break on me. Prime example are the Tele 72 Customs they brought out early last year, the maple fb twin HB/twin p90 ones. Those guitars play just as nice as most Mexi Teles and Strats I’ve played.

Now I’m not saying always buy a cheap guitar, you should always spend the most you can on your first guitar, but if your budget is limited, there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a new Squier from the standard series or above.

@Alex 722 wrote:

Hang on there guys, I’m going to have to massively disagree with some of you here.

Second, have any of you actually played any of the new Squiers? For the price, I’d be hard pressed to find a nicer playing guitar. Infact, the Standard series and above are guitars that I would gladly take on stage and be confident it will sound ok and not break on me. Prime example are the Tele 72 Customs they brought out early last year, the maple fb twin HB/twin p90 ones. Those guitars play just as nice as most Mexi Teles and Strats I’ve played.

Now I’m not saying always buy a cheap guitar, you should always spend the most you can on your first guitar, but if your budget is limited, there is absolutely nothing wrong with buying a new Squier from the standard series or above.

I totally agree with you here Alex. I bought a japanese squier back in 2000 and it was one of the best guitars I’ve ever had. Even the cheaper ‘affinity’ range kicks the ass of some of the painfully bad guitars my students have waltzed into a lesson with.

Some of the lower-end Ibanez’s are good starter guitars, I’ve found.

@Sean Conklin 710 wrote:

Brendan! No way man, great to see you here! I miss our rockin sessions back in the good ol’ days. 🙂 I remember always looking forward to our weekly lesson. You have great passion dude, keep it up! Are you still doing some recording stuff at Chico?

I’ll echo what many have said, it’s definitely a better choice to start with a quality guitar. And as far as price margin, you can usually get something much better if you bite the bullet and spend an extra 50, 100 bucks from what you were originally planning to spend on a cheapo guitar.

Dude, you have no idea how much I miss your lessons…my knowledge jumped exponentially when i was under your wing…but I will never stop playing! No recording this semester, but that’s still my major. This semester is all music theory, listening skills, piano, and tons of music history. I don’t have one non-music class 🙂

The second guitar i bought was actually 50 bucks more expensive than my original, and I happen to be playing it as I’m typing this. I got a 7 string Ibanez Ax…and although the pickups could be better, this thing plays great, and I take it with me everyone (even over my more expensive guitars).

Sometimes you luck out with a really cheap one…I took a chance with this one though, I bought it on ebay. Never going to do that again, way to big of a risk to buy a guitar without playing it…but alas, I was young and naive(-er than I am now, not to say that’s changed much)

usually yes, but music history counts as 3 units, so does theory. so i only have 2 1 unit classes (piano and listening) and the rest are 3 unit classes

last semester was a different story though haha