Guitar buying tips ?

[Kei Kurono]

I played bass when I was younger but I've always had a thing for guitar. I learned how to play and had a cheap acoustic but now I'm looking to buy a decent electric just to play around with but I'm not looking to spend much. I was thinking of getting an Epiphone or decent Squire. Any of you know something about guitars ? Any tips would help.

[Om_Audio]

Hi,
Decide what you can spend then go out and play as many guitars as you can get your hands in your price range until you find one that you like in your gut. One of my fav electrics is a $150 Danelectro made out of cheap materials but it plays great, sounds great, and stays in tune. Guitars vary from one to another so even 2 of the same model will sound and feel different thus my recommendation to play as many as you can till you find one you really take to. Guitars are like wine, price does not necessitate quality so you are certain to find one in your price range you love just takes time.
Have fun shopping!
C

[skinny.b]

+1 for shopping around dude, epiphone and squire both make nice enough guitars. As they're made on a production line the quality varies so you can get a beauty and a shitter of exactly the same model. My bass is a bottom of the range Ibanez and I've always loved how it plays. Happy shopping dude!

[Headphones]

I'm not really a expert on guitars, but I've heard that if you're starting out, you should forget electric guitars and learn on a acoustic guitar, and learn basic chords before you ever go electric. However, I had a friend who went electric starting out, and he did fine on his own (But he also learned how to play an acoustic as well).

Expect a bit of pain with your fingers until you develop calluses on your fingers for a few weeks. Once you have them, they'll become like a 2nd skin, and you'll be okay playing.

If you're going to go electric, try to pick up a cheap practice amp that's clean, and will give you a good tone. It'll be up to you what sounds good, but I hear guitar players look out for that sort of thing.

Good luck!

[spwarlock]

I can vouch for OM about the Danelectro,thing sounds really nice and raw too if you want it to be!Ive owned many guitars but I play that one the most...and I have a Gibson lp!

[ImOnlySleeping]

There are a couple things to keep in mind when your trying to buy an electric guitar.

What is your budget?
Semi-hollow or Solid body?
What kind of pickups would you prefer? Humbuckers or Single-coil? How many?
What style neck do you want? C,D,U,V shaped? or the variations between those?
What kind of bridge do you prefer? Gibson style? Fender style?

You should definitely go down to your music store and try some guitars out. You need to find something that's comfortable in your hands. Dont worry about the brand name. Truth is..production quality of all the major guitar companies has gone down so much and the prices have been raised a lot. Most serious players find other places to get guitars like online boutiques for custom built guitars or places like guitarfetish.com. There are hidden gems here and there, you should do some research to find them.

Nobody gives shit what kind of guitar you play, find something that works for you or you're gonna want to give up really easily.

Random tip of the top of my head...Squier's Classic Vibe line of guitars has a better build quality than the Mexican Standard Fenders and they're 100 dollars cheaper.

For me honestly the most important factors are the neck shape, bridge style, and pickups.

Some necks suit your hand best. You'll know when you play a couple different guitars. Some are easier to play than others

The bridge style is really important to me..I for one can't play Gibson style bridges comfortably. They feel strange to me.

The pick ups are One of the most important factors to your sound (excluding your guitar amp).
Humbuckers sound thick and naturally distort easier. They're very dark sounding
Single-coils sound very clean and chimey. Almost bell like. They're bright and sound great for clean sounds.

They both have different sounds and it depends on what you want.

Don't skimp money on your guitar..Youll regret it a lot. If your budget is around 200, your better off grabbing something off of guitarfetish.com

You should go into this knowing you should spend around 3-400 for a decent guitar.

Stay away from guitars bundled with amps for like 200 dollars. Its a waste of money.

Also you probably are going to hate playing electric unless you have a decent amp. Something like a Fender Mustang combo is good for a beginner. You can actually plug it into a computer to record. You can also build your own presets with the software. Kind of like a synth VST

These choices shouldn't be made impulsively. You should always research everything for a couple weeks and make your decision based on actual experience and online reviews from forums like this.

I still use my first electric and my first amp because I chose the highest quality options for my budget.

[Kei Kurono]

Cool Thanks for the tips fellas, I've played guitar for years, I just never actually bought my own electric since I was focusing more on playing the bass at the time then I started making beats. I will shop around.
I just hate going to Guitar Center because I feel like those people just want to sell you what ever they can. So I'll check around online or at some local shops. Thanks again

[Kei Kurono]

ImOnlySleeping

Thanks for the guitarfetish.com recommendation. I've been doing some research and reading some reviews and their guitars look/sound legit. I will probably be ordering from them.

[janglesoul]

Cool Thanks for the tips fellas, I've played guitar for years, I just never actually bought my own electric since I was focusing more on playing the bass at the time then I started making beats. I will shop around.
I just hate going to Guitar Center because I feel like those people just want to sell you what ever they can. So I'll check around online or at some local shops. Thanks again

Nothing wrong with buying cheap guitars, there can be many great ones. My telecaster is a Mexico made Baja Classic Player. I bought it used and I can't imagine a telecaster being much better.

Although I can relate to the discomfort of going to big music stores I think cheap guitars really should be tried out before bought. What makes them cheap are both materials and quality control. So there will be cheap guitars that play great and some that feel cheap. Stay away from the latter!/C