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evan
Formerly CoachKrzyzewski
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Charlottesville, VA
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2010-10-15, 13:20

Hey I'm posting this from my phone so I'll be brief and to the point. I'm going to learn electric guitar! A few questions for the players out there:

- what are some good inexpensive brands? I'm probably going to look online because I don't really like what I've seen in local music stores.

- what's the best iPhone tuner app?

- how well does GarageBand handle guitars? And what do I need to maximize my experience? I plan on starting with the provided lessons there.

- anything else you want to add

Thanks!
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bassplayinMacFiend
Banging the Bottom End
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
 
2010-10-15, 14:11

Can't help you with inexpensive guitar brands, hopefully others will chime in here.

Best iPhone tuner app might be Peterson Tuner's iStrobosoft. I lucked out and picked it up for $0.99. It's normally $9.99, but at that price you might as well spend $15 and get a physical tuner, IMO.

GarageBand works great with guitars with pickups. You'll just need a 1/4" to mic input adapter. Apple sells a Monster version for $20 or you can pick up a similar adapter for $5 at Radio Shack.
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Yontsey
*AD SPACE FOR SALE*
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cleveland-ish, OH
 
2010-10-15, 14:29

First and best piece of advice I could give you is don't buy equipment new. You get the most value buying guitars and amps used. That's what I've always done and everyone I know.

First thing I need to know before I recommend things is what is your budget? You could get a nice Mexican Fender strat or telecaster for about $300-350 used.

Are you going to go with an amp or do you plan on just playing straight through your computer?

Garageband is actually an amazing program even though it's free. You can accomplish a lot with it, it just takes some time and practice. Typically for going through a computer and recording, it's best to get an audio interface. You can get some M-Audio stuff from guitar for around $150 and those come in either Firewire or USB, but I recommend FW if you can go that route.

Garageband has a tuner built into. Honestly, I've never used a tuner for the iPhone but I can't imagine them being anything that great. I would just stick with Garageband or buy yourself a tuner by either Korg or Boss, once again, it depends on your budget.

As far as learning guitar, the best advice I can give is learn the basic chords and scales and practice those til your fingers bleed. It'll take some time but once your finger muscles get use to the repetition and you gain muscle memory, your speed and ease of playing will increase.

Cable wise for the guitar, cheap cables are decent in a pinch but you get what you pay for, in all cases. Monster cables are not bad and come with a lifetime warranty, but me personally, I'm a fan of mogami cables.

A great forum to check out for used equipment is Harmony-Central.com. I frequent that site everyday. Also for the interface, you could probably get something off of ebay at a good deal too.

Shoot us an estimate for your budget and I'm sure myself or one of the other members on here can put together a nice setup for what you have to work with.

Guitar is something you will love once you get the hang of it! Good luck!

Die young and save yourself....
@yontsey
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evan
Formerly CoachKrzyzewski
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Charlottesville, VA
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2010-10-15, 14:45

Hey thanks for the replies!

My initial plan is to just play straight on my computer through garageband and I'm actually borrowing a friend's guitar-->USB cable for that.

As for guitar budget, I would like to keep it under $200, but if the guitar/reasons for getting it are compelling enough I could go up to 250.
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Yontsey
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Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Cleveland-ish, OH
 
2010-10-15, 14:55

You could find a decent Fender for 200-250. Try and stay away from the Squiar brand though.
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Elysium
Environmental Bloodhound
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
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2010-10-15, 22:51

Just started this route myself. Definitely go used with the equipment and start to practice with the chords and basic movements.

- Picked up a Peavey Vypyr 15 Amp off of Craigslist for $25 (barely used)
- Picked up an Epiphone G400 SG (2004 Sunburst Flame top) with hard case on eBay for $200

At some point when I have some more time (when the Hackintosh project is finished) I'm going to swap out the pickups for some Tony Iommi pickups and install some new pots for coil tapping excellence. Someday.

Formerly known as cynical_rock
censeo tentatio victum
There is no snooze button on a cat.
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RowdyScot
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Join Date: Apr 2005
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2010-10-15, 23:15

God for a used Fender, like Yontsey suggested. Great for learning, and don't have the plastic-y feeling fretboard that a Squier or some other cheap "beginner" line would.

Authentic Nova Scotia bagpipe innards
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hflomberg
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
 
2010-10-16, 11:28

I sort of disagree. Get an acoustic guitar and learn your fingering. That is the basic skill you need. A decent acoustic can be had far cheaper. Once you're familiar with your fingerings, then you can look at the electrics and know what suits you.

How do you read 80 column cards on this computer?
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dmegatool
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Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: At home
 
2010-10-16, 12:48

Quote:
Originally Posted by hflomberg View Post
I sort of disagree. Get an acoustic guitar and learn your fingering. That is the basic skill you need. A decent acoustic can be had far cheaper. Once you're familiar with your fingerings, then you can look at the electrics and know what suits you.
In theory.. But the best advice I can give is play what you want to play. I started with an acoustic as a kid and that's not what I wanted. I got bored and stopped playing for like 4-5 year ! All I wanted was to rock the shit of an electric guitar... play some Metallica, etc, but my parents were thinking that I should start acoustic... When I got older, got the money to buy my own stuff, I got back into it (15-16yo).

Yontsey is totally right about the used gear. I never bought anything new. My current ibanez is a 198X (early eighties, can't remember) that I bought almost 10 year ago. So she was already almost 20yo when I bought it. I tried a brand new 1400$ ibanez and it wasn't that much if any better than my old 600$ one

As for learning, try to find some songs you could play right away. Praticing chords is great but playing actual songs is 10000x better. Always try to mix some easy songs that you can nail quickly and some that seems really hard so you keep learning.

Dave Mustaine :"God created whammy bars for people who don't know how to solo."
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psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2010-10-16, 21:26

Quote:
Originally Posted by dmegatool View Post
Yontsey is totally right about the used gear. I never bought anything new. My current ibanez is a 198X (early eighties, can't remember) that I bought almost 10 year ago. So she was already almost 20yo when I bought it. I tried a brand new 1400$ ibanez and it wasn't that much if any better than my old 600$ one

As for learning, try to find some songs you could play right away. Praticing chords is great but playing actual songs is 10000x better. Always try to mix some easy songs that you can nail quickly and some that seems really hard so you keep learning.
Good tips and advice. I agree on both.

The neat thing is, guitars aren't like computers. A second-hand guitar (of decent quality to begin with) from 5, 10 or even 20 years ago is still totally usable (pickups, strings, frets, body/neck construction, etc. don't change that much). They don't have current OS versions and software to support, so it's not like buying a 5-10 year old Mac.

As for the "learn songs" thing, I agree 6,000%. That's how I learned. I absorbed like a sponge, my parents' awesome record collection (which is why I like so many of the "before my time" artists and bands that I do...technically, I shouldn't even be aware of - much less fans of - The Byrds and Buddy Holly; but I am ). You train your ear, you get really good at noticing (and even predicting) chord changes and patterns. A very good way to go about it, and it just makes you a better player...more well-rounded and with a solid footing.

If I ever get together with someone and all they're capable of is noodling, "shredding" and no-context sonic jacking-off (but couldn't play a four-chord Tom Petty song to save their life), I can tell right away I'm just not going to have any fun. It's about songs. If you can't actually play any, you're going to get bored and lose interest real quick, IMO. Anyone can screw around real fast at the 14th fret...

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evan
Formerly CoachKrzyzewski
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
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2010-10-20, 11:30

As always, thanks for the great input guys! All the thoughts on "going used" led me to think of friends that might have guitars and not play them... and sure enough one of my friends had one in storage!


(not my picture, but it looks exactly the same)

Why yes, those are VW logos on the knobs! Turns out when he bought his GTI a few years ago VW was running a promotion where they gave out a free guitar... so he got it and never once played it.

All I know is the brand is a "First Act" ... dunno if that's good or not but it's free for me! If I can really stick with it through december I'll probably get my own for xmas or something

Last night I hooked it up to my iMac, opened garageband, and ran through the first lesson. My internet died during it though so I couldn't download more I can tune it and play and E chord! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Fingers definitely hurting after like 5 minutes though haha.

EDIT: Question! Is it possible to just play the guitar through Garageband without being in a lesson and without actively recording? Also can i use the tuner without being in a lesson?
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Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2010-11-05, 11:41

Quote:
Originally Posted by evan View Post
Why yes, those are VW logos on the knobs! Turns out when he bought his GTI a few years ago VW was running a promotion where they gave out a free guitar... so he got it and never once played it.
That's awesome.

Quote:
Originally Posted by evan
All I know is the brand is a "First Act" ... dunno if that's good or not but it's free for me!
That's...not as awesome, but free is always good. You can start learning now, instead of when you have the money. And it'll be a good story, when you're a famous rock star.

•••

Totally off-topic, but I was just trying to explain electric pianos to someone ("you mean synth-an-sizer, right?"), and made the analogy to an electric guitar. I was told that there could be no such thing as an electric piano, because "pianos don't have strings!"

I died a little, inside.

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong
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hflomberg
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Denver, Colorado
 
2010-11-05, 18:27

Then what are those long "Stringy - looking" things inside my wife's piano?
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Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2010-11-05, 18:37

Quote:
Originally Posted by hflomberg View Post
Then what are those long "Stringy - looking" things inside my wife's piano?
They're springs that have been stretched really tightly. If you were ever to do something stupid like strike them with a hammer, they'd snap back into a coil, potentially causing serious injury. :O

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong
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