I want to do stuff like John Mayer, DMB, Van Halen, Billy Idol, Oingo Boingo, like that. I don't need a totally kick ass guitar, because it's not like I'm going to be playing concerts or anything: I just want something that will sound good, be easy to keep up (not a shit load of maintenance), and that I can pick up and play and enjoy. EDIT: I ordered Tusq bridge pins online. Should be here this week. I have to actually drill out the plastic piece of shit, and I will go buy another plastic piece of shit tomorrow so I can keep playing. I'm pretty pissed off that it broke, I wanted to play tonight.
Dave Matthews rarely uses an electric guitar, but when he does, he uses a Gibson Chet Atkins model. His acoustic guitars are Taylor 714ce and some in the 900 series and a baritone guitar. He also has a few Martins but I'm not sure of the models. If you look carefully at the headstock, he has his name in pearl inlaid on the wood below the Taylor. I would say to play things along the lines of those artists you mentioned, you might want something acoustic/electric or a versatile electric.
Absolutely you can use either type of guitar for most of his songs...for instance Here's the Chet... Here's the Taylor... It one of my favorite songs which is why I chose it. This song got me a lot of ass in college as well. Ironically, its about a one night stand.
I want to be able to play like John Mayer here (go right to 5:00): Seriously, is that really asking that much? (Kidding. He may be a dipshit sometimes, but the guy can fuckin' play.) Oh, my son wants to play like Steve Stevens and my daughter wants to play like Buckethead.
Yup, get a Strat (good choice!!!! (I have 2 Strats and I love them)). Double_stop, I got my Mexican Strat for much closer to $400, probably less than that. Has the price jumped up since when I bought it (6ish years ago)?
When I was looking around at GC, there were so many guitars I had no idea where to even start. Add to it that I don't know what the knobs and levers and all that are for, and I was a bit out of my depth. Can you guys explain some of the basics of an electric? My sons' has two knobs, one volume and one tone. The guitars I saw today had slide levers, toggle switches and 2, 3, 4 or even 5 knobs.
If you're looking at a new acoustic, I would definitely look at Taylor and Martin. Some people say that the (relatively) inexpensive guitars that they make aren't worth buying because they use laminates for construction- they basically call it sawdust pressed together with glue and made into guitars. BUT, they have solid wood tops (which is the most important part of the guitar for sound), and when I played the low-end Taylors and Martins, they all still seriously impressed me. Who cares if it's made of laminates when it looks beautiful and sounds great? Plus both of those companies have some serious craftmanship going for them. The important thing is that you try a lot of them and pick whatever you like. Personally, I bought a Taylor 314ce last May as an upgrade to a $200 Yamaha. I am still nowhere near a good enough guitarist to deserve that Taylor, but every time I pick it up, it blows me away all over again. I bought the 300 series because it is the lowest one they make with all solid wood, and I would buy it again in a heartbeat, especially when I consider that I will have that guitar forever and it will only sound better as it ages. That's also not to say that the other brands don't make nice guitars. A guitar is something that you should never buy on the internet, in my opinion. You need to go in the store, play a lot of them, see which one you really like, and then make sure that you SEE and PLAY the EXACT one you're going to buy. Especially in the less expensive guitars, I've heard that quality is not universal among all of them. So don't let the guy at the shop let you play a nice one on the floor, then sell you a boxed one that is a complete unknown. I can't help you nearly as much with electrics, because I don't have one yet. But I really liked the Fender Standard Strat when I played it in the store. The Epiphone guitars are very nice too, but it's all a matter of personal preference. If I was going to go spend $500-600 on an electric tomorrow, I'd get a strat.
When it comes right down to it, don't expect to go out and buy an F1 car for your first guitar. Go buy the equivalent of a local beat-to-shit Miata that you can learn on (some high end thing used, or an entry Strat, etc), and learn how to play. Throw a few effects at it, and have some fun, but learn to play. The more you play, the more you'll figure out what kinds of guitar would fit your style, because you'll be developing your style. Right now, I'd guess that you don't really have one. The list of guitar players you listed is pretty diverse. Hell, Van Halen's first guitar was a POS that he cobbled together that was probably worth less than $100, but he could play the fuck out of it, and they recorded Van Halen with it. $0.02
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.guitarworld.com/eddie_van_halen_unveils_his_frankenstein_replica_guitar" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.guitarworld.com/eddie_van_ha ... ica_guitar</a>
At the same time, he doesn't want something too shitty. I could see a beginner being turned off to guitar because of a busted guitar with intonation problems, rough finishing, uncomfortable action and the like. You definitely don't want something that will introduce even more challenges to learning to play well. My first was a $200 Squire and it was a nice instrument, so you don't have to go all out. But if you're going to seriously learn the damn thing put down at least a couple hundred, maybe 350-400 for an entire setup including amp. For what you'll get, it's an investment that is way cheaper than a lot of other instruments, you'll sound better and want to play more, and you won't feel like you need to upgrade when your skills substantially improve. I suggest a Mexican Strat or a good Squire and one of those 15 watt Vox Pathfinder combo amps. I had mine for years and it sounded amazing for a solid state practice amp.
I have no problem getting the equivalent of a used Toyota. As a matter of fact, the guitars I checked out most at GC last night were the used stuff. When it's time for me to get something, I'll play it myself to make sure it's comfortable, then probably get double_stop to find me one at his store and ship it to me. I'm also in no rush, so I still have plenty of time to pick all your brains.
Yeah, I mean you aren't a 14 year old whose parents are buying everything for them and are worried about whether or not he'll stick with it. If you spend maybe 300-400 on a guitar, 100-200 on a decent amp, and like 50 or so on some accessories (picks, cords, capo, yaddayaddayadda), you'll be in a good spot for as long as you want to play for without breaking the bank.
Exactly. I'm just saying that it doesn't make sense to buy the top-of-the-line gear until you have a better sense of where you're going to go with your playing. That's also why my first bit of advice was to get whatever guitar you have looked at and set up by a pro. Nothing will sour learning how to play the guitar like shitty equipment. I've also found that just because you listen to one type of music doesn't necessarily mean that your guitar playing will develop or follow along those lines. Sure, you may learn a few of your favourite songs from artists you enjoy, but then you may find some other style or group is more fun to play. Gear is a slippery slope, especially effects, etc. I'd just recommend learning how to play a bit more before making a huge investment.
I found this link: http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/m/misc/all_the_chords_crd.htm How many of those do I really need to know? I figured I'd start memorizing a few chords here and there, just to try to get my fingers used to switching. Figure drilling that will help me out with getting the ol' fingers working. And I know that I could buy a used guitar for $300-400 that was brand new a $600-$1000 guitar, and I might make out better that way, as long as it is in good shape and not covered in body fluids. I have no problem getting used gear.
Jesus...what an exhaustive list. I've been playing for 14 years and I don't know all of those. I personally would stick to learning the basic major chords and then all of the basic minor chords so you can learn what the chords feel like. Muscle memory is key here. You want to know what a C feels like as opposed to a D for example. And also know what they sound like. In my opinion, G A and D are great first chords. Lots of songs employ them. "Helpless" by Neil Young is those 3 in, I believe, that order. Learn what it feels like to transition smoothly between them. You know you got it when you can change chords without looking at your fingers. After you get those down, add another chord (I recommend C) and learn transitioning to and from it. Rinse and repeat. When you learn the basic fingerings, you will then see that there are many ways to make the same chord.
That was going to be my next question: What are the basic chords I (and my kids) should start with? Are there any specific drills I should start doing? I can play stuff on tabs, but it's incredibly slow because I have to constantly look and count. I get what you said about muscle memory, but how can I encourage my muscles to remember this shit??? Thank you all for your help, this is obviously my new favorite thread. I keep running to the computer to print out new tabs and new stuff to try. I really want to be good at this.
I recently picked up a used bass for 400 bucks that retails around about 1100 bucks. Make sure you check out the guitar for any damages before you hand over any money. It plays just as well as the brand new one I got and I got a hard case thrown into it as well.
You will be absolutely amazed at how much practice the guitar takes. Once you learn a few chords, pick a song that sounds simple (Wonderwall by Oasis is a popular one for new guitarists), look up the tabs, and give that song a lot of practice, starting slowly at first, and not getting faster until you can play it perfectly slowly. You will find that after hours of practice at learning one song, that you've gotten quite a bit better at the guitar overall (go figure, practicing makes you better). As someone who has kind of taught myself guitar over the past few years, at this point, I will pick a technique that I want to learn more, like fingerpicking. Then I will pick a song that uses it and spend a lot of time practicing that song. Once I've learned the song, I know a cool song and my fingerpicking skill has improved. Again, I've never taken a lesson, but for someone who is basically trying to learn the way I did, this is the advice I can give.
I do like when this thread is a'poppin. Eesh, that list is ridiculous. Don't look at that list unless you want to not enjoy learning. The thing about chords is application. Playing rock/blues? You can learn 3 chords and play just about every song in that style. Jazz? You better learn all those chords, and thensome (1/3 kidding). That being said, what's best off is learning the 4-ish basic chord shapes that you can play all up and down the neck, along with the basic open chords (which are the same as the basic chord shapes, just played using some open strings). Since you're just starting out, I'd really recommend you go to Justin Guitar's Beginner Course and just go through that whole thing. The guy who does the lessons is spot on with everything and a great teacher. It's pretty difficult to explain all this through text alone, and I don't think most of us have the time to start a comprehensive video series. That site has enough to keep you busy for an extremely long time, he has a lot of lessons on different styles and just plain knows a lot of guitar. I've learned quite a few things from that site, even after playing for 7 years. Of course, don't hesitate to ask anybody, but since your questions have fallen in line pretty much exactly with information that's readily available, that's going to be your best bet. [edit] Did everyone decide to post at 9 tonight? Jesus. If you can find a $1000 guitar for $400 dollars and it isn't closer to broken than new, all the power to you. Just don't go out expecting that, resell value on expensive guitars tends to hold up really well. This is just me, but I prefer buying new. Not because I'm a snob, but that way I know the guitar is "mine." May be silly, but hey.
I've been fooling around a bit: I'll try a few chords, work on one of the tabs, play something by ear (I figured out the Evanescence "Bring Me To Life" melody tonight) then go back to something different. I figure I played for about 2 hours tonight while I watched some American Chopper and chilled on the couch. I don't want to burn myself out, and the variety is good for me (and my ADD.)