+1 friend has these, really nice guitar.

sorry everybody, shouldve told you, ive been playing on an acoustic guitar since my birthday (mid november of 2007) i CAN read tabs ive learned to play one full song (Nothing Else Maatters - Metallica, also thanks My_Acc_Is_Bazur for helping me get guitar pro, helped alot ) and i want an electric guitar because i want to be able to play other songs that must use an electric guitar to actually sound good

plus an electric guitar i just like the sound of more for playing almost any type of music



like idk 100-200 just cause itll be my first


http://www.rondomusic.com/eg1kvgn.html

any opinions on if this is a good deal for a first?

This post was edited by MNMS on Apr 13 2008 09:56pm

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-SG-Special-Electric-Guitar-Players-Pack?sku=518745

That is a good starting pack.

To be honest no matter what direction, in that price range you will probably be dissapointed come 2-3 months from now. If definetly MUST have this right now then yea almost any of the Fender/Ibanez/Epiphone starter packs will work, however if you are serious about playing the guitar as you progres over time the amplifier will be the biggest problem because in all of the starter packs you essentially get a piece of crap amplifier. Your amplifier is basically 95% of how you sound and shitty amp = shitty sound. I would suggest that you wait a couple of months, get a job or something, mow some lawns now that its getting hot and save another 150 bucks and get this.

Yamaha Pacifica model. This is a great starter guitar, it gives you the option of Humbucker and Single Coils, since you said you like playing a variety of styles this is the best way for you to go. Tremolos are very nice to play with.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Yamaha-PAC012-Electric-Guitar?sku=511076
OR either of these if you dont want a tremolo.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-Les-Paul-Special-II-Electric-Guitar?sku=518334
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-SGSpecial-Electric-Guitar?sku=517239

Now for the most important part. Your amplifier.
The Peavey Royal 8 would be the best amplifier for you to buy.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Peavey-ValveKing-Royal-8-Tube-Guitar-Combo-Amp?sku=481661
This is because:
1. It is tube dont ever let anyone trick you into buying solid state unless you like dead lifeless tone (i am obviously exagerating but tube > solid state)
2. It is 5 Watts. You know that smooth distorted sound that many guitarists have? Well this is due to Tube breakup. Valve amplifiers use Tubes to create the sound and when you crank the volume it pushes the tube and the sound starts to "break up" that is, distort, giving you that smooth natural distortion.
3. It has Gain. This is a different type of distortion which takes place in the Pre-amp tubes. In a valve amplifier your very small signal that is taken from the guitar pickups through the cable and it first goes through the pre-amp. The pre-amp is basically used to mold the signal to the type of sound you want, however the signla is very very weak so you can crank the pre-amp volume so that it gets distorted in the pre-amp stage and when the signal goes on to the amplifier stage (the tubes mentioned in 2.) it will already be distorted (mind you much more distorted) and you dont have to crank the volume.
4. Peavey is known to make good amplifiers....Epiphone, Gibson, Ibanez are known for good guitars. Fender is known to make good TUBE amplifiers not solid state.
5. I forgot to say it as a headphone jack so you can practice whenever you want! (your parents will thank you for this)

Hopefully you will take my advice and wait a bit so that can get yourself a much nicer starter guitar/amp. In the long run this will be the best decision as you will not need to replace your amplifier when you realize it sounds like a fart. But like i said before if you are not really that interested and just want to try it out with a high chance of quiting then by all means get the starter pack mentioned above.
If you have any questions feel free to PM me

This post was edited by aokmaster15 on Apr 14 2008 03:49pm

k thanks for your advice but ill probably start out with one of these starting packs, then when i get better ill get a better amp etc.

You should start learning by ear instead of tabs. It will help you get better a lot faster.

Without a point of reference it is very hard. Also without good method it is hard. I would not suggest this. Lear some songs with tabs, once you have gotten a good feel for the neck and frets your first step should be to look at tabs and see what isnt right and fix it by listening. From there after you learn a few songs continue on to try to tab out your own song. Guitar Pro is great for this since it will play it out for you.

When you start out you need to learn scales not songs.

Telling someone to use tabs is probably the worst advice you can give them.

Get a starter pack to start with, because it will really make you decide if you wanna keep playing guitar, or if it's just a phase.

I do agree with aokmaster15 though, getting a nice sounding amp is Important. I was quite lucky because when i got my first shitty guitar, i was given a HUGE marshall amp by my uncle for £20 coz he quit, and so i've always had a great sound. Practise amps are horrible, but something to start with. If you can fork out that little bit extra, buy your starter guitar and look at cheap amps that are between 40-60 watts.



No, it's really not.

When you start out you need to learn songs NOT scales because for yourself, you need to see an improvement and be proud of yourself. Scales are not impressive, and when you are a beginner there will be no speed with it, so you won't be impressed. In the long run it's better, but in order to keep you captivated with guitar you need to learn songs. And they need to be basic, but confidently played.

As for tabs, there is nothing wrong with tabs. It's the next best thing to reading music. It's not the worst advice you can give someone, it's the best advice to give someone if they can't read music Don't be an elitist. If you can play by ear, great. But that doesn't make it easy for everyone else.

This post was edited by bob(Cs2) on Apr 15 2008 04:18am

Using tabs is the worst advice you can give someone who wants to be good. You can learn songs with tabs, but if you want to become a good guitarist you have to learn by ear. If you start out on tabs you will become lazy and not want to ever learn by ear. Another thing is most tabs are very innacurate.