Complete Beginner at EVERYTHING guitar

komrad20

komrad20

Inspired
Im new to the forum, playing guitar, effects, and everything associated with guitar.
I however have been infatuated with guitarist and guitars ever since I was first able to listen to Ozzy Osbourne, ever since then, I've been a die hard fan of all things guitar. I picked it up when I was younger, then put it down due to lack of lessons, and time. Then just recently I've picked it back up 15 years later, (Life Evolved for me). I currently have no experience at playing guitar, but have just started taking lessons online, and trying to see where things go from there.
I have over the years of not playing or crafting my ultimate goal in life, have been educating myself somewhat with book knowledge on guitars.
I recently just purchased several pieces of high end gear, including guitars, a pedal, AxeFX2 XL+, and some other odds and end things.
My current gear consists of the following:

Ibanez Komrad20 (2014 Brian Head Welch 7 string guitar/Black & White Splatter)
Ibanez RG6003FM 6 String guitar with pickups that I upgraded to the Dimarzio Titan Neck and Bridge
Ibanez RG2228GK 8 String Guitar (Galaxy Black) Mint condition 2008 model
Fractal Audio AxeFX2 XL+
Fractal Audio Cab Lab+Plugin software
Ibanez Jemini Distortion Pedal
2EA- JBL LSR305 studio monitors


I purchased all of this stuff to start learning to play on higher end stuff since I was going to be doing this for a couple of years, I wanted to make sure I had gear to last my entire journey of guitar playing.
I truly need help and support on understanding everything guitar related, as well as everything AxeFX related. I wanna really learn all there is to know about everything guitar.
Like I said before Im completely new at all of this so bare with me over the course of my learning curve. Any and all help is openly appreciated!

Thanks!!
 
well I totally admire your gumption to just dive in.

Just don't forget to have fun.

You have great gear. The hard part is learning to play :)


a couple tips I can share as just pointers I wish I had followed when I was starting.

1. Develop a practice structure.. it does not have to be some ultra rigid routine but try to have some organization to your practice and set some short and medium goals. As you reach those goals.. make new goals..

2. Use a metronome or a drum machine or backing tracks or something when your practicing stuff that has rhythm. It really is important to develop a good sense of timing.

3. feel absolutely free to ask questions!
 
Download the USB driver, Axe-Edit and FractalBot apps from the main fractalaudio.com site and get your PC/Mac communicating with the AxeFX via usb

Once you get that working then you'll be in a position to create presets easily and also export or import presets which will help other XL users to help you
 
No offence mate and good on ya for returning, but find it amazing that you already have a 7 AND 6 string guitar! To master a 6 takes forever..to switch and learn on 7 would take longer...lol
 
I think someone is taking the piss...

OP states they know nothing about guitar yet are upgrading pickups and have a 6, 7, and even an 8 string guitar ?

A Jemini distortion pedal AND an Axe XL+ ? Yet your "totally new at this"? And need help and support?

Well my first piece of advice would be to lock up the credit cards mate because your trying to buy talent and sadly, you can't.

Ditch or put the 7 and 8 strings back in their cases, stop worrying about upgrading pickups, don't muck about with CabLab and mixing Irs and focus on learning the basics. Everything else just gets in the way
Assuming your not someone sitting behind a computer screen having a laugh and feeding us porky pies as we fall all over ourselves to "support" you (and I'll bet good money some white knight type will come and bitch me out for this post and how the forum is "elitist" etc lol) your doing yourself no favors with all the gear.

Can't learn basic chord shapes of your trying to learn Axe fx block routings etc, it's way too much. Learn the guitar first then buy all the fancy toys you want.
Tons of people with ten grand in fancy gear who can't play a lick out there....
There are gear collectors and guys who talk about gear on the net forums and then actual guitar players. They can be one and the same of course but learn the guitar first mate
 
lqdsnddist said:
I think someone is taking the piss...

OP states they know nothing about guitar yet are upgrading pickups and have a 6, 7, and even an 8 string guitar ?

A Jemini distortion pedal AND an Axe XL+ ? Yet your "totally new at this"? And need help and support?

Well my first piece of advice would be to lock up the credit cards mate because your trying to buy talent and sadly, you can't.

Ditch or put the 7 and 8 strings back in their cases, stop worrying about upgrading pickups, don't muck about with CabLab and mixing Irs and focus on learning the basics. Everything else just gets in the way
Assuming your not someone sitting behind a computer screen having a laugh and feeding us porky pies as we fall all over ourselves to "support" you (and I'll bet good money some white knight type will come and bitch me out for this post and how the forum is "elitist" etc lol) your doing yourself no favors with all the gear.

Can't learn basic chord shapes of your trying to learn Axe fx block routings etc, it's way too much. Learn the guitar first then buy all the fancy toys you want.
Tons of people with ten grand in fancy gear who can't play a lick out there....
There are gear collectors and guys who talk about gear on the net forums and then actual guitar players. They can be one and the same of course but learn the guitar first mate
Click to expand...
Thanks for typing what I was thinking as well haha...there are forum guys who post clips and forum guys who post gear pictures--sounds like we've got one of the latter here
 
For someone that's not experienced with a multi-effects processor I suggest to keep things simple to start with the Axe-Fx, a patch with amp, cab, reverb and then other effects as you find you need them.

Many of us learned what certain types of effects do because we acquired the pedal version one at a time and got to experiment. If you get most of them at once (and then some with the Axe) it can really be overwhelming.

My advice is to set goals. If you want to learn a certain song stick with it until you master it. Same with a rhythm or lead technique. Discipline is the hardest thing to master for most all musicians IMHO. I know it kicks my ass consistently :)
 
I would have said get a 6 string and a practice amp. Learn how to play some good covers properly. You have to walk before you can run, especially if you're already old.
 
lqdsnddist said:
I think someone is taking the piss...

OP states they know nothing about guitar yet are upgrading pickups and have a 6, 7, and even an 8 string guitar ?

A Jemini distortion pedal AND an Axe XL+ ? Yet your "totally new at this"? And need help and support?

Well my first piece of advice would be to lock up the credit cards mate because your trying to buy talent and sadly, you can't.

Ditch or put the 7 and 8 strings back in their cases, stop worrying about upgrading pickups, don't muck about with CabLab and mixing Irs and focus on learning the basics. Everything else just gets in the way
Assuming your not someone sitting behind a computer screen having a laugh and feeding us porky pies as we fall all over ourselves to "support" you (and I'll bet good money some white knight type will come and bitch me out for this post and how the forum is "elitist" etc lol) your doing yourself no favors with all the gear.

Can't learn basic chord shapes of your trying to learn Axe fx block routings etc, it's way too much. Learn the guitar first then buy all the fancy toys you want.
Tons of people with ten grand in fancy gear who can't play a lick out there....
There are gear collectors and guys who talk about gear on the net forums and then actual guitar players. They can be one and the same of course but learn the guitar first mate
Click to expand...

Having good equipment is, well..... good :) but being able to play before you go down that rabbit hole should be the priority. I know people that are collectors and that's ok too. But being a musician and the sacrifice required is not as glamorous as it seems unless you really just love music.
 
Over-equipment is a bad thing. I dont see much need for a 7 string (even less need for an 8 string) in your case. The Axe is truly amazing, but it is rack-based gear, so the learning curve is much more pronounced; and there are many more places things could go wrong. Learning how to properly build a preset, use in-amp eq, post eq, using IRs, using external controllers, hooking up to computer, upgrading FW, creating routings and what not will be much harder if you have never got a good sound out of a drive pedal and a simple amp.
Simple things first. A good simple guitar and a good amp would make things easier for you. Switching pickups and tweaking virtual rigs when you haven't even learned why you'd change the stock pickups looks like something unnecessary.
Play play play. Then play some more. Your playing will decide if you need less or more. Not your wallet.


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Wow!! Inspiring responses from everyone. Look I'm real, my concerns are real, I wanna learn the basics, I bought the 7,&8 strings simply because I really liked those two guitars. All of my "guitar heros" play or use the AxeFX. I wanted to have top quality gear, and practice/ learn with the best equipment out there. I "mess" around with the 7 and 8 strings because it's neat to play something that professionals use, being the signature model, and the Acquired 8 string.
I'm not trying to offend anyone in here with anything I may have said. I'm not a fake person just getting laughs by the responses, I reached out to Fractal a while back about getting help in certain areas, and they told me to make an account on the forum, jump in and ask questions and seek help there, and that's simply all I'm doing. I wanna master all 3 types of guitars, plus the axe fx, as crazy as that sounds I'm being serious about it.
I only upgraded my pickups in that RG simply because I liked the way they sounded and really wanted to upgrade my guitar at the time.
 
The Axe Fx is a tool, or rather a collection of tools. It's good to have good tools, but the best tools are not going to compensate for a lack of skill with those tools. A painter needs to know what they want to paint and what good brush technique looks like before they select a brush. What you've essentially done is bought a fully equipped mechanics garage having changed your own oil a couple of times on a car you haven't owned for years and now you want to know everything.

Don't get me wrong, I applaud that you've bought the best piece of gear around as I too am of the mind that buying the best thing once is better than replacing crappy gear (or tools) over and over. What I think you may be missing is how personal gear becomes as you develop your own playing style and technique. The tone quest is at least as involved as learning to play and perhaps more frustrating and involved. What most guitar players learn over time is that what they think sounds good changes a lot. I'm sure most of the guys on here have owned at least 30 pieces of gear that they used to think were essential to their tone that they wouldn't touch now. It's a journey and a fun one at that.

The best advice that I can give you is these two things: First, take lessons from a real human being. There is no substitute for having a mentor that can answer specific questions for you while having personal knowledge of who you are and what you're after. Having a good teacher with good technique that can correct your mistakes before they become habits will help you progress much faster. Second, enjoy the presets on the Axe. This is the one piece of gear that I've played that has great presets and there are tons of them. Chances are almost any general tone that you could want is in a preset. As you develop your technique and your ear you can start tweaking and discovering what you ultimately want your tone to be, but you could play for a couple of years using just presets and be perfectly happy. I've been playing for over 20 years and I spent the first 4 months with my Axe Fx just using presets. I've had it since last April and I'm still learning about it every time I plug it in.

As a side note, I don't think any of us are offended, we're just concerned. Since we've all been down this road the OP hit most of us as if you were an 18 year old kid saying, "Kids sound like fun, I think I'm going to adopt 15 of them tomorrow and I'll be the best single parent ever." Slow down, we fear for your sanity.
 
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