Complete Beginner at EVERYTHING guitar

I'd say that a total beginner should start with modest gear. A Mexican Strat and Fender Super Champ is ideal. Not because good gear isn't a great thing, but when you're just starting out you don't know what gear will be for you six or twelve months down the road. An expensive guitar won't necessarily resonate with you more than a modestly priced one. Guitars are highly personal things. That's why I don't recommend high end gear for a beginner even if they have the means. No one wants to lay out thousands of dollars for an American Les Paul and later find they're a Strat person.
 
I say that a total beginner should begin on whatever gear they have. While good gear doesn't give you talent, bad gear can give you bad habits. I had really crappy gear for the first 8 years and had to unlearn a lot of bad habits that I picked up compensating for problems with tone and lack of any sustain when I got my first good guitar, so I am in the learn on the best equipment you can afford camp.
 
Sure. Good gear isn't going to hurt anything, that's for sure. As long as it's never really about the gear. That's a problem many of us face, at least at some point.
 
I'm not saying to start with total crap, but nowadays even modest gear can be quite serviceable and provide a great experience for the novice player.
 
I like buying awesome guitars, and gear. I try as much as I can to read, study, and tinker with things that I own. I take good care of everything I own, especially my guitars.. Each one of them have their individual hardshell cases. I value them as much as I do anything else I own.
 
komrad20 said:
I like buying awesome guitars, and gear. I try as much as I can to read, study, and tinker with things that I own. I take good care of everything I own, especially my guitars.. Each one of them have their individual hardshell cases. I value them as much as I do anything else I own.
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Then I wish you all the best in your guitar journey:)
 
Welcome, komrad20! You've got quite a journey ahead of you.

As you learn to play guitar, there will be moments of joy and frustration. That's a normal part of learning to play. Don't worry about it. If you love it enough, you'll stick it out and become a player.

As others have said, start with six strings. You'll want to develop a basic comfort level there before you move on to seven or eight. Most of us play six-string guitars exclusively.


komrad20 said:
...I wanted to make sure I had gear to last my entire journey of guitar playing.
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Give up on that notion, my brother. As you learn to play, you'll get a clearer idea of what you really want. If you manage to be happy for a lifetime with your first purchases, you'll be the first person to do that in the history of the world. :)


Meanwhile, dive in! You've got a chef's kitchen full of high-end gadgets, but first, you have to learn how to fry an egg consistently, and that takes hours of practice.


Enjoy!
 
I have to say that I admire your honesty. I would not have put it past many forums to just snowball you with comments concerning talent over wealth. However, I think these forums are helpful for many things. My take on the axe so far (1 week in) is that I love preset 3 for just a beautiful clean tone to practice to. I think having a clean sound will help your playing a lot, since you hear lots of nuances (some call them mistakes!) in how you play. You could go really zen about it and just try to hit one string consistently for a minute or so and you will gradually learn how the sound changes with even slight adjustments to your body, say how it rests on the guitar or the angle of your pick. There are a million variables in that alone - don't just paste over the cracks with effects!

You could call me spoiled too, I love sound and tone (I used to do live sound) but am in no way qualified to own this if expenditure = talent. I bought the axefx because I wanted to get the chance to be plugged in to a legendary amp or two before I die, and this actually made a lot of sense (for someone still living in an apartment!) as along with a guitar could easily be the only piece of equipment you'll ever need(want) to own. One thing I realize though is that I absolutely love practicing now. You need to enjoy your instrument's sound, and even this one simple preset has me hooked.

For me also I like music theory and have taught myself a bunch through books (I recommend Hal Leonard, though sometimes it seems like they're the only publisher). I practice scales and arpeggios and rhythms and tempos and do ear training as little exercises over the course of a week, which is probably quite a clinical approach.

Sometimes you just hear something and "want to make THAT sound". That will come over time as you get up to speed on the basics. That's all some folks need (enter grizzly old guitar tech, fresh from the stones latest tour).

Then there's the pure creativity stuff, which is clearly only limited by your (sadly all too limited) imagination. I mean that nicely- I find that the more of the basic rules you know, the more informed your creative decisions are, to the point that you see a lot more opportunities once you appreciate how it all fits together. Take time to do that stuff, but chances are that it will take a while to satisfy you.

Finally there's playing with other people. It can take time to be confident, but that's nothing a few beers can't solve. You'll learn a lot of stuff by bouncing off others' energy and being a willing learner off better players. It's also a large part of the culture of music, being willing to perform and share. It's not just a bunch of 19 year old guys hanging out, ready to become idols, get wasted, laid and rich by spouting some misguided but profound sounding crap. Although I do recommend that - that bit is fun!

Good luck,

Rik
 
I agree that there's something to be said for good starter gear. When I was 17 back in 1988, my first guitar was a cheap Ibanez Roadstar and a Peavey Audition amp. Even though I spent every spare moment practicing, I could tell that my tone didn't at all resemble what I heard on Sabbath and Metallica albums that I wanted to emulate. I thought I sucked, but in reality my gear didn't put me in the neighborhood of what I wanted to play. I think this can be very discouraging for a young player. They may falsely think that they suck, when in reality their gear is totally unsuitable for what they're trying to achieve. That's why I would never recommend that any player start out with those all-in-one guitar packages bought from a department store.

If I'd had something like the Fender Mustang modeling amp or Line 6 HD 500 back then, I would've been as happy as a pig in a blanket! Surely, neither of those produce amp tones or effects of the quality of best in class gear, but they put the novice player in the neighborhood where they can develop their skills and, most importantly, make sounds that are acceptable facsimiles of what they hear on their favorite albums. This, I think, is crucial to building a player's self-esteem and enjoyment of music.
 
Just saw this thread. What my ancient self would say to my just-starting-to-play self:
- play rhythm.
- learn scales LATER.
- learn songs note for note LATER.
- play more rhythm
- tap your foot.
- play rhythm til your fingers bleed.
- play all kinds of rhythm. get funky.
- play soft and loud. learn to accent any beat.
- play with a GOOD drummer.

Good luck.
 
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Anyone know if the Extended 3 year warranty covers lightning damage to the AxeFX? just wondering... living in Fl with T-Stroms is a little shaky at times. Just curious...
 
komrad20 said:
Anyone know if the Extended 3 year warranty covers lightning damage to the AxeFX? just wondering... living in Fl with T-Stroms is a little shaky at times. Just curious...
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That's a good question for Fractal support.
 
I submitted the same question in the General section of the community, and I don't think anyone has responded to it...
 
So, lots of people have given you tips on playing but you seem more preoccupied with the actual gear than the learning process.
 
I remember when I started drawing and sculpting (I sculpt and draw since very little). My first box of crayons had like 10 basic colors or something. I did put to use all of them, and my family noticed my enthusiasm and developing skills right away. Then they got me this colored pencil set (around 20 colors) and at first I didn't know where or how to apply more colors. Year after year my skills improved, and with it my pencils, then an aunt of mine gave me this beautiful pencilbox with 50 colors I think. Nowadays I use 10 different carbon pencils, all sorts of inks and materials; started with regular modelling clay, and nowadays I bake polymer clay creations. If I was at that starting point again, I'd do it the same way. Learning steps and discovering your learning curve is what encourages you to keep on improving.
It goes the same way with learning an instrument. My first guitar (I was 16) was a Korean Jackson with no upgrades, a crappy 15w Peavey and a pick. I recorded myself and played in a couple bands, borrowed whatever amp was at the gig. I kept using that same Jackson until I got out of school and I got my first good guitar around 2000 (gorgeous ESP The Mirage).
Nowadays after 17 years of playing, I've gotten the chance to collect some really great guitars, and bought and reselled tons of gear; from simple analog pedals to multifx processors. Everything was and is learning. From discovering what type of distortion suits you better; to what kind of guitar/pickups/woods/amps etc goes better for you. The Axe can really steal precious practice time, and the last two years I found myself tweaking more than improving. So these last months have been more about playing (using a good clean and a good lead tone) than tweaking. So heed the advice and go get a good teacher (no need for 8 finger tapping geniuses), grab your guitar and learn.


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