Any guitar players on here?

[Ozwin]

Looking at buying an acoustic but I only know of one music shop in town (the posh one near the train station), was hoping someone could point me in the right direction to some other stores that'd have a decent guitar for about £50 or so.

I'm not after anything amazing or anything (so no Fenders...yet!) but I don't fancy a £20 one from Argos if I can help it haha.

Cheers.

[pSinatra]

I wouldn't describe myself as 'advanced' by any stretch, but I play a fair bit. I would try & get the best quality guitar you can afford........even at the beginners stage. It will make learning & playing that much easier. I started off with a cheap & cheerful. Cost me £100 & I thought I was progressing nicely. It wasn't until I was given a hand-me-down by a friend that I realised the difference a decent guitar can make. Much more versatile & easier to handle. I seemed to progress much quicker. He said it cost him about £300 & it's the guitar I still use 10 years later.

For the sort of money you are suggesting, personally I would have a look at second-hand. See if you can get a bargain on eBay??

There is always the risk it ends up sitting in the corner of the room gathering dust. If you buy second-hand & 6 months later you decide it's not for you......you should be able to re-sell for the same sort of money you paid for it.

Good luck!!

[Rincewind]

I have a guitar but it's missing a string or two. Never could play it very well. Probably a good thing cuz I couldn't tune it either.

[Ozwin]

What's that guitar you have? I'll have a look around.

[The Doctor]

I kinda play (by which I mean I can hold it and just about make chords).

From what I remember, Intasound on Narborough Road is a decent shop to have a look round - while I got mine off the internet, you're probably better buying from a shop, so you can see how the guitar feels holding it before deciding.

[Libertine]

There's Music Junkie on Lee Street in town which is good.

Agree with pSinatra though, £50 isn't going to get you too far really. Ideally you'd want probably £100 or so.

[pSinatra]

You don't have to spend a lot on new strings, but like with everything.......you get what you pay for. £10 would get you a perfectly good replacement set of strings. I have a guitar tuner that I paid around £5 for years ago......from Sheehans - the posh shop on London Rd. I use a free app called 'Tuner - gStrings' if I don't have that on me. Not brilliant, but it does the job.

I started with a Yamaha & upgraded to Tanglewood.......but couldn't tell you the model of either. There's plenty of review sites to help you decide what's best for what you need. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

Also, I know that there are people like Jimi Hendrix who taught themselves how to play - 'so why can't I?'.......but I would strongly recommend lessons. Especially when you get to my age & it isn't so easy to pick new things up. I wish I had started when I was a nipper!!!

[pSinatra]

I kinda play (by which I mean I can hold it and just about make chords).

From what I remember, Intasound on Narborough Road is a decent shop to have a look round - while I got mine off the internet, you're probably better buying from a shop, so you can see how the guitar feels holding it before deciding.

Good idea. Pop into a few shops, tell them you are a beginner & ask for a bit of advice. Thank them for their time.........& go looking on the internet for a good deal

[Libertine]

Some here to have a look at.

[Rincewind]

Mines in a sort of airing cupboard. Needs strings on it but like I said I'm no good at tuning Maybe if I could have it restrung and tuned I may have another go. I don't have the fingers for playing though. Too fat.

[Rincewind]

I think they give musical lessons at Sheenhans London Road. cant be sure though.

Just dug mine out. Thought there was a broken string but it seems OK. Just need to tune it if I can rember how. Forget the basic chords. Used to do A and F and G.

Thing is last time I played/tuned it it was from a book. Now I can Google to find out.

Found a good online tuner. All was going fine until I got to the D string and found the tuner screw was missing. Can't tighten the sting. Some good tutorials. Nothing like this in John Lennons day. He had to hope the screaming opf the girls would drown out the mistuned strings.

Only joking

Also have one of these

[AdamN]

I wouldn't describe myself as 'advanced' by any stretch, but I play a fair bit. I would try & get the best quality guitar you can afford........even at the beginners stage. It will make learning & playing that much easier. I started off with a cheap & cheerful. Cost me £100 & I thought I was progressing nicely. It wasn't until I was given a hand-me-down by a friend that I realised the difference a decent guitar can make. Much more versatile & easier to handle. I seemed to progress much quicker. He said it cost him about £300 & it's the guitar I still use 10 years later.

For the sort of money you are suggesting, personally I would have a look at second-hand. See if you can get a bargain on eBay??

There is always the risk it ends up sitting in the corner of the room gathering dust. If you buy second-hand & 6 months later you decide it's not for you......you should be able to re-sell for the same sort of money you paid for it.

Good luck!!

I don't see much harm in buying cheap to start with. Hell, I bought my Hohner acoustic for about £90 in 2003, and I'm still using it today. Granted, I bought my first bass on the cheap at around the same time and have since moved on to a Jazz Bass, but I don't in any way regret starting off 'small' and buying something better when I felt the need for it. That's not to say I disagree with what you're saying as such, but in my experience it did me no harm.

With regard to lessons; if you have the money for them then you're probably better off taking them. Even though I learnt little in the way of theory (out of choice), I reckon it helps to have an experienced player to guide you through the basics - even things as simple as how to hold the string down properly. Eventually your confidence builds and you can continue learning on your own.

Also I suppose it's worth asking what kind of stuff you'll be playing, seeing as that'll have a big effect on the way you'll want to go about learning. For example my sister started learning classical guitar, which meant she was learning how to read sheet music. I, on the other hand, just wanted to join my mates band and play along with Nirvana, so I just stuck to guitar tabs (i.e. fret numbers and strings). Both styles of playing were vastly different, too.

One program that's helped me a LOT is Guitar Pro (http://www.guitar-pro.com), which is basically a tab editor that plays the tabs back at you. There's a demo version available which would be more than suitable for a beginner. It's well worth checking out, especially if you're gonna be learning from popular music. You can download user submitted tabs from plenty of sites, but the main one these days seems to be http://www.ultimate-guitar.com.

I use a free app called 'Tuner - gStrings' if I don't have that on me. Not brilliant, but it does the job.

gStrings is a great little app. I actually find it to be more accurate than the inbuilt tuner on my pedal!

[pSinatra]

I don't see much harm in buying cheap to start with. Hell, I bought my Hohner acoustic for about £90 in 2003, and I'm still using it today. Granted, I bought my first bass on the cheap at around the same time and have since moved on to a Jazz Bass, but I don't in any way regret starting off 'small' and buying something better when I felt the need for it. That's not to say I disagree with what you're saying as such, but in my experience it did me no harm.

With regard to lessons; if you have the money for them then you're probably better off taking them. Even though I learnt little in the way of theory (out of choice), I reckon it helps to have an experienced player to guide you through the basics - even things as simple as how to hold the string down properly. Eventually your confidence builds and you can continue learning on your own.

Also I suppose it's worth asking what kind of stuff you'll be playing, seeing as that'll have a big effect on the way you'll want to go about learning. For example my sister started learning classical guitar, which meant she was learning how to read sheet music. I, on the other hand, just wanted to join my mates band and play along with Nirvana, so I just stuck to guitar tabs (i.e. fret numbers and strings). Both styles of playing were vastly different, too.

One program that's helped me a LOT is Guitar Pro (http://www.guitar-pro.com), which is basically a tab editor that plays the tabs back at you. There's a demo version available which would be more than suitable for a beginner. It's well worth checking out, especially if you're gonna be learning from popular music. You can download user submitted tabs from plenty of sites, but the main one these days seems to be http://www.ultimate-guitar.com.

gStrings is a great little app. I actually find it to be more accurate than the inbuilt tuner on my pedal!

I agree with everything that you say.

I'm not suggesting going out & spending £100's........when you have no idea whether or not you will still be playing in 6 months time. Like you, I bought my first guitar for around the £100 mark. You might be able to get that same guitar for something like £30 on eBay & if the guitar becomes nothing more than decoration in the corner of the room - stick it back on eBay & get your money back.

Lessons are not essential, & are not affordable in some cases. I tried to teach myself & was doing ok.....but it wasn't until I began lessons that I really started to understand & play. The only reason I didn't begin with a tutor was because of finances. I know there are guides on how to play on Youtube........but whether they are helpful??

[Fox92]

Yes, I play. Not very much, don't play it daily, but I can play. My brother taught me then I took it on from there.

First few songs I learnt were all Beatles songs... 'Day Tripper' and 'With A Little Help From My Friends' I learnt very quickly.. Always want to learn more songs, really want to learn 'I Am The Walrus', but when it doesn't sound right, I get so frustrated with it.

If you're looking for help, try YouTube, but a better website with a huge database is 'Ultimate Guitar'. Very helpful.

[Bellend Sebastian]

The only thing I would say is that if you're remotely serious about it, scrape together as much cash as you can because generally speaking, the cheapest guitars aren't that easy to play, go out of tune if you so much as look at them and can sound pretty awful too, and during those first few frustrating weeks you need all the help you can get. As I think others have said already, a tuner is essential.

Personally I'd avoid tablature from the internet until you're competent enough to tell if it's vaguely accurate or not, as most of the user submitted stuff I've seen has been awful.

Do you like Oasis? I personally can barely stand them, but the tab book for 'Definitely Maybe' is pretty much dead on accurate and varies from piss easy to relatively elaborate and is a good place to start

[Daggers]

I'd echo everything Bellend has said - but would add that I really rate Epiphone for beginners, they are effectively Gibsons and I've not come across a poor one.

You ought to be able to find a corker for less than £100, although a touch more than the £50 you want to spend.

They'll hold tuning, have a lovely tone and are decent enough to look at. Give them a shufty

[AdamN]

Personally I'd avoid tablature from the internet until you're competent enough to tell if it's vaguely accurate or not, as most of the user submitted stuff I've seen has been awful.

This is a good point. Some of the stuff out there is just plain wrong, and strictly ASCII based tabs can be a challenge to get your head around, especially if it's a complex song. However on most websites there are user ratings, and I only ever stick to ones that are 5 star rated. I've seen some truly shocking attempts at tabbing songs out before, but they do tend to get rated 1-3 stars when they're that bad.

In fact, that's another reason I'd recommend Guitar Pro. Because you can listen back to it, you can get an idea of how accurate it is. You are correct though. With experience you become better at telling what's right and what's not, and eventually you'll be able to work stuff out on your own too.

[Uncle Phil]

I agree with Epiphones, I'm still playing one 10years down the line.

Be careful when buying a guitar off of ebay, makes sure it's a reputable seller etc with a fair few pics of the actual guitar. You never know how well they've actually looked after it until it's arrived.

Also, no leaving it lying on radiators etc which can warp the wood, look after it (preferably in a hard case) and you'll have a great guitar for years to come.

[Houdini Logic]

Secondhand is the way to go - you'll be able to pick up something like a secondhand tanglewood for £50-80 and you're set with that for a few years, even if you make the step up from beginner

[Saxondale]

My acoustic is an Ibanez (think it's called a V50). Cost about £100, bloody brilliant. My pal spent similar money on a Washburn and that is also lovely.

£100 is about the money for a decent one.

[Rincewind]

I need mine repairing. One of the nobs have broken off..

[Raw Dykes]

I play, but pretty much just electric. I've got a few guitars, including a 60s Watkins Rapier on loan, but my favourite to play is a strat copy that cost £50 2nd hand, so price doesn't have to be important.

I'd agree with everyone recommending Guitar Pro - it makes it dead easy to learn specific songs, but there is a free alternative called TuxGuitar. As far as I can tell, it does the same job, but it costs nothing.

http://tuxguitar.herac.com.ar/

My phone's got a great little programme with a diagram for every guitar chord on, and my phone is prehistoric, so I'm sure there are apps that do this and more now.

[SystonFox]

I'd like to pick up a cheap(ish) second hand electric guitar. About £100 ideally any thoughts?

Music I like, and would to play along to, is the likes of the killers, blink 182, muse, foos, kasabian

[Ozwin]

We have an old battered classical, I think I'm going to try it out on that (I'm aware it's not the same as a proper acoustic but it's going to save me £100) and see how I do.

I'm sure it'll sound like death scratching his own arsehole but it'll do until I feel I can actually play to a standard that needs better.

[Rincewind]

I'm trying to remember where I got mine from. Pretty sure it was bought for me or cost around £20 quite a few years ago. Its only a folk guitar. Got it when I had a decent neighbour in the ground floor flat. She played and taught me a bit. I think she bought me the case for it. Could only do about 3 or 4 chords tho. Could just about pluck Love Me Tender pretty easy note sequence to remember. Could never get the hang of holdingthe strings down with the tip of my finger. Doesn't take much just alittle.