it might be best to put your entire budget towards the guitar. an unplugged electric guitar will produce enough volume for learning purposes, and you can always plug into computer speakers (with an instrument-to-headphone converter for prob $5).

I am not familiar with the quality of entry level gear, but if your options are a ****ty amp/guitar and a playable guitar (i.e. something that will stay in tune), I would highly advise the latter.

Personally I find playing an unplugged electric is a bad idea for learning, it's extremely difficult to tell if you're playing cleanly / accidentally letting other strings ring / muting properly / etc etc. But yea that said, a $20 pocket amp does the job.

that's definitely true for lead playing.

for open chords, which is what I assume a beginner will be starting with, it does the job fine imo

e: essentially, you don't need an amp to get basic finger dexterity and chord shapes down, which could take weeks/months. eventually you will need an amp with an electric guitar, yes

Agreed.

Bixby,

what did you end up doing about the quiet playing limitation you posted about? If you have an iPad, you can get a converter to plug the guitar in and then run through garage band.

GB is great for getting a quick guitar track down, adding bass and drum tracks with the built in digital instruments (very fun to play around with), and then jamming with what is essentially an entire band.

I would recommend this to anyone really, but it would solve the issue of not being able to play loudly

Didn't realize my me pedal had a 1/4 in headphone jack, as do my headphones, so that one was staring me in the face and I was just an idiot. Thanks though.

If I had a friend starting out on electric guitar, I'd recommend they look at the Epiphone's available on Amazon for between ~$99-160, and a copy of Rocksmith 2014.

Guitars: [Epiphone SG] [Epiphone LP]

RS2014 was recently on sale for $35 but unfortunately looks to be back at $55. You can find it for cheaper online but often those deals don't include the required guitar<->pc cable. Rocksmith is a fun learning tool, and can be your amp for now, too:

I would put as much as possible towards the guitar. A really ****ty guitar could end up putting you off for life. Also, if you get something semi-decent and decide it's not for you then you can sell it on and get something back.

gonzo used to post some really good links and advice for new guitars. might scroll back and look at some of those as well as maybe pm him about it as well.

I want to learn how to play guitar.

Here's a great site with tons of free lessons etc

http://www.justinguitar.com/

Gonna give guitar another go in 2016. I was taking lessons from ~June 2014 to August 2015 but I was having a lot of trouble committing to practicing so the lessons were basically a waste of time/money. Obviously the primary problem was my lack of discipline, but I think part of what caused that was that I was rarely excited about the lesson material. That's also a dedication issue I suppose, if you don't want to get better then practicing scales for 10min will never really be exciting.

So my plan for 2016 is to try to get in 20-30min of Rocksmith every day to keep things exciting while also working on theory/technique on the side (tbd what resources I'll use here). We'll see how it goes, I really want to learn, just sucked at time management this past year.

Also reading Guitar Zero, which seems like a cool book.

I've only been playing for a few weeks now but that's been my plan. Do online lessons and then mix in some Rocksmith for fun. So far it's helping keep my attention.

Has anyone tried Yousician? The books and websites have not kept my interest Rocksmith is fun but doesn't give enough foundation for new players. Tried Yousician and it seems to really try and build a foundation and slowly build. I said screw it and went ahead and paid for the premium. I'll update with my experience.

keep us posted for sure. thanks mang

FYI you can use the app for free. I give you 30? mins and then you have to wait 12 hours. Also any song you unlocked you can apparently still play after your 30 are up. It's a good free option to those that can practice every day.

Due to work and life in general I usually practice 3 ish times a week for longer periods so I bought the subscription.

Hi guys, I was just wondering if there were any other surf guitarist here on 2+2. I started playing back in the 90's, then took a 14 year hiatus. Having stopped playing for so long, I had basically forgotten everything. I have been playing again for almost two years now. What a difference having Youtube makes! I would love to talk gear if anyone is interested.

not a lot of action in this forum lately, but would love to get some going again. welcome!

Hey jm, I noticed the lack of action right after I made my post. There is less traffic here than over at the surf guitar forum! I am pretty stoked right now because in the next week or two, I will be buying my first Fender Jaguar.

I am going to have my luthier replace the hot pickups with some Fender vintage ones, and also put some 12 gauge flat strings on for me. Anyway, I am probably boring you with all these details. I'd love to hear about what type of gear you have, take care man.

not boring at all. love hearing about people excited to learn and their gear.

i stopped playing....again.

Ah man, I am sorry to hear that you quit (again). Get motivated, pick up your guitar and start playing tonight! Learn a fun song called "Pipeline" by the Chantays. Come on, you can do it!

i think i have played that. sounds familiar. i was mostly playing on rocksmith (both versions) and i think it is one there.

Hey J, did you ever pick your guitar back up?

unfortunately no.

any good repository for learning theory?

there's just so much and don't know where to start and where to follow it