squiere 'bullet' series is awesome imo, that was my first guitar

great action.

You might also want to check at the local college and see if someone has a flyer up. Students are always in need of cash.

Even better is see if one of your neighbors' teens play, they might be willing to teach you.

My advise is to turn the amp down, unless you want to get tinnitus. You'll thank me in 5 years.

WAT?

Here's a 9 year old playing Prokoviev, therefore piano is easy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXhqNRixZUw

It's not the playing of Hendrix's music that made Hendrix good, but the ability to create it that made him good. To this date, few guitarists who studied the instrument all their lives can create music of his complexity, and there are very few who can play it accurately and well even after decades of practice. I'm sure there are a few kids who can play Hendrix, but I would be dollars to donuts they can't create anything like his music, they probably can't play much else, and there is a dearth of really good covers (my brief look at youtube hasn't pulled up anything too convincing).

Not to denigrate anything Hendrix did, but he also managed to get in on the ground floor of the electric guitar movement, when the guitar was first being exploited as something more than just an amplified acoustic guitar. 50 years later, it's getting harder and harder to find anything truly original on the guitar, so it all sounds like Hendrix and Allman and EVH and Chuck Berry and the blues recycled over and over and over again.

First lesson today! So pumped. Don't expect to make leaps and bounds in half an hour but I'm looking forward to having a guided practice plan

You're misunderstanding my point. I'm not saying that Hendrix wasn't good, it's that guitar is something a person can get reasonably good at quickly. Not become a legend at or whatever, but be able to competently play the parts.

Also, as far as Hendrix in particular, he's also got a lot of people's ears tuned to his playing to the point where it's hard to cover it well. If you get too close you're just making a carbon copy (the route most seem to go for), and if you stray far at all in any respect it's sacrilege and people don't process it. Being honest I thought his strengths were more in his songwriting and showmanship than his guitar playing.

But playing guitar is easy. Being able to perform things like Hendrix's stuff respectably well is within a couple years' reach for new player willing to practice. It was standard learning even when I started, and he was on the guitar magazine covers (in constant rotation with Vai and EVH) so you always had a transcription to pick at.

^^^ Yeah agree. I always like to reinforce the point that people don't realize how difficult writing good, original music is. Playing guitar is easy. Composing is hard.

I hope this isn't too spammyish but Sweetwater.com is having a President's Day sale through the 18th and Dean Markley strings are two for one, free shipping. So it's a great opportunity for people to try out a bunch of different kinds of strings on the cheap. I ordered some of the pure nickels among others to try.

Sweetwater put actual candy in my box last order. Only got two emails and a phone call from Chris this time.

I haven't played guitar for a couple of years due to poker taking over my free time. Anyway, I've seen a guitar I really like (Shiftlett Telecaster) and was wondering how likely it is to hold it's value over the years? It's not the most expensive guitar ever but I'm thinking of buying it without knowing if I'll ever be able to devote any time to it.

Just seen the 'Guitar...' thread. Happy for the mods to move the above post there if it's more appropriate.

Not very. It's a Telecaster Deluxe with standard pickups and a 4-bolt neck, probably Mexican-made.

I could sell you my signature model Telecaster Deluxe for less. Not only does it have a 4-bolt neck joint and standard-sized pickups, it's also got a one-piece ash body, locking tuners, an Earvana nut, a high-end Warmoth Pro neck with compound radius, and a genuine nitrocellulose finish. They are all licensed Warmoth replacement parts, custom-ordered.

Old pics from a little after it was built:

















So obviously not a Fender but far more went into its construction and finish then I'll ever see back. Currently has a JB/Jazz pickup combo which is too bright for the guitar, but I could pull those and you could put in whatever you wanted.

Just browsing the guy's wiki page, it looks like he came about his main TD guitar from Warmoth parts also. As a regular customer of theirs I can tell you they aren't cheap compared to buying off the shelf. But if you want something unique with specs just the way you want them, especially for Fender-style guitars, it's a fun place to shop. I usually just get them to make the body and neck and have a guy in CA do the nitro, but Warmoth does fine paint jobs in poly for a reasonable price.

thoughts on PRS guitars?

Pretty good if you want something very roughly in the Les Paul neighborhood, especially a trem model. They're kind of like Fender with a very wide range of guitars at different price points though.

There's an SE Singlecut with a maple top that I think is a pretty good guitar for the $600 or less you can find it for. I've only had my hands on one but it played real well out of the box and some folks like a tremolo. They've got their own pickups in most so you just have to play a bunch of PRS guitars to see how you feel about them. For me they're not ideal guitars but other people swear by them. They've got a decent following for a company that's only been around 30 years or so. If I had to choose ten guitars to last me forever I wouldn't have a PRS as one of them.

I may build a PRS-styled one (aka VIP) at Warmoth at some point, but that would be a 25.5" scale and have a number of other differences going on.

I'm not a fan of PRS. If you hang around high-end guitar forums long enough, you'll start to realize there are tons of cognitive biases regarding expensive (and rare or blinged-out) gear. I've never played the cheaper single cuts, but a $3k PRS doesn't really do anything that a similar $1500 guitar couldn't do.

What about the $600-ish PRS custom 24?


http://www****siciansfriend.com/guit...-guitar/h70029

No idea, but the Korean-made wouldn't turn me off. I've owned several expensive American Fender guitars (all extremely mediocre) and have played Mexican and Japanese models that blew them away. My advice would be to play one first if possible. You can always swap out the pickups later and be fine if they are using quality tonewoods (it appears they are). Tuners might also be cheap, but those are also replaceable. TheGearPage forums is a great resource for this kind of stuff, basically the 2p2 of electric guitars and related equipment; Acoustic Guitar Forum for all things acoustic.

Alright guys, so I'm coming up on the last lesson of my 4 lesson package. If I want to continue it will be $120 a month for weekly half-hour lessons. I'm thinking that I don't wanna spend that kind of money to continue but I thought I'd share my experiences so far and see what you guys think.

Here are the things that I've liked:
-Structured practice. I think it's good for me to have set things to practice each week. Without lessons I'm worried I'll slack on practicing.
-Some music theory. I feel like down the road, understanding music theory will help with writing my own songs.
-Direction. Guitar teacher has a path in mind for my learning. Without a teacher, I'm on my own.

Things I don't like:
-Only half an hour, and he's pretty chatty. My second lesson I felt like we didn't actually get anywhere. We talked about some topics but the time passed really quickly.
-$$, the 4 lesson package was a good deal, but now that it's gonna jump to $120 a month I'm not so thrilled.

Just looked into some books on Amazon to see what's out there for self-instruction. These three looked pretty good:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Play-Guita...s=guitar+books
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-G...s=guitar+books
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Adventu...s=guitar+books

So I'm thinking about trying some self instruction for a while. I could also use sites like justinguitar.com and others.

$30 for 45 minutes would be more standard. he's charging too much IMO, and if you feel like he's wasting your time you need to find a different teacher.

you aren't locked into this one.

having said that, there's no harm in going solo for a while, learning basic chord shapes, basic scales, and then going to another teacher in a year or two when you're ready for more advanced stuff like jazz chords and improv etc. i think using a teacher to tell you how to play a D chord is pretty much a waste of money.

i do like the idea of structured practice though with a teacher. it is something i really feel like i lack in learning to play.

Yeah, that's my main concern. The more research I do, the more resources I find to learn on my own. Just a matter of practicing diligently, and practicing the right things at the right time.

Found out that justinguitar.com has a book (which I could download digitally) for music theory: http://www.justinguitar.com/en/PR-01...usicTheory.php. That's the main thing I'm concerned about trying to teach myself, but I feel like it will help with song writing down the road.

I think I'm pretty much set on not renewing my lessons. I have enough monthly costs as it is. Just need to come up with a good accountability system for practicing.

Half hour just isn't enough. It is over as soon as you get started. Skip half hour and do the hour.

Not sure where you are but that seems too high of a price. Unless the instructor is a well known master or something.

In the Phoenix, AZ area, $40/hr is the going rate for the better instructors. Much more than that you are just paying too much.

Do to your local music store and ask around for recommendations on instructors.