So I've been a rhythm acoustic player exclusively so far. I've never liked soloing, so I never really developed it. I just got an iPad and, for those of you who don't know, it has a program called Garage Band pre-installed. This program alone makes buying an iPad essential IMO. You can play guitar and a bunch of other instruments on it and record yourself.

I've never enjoyed soloing because I had never done it with a rhythm track backing be. I've recorded a few chord progressions in Garage Band and have been soloing over them using the guitar interface on the iPad. I've now fallen in love with lead guitar and want more power and to start playing with a real guitar. Jamming over a chord progression is 100X more fun than trying to solo alone.

I just bought an iMac, and it also has Guitar Band installed. I'm currently researching what I need to get in order to hook my acoustic/electric up to it. I'm considering getting an electric for my solo work, and I have few questions which I'll get to later in the post. But first I'll give a proper review for Garage Band for iPad, because, IMO, it's essential for any guitar player. I'll get into why in my review.

So, Garage Band for iPad—AMAZING! The guitar playing part of the program is amazing (as is the smart keyboard). You can select from 4 preset rhythms for each of the four guitar types (acoustic, clean electric, hard rock electric, roots rock), or you can strum each string individually, or you can hit a button above the high e string and play all the notes in a chord at once.

For chords, the layout is done by key. You can choose a key and then 8 chords of that key are displayed. You can then either put on an auto strum, and then all you have to do is control when you change chords, or you can manually strum each chord. I haven't gotten too proficient at manually playing chords, but I think one could get pretty good at it if one practiced in a dedicated manner. I've only done a little practice manually strumming, but I can still do some cool stuff. The potential is there.

You can modify chords displayed in a key string by string. But once you do that you lose the default setting for a key, so you could in theory change the chords around so much that you are in fact no longer playing in the key that is displayed. I usually only change 1-2 chords per key. Basically, you have 8 slots to work with.

You can play individual notes too. When you switch from chord view to notes view, a guitar neck is shown. Here you can move up 8 frets plus play the open note. So 9 total notes for each string.

You can either play with just a traditional fretboard or you can choose a scale. If you choose a scale, then every fret is a progression in whatever scale you choose.

Scales included:

1. Major
2. Major Pentatonic
3. Major Blues
4. Mixolydian
5. Klezmer
6. Minor Pentatonic
7. Minor Blues
8. Japanese
9. Minor
10. Harmonic Minor
11. Dorian
12. South-East Asian

I don't play in scale mode much because it feels like cheating, but it is fun to mess around with scales that I don't have memorized.

But the fretboard is where it's at. It's a very realistic experience. You can bend notes a up to a whole step or less. It's very smooth transition from a 1/4 step up to a full step. Bending is very satisfying. You can really make the bends sing.

Vibrato works amazingly well too. You can even bend or put a vibrato on the open string. You can slide, do pull offs, and hammer ons. You can't really shred ultra fast, but it's definitely satisfying enough to make learning to play fluidly on it worth your time. The other day I was jamming while in the waiting room at the dentist. This thing would be awesome on a plane trip.

I'm still going to play on the iPad even when I figure out how to hook my guitar to Garage Band because sometimes it's just nice to be able to lay in bed and jam.

So now my question. I want to expand my soloing skills and start composing full songs on Garage Band on my iMac with my real guitar. My question is, how good of an electric do I need to get at first? I'm looking at this guitar: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002CZUTW/...DGE45AZ6&psc=1

How good of a guitar is this? Will a non-audiophile be satisfied with this guitar? I have decent ear, but I'm not elite by any stretch of the imagination.

I eventually want to get a top of the line electric, but I am considering getting a low end first to see if I actually start playing again. I haven't touched my Gibson or Taylor acoustic in 5 years. I'm not going to buy the guitar on Amazon, I'm going to support my local guitar shop because I like to shop local whenever I can. I don't mind paying a little more than I would on Amazon. My local shop can order me anything.

So eventually I'm going to get a high end guitar, the question is then, will a low end guitar satisfy me, or should I go for a $500ish mid end guitar? Low end acoustic guitars suck way too much ass to ever consider buying, but I've read that this is not the case with electric. From what I've read, it seems the amp is more important than the guitar, and for $250 you can get a serviceable guitar.

Also, what do I need to consider when buying an electric? I like the look of the Gibson over the Fender. That is really the only reason why I am looking at an Epiphone over a Squire or Strat. What's the difference between the two (Les Paul vs Strat body)?

Any other tips you can give me to help decide which guitar to get? I know that's kind of a general question, but I'd like to read any thoughts you may have on this question. I don't know what I'm doing at this point.

I got the Gibson and Taylor back in the day when the poker gravy train was still rolling. I could definitely tell they sounded a lot better than my $400 Ibanez, but I really did no research before buying either. Each time I bought them on impulse after wandering into a Guitar Center. I don't even know what model of each I have.

I suppose this could have gone in the gear thread, but I think it deserves its own tread because people will be able get the Garage Band review in a search easier if it's a separate thread.

guitar in link would def be good enough for what you need. i doubt anyone can tell if you played the song on a gibson or epiphone. main difference between the less paul and strat style is the pickups and sounds they produce. the less paul humbucker pickups are going to have a more pronounced "crunch" in their sound, good for hard rock. the strats are a little cleaner sounding better for blues and such

You've correctly deduced that cheap electrics are relatively much better than cheap acoustics. I am a huge guitar / amp snob, and even I tell people to just buy cheap electrics and swap out the hardware and pickups if they are problematic. My biggest concern would be uneven fretwork and/or poor nut slotting, which could cause problems with action or fret outs. Those are fixable, but then it's sort of pointless if you need $250 of work on a $250 guitar.

Some other things to consider for LP vs. Stratocaster regarding playability. LPs have a considerably shorter scale length (24.75") compared to a standard Stratocaster (25.5"). The shorter scale requires less string tension for equal pitch, and the frets are slightly closer together, so it should be somewhat easier to play. LP bodies have a decisively smaller footprint, but they tend to be heavier, and sometimes much heavier. The traditional LP fretboard radius is 12", which feels fairly flat and is good for string bending because the notes are less likely to fret out. The Fender radius is quite variable and depends on the model, but vintage spec is 7-7.25" and standard is 9.5". The way the frets are crowned and dressed is different too, but that probably wouldn't bother you if you aren't already used to one style.