Any guitar players here?

Wayne

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I know I should know this, but between overtime support for Hurricane's Harvey and now Irma, I'm a little addlebrained...

Anyone here play guitar? I don't mean like on tour or whatever. Just a casual "pick up and play" sort of thing?

I've never really played, though through the years, I've tried to pick up a stray guitar or bass here and there. No idea, but it seems somewhat calming. I've got a bug in my head for buying a beginner's electric guitar and ran across the Schecter C-1 SGR (Walnut stain) on Amazon for like $135...

I have no idea how it plays, but people seem to like it, seem to think it's a decent guitar, and hey, it's a beautiful wall decoration if nothing else...

What I'm looking for is cheap, a good clean sound, for a decent guitar that would look good on the wall if I ever just walk away from it. I couldn't care less about name brands at this point, but I've seen some really cheap-feeling and crap guitars in the sub-$100 range. I'm thinking however to give it a real go here, if for nothing else but a distraction to tinker with when I'm able to get out of the office again..

What do you think, and do you have a better suggestion?

Wayne
 

Robert

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Main thing I'd say is have a listen to it before you part with your cash and compare it to a few others in your price range. If you still like it, go for it. (And if they all sound much the same, don't worry about going for the cheapest one.)

-EDIT-
Another important point if you're going electric is the amp. Probably just as important as the guitar itself as far as sound goes.
A bad amp can nullify any improvement a better guitar brings.

So when you have a listen to a few guitars, also try to check out a few amps and make sure you go for a combination that your ears agree with.
 
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Wayne

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That's the crap thing about Amazon purchases here. Can't listen beforehand. I've listened to a lot of reviews on it, and heard it played on Youtube, etc, but no idea in real life if that's what I'm looking for. The only local place really to get a guitar around here is Guitar Center and they're about 3x as much for the same guitar... :(
 

FluffyMcDeath

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Anyone here play guitar? I don't mean like on tour or whatever. Just a casual "pick up and play" sort of thing?

Any time I start to feel like I play guitar I meet someone who really does - and then I know that I don't. :/

First guitar I bought was just lucky. Cheap but turned out to be really nice sounding and played well. Second guitar I bought I spent a bit more money. Went to a store and just started walking the racks from the cheap end and giving each one a little play. It gives you an idea about tone and playability and ti's all over the map especially down at the cheap end. Even two of the same model will be different. I've never bought online - I guess it would be kind of a crap shoot. If you have the know-how and you like to spend a lot of time (and maybe some money) setting up a guitar then it can be fun I guess, but I like to try before I buy.
 

Robert

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The only local place really to get a guitar around here is Guitar Center and they're about 3x as much for the same guitar... :(

Well, I'd pay them a visit and have a listen anyway. Then if you like it, you can still buy on line.
As Fluffy says, you might not get the same sound as the one in the store but if it's a third of the price, I'd take a punt on it.

And find out which amp was used with it in the clips you've heard. That could add a lot to the price.
Personally I have a little Squire practice amp which sounds fine with all the guitars I have. There's also a lovely Marshall amp which, although not mine, currently resides in my house. It can really shake the room though, so I tend to use the little Squire one when I'm noodling.

-EDIT-
Amps are bottom left of this pic - Marshall on the left, Squire on the right.
12541047_10154420042332506_4887339088302403037_n.jpg
 

Robert

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Any time I start to feel like I play guitar I meet someone who really does - and then I know that I don't. :/

Ditto.

The guy I do most of my recording with is a bit of a multi-instrumentalist-annoyingly-good-bugger (his Marshall amp and Telecaster in the pic above). He encourages me to play but I could live to 250 and never reach his level of competence.
 

Kesa

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I bought a bass about 10 years ago because i felt i needed a cool hobby that wasn't Amiga related. To be honest i only played it a few times before realising i had too many hobbies to really commit to it.
 

FluffyMcDeath

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I bought a bass about 10 years ago because i felt i needed a cool hobby that wasn't Amiga related. To be honest i only played it a few times before realising i had too many hobbies to really commit to it.
Indeed. It's been a huge number of years since I had nothing better than to sit in my room learning chords and patterns. Unfortunately the guitar that knew most of my songs broke. This newer guitar doesn't know the same songs and those that it does know it's slower to remember. However, when I do get some time we occasionally spend some time together reminding each other how such and such used to go.Sometimes I even teach the guitar a new song - at least partly. Never seems to stick as well as the old stuff.
 

Kesa

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One thing for me about playing the guitar is that there isn't in my opinion much reason to. Music is all the same now and everyone is doing the same thing. Music in general is kind of boring to me now.
 

Robert

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One thing for me about playing the guitar is that there isn't in my opinion much reason to. Music is all the same now and everyone is doing the same thing. Music in general is kind of boring to me now.

Yeesh! I'm glad I don't feel this way.
 

Kesa

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Yeesh! I'm glad I don't feel this way.

I know right? One day i wanted to listen to some music but couldn't find anything interesting to listen to so i decided to sit in silence.
 

Robert

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I know right? One day i wanted to listen to some music but couldn't find anything interesting to listen to so i decided to sit in silence.

Sitting in silence can be nice too.
But not went I want music. :drumroll:
 

Wayne

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So... The first guitar I ordered from Amazon, the Epiphone Les Paul 100, came in with a huge gash carved out of the side as though it had been seriously dropped/dragged. It went back.

I then bought a Oscar Schmidt (Washburn) Les Paul, but 1) the guitar I received (bright orange, black hardware) was not what I ordered (dark wood/creme and gold hardware).
IMG_2043.jpg

It gets to start its return trip today.

Over the weekend, I met up with a good friend and spent a little time in a local Guitar Center where she physically demonstrated to me that every guitar is different (fret sizes, neck lengths, etc) and that the Oscar Schmidt (24.75" scale and medium frets) was too small for my huge meat hooks... I then went to another Guitar Center on Sunday to physically handle every guitar in my price range and discovered -- to my sorrow -- that none of them are really what I'd term "comfortable".

In fact, the only thing I picked up which could be termed "comfortable" was a Yamaha acoustic guitar, but I don't want to play acoustic guitar...

This has left me with the idea of finding an electric bass guitar, for which both the frets and neck are normally larger, and I really just want to make noise more than I want to become the next Satriani or Carlos Santana...

Any more thoughts or suggestions, other than "don't buy guitars through Amazon"?

Wayne
 
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Robert

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This has left me with the idea of finding an electric bass guitar, for which both the frets and neck are normally larger, and I really just want to make noise more than I want to become the next Satriani or Carlos Santana...

Bass is certainly fun to play and you should be able to pick up some basics pretty quickly. I got a cheap Washburn one a few years back and it sounds fine (to my ears at least).
 

Kesa

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You can get fret less bass guitars. I have always wanted to try one of these. I own a 5 string Cort bass but i never play it. The 5th string is seldom used but is a comfy rest for my thumb.

fretless-bass-600x315.jpg
 

Wayne

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So... What did the ever-exasperating Wayne do in the third-person perspective?
  1. He realized he was overthinking things and getting caught in the search for the "perfect guitar" when he doesn't even PLAY guitar (yet)

  2. He went to a local, family owned music store and talked with the owner for like 2 hours and asked about a bazillion stupid questions.

  3. He laid hands on about 50 guitars of all brands, sizes, etc without regards to the cost (this was more of a "what fits?" session).

  4. He continued to ask stupid questions which the owner (Rick of Melodeemusic.com) happily answered at 7:45pm Monday night.

  5. He showed Rick the problem he thought he was having with "fat fingers", to which Rick showed him about a dozen ways around the issue while playing on another guitar. (Rick also has large digits)

  6. After making sure his wife wouldn't kill him, he ended up walking away with a simple Squier Stratocaster Standard in the Cherry Sunburst finish which looks a lot like this;

squier stratocaster.JPG

Rick correctly pointed out that there's no such thing as the perfect guitar, that's why people who play own multiples. He also correctly pointed out that
  1. I can't learn to play without a guitar, and that

  2. If I learn how to play, my first guitar won't be my last (very true, I've already got #2 picked out)
So, for the moment, I have a decent middle-tier Strat ($249 versus the $149/$199 Squiers) and I'm happy for the moment...

Then, some asshole at work showed me the self-tuning Epiphones... :D
 

Robert

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Nice choice. One of my band mates has a Squier Telecaster and it sounds and plays very nicely.

Now you can look forward to the weirdly satisfying pain of callouses gradually developing on the tips of the fingers of your left hand.
By the time they're no longer hurting you should be able to play a bit. (Think of it as an aspirational milestone. :D)

Happy learning Wayne. :pint:

-EDIT-
Forgot to ask - amp?
 
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