Author Topic: New guitar (Read 459 times)

migeater · « **on:** January 01, 2007, 10:57:15 AM »

Hey all for Christmas I got a brand new Epiphone Geetar from my mom. It came with an amp, case, 20 picks a tuner and the geetar ill get some pics and post them asap. later:)

Apeking · « **Reply #1 on:** January 01, 2007, 11:23:16 AM »

Has she also bought you several sheets of soundproofing material, or will she banish you to the garage as you learn about blue scales?

Golfer · « **Reply #2 on:** January 01, 2007, 01:53:13 PM »

try using http://www.musiciansfriend.com to buy your string.

Personally I use Martin SP Phosphor-Bronze strings for my acoustic. I'll usually buy 10 sets at a time and I'm good for a year (for around $50...cheap entertainment!)

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Martin-MSP4100-Phosphor-Bronze-Light-Acoustic-Strings?sku=100056

There are some cheaper, many more expensive but bang for your buck I've liked these the best.

use http://www.frets.com for their little tutorial on stuff to do with your instrument. I've talked to the guy who runs it (he has a repair on his site that my first epiphone needed...I had a cracked heel. I showed the guy who would do the repair this link here and eventually called to thank him for having that exact information on his website.

Here's a good site for figuring out which chords or what and how to make them:
http://www.torvund.net/Guitar/

Gooooood luck and have fun

sluggish · « **Reply #3 on:** January 01, 2007, 02:30:21 PM »

Epi is a decent brand. Not top of the line but decent. It's a good starter guitar. You don't want to spend a mint on something you might decide you don't like after a month but you don't want to do what my parents did and get a plywood beheamouth with strings two inches off the board that was so difficult to play that I soon got so frustrated that it got placed in the back of the closet delaying my actually starting to play for nearly three years.

The strings Golfer was describing are acoustic strings. For my electrics I use GHS boomers in 10 guage. For a beginner I would reccomend 9's because your fingers are weak and soft like baby. Take the guitar to a shop and have a luthier properly set it up. They are never set up properly out of the box (especially a lower dollar ax like an Epi) and the forty or fifty dollars (at most) spent will save you in frustration later.

I'm no pro like the artist formerly known as bye bye but I have been getting payed to play and recording consistantly for the last twenty years.

Golfer · « **Reply #4 on:** January 01, 2007, 02:32:47 PM »

Its hard for me to remember that not every acoustic guitar is acoustic electric. Doh

I use Ernie Ball Slinkies on my Electric.

DiabloTX · « **Reply #5 on:** January 01, 2007, 02:37:31 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Golfer
try using http://www.musiciansfriend.com to buy your string.

Personally I use Martin SP Phosphor-Bronze strings for my acoustic. I'll usually buy 10 sets at a time and I'm good for a year (for around $50...cheap entertainment!)

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Martin-MSP4100-Phosphor-Bronze-Light-Acoustic-Strings?sku=100056

There are some cheaper, many more expensive but bang for your buck I've liked these the best.

use http://www.frets.com for their little tutorial on stuff to do with your instrument. I've talked to the guy who runs it (he has a repair on his site that my first epiphone needed...I had a cracked heel. I showed the guy who would do the repair this link here and eventually called to thank him for having that exact information on his website.

Here's a good site for figuring out which chords or what and how to make them:
http://www.torvund.net/Guitar/

Gooooood luck and have fun

Or you could just support your local music store!

And congrats on the new guitar and the gear addiction that willl soon follow!

sluggish · « **Reply #6 on:** January 01, 2007, 02:56:26 PM »

This wouldn't happen to be it would it?

Diablo

I used to buy locally. When they sell $3 strings for $9 and complain about how they're not making any money, I'll take my business elsewhere. You know, even if he (local music shop) were buying his strings from MF, and marking them up 50%, I would have still shopped there just to keep it local. What he does is mark them up 300% from what I can buy them for-I'll take my buseness elsewhere. Top it off with the fact that the guy will not work with local working musicians, and I won't shop there at all. I'm not saying he should give stuff away because I have chosen a profession with a menial payoff, but one hand washes the other. Wouldn't you think that he, as a local business man, would want me, someone who is in the public eye getting asked all the time where I buy my gear from, to be able to tell people that I shop at his great store? You would think that in order to get that kind of word of mouth advertising he would give me a little break. The next closest music shop is Guitar Center 80 miles away.

END OF RANT

DiabloTX · « **Reply #7 on:** January 01, 2007, 03:40:02 PM »

That's all well and good, to each his or her own. But I've always felt there are more important things than just "saving a buck". I like the closeness a local shop gives you compared to the blaring sterility of a Guitar Center. I like to talk to the person doing to mod's or repairs to my guitars directly. I may pay a little more, but I know what I am getting and know they care about my business. If that costs me an extra buck or to, so be it.

Cougar68 · « **Reply #8 on:** January 01, 2007, 04:52:51 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by sluggish

What he does is mark them up 300% from what I can buy them for-I'll take my buseness elsewhere. Top it off with the fact that the guy will not work with local working musicians, and I won't shop there at all.
END OF RANT

Sounds like your local shop owner sucks. I'm lucky in that I still go to the same store that I bought my first guitar from. I've bought a couple guitars and amps from him, but mainly strings/picks and stuff. He calls me by name when I walk in and I usually stop by every week just to shoot the breeze. I pay more for everything I get, but his advice has been worth it in spades. I went in with my amp right before the band was headed to florida for a show. He dropped what he was doing and fixed it up right there on the spot. And to top it off he wouldn't let me pay him for it. Just told me to have a good gig and come by when I needed something else. That's the way the local shop is supposed to be.

sluggish · « **Reply #9 on:** January 01, 2007, 05:04:27 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Cougar68
Sounds like your local shop owner sucks. I'm lucky in that I still go to the same store that I bought my first guitar from. I've bought a couple guitars and amps from him, but mainly strings/picks and stuff. He calls me by name when I walk in and I usually stop by every week just to shoot the breeze. I pay more for everything I get, but his advice has been worth it in spades. I went in with my amp right before the band was headed to florida for a show. He dropped what he was doing and fixed it up right there on the spot. And to top it off he wouldn't let me pay him for it. Just told me to have a good gig and come by when I needed something else. That's the way the local shop is supposed to be.

If I had a shop like that around here, I would shop there exclusively. If I had the cash I'd open my own shop.

SirLoin · « **Reply #10 on:** January 01, 2007, 05:59:52 PM »

Take that guitar to a reputed music store and pay for a initial setup...Let him know ur a newbie..

Buy a pack of strings off him and nothing else...You don't need lessons to play rockn' roll...

Get guitar back & learn all the major & minor chords...till yer fingers hurt.

Then start out playing a song with a chord progression..utilizing major & minor chords...

i suggest "House Of The Rising Sun"

a(minor)>c(Major)>d(Major)>f(Major)>......a(minor)>e(Major)>a(minor)>E(Major)

Once you get the strumming down u can let loose with the finger-pickin'..and start from there.

vorticon · « **Reply #11 on:** January 01, 2007, 06:08:08 PM »

"
Get guitar back & learn all the major & minor chords...till yer fingers hurt."

actually, i reccommend doing it until the figners STOP hurtin.

Golfer · « **Reply #12 on:** January 01, 2007, 06:13:02 PM »

Bryan Adams says do it till your fingers bleed.

stantond · « **Reply #13 on:** January 02, 2007, 07:29:00 AM »

I also recently purchased a new beginners acoustic guitar (Seagull S6). Godin strings, recommended by the manufacturer, were found at http://www.stringsandbeyond.com/ for a decent price and free shipping for orders over $35.00. I am still waiting for my fingers to stop hurting.

Sirloin is right, you don't need formal lessons to play chords for most rock songs. Personally, I started with night moves by Bob Segar (C,F,G....), but house of the rising sun is fun too. I bought a few things from my local music store, but the guitar and strings were bought online. I am bad about that. Online purchases are just too convenient and pleasant.

Regards,

Malta

bzek74 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 02, 2007, 08:15:44 AM »

My girl got me a washburn acoustic for my gift, I havent touched a guitar since I sold My US made Jackson Rhodes 10 years ago....god it feels good to jam when your alting.

90prf