[kj] Advice on picking up guitar

[Phillipps Marc]

I think the 1st question you should ask yourself is "what do I want to sound like" as this will influence your decision making process much more than a lot of other factors. 

Early steps in guitar playing can be a painful and frustrating experience . . a badly set up steel string guitar will rip the shit out of the novice guitarists fingers whereas a semi decent nylon stung guitar (classical if you like) will serve to strengthen the hands whilst providing good string separation for working on the basic chords and the like. Once you have the basics down on a nylon strung acoustic the move over to electric is a lot easier (the neck will feel half the size) . . 

I started by learning classical guitar but quickly realised I would never be the next Segovia and moved onto a cheap electric (a Kay I think . . it was a long time ago), I do wish I had spent a little more on the first guitar but it served its purpose, I quickly moved upwards (Westone to Squier to Fender etc) without ever letting go of the old guitars and now have quite a few (more than my wife would like)

I finally got round to replacing my old Eko acoustic the other day with a rather nice Takamine, its amazing how a decent guitar will flatter your playing . . my finger style almost sounds reasonable now! :) 


Marc (and his many guitars)

-----Original Message-----
From: gathering-bounces at misera.net
[mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net]On Behalf Of Brendan
Sent: 25 September 2007 03:13
To: gathering at misera.net
Subject: [kj] Advice on picking up guitar


When I finally get around to it, what do you think I should get, an
acoustic or an electric? Was reading this guy Ed Roman's website, he
styles himself as a guitar expert, he reckons not to get a cheap heap of
shit because you won't be motivated to play it if it looks ugly and sounds
crap. This section of his website has a bunch of rants that I found
interesting, the one on beginner guitars and 'christmas guitars' in
particular:

http://www.edroman.com/rants.htm

He also recommends an electric because it's easier to play, but then
that's where most of his $ comes from too I suppose. I dunno much at all
about guitars.

Any feedback appreciated.

Brendan



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