I want to learn guitar

SkeeterUK

SkeeterUK

SkeeterUK

Soldato
Joined
24 Oct 2005
Posts
16,474
Location
North East
Heard electric ones are best to learn with. So can someone spec the cheapest one i can get to learn with but learn well with.

I was thinking yamaha paciffica but then i think their a bit pricy especially if i dont stick to it and end up never playing it again.

Theirs some on gumtree like a Encore E6 for 80 quid but duno heard mix views on it.

Also will i be at a disadvantage due to shortish fingers and not that thin. Most guitar players i see on utube have long thin fingers lol maybe im daft to point this stuff out but i do worry.

Im 28. Would like to learn the guitar id love to play some pink floyd one day just for pleasure nothing like gigs or owt.

Advice for anything guitar learning wise welcome too. I duno anything about music, duno chords, frets, blah blah. Its probs gona be hard with my dead short attention span (cant watch tv or play games for more than 10 mins without pausing or quitting and head to net to browse forums haha.

Im not made of money so about 40 ish for used guitar im thinking, maybe up to 55 i duno. Tbh id like one for 20 quid but haha doubt it.
 
I like the music that played by guitar. I want to learn it one month ago, but the teacher tell me, play guitar is a little. He suggest me learn the Guzheng
 
I brought a starter pack off the Bay for about £120 - it came with electric guitar, amp etc.
I sold it on for about £70 or something around there - so maybe check the bay for a starter pack of some sort.

The budget you have is pretty low though, and if you're serious about learning, it'd probably be best to get a starter pack :)
 
Never used one, but the Encore doesn't look like a particularly difficult guitar for a starter. I've always thought cheap entry-level strat clones like those are all much of a muchness anyway.

As for learning, get a good chord book (or find a site online if you're feeling lazy), and look up some tabs for songs you like that seem simple enough to play.

jolie said:
I like the music that played by guitar. I want to learn it one month ago, but the teacher tell me, play guitar is a little. He suggest me learn the Guzheng
Click to expand...
You're my new favourite poster. Also, learn a Guzheng because they seem awesome.
 
The Yamaha Pacifica is very well regarded. It's an excellent beginners guitar, you can't really go wrong with it (other than giving up, obviously ;))

As for learning material, we are lucky now in that there are lots and I mean LOTS of guitar material online to help starting out.

Personally, I would recommend the following as a beginner course;

http://www.justinguitar.com/en/BC-000-BeginnersCourse.php

Then the following for learning songs;

http://www.youtube.com/user/martyzsongs

I also followed this quite closely,

http://www.theguitarlesson.com/guitar-lessons/Basic Lessons

They're all free, although the guitar lesson site requires registration.

As for which instrument to learn on ... it's a tough question, Acoustic for me was harder to learn the basics because the strings were tougher on the fingers, and higher on the fret board which meant more force needed to play. The electric on the other hand, seemed easier. However, the way I looked at it was, if I learn the basics on Acoustic first, then moving onto electric would be easier than the other way round .... if that makes sense :p

Best advice I can give from a relative newcomer is, you're going to get frustrated, very frustrated, but keep at it and it'll start coming naturally :)
 
Last edited:
McBain said:
As for which instrument to learn on ... it's a tough question, Acoustic for me was harder to learn the basics because the strings were tougher on the fingers, and higher on the fret board which meant more force needed to play. The electric on the other hand, seemed easier. However, the way I looked at it was, if I learn the basics on Acoustic first, then moving onto electric would be easier than the other way round .... if that makes sense :p

Best adive I can give from a relative newcomer is, you're going to get frustrated, very frustrated, but keep at it and it'll start coming naturally :)
Click to expand...

I'm sure others will offer better advice than I as I am no expert, however, the above was 100% true for me.

I bought a pap acoustic for £60/70 quid (new) when I first thought I might like to start playing. Does the job fine, still plays the same chords but is a great deal harder than playing an electric or even a nice acoustic. For the level you will be playing basic chord learning and tabs a simple acoustic really does the job, I personally don't see the need in splashing out £100-150 for a electric start kit, especially if you might stop using it after a week.

After 6 months I was still playing and then decided it was a good idea to get an electric, which I spent a little more money on (200-250) because I knew I had dedication to learning.

The benefit of playing acoustic and then going electric is that your fingers will build some mighty good calluses and playing an electric will be SO much easier.
 
Last edited:
I would say though if as the OP states, he has a poor attention span, an acoustic could be a little bit of a stretch as I'd say it'd be easier to be disenheartened by slow progress and the initial finger pain. This would also be compounded by a cheap instrument that plays like a dog... but would probably be quite a good idea if you bought something half decent, and would certainly help in the long run if he kept at it.

However, I'd recommend buying something that will suit the music that you enjoy. If you aren't really into acoustic stuff, don't bother with an acoustic!

I'd definitely recommend putting in the investment initially, buying cheap instruments are a massively false economy and are likely to put you off playing at all. It'd be a shame to do that to yourself as if you really do enjoy it, it's a fantastic hobby to have. Also, if you struggle, find you can't be bothered, give up and it sits there unused, then sell it. You won't lose much money as a decent Yamaha guitar will hold it's value a lot better than a p.o.s. generic brand from Argos that saved you £50 initially.

If you want to go Acoustic, go for this: http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/stor...aha-fg700ms-acoustic-guitar-natural-matt-1421

It's a solid top (rather than laminate, which means it will sound better essentially), brilliant bit of kit for the price, and you won't need the expense of an Amp too, just a stand, a few picks and a tuner and you're sorted.

If you'd rather an electric, then look no further:

http://www.dv247.com/guitars/yamaha-pacifica-012-electric-guitar-black--10548

Get a basic amp: http://www.dv247.com/guitars/fender-frontman-ii-15g-guitar-amp-combo--6557 (not tried this one myself, but it looks fine for a start @ 15W with 8" driver - if anyone knows of something better at this price, definitely chip in).

£172 total, if you keep the playing up, the guitar will definitely outlast the amp and gives you a sound basis for a hobby that can give a lifetime's worth of enjoyment.
 
You really won't get much better than a Pacifica for the money, if you want to go the electric route.

It is often easier to get a better / smoother rhythm going when learning on an acoustic though and you don’t even need to worry about an amp.

Actions can be set with a light set of strings (9’s) so an acoustic will play almost as easily as an electric. I like Ibanez acoustics as the actions are very easy and can be set up for a fast neck without fret buzz.

http://guitarvillage.co.uk/product-...ntity=1&product=Ibanez+AW35R-NT,+Natural,+New – This can be had for ~ £150 elsewhere

I have http://guitarvillage.co.uk/product-...ity=1&product=Ibanez+EW20WNE-NT,+Natural,+New and the above one plays almost the same although will have a fuller sound. I have the action set virtually the same as my Strat, so it looses a bit of SQ but plays like a dream.
 
I know im a bit late to the party but thought id post my 2p worth :)

I bought a Yamaha acoustic a while ago and found it hard to learn on and gave up pretty quickly.

I then bought a Yamaha Paifica, a 112v in natural (looks fantastic) and ive found it so much easier to learn on.

Ive still got the Acoustic and now i can play a little enjoy going back to it but in glad i decided to go for an electric as i doubt i would have learnt at all if i only had the acoustic.

What to buy ? If you can afford it go for a Pacifica 012 but i wouldnt get an amp to start with, you can play without an amp and still hear the cords and for about £20 you can buy a USB guitar lead and plug it into a computer either playing it natural or use a demo version of amplitube or revalver.

Get a amp when you can afford it but dont compromise the quality of the guitar just so you can get an amp at the same time ...guitar first ...amp later, I bet every one in you house would appreciate it if you could play at least a little before plugging into an amp as well :)
 
Yamaha Pacifica 112 is the way to go IMO.

Was my first guitar and regret selling it. Great value for money, lovely sound and so easy to play.

You can always upgrade the guitar later but at least start out with something that can last you a few years!
 
wouldnt mind learning myself actually, although id prefer to learn myself at home rather than get lessons, but i think that might be a bit hard.
 
tom91x91 said:
wouldnt mind learning myself actually, although id prefer to learn myself at home rather than get lessons, but i think that might be a bit hard.
Click to expand...

Depends - I'm mostly self taught. If you're disciplined enough you'll learn quickly, if not then you won't.

If it was too easy then everyone would do it! ;)
 
As I say in every thread like this, the Pacifica really is the only way to go. I have a guitar worth over a grand and the Pacifica can hold it's own against it unbelievably well. It's a rediculously good guitar.

Also, the best way to go in terms of learning is to buy a big chord book of songs rather than dive straight into lessons. This will teach you the fingerings for the most common chords in a context you will find enjoyable. For example, Mr. Tambourine Man (the song) is literally three chords in this sequence:

G-A-D-G-D-G-A-A
G-A-D-G-D-G-A-D

Once you have messed around for a couple of weeks, then investigate the lessons :)
 
My advice is to get a few lessons to get over the basics then take it as fas as you want. I'm not a player, I had lessons that were cheap and very good (thread on here somewhere). Personal issues got in the way but I bet I could pick up the guitar again and start where I left off, which I couldn't do when I tried self taught previously.

From here if I was to start again I think I could self teach myself to a standard I'm happy with on my own no real gain other than to enjoy it. If I was more serious I'd be calling my instructor back as weeks with him is like months on my own.
 
Nitefly said:
As I say in every thread like this, the Pacifica really is the only way to go. I have a guitar worth over a grand and the Pacifica can hold it's own against it unbelievably well. It's a rediculously good guitar.
Click to expand...

I will echo this re holding their own against other guitars. It may be a cheap guitar but it is not a budget guitar if that makes sense. Yamaha really do make good instruments.

Skeeter, have you made a decision yet?
 
Still really hard to decide, i mean i want to play guitar but i duno if i will stick to it so therefore im really hesident to let go for anything of £50+ for it.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Yamaha-Pacifi...al_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3f05012c7c

Thats about as close as i can find to 50 quid with a amp and near enough to avoid postage. But even so im really not sure.

I wish i could just borrow someones for a month to see if im serious about it all then if i can learn somit and enjoy it and think yeah ill keep at it then yeah id probs invest in something like the above.

Dont suppose anyones near Sunderland and up for letting me borrow a bit of kit for a month hehe. ;)
 
the easiest way i learned my guitar is to start off with chords, the good old A, G, E, C, D, then play around with them, that way your educating your brain to use different sounds and get a feel what each chord sounds like. then go for a lead guitar book that starts of using the fret board, the hardest one's which im still learning are the scales, but you can come back to that later, understanding the mechanics of the guitar is the most useful tool to have, for example if you play and E chord, you can play a set of notes on the fret board which connect, and you know where that note is, i can't read sheet music but i have a good ear for sound.

practice in 30 min slots then take a break, the reason is you will make more mistakes if you go for longer, it keeps your brain active and learn new songs.

at first chords are not easy, start of with an A chord, hold the A chord for about 10 mins "it will hurt" then release relax for 5 - 10 mins then do the A chord again. you will notice it's easier to do.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom