New to Guitars.. Help required please..

G|mp said:
How dare you !

You see the thing is i play the bass, i can play a cheese wire guitar and not feel
anything, if your all gonna be girls and start talking about your fingers hurting then im not gonna indulge you :p
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She's a 12 year old girl. Her father is asking advice on a guitar for her.

Are you saying the best guitar for you must be the best guitar for her?
 
No not at all, i was offering my opinion

I was always told when i wanted to learn to start on an acoustic its better in the long run

Huddy aint got to take my advice i was offering it :)
 
Here is my take.
To get a decent playable Acoustic you have to spend quite a few quid. Say a Takamine as even Yamaha don't make good budget acoustics IMHO.
Where as the Yamaha Pacifica (leccy) is very affordable and very easy to play. It is a great starter guitar with a comfortable action and a fair sound.
Also i have found when i have taught a few licks to people they find it much easier to strike an electric unplugged and gain confidence much quicker.
Also being the parent you will be pleased to know that you won't hear an unplugged leccy with the bedroom door closed where as you will the acoustic.
Also an electrics sound can be adapted to suit most styles of music where as you are quite restricted with an acoustic.
I think the way to go is to get a Pacifica from a reputable shop that has in house guitar techs to set it up properly. If she doesn't take to it the Pacifica will sell on for a fair price and quickly. If she does take to it then a few peddles and FX's will get the kind of personal sound she would require.
Electric is definetly the way to go.
 
I agree with G|mp, get a cheap acoustic with nylon or steel strings to begin with. It's the way I did it and looking back at it I'm glad I made that decision. Not only is it cheaper but you don't need an amp to hear it. G|mp - I play bass as well. :) The best guitarists I know started off acoustically and then progressed to electric. All imo of course. :p

You should ask her what she would prefer to start playing on. Both have their advantages.
 
it would be a good idea to ask her what musical styles shes into, and what she would like to play. this should influence the decision, ie, if you want to play aucustic music then its pretty obvious which to go for, and vice versa

also, if she reads music well and already plays an intrument then her co-ordination should be quite a bit better then someone who started fresh, so expect her (if she enjoys it) to pick it up quite quickly.

you may also like to think about wether to finger pick or not.

remember, she is only 12, a full size guitar might be a bit of a stretch for her

hope this helps (cant spell today)
 
I started to learn on an acoustic with a really large action, horrible factory strings that hadn't been maintained.

Even though it killed my fingers im glad i started learning acoustic first. Fingerpicking comes so naturally now. Only downside is that my picking action isn't quite up to the same standard that most learners are at my stage (i assume anyway) :o
 
Link This is what my 14 year old daughter plays (in red). She finds my Fender acoustic a little too bulky.

I doubt she would play it if you didn't get her what she wanted anyway. Girls being girls n' all.
 
I've never read so much crap in my life.
My Yamaha acoustic plays just as good as my Gibson Les Paul Standard.
It is a myth that starting on an acoustic will be easier and better in the long run.
Starting on a poorly set up acoustic can put you off for life but so can starting on a poorly set up electric.

1 - What style of music is she in to? Choose the guitar based on her musical tastes.

2 - How big are her hands and how long are her fingers? Once again its best to go to a music shop and try different size guitars out. If her fingers aren't big enough to make chord shapes then she will lose interest very quickly.

3 - The people who begin to learn the guitar to those who actually stick with it is way way below 1% in my experience and this is mainly due to bad setups, chords not sounding right and fingers hurting.
 
dmpoole said:
I've never read so much crap in my life.
My Yamaha acoustic plays just as good as my Gibson Les Paul Standard.
It is a myth that starting on an acoustic will be easier and better in the long run.
Starting on a poorly set up acoustic can put you off for life but so can starting on a poorly set up electric.

1 - What style of music is she in to? Choose the guitar based on her musical tastes.

2 - How big are her hands and how long are her fingers? Once again its best to go to a music shop and try different size guitars out. If her fingers aren't big enough to make chord shapes then she will lose interest very quickly.

3 - The people who begin to learn the guitar to those who actually stick with it is way way below 1% in my experience and this is mainly due to bad setups, chords not sounding right and fingers hurting.
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the man speaks the truth - my first guitar put me off playing, only a mate persuaded me back into it and im glad i did (after playing his shop set-up 80s strat)
 
I'm gunna go against the majority vote here...

I started for a month or two on an acoustic and learnt a few chords, but it was when I picked up an electric I really said "WOW this is great!". It was easier to play, and most importantly MORE FUN.

If an acoustic makes you 'better' in the long run, well, good for you. Personally I'll be buying whatever my future son daughter will enjoy the most thank you very much :)
 
dmpoole said:
I've never read so much crap in my life.
My Yamaha acoustic plays just as good as my Gibson Les Paul Standard.
It is a myth that starting on an acoustic will be easier and better in the long run.
Starting on a poorly set up acoustic can put you off for life but so can starting on a poorly set up electric.

1 - What style of music is she in to? Choose the guitar based on her musical tastes.

2 - How big are her hands and how long are her fingers? Once again its best to go to a music shop and try different size guitars out. If her fingers aren't big enough to make chord shapes then she will lose interest very quickly.

3 - The people who begin to learn the guitar to those who actually stick with it is way way below 1% in my experience and this is mainly due to bad setups, chords not sounding right and fingers hurting.
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Which is why i gave my opinion

My acoustic was better than the electric i had, i prefered to learn the acoustic first

Which is why i advised to buy a decent acoustic its my opinion thats all, its not gospel
 
I personally would go acoustic, its just a nicer sounding instrument once you get the basics down imo. Embodies the soul of the player more than an electric does.

I would do what I did (sort of) and go for a taylor baby guitar which is a smaller scale guitar and it sounds pretty nice. I started on the big baby and pretty much loved it.

If you get her some cheap piece of **** to learn on then I doubt she will stick with it unless she really really wants to. If you play a cheap guitar that sounds like rubbish, plays like rubbish then wheres the enjoyment? Otherwise go down the squire/yamaha pacifica & cheap electric combo.

To be honest if I played a woodwind instrument I reckon I'd rather play an acoustic first...for varying reasons. Nevermind what me or the other people say here though, get her down to a shop and try some out so that she can figure out what she wants.

I actually sold my big baby and got a seagull but wish I still had the taylor for knocking around on. Also toyed with the idea of getting a baby because E from the Eels plays one on their newest album dvd and it looks/sounds pretty cool.
 
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i started on electric about 7 years ago, havent regretted it. i dont play anything acoustically at the moment. but over the summer i'm getting my acoustic and i'm going to "learn" how to play that. but hopefully it wont be harder than my electric becuase i aim to get a very good acoustic!

cant really say more than what dmpoole has said really.
 
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