Wall of Mouths

I play Bass, but the reasoning is the same I guess.
For what it’s worth here goes:-
I had an old Encore Bass (cheapo Fender Precision copy) which helped me through the very early learning curve.
Stuff like…what each string is and why…up to playing a few simple riffs.
As I started to get better (3 to 4 months) and I had a bit of cash,
I decided to buy something better. Encore’s are HEAVY (weight that is)
I spent £350 on a Fender Precision (new Mexican not USA, but it’s 99% It I imagine)
and my learning curve has gone up,
weight is down too which helps believe me.

Spend the most you can afford.
A copy or similar will start you off, but as you can play an acoustic,
I’d go for the best my cash would allow.
Whether it was £200 or £1000

Mole Grip

p.s. I wanna form, join a band.
Worcestershire in England area.

Anyone up for it

For a guitar, there are two main types — a Fender (or Fender-type) and a Gibson (or Gibson-type). I’m sure there’s a more technical and accurate way of describing it, but there we go.

I myself have always preferred Gibson types — and generally they are easier to play than the Fender types, and therefore probably a better bet for a beginner. They (can) have a nice fat sound with two humbuckers (double pickups). Epiphone is the ‘cheap’ version of Gibson — again, no point buying a 600 quid + guitar until you really know what you want and that you are going to continue playing. So, instead of, for example, getting a Gibson Les Paul, try an Epiphone Les Paul. It is to all intents and purposes the same, except some materials used in production are cheaper, and some production methods are cheaper. But there are some very very nice Epiphone Les Paul’s out there. Be warned though, that the Les Paul is a bloody heavy guitar. Another one to consider would be an Epiphone SG standard. This is thinner, and is like the Gibson SG that Andy played a lot around Infernal Love / Semi-Detached.

Martin uses a Gibson Flying V quite a lot, and I think Epiphone do a cheap version of that.

Having said that, if you want to make an investment, and have a guitar that you will love and cherish for twenty years, and you have saved up, go for the Gibson (or other more expensive) model.

The big tip is to go to the shop and try it… not all guitars are the same. Play various guitars until you find one model that you like, and then just try a couple more. If the assistants aren’t happy with that, walk out, with your cash.

As far as amps go, if you are practising in a bedroom or other small(ish) area, you probably won’t need more than a practice amp, say 25W. If you get a 100W amp like I decided to get (a Marshall Valvestate V100R) you will never get to crank it up above about 1 out of 10 unless you have a bit more space, don’t mind going deaf, or you buy a power break. You generally get better tones on amps when they are driven harder, so you are better off getting a smaller amp and turning it to 8/9/10 rather than a larger one at 1 or 2.

If you get a Marshall amp with a distortion channel, you will get nice distortion, and will have no need for an effects rack. If you do want to play around with an effect, choose one and try out the pedal in the shop. If you don’t know what effect in particular you want, consider a floor standing combination, like the Digitech RP series etc. These give you loads of different things like Phasers, Delays, Distortions, Wah, Flanger, Fuzz etc etc and can keep you occupied for hours, if that is your fancy.

well all i can say is epiphones are looking good but not so much of use…
i had one a time ago but i couldnt have a nice performance really…
what about jacksons yall say??

dude as for amps dont buy anything that has marshall on it.

get a B.C. rich warlock fucker.they rock

Re Jackson’s… Mmmmmmmmmm.. Get a Jackson KV1. _lovely_ guitar. Wish I had one…

or does he play les paul?

Andy usually plays a Gibson SG1. There’s a cheaper Epiphone knock-off of it, but many of the ones I’ve seen only have 1 pickup rather than the standard dual humbuckers.

Samick is to Fender as Epiphone is to Gibson…pretty much every major guitar company has it’s own little spin-off corporation. Even Marshall Amps has the Park brand, which cost much less than a regular Marshall. I’ve always liked the sound of British amps, which would explain why I’m so biased towards Marshall. As far as I’m concerned, they’re the best bang for your buck.

no it isnt anything. i dont prefer them. i can afford them, im left handed and left handed guitars are expensive. i learnt on righties turned upside down. you know the strings would buzz a lot and stuff but it was cool. it’s just made me a better player. what i’m trying to say is that i can use any guitar and amp and do what i want with it. creativity shouldnt be confined to brand names - that is a wrong way to look at it. i’m no gearhead and people who talk big while discussing brand names just miss the whole point of music in the first place…
so i just dont care about brand names and all that… it’s better to work your way out then getting the latest equipment and mising out on fun.

You don’t half spout some shite Messiah

ha ha as those are remarks coming from amateurs i tend to ignore them.

messiah.
Buying junk as you call it might work for some, but not others.
I would advise people to perhaps try some cruddy guitar out first,
but when the pounds/dollars are exchanged, I reckon most people need a bit
of quality.
My first bass was pants…although it worked and I learnt lots with it.
Since I got my Fender Precision (quality, although other makes
are up to the job too) I come on a helluva lot. It weighs less,
the action is better etc etc.

I race motorcycles, and I’ve ridden some right old lash-up shit-heaps in
my time…but I can do a lot better on decent machinery, even though
I can ride a bike with crap tyres, worn out shockers blah blah.

Rawk on!!!

Moley

I can make any guitar sound good. The simple fact is that I enjoy playing it most if it happens to be a Fender, especially a Fender fed into a Marshall amp. It has the sound I like, the feel I like, and even the aesthetic qualities that I like. I would hardly consider that to be creatively stifling.

I don’t recall ever saying anything even remotely close to ‘I freak out if I don’t have my setup the exact same way as I’m used to’ You’re simply putting words into my mouth.

Secondly, I hardly have the ‘latest’ equipment. I don’t own a single effect pedal, and one of my guitars is probably 5 years older than you.

Third, just because I could make a Wal-Mart special guitar sound good, doesn’t mean that I’m going to recommend that someone buy it. What’s the point in buying an inferior guitar whose neck is going to warp in a year, has sky-high action or tuning machines that can’t even hold a string in tune for more than 2 songs? I fail to see anything contradictory in what I’ve said, or even what you claim I said. I’d say that your logic is baffling, but you don’t really seem to have any.

Sigh…Another ‘brilliant’ rejoinder from you. I could easily throw the Ego Maniac label right back at you, since you’re the one who is convinced that he’s going to bring on the new music revolution with his world’s greatest band, which doesn’t even exist.

Once again on the topic of making any guitar sound good—I can also drive any car. I personally like to drive Fords though. If I suggest to a friend who is looking for a car that he should buy a Ford, does that make me a hypocrite? Am I weak person or something because I enjoy driving Fords? I could easily afford a Yugo, and it would certainly get me to and from work, however, I would much rather do it in an AC Ace or a new Diablo VT. I’ll most likely never own either, but I don’t feel incomplete because I don’t own either.

I hate to break it to you, but people have brand preferences, and personal preferences. Even Therapy? have gone on record stating what brands of guitars they enjoy, what pedals they like to play, and what stacks they like to play them through. Are you going to call them hypocrites, or ‘weak’ like you have to call me? It seems to me that maybe you’re the one who is unsure of his ability, since you spend so much time criticizing other’s preferences and trying your damndest to set yourself apart from everyone else when there is no reason to. The guy that started this thread didn’t ask anything about creativity, he asked for a suggestion on what guitars sound nice, look nice, play nice and are good deals.

And on a side note, I don’t really know that many people playing Fender/Marshall setups. None of my friends play Fenders, and none of them play through Marshall amps either. I’ve seen about a trillion people playing Les Pauls into Mesa Boogie heads however. Do I hurl insults at them for doing so? Of course not, because there’s an obvious reason they do so—it sounds good.