Learning the Guitar

JBoyle4eva

I got my first guitar(It's electric) a year ago and I've been trying to teach myself. I'm about to leave secondary school and I never did music during Secondary school. Is there any third level college or school that I can go to to learn the guitar and maybe follow on with a career in music?

Also, where can I get a purchase a PRS guitar in Galway?

feylya

Don't mean to dishearten you but going to a music college if you've only been playing a year isn't the best idea imo. Colleges do run music courses. I know DKIT has a music production course (afaik). Not too sure how much theory and technique is taught if any. And if you've only been playing for a year, you shouldn't be thinking about getting a PRS. Lovely guitars thou they may be it's a bit of overkill for a beginner. That said, you'll get a better deal online. Someone around here (his name escapes me) picked up a PRS on eBay for $900!

Zoton

There are 3 main shops in galway which stock guitars. Four Corners on shop street(they only do acoustic and semi acoustic), Back to Music on Abbeygate street, and Modern Music on Middle Street. None of them stock PRS guitars however, or even gibsons. Only epiphones, fender, peavey, and a few other brands. (As feylya said it'd be madness to get a PRS anyway since you're only playing a year.)
The friendliest one is definitely Modern Music.

I believe it was dabhoys who picked up a prs for €900 (lucky sod!:))

Doctor J

Nothing lucky about dabhoys purchase, just a bit of homework and the right timing.

Get a PRS off ebay or 2nd hand from a US retailer, save yourself €2000.

Quatre Mains

that was me that got the PRS(unless dabhoys did the same, which he probably did!), its one of the old handmade ones and all. And just like Doctor J says, it was nothing to do with luck, they often go for that kind of money. You would have to be completely off your head or loaded enough not to care to get one in this country.
If you want to get better buy a metronome and practise off that, much easier than joining a course full of knobs who all think they're better than Kirk Hammett.
And join a band.

D!ve^Bomb!

Originally posted by brocklanders
knobs who all think they're better than Kirk Hammett.

its not too hard to be better than kirk hammet...

forget about PRS,,, just stick with what you got and practise practise practise,, thats all it takes!! after a while when you've learned a lil about guitars you may not even want what a PRS can offer,, you may prefer a gibson or fender.. it would be pretty stupid to buy somethin now and then find out in 6 months time its not what you want...

Zoton

yeah, Dabhoys managed it too. Been scouting ebay for the last month or so, for prs guitars. The lowest i've seen one go for so far is around €1200. The santana and tremonti ones go for much less obviously.

Doctor J

Have a look on ebay.co.uk for Eggle guitars.

They are the sonic and visual equal of PRS, just without the extra €€€ reputation.


The Berlin model in particular, is very, very sweet, and I speak from experience here.

Edited for links - - - >

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3716809205&category=2384

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3717279275&category=2384

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3717263063&category=2384

Sleepy

You'd be wise to get your hands on a decent acoustic alright. I can't believe the amount of guitarists that can play all afternoon on an electric yet when you hand them an acoustic complain about their fingers hurting...:rolleyes:

daram

People like that annoy me too. If you cant play an acoustic you're not a real guitarist. It's like people who can play keyboards but not piano. Whats with that?

D!ve^Bomb!

what do ya's mean ''play an electric but not an acoustic''?? in what way?

daram

They can play electric guitars, but cant play acoustic guitars, because acoustic guitars generally have more tension in the strings or something. Its all bollocks really.

PlasseyMinstrel

its because electric strings are usually softer and thinner to aid bending for your stereotypical squeaky crazy solos. Thinner strings means less tension to provide the same frequency so they're easier to bend. Another thing that makes string bending easy on electric is the strings are closer to the fretboard so you don't have to push the string into the board as much. They all make it easier to play electric.

I started with an electric, looking forward to screaming solos and crazy power chords. My guitar teacher correctly told me any guitarist worth his salt will only play acoustic at home because they sound so much better. I didn't really pay much attention but I eventually bought an acoustic to bring to pub lock-ins (i'm involved in amateur drama - much drinking and singing required). Now I rarely use my electric. Even when I learn a rock song I do it on acoustic first then play it on electric - always sounds so much better and you get a better idea of how good a song sounds without its quality just being in distorsion and general studio wankery. It didn't strike me as odd until a friend pointed it out but I learned the solo to Thin Lizzy's Whiskey In The Jar on my acoustic


Any thoughts?

feylya

Originally posted by PlasseyMinstrel
My guitar teacher correctly told me any guitarist worth his salt will only play acoustic at home because they sound so much better.

Any thoughts?

Your guitar teacher sounds like a bit of a monkey really. "Only play acoustic at home"?? Allow me to reply with my usual response of - it's doubtful you'd see Malmsteen, Vai or Satriani only playing with acoustics at home and they're worth quite a lot of salt.

PlasseyMinstrel

maybe "only" was the wrong word but I still reckon they value the sound of an acoustic over an electric.

And so what if my guitar teacher was a monkey - he's learned to shave his arms and make me tea and is nearly integrated with society. Any day now...

feylya

A teacher that makes you tea? Nice Yeah, I'm not putting down the value of playing acoustics. It's like playing a bass for a while before playing guitar. Hands are warmed up, stretched and are almost "stronger" for lack of a better word.