Buying an expensive electric guitar at first?

BetterThanThou

By expensive, I'm talking around the €500 range, so, not too expensive. Ever since I was young, I've wanted to learn guitar, and as of now, my guitar playing skill stops at a very bad version of the Seven Nation Army riff, though, I do have quite an adept music knowledge due to doing music for my junior cert, so I'm not building upon nothing. I've owned a few cheap acoustics and a cheap electric in the past, but just couldn't sit down and learn. However, lately I have a lot of free time, so I figure I might as well buy an electric guitar and learn it, I'll also probably buy a decent acoustic(200 or less). Would anyone recommend this? Or should I go for something cheaper at first? I just figure, if I buy something decently priced, it's going to motivate me to learn as I've spent €500 on the guitar, and it'll do me for a good while then.
Also, I personally love the tone of Brian May's guitar, while I'm not looking for a replica of his guitar as I personally think it's quite ugly and looks out of proportion, and I've heard the replicas don't even sound like the original, is there any electric guitar in the range of €500 that would give me a similar tone of his? Of course, this will be hardly noticeable until I become quite adept, but I'd still like to have one with a similar tone.

topcatcbr

BetterThanThou wrote: »

By expensive, I'm talking around the €500 range, so, not too expensive. Ever since I was young, I've wanted to learn guitar, and as of now, my guitar playing skill stops at a very bad version of the Seven Nation Army riff, though, I do have quite an adept music knowledge due to doing music for my junior cert, so I'm not building upon nothing. I've owned a few cheap acoustics and a cheap electric in the past, but just couldn't sit down and learn. However, lately I have a lot of free time, so I figure I might as well buy an electric guitar and learn it, I'll also probably buy a decent acoustic(200 or less). Would anyone recommend this? Or should I go for something cheaper at first? I just figure, if I buy something decently priced, it's going to motivate me to learn as I've spent €500 on the guitar, and it'll do me for a good while then.
Also, I personally love the tone of Brian May's guitar, while I'm not looking for a replica of his guitar as I personally think it's quite ugly and looks out of proportion, and I've heard the replicas don't even sound like the original, is there any electric guitar in the range of €500 that would give me a similar tone of his? Of course, this will be hardly noticeable until I become quite adept, but I'd still like to have one with a similar tone.

Most of a guitars tone comes from the amp you use. As for a. Decent guitar for €500. This is very possible. I think you should go into a guitar shop near you and try lots of guitars in your price range and maybe €200 up or down for feel and playability and then sound. You will come away with a better idea of what suits you best.


I think the Yamaha pacifica is a good place to start you will get a good one for that money.

topcatcbr

If it was me and I was spending that kind of money and buying new I'd be looking at something like this.
http://www.thomann.de/ie/yamaha_rgx420dzii_sb_b_stock.

http://www.thomann.de/ie/prod_review_26326_AR_287712.html

topcatcbr

http://www.thomann.de/ie/schecter_c1_standard_bc.htm

This is really nice also.

LOTD

Go into a music shop if possible and see what one you like, you can read tons of reviews but you never know until you actually play it yourself if you like the sound or the feel of it.

Epiphones are always a good bet, to be honest 500 euro is a lot to put down if only really starting to learn the instrument.

groovie

Perhaps a good teacher that may motivate you would be a better investment of your money, assuming you have a playable guitar already.

sarkozy

Like some said here: buy the best guitar and amp you can. If you're a beginner, you nearly won't notice the difference between guitars, but the amp will make a massive difference. I'd say 80% of a guitar's sound comes from its amp. Just make sure the guitar is something that you like and, especially, feels comfortable to play.

martinedwards

If you have the disposable income, get the best instruments you can afford.

for your budget, I'd swap and spend the 500 on the acoustic.

a cheap electric can be set up to play really nicely, whereas a cheap acoustic is much more likely to be a bit of a dog.

Strings.ie

€500 will get get you a Brand name on the headstock. But if you're not bothered about that you really can get an equivalent quality instrument for half the price. Don't buy online, especially if you're spending €500, go to shop that has a good selection. Instruments are organic, you might get 10 Models all the same but there will be one that just has something special. I'd rather pay more and find the right instrument than save a bit and get an average instrument.

dublinbhoy88

If you don't sound good on a cheap acoustic guitar you would would be wasting your money on an expensive one

topcatcbr

dublinbhoy88 wrote: »

If you don't sound good on a cheap acoustic guitar you would would be wasting your money on an expensive one

I don't agree with this at all

If you don't like your guitar your not as Likley to pick it up to practice. Also if it's a bad set up guitar it will be harder to play also not encouraging practice.

My ex bought me a guitar for Xmas which I hated. I couldn't really say that for fear of offending. It put me off playing for years.

I think guitars are a very personal thing that it's really not a good idea to buy for another person.

For a beginner I think ease of playability is the most important aspect. This can only be determined by trying many models. People have different size and shape hands which lead to suiting some guitars over others.

Gregor Samsa

I had a crappy Encore acoustic for years that I would pick up from time to time, but couldn't play for more than 10 minutes. It felt awkward, it sounded bad, it hurt my hands, and I assumed that it was just me. I'd put it down, and go back to noodling on my bass. Eventually it ended up in the attic, and I gave up on the guitar for years.

The one day, I decided to start again, but on an electric. Once I got my Fender Telecaster, I couldn't put the thing down. My playing literally improved the day I got it. It just felt so right in my hands, so comfortable I could (and did) play for hours, and everything started to come together immediately.

I'm still crap, but at least I enjoy it now, and play every chance I get.

Etc

dublinbhoy88 wrote: »

If you don't sound good on a cheap acoustic guitar you would would be wasting your money on an expensive one

This is really bad advice, buying a cheap acoustic can be soul destroying, I know, i did it. Getting a decent acoustic will only encourage you to play more. You'll get a really nice guitar for 500 or as mentioned above a good acoustic and a cheaper electric which you could upgrade over time.

I hope you follow through, playing guitar, even badly will give you years of pleasure.

Gaspode

dublinbhoy88 wrote: »

If you don't sound good on a cheap acoustic guitar you would would be wasting your money on an expensive one

I cant say I agree with this - a really **** guitar will sound **** no matter who plays it. Certainly a really good guitarist could eke more from a cheap guitar than most of us, but really you need to get something that will stay in tune and sound reasonably ok when starting or you'll never keep it up and a really cheap guitar wont meet those 2 basic criteria.

slavetothegrind

i would spend the most you can afford, mostly on the guitar.
Any modelling amp now gets you a useable sound, they really have improved in recent years!
But a really cheap electric is going to have really poor pickups in it.

a pal of mine got a new epiphone sg, set up properly it was playable just fine but tonally awful, swapping out the pups for some half decent ones transformed the guitar!

Also if it feels good to you and you like it you will pick it up as others have said.

i would pick one or the other to start though! as the owner of a cheap acoustic (fender 230 euro worth new) it is ok and perfectly playable but my pal's 900 euro taylor is premiership to my sunday pub team if you get me!

If you have no other guitarists to play with and learn from get lessons, will speed you up no end and keep you interested.

The online stuff from the likes of justinguitar etc is great too!
Youtube is your friend!

NOTHING in my opinion beats playing with others tho!

good luck!

dublinbhoy88

Gaspode wrote: »

I cant say I agree with this - a really **** guitar will sound **** no matter who plays it. Certainly a really good guitarist could eke more from a cheap guitar than most of us, but really you need to get something that will stay in tune and sound reasonably ok when starting or you'll never keep it up and a really cheap guitar wont meet those 2 basic criteria.

I had a cheap guitar and sounded rough then I bought an expensive guitar and still sounded rough, the problem wasn't the guitars it was my playing, so I went out and learned to play it properly , this was a good few years ago, I do occasional gigs now and jam with different musicians, the point I was trying to make I was blaming the guitar for sounding crap instead of myself , I sound good on the cheap now

UCDVet

I recently decided to upgrade my old, used, Fender Squier, that I'd picked up. I was looking in the 800-1000 price range; and was doing a bunch of research on what guitar I might want to get.

I stumbled on to some 'blind tests' - sometimes it was people playing a cheap guitar followed by an expensive one (with the same amp) and other times it was literally a blindfolded guitar player being handed guitars. And these guys were 10x better guitar players than me.

I was *BLOWN AWAY* - these guys who clearly knew a lot about guitars, when blindfolded were completely unsure as to what guitar they had. From the lowest end Fender Squier to a 'Custom Shop' Fender that would cost 10x as much....they struggled and hemmed and hawed.

The audio tests I found convinced me that *I* cannot hear the difference between a cheap Chinese no-name guitar and a 3k guitar. And watching people better than me struggle to tell the difference between one of the cheapest and one of the most expensive guitars you can buy really sealed it for me.

Finally, nearly everyone I know seems to have a guitar in their house. And almost nobody I know actually plays it. There's a good chance the guitar you get will be collecting dust in a corner somewhere.

Obviously, it's a personal choice and I wish you best of luck with your purchase, but *I'm* very skeptical of the benefit of an expensive guitar.

LOTD

UCDVet wrote: »

I recently decided to upgrade my old, used, Fender Squier, that I'd picked up. I was looking in the 800-1000 price range; and was doing a bunch of research on what guitar I might want to get.

I stumbled on to some 'blind tests' - sometimes it was people playing a cheap guitar followed by an expensive one (with the same amp) and other times it was literally a blindfolded guitar player being handed guitars. And these guys were 10x better guitar players than me.

I was *BLOWN AWAY* - these guys who clearly knew a lot about guitars, when blindfolded were completely unsure as to what guitar they had. From the lowest end Fender Squier to a 'Custom Shop' Fender that would cost 10x as much....they struggled and hemmed and hawed.

The audio tests I found convinced me that *I* cannot hear the difference between a cheap Chinese no-name guitar and a 3k guitar. And watching people better than me struggle to tell the difference between one of the cheapest and one of the most expensive guitars you can buy really sealed it for me.

Finally, nearly everyone I know seems to have a guitar in their house. And almost nobody I know actually plays it. There's a good chance the guitar you get will be collecting dust in a corner somewhere.

Obviously, it's a personal choice and I wish you best of luck with your purchase, but *I'm* very skeptical of the benefit of an expensive guitar.

I agree with this, when it comes down to it, it's all about the player and their enthusiasm for the instrument itself regardless of the brand.

Two examples of this would be, Jack White who got a Ward's Airline guitar, which were cheap guitars sold in department stores in the 60's, I think they re issued them purely because White brought them into popularity and go for thousands. Also, Elvis Costello bought a Fender Jazzmaster relativity cheap in the mid 70's when they were considered to be inferior guitars. When his debut album came out and he was pictured on the front with one, the prices soared.

I also think a beginner should never spend more than 300 euro on their first guitar, considering their is brilliant value for that price and under.

beauf

UCDVet wrote: »

...I was *BLOWN AWAY* - these guys who clearly knew a lot about guitars, when blindfolded were completely unsure as to what guitar they had. From the lowest end Fender Squier to a 'Custom Shop' Fender that would cost 10x as much....they struggled and hemmed and hawed. ....

Some expensive brands/ranges have quite a poor reputation for build quality. So its not that surprising there wouldn't be a nice and day difference. There many stories of famous guitar players having to make lots of modifications to make an expensive guitar right for them, even to the point of having them rebuilt, or even mixing parts from a number of guitars and putting the best bits all on one guitar.

I haven't played for years. But from memory a sweet point for many guitars seems to be between the 200~500 range. your getting away from the budget guitars and into ones with better wood and electronics and finishes. But even then you get good and bad so you have to check a load of them to find one you like. Recently I was thinking of getting back into paying and was impressed with the squier classic vibe series.

That said I sounded the same (pretty bad) regardless of the guitar. Someone good would sound awesome regardless of the guitar. All the tone and sound is from the player mainly. You can learn just as well on a 250 quitar as a 500 one. As long as its not a complete plank.

I like Jeff Waters from ANNIHILATOR attitude to guitars. Hes promoting his own model as an epiphone for players on a budget. Most of his music is too heavy for me, but I just like his whole vibe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5K7vyjp8Nc