Recommend some guitars

[MadImmortalMan]

What the title says. I am going to buy an acoustic and an electric. Starting with one or just getting both, I'm not sure. I already have a little Line 6 practice amp to mess around with. I don't mind spending a little more money to get something I'm still going to want to play in a year or two. I also don't want to start a fight with my scrooge wife.    Been thinking about scaling back my play money in the stock market though. I don't think she'd care if I shifted some of that into this. Hell, she probably has no idea how much I have in there. So anyway, budget is maybe a grand each, but I'm flexible.

I'm a beginner. Just started taking lessons today, in fact. But I'm a pretty good musician from the olden days--just never this instrument.

So far, I'm looking at maybe a Martin for the acoustic. Don't know what for the electric. I don't want to start a collection. I want something versatile--I have ...eclectic taste in music and I want to be able to play what I want without switching around. My hands are not big, so fat necks and wide fretboards may be problematic for me.

I did the fanboy thing already and looked up what kind of thing my favorite bands use. I don't know how useful that is, frankly. I mean, just because John Petrucci or Alex Lifeson plays it doesn't mean I will like it. Though that Music Man Petrucci guitar is a supreme thing of beauty... Maybe I should just do the obvious thing and get a regular Stratocaster. Anything with Les Paul's name on it seems to have a fat rounded neck--that's the impression I get. True?

I'm not really comfy buying something online without trying it out---but I have noticed a pretty big discount on some models on Amazon compared to Guitar Center. Is trying out the instrument in the store and then ordering online a good strategy, or is quality control not good enough that I'll know what I'm getting that way?

[MadImmortalMan]

This can go in OTR. Oops. 

[garbon]

I don't play the guitar.

[Josquius]

Theres always the variax if you're uncertain.
The trouble there though is it needs to be powered, which is annoying.

And yeah, try in the shop then buy online. It will piss the store off, everyone does that, but whatever

[Brazen]

And yeah, try in the shop then buy online. It will piss the store off, everyone does that, but whatever

Play "Smoke on the Water" in the shop. They love that.

[Caliga]

I have an acoustic guitar.  I can't remember the brand but can check when I get home.  It's an antique, I guess, since it dates from the 1940s.  Princesca's grandfather gave it to us for Christmas (he has a collection of instruments).  I taught myself how to play the backbeat you hear on like every Johnny Cash song, but that's it so far.

I had an electric guitar when I was a teenager but my brother stole it from me and I have no idea what make/model it is anymore.  If I ever get another guitar, I'm getting a bass guitar, since everybody else seems to want to play lead guitar, and my goal would be to learn how to play like Steve Harris.

[Caliga]

Oh, we also have a lap dulcimer.   I haven't messed with that in a while but I used to say stuff to my dog and then play a few notes afterward, all 'Hee Haw' like.

[Caliga]

Last post, I promise: If I had the same interests as you seem to, MiM, I would definitely get a Gibson Les Paul.

[DontSayBanana]

Hey, for once, I can chime in as an "expert" and not get ridden.

I'd stick with the acoustic until you're a little comfier with things- it's too tempting to "shred" on a fresh electric, and the only thing you end up shredding is your fingertips.  Seriously, though, the action's so light that when starting, you tend not to notice what it's doing to your fingertips until you're wondering why you can't stand touching anything.

Martins: nice sound, but hideously overpriced, almost as bad as Guild.  For my acoustic needs, I use an Aria (Dean's sub-brand) Sandpiper.  It's actually got a nice sound, and came in at a fraction of what the equivalent Martin would have cost.  Epiphone also does some nice acoustics that share some of the warm characteristics that you get from Gibsons.  Takamine/Ovation guitars have a great sound, but personally, I can't stand the feeling of playing a plastic acoustic; YMMV.

Electrics: hold off for now, because there's no really good "all-purpose" electric guitars.  Each is suited to its own particular brand of music.  I use a Schecter Damien 7-string, a Les Paul, a BC Rich Mockingbird, a heavily-modified Stratocaster, and sometimes use Kain's Schecter Scorpion baritone or his Telecaster.  There's very little overlap between play styles on all those guitars: the barry's great for "nu-metal" stuff, the 7-string I use for a lot of prog music where I'd normally have to mess with lots of tunings, the Telecaster's great for putting some blues or surfer twang into music, etc.

[DontSayBanana]

Last post, I promise: If I had the same interests as you seem to, MiM, I would definitely get a Gibson Les Paul.

I'd learn to play one first.  In high school, I coached some beginners, and the Paulie-players were second only to the SG players in terms of finding out that their fingers weren't up to the stiff string action.  For a "beginner" electric, I'd probably recommend a Strat; it seems cliched, but the floating bridge keeps a light enough action that the unwound strings don't slice right through your fingertips.

[The Brain]

Get an axe with some cool art on it.

[Josquius]

Hey, for once, I can chime in as an "expert" and not get ridden.

I'd stick with the acoustic until you're a little comfier with things- it's too tempting to "shred" on a fresh electric, and the only thing you end up shredding is your fingertips.  Seriously, though, the action's so light that when starting, you tend not to notice what it's doing to your fingertips until you're wondering why you can't stand touching anything.

Disagree to the extreme.
My parents had this idea with me. It left me with a crappy thing and not caring about learning the guitar for years until I could buy my own electric.

[MadBurgerMaker]

[MadImmortalMan]

That thing looks like you could hurt yourself with it. 




The acoustic I used yesterday in the studio was an Ovation with a curved back made of plastic (or fiberglass or whatever). It was a bit awkward because it kept wanting to slide down into my lap. Sounded fine though.

[Barrister]

That thing looks like you could hurt yourself with it. 

Now that guitar can be called an axe...