What 5 pieces of gear advice would you give to a new player?

[mr22]

About a year ago I started playing electric guitar again after taking a two-decade break. I had to purchase gear to replace the stuff that had been sold, stolen, or lost. So I went onto the Internet to do some research.

Terrible idea. I didn't realize that YouTube and Forums were nothing but wall-to-wall advertisements and delusions. The end result of listening to these ads and delusions is that you will buy a lot of stuff but you'll never be satisfied with it.

Guitar stuff used to be simple.

Back when I was playing in the 1990's, the guy at the guitar shop gave me simple advice:

(1) Buy a Marshall Amp for metal/hard rock and a Fender amp for anything else.

(2) The ProCo RAT 2 can do anything. It's all you need. Period.

(3) Use 9's for Fender scale guitars, 10's for Gibson scale guitars.

(4) Change your strings when you feel like they need to be changed.

(5) There are eight types of electric guitars. Do the cartesian product of these sets: {Good guitars, bad guitars}, {Humbucker guitars, single-coil guitars}, {hard-tail bridges, whammy bridges}.

Then he showed me how to change my strings and sent me on my way. Back in the 1990s, the musicians I knew just did not talk about gear. We knew these five things and that was enough.

Ok, in 2023, what five things should a new player know about gear? The goal of these five pieces of advice is that once a person knows them and lives them, they don't have to think about gear, ever again.

I'll start.

(1) Ignore forums and YouTube videos about gear (unless the video is a luthier telling you how to fix your guitar).

(2) By the end of your first year of playing, and forever afterwards, the amount you've spent on gear divided by the number of hours you've practiced should always be less than minimum wage -- preferably much less.

(3) Develop your voice through practicing instead of honing your 'tone' through purchases.

(4) Write down what you need your rig to be able to do. Once you've reached a rig that meets those criteria, don't make any changes or "improvements." You're done.

(5) If you can't hear it in a recording, it doesn't matter and it's not worth thinking about or discussing, ever. (For example, you can probably hear the difference between humbucker and single coil in a mixed recording, but you can't hear the difference between Ernie Ball and D'Addario, nor can you hear the difference between Ash and Alder Stratocaster bodies.)

Thoughts?

[newey]

All good advice. I would say 10s and 11s on the string gauges for tone and tuning stability, but overall I agree with most of the points.

I might add to plan on spending $$ for a better guitar rather than on a better amp. Buy a lower-powered amp until/unless you need a more powerful one for gigging. Guitarists are susceptible to the "Mine's bigger" way of thinking just like folks who lift their pickup truck's suspension 5 feet up in the air. No one needs a Marshall stack in their bedroom (nor should you want one for that).

[Reverie]

Get some books for beginners as a new player, follow them! Have fun with it. The gear needed can be advised from people who work at a shop with actual guitars. Acoustic guitars are a great way to start to get a feel, but if you want electric or bass, or etc, do it! 

[mr22]

Regarding books for beginners:

I think "The Guitar Handbook" by Ralph Denyer is outstanding. Probably 80+% of what a person needs to know about selecting, maintaining, and playing your guitar can be found in the book. To the book's credit, the vast majority of it deals with music theory and technique -- yet it's still a really good read. This is the first book I ever read that did not make music theory seem like crazy nonsense.

If you're interested in the more technical side of things, I think "The Master Handbook of Acoustics" by Everest is superb. "Solid State Guitar Amplifiers" by Teemu Kyttala is also superb (and an entertaining read)!

[gckelloch]

We generally had one guitar amp when I was in bands and gigging in the 80's. I was perfectly happy with that, and I end up only using a few different amp/cab setups with the modeling software I now use. K.I.S.S. still applys. I agree with all 5 points, but a guitar with the sustain and response characteristics you like can be inspiring. It may not make much difference in a recording, but it can affect the way you play. The body material can make enough difference for that to matter, but I can't see spending more than ~$1k on an electric guitar, and I usually spend much less. Pickup and guitar cable prices can also be ridiculous, and in no way coincide with better sound.

[kitwn]

All very good advice.

Re the guitar itself: there are some very good copies of the Fender/Gibson guitar you think you want that will cost a lot less. Buy one of those, get a professional luthier to check it over and then spend the money you've saved and as much more as you can afford on getting your first lessons from a good teacher, one-one. You need to get off on a good start with technique and how to best make use of your practice time. "Practice makes perfect" is WRONG. Practice makes PERMANENT, and if what you start practising is bad technique then that's what becomes permanent and has to be un-learned later.

If (realistically 'when' for many of us) you can't afford to continue with personal lessons then move on to Justinguitar.com.

Amp-wise, if you share a house/building with other people then something PC-based you can practice with through headphones while still listening to backing tracks from YT is usefull. I asked my on-line guitar hero Sped Spedding what he recommended and got a Focusrite Scarlett interface and the basic version of Bias FX2 modelling software. That works well for me and was not prohibitively expensive.

Learn how to hold a pick properly without it turning round between your fingers and falling on the floor. When you find out how to do that, TELL ME!!

Kit

[gckelloch]

May 6, 2023 20:42:13 GMT -5 kitwn said:

All very good advice.

Re the guitar itself: there are some very good copies of the Fender/Gibson guitar you think you want that will cost a lot less. Buy one of those, get a professional luthier to check it over and then spend the money you've saved and as much more as you can afford on getting your first lessons from a good teacher, one-one. You need to get off on a good start with technique and how to best make use of your practice time. "Practice makes perfect" is WRONG. Practice makes PERMANENT, and if what you start practising is bad technique then that's what becomes permanent and has to be un-learned later.

If (realistically 'when' for many of us) you can't afford to continue with personal lessons then move on to Justinguitar.com.

Amp-wise, if you share a house/building with other people then something PC-based you can practice with through headphones while still listening to backing tracks from YT is usefull. I asked my on-line guitar hero Sped Spedding what he recommended and got a Focusrite Scarlett interface and the basic version of Bias FX2 modelling software. That works well for me and was not prohibitively expensive.

Learn how to hold a pick properly without it turning round between your fingers and falling on the floor. When you find out how to do that, TELL ME!!

Kit

I had the Scarlett Solo (v2) for a while, which needed an outboard preamp to get enough signal output. I eventually replaced it with the Motu M2. The instrument inputs are much quieter, there's a separate headphone level, and the headphone amp is better. Many inexpensive units have surprisingly high headphone amp distortion at lower output levels within the critical hearing range. The M2 is pretty good in that respect. It might be worth the extra for that. There are several newer A/I's that might be better. Audient are supposed to be very good.

This exceptional player covers picking technique in this video. I've been trying to adjust my technique to some extent. It feels strange to play that way, but it does stay put better than what I do:

[JohnH]

I'm not sure I can think of 5 things!

But let's say it's for a new electric player with no previous knowledge, and doesn't yet have a clear goal or preferences, except to start...

1. I'd suggest a mid-priced guitar at least a couple of notches up from the cheapest, A good Squire or Mexi Strat is ideal, so that it's well finished and playable, or equivalent quality.

2. A small but decent practice amp, lots to choose from these days with good tones, effects and pc interface. This will be useful later even if a bigger amp is added.

3. Find some help from someone who plays to help choose.

[ozboomer]

Lots to say in here.. but others have covered most of it.. noting that I come from a 'sheltered environment' and am basically a dill in some respects as I've mostly only played at home and/or with a few people.. and public performance was only about organ/keyboards and even that was 40+ years ago...

May 6, 2023 17:39:30 GMT -5 mr22 said:

I think "The Guitar Handbook" by Ralph Denyer is outstanding. Probably 80+% of what a person needs to know about selecting, maintaining, and playing your guitar can be found in the book. To the book's credit, the vast majority of it deals with music theory and technique -- yet it's still a really good read. This is the first book I ever read that did not make music theory seem like crazy nonsense.

F'certain. Denyer's book (mine is from 1982) is one of those 'desert island' books... together with 'The Illustrated New Musical Express Encyclopedia of Rock - 1978 edition' (Heck, I wish they'd kept it up-to-date though), are books that I pickup a few times a month.. and have done so forever...

So much of what's on-line is bunkum.. or unimportant.. but you already know that.. as you've made your way to 'the nutzhouse' for some true enlightenment
 

[sumgai]

There really is only one piece of advice for any beginner, and that's a simple question - "Why do you want to play guitar?". Most often the answer will be "Because so-and-so plays....", followed by a bevy of reasons. Most of those reasons will be quite valid, and a few will make you roll your eyes.

But what if they don't answer as I've anticipated? Stick with them and figure out why they want to start playing. Perhaps they already play another instrument (tip of the hat to @ozbooomer here), or they've been offered group lessons at school or a local music store, etc. Or maybe it's simply to provide self-accompanyment to their singing, who knows. Once this is established, you might find that they're wishing to play in a certain genre, but not necessarily exactly like a given player.

Those answers should play a large part in determining what's more appropriate for them - acoustic or electric. Obviously you and I know that one axe can do both jobs, but such are not often found at beginner price points (unless they're masquerading as dolled-up firewood).

Only now is it time to begin advising on how to choose an instrument and accessories. And at this point, several of you have already pointed out the obvious steps towards launching an enjoyable and successful learning period, I need not repeat them. But overall, is is my strongly held opinion that the most important part of the journey is my first question.  Skipping past that step would be a disservice to the beginner.

HTH


[EDIT]
(This Edit brought to you by ozboomer, he who thinks even more deeply than I do.)

I'm prompted to advise asking an additional question: "Why do you want to play an instrument? Is it because you want to make music, or do you just want to play some song like you heard it?"  Then the question becomes "Why a guitar?", and all the follow-on's noted above and elsewhere.  The reason for this (additional) question is to get a sense of order as to when to mention/introduce the idea of music theory.  For the purposes of just copying songs, theory can take a back seat for quite awhile. K.I.S.S. means "here's a chord, and then your song follows it with this other chord", etc.  This is enough to get most beginners on their way, as evidenced by nearly every beginner's book every written, for any instrument.

For making music right off the bat, then theory must come at the beginning of the journey, pretty much in lock-step with the physical part of actually putting fingers behind frets. If they are truly driven by a dream, then they won't be put off by theory, they'll probably soak it up and keep asking for more.

HTHSM

[/edit]



sumgai

[reTrEaD]

May 6, 2023 7:50:14 GMT -5 mr22 said:

What 5 pieces of gear advice would you give to a new player?

Rather than submit five, I'll just give one that would be at the very top of my list:

Buy local, whenever practical. Yes, you will almost certainly pay more than shopping online. But the benefits can be worth it, in the long run.

Honest advice, a connection to the local music community, etc.

I'm more than willing to do my part in keeping my local guy in business. He's always there to help, in ways the online retailers can't. If I see something that interests me online and my local guy stocks it, he'll usually have a demo unit I can try out. I'm always honest with him, if it's something that has a deep discount online. I'll tell him the online price and as him if he can match it or even come close, and still make a few bucks. More than once, I got the same price or payed slightly more to buy from him. On a couple of occasions, he couldn't come close but respected my situation and there were no hard feelings because I bought online.

[ozboomer]

May 7, 2023 9:24:52 GMT -5 reTrEaD said:

Buy local, whenever practical. Yes, you will almost certainly pay more than shopping online. But the benefits can be worth it, in the long run.

Nice call, reTrEaD..

I'd also add to make it a 'small business' and not a 'franchisee' (Ack!)

Knowing the local folks.. particularly when they can put you onto the local service people, is such a big thing..

For me, the couple of local shops I dealt with in the '70s were staffed by local professional musicians.. so, if you wanted to, you had an 'in' with the local musician community.. and even nowadays, it's not about who you know.. but who knows who. Sure you have a wider reach with TheInternetTM... but someone in Brazil isn't going to get much help from me in helping them break into their local music scene...

...and knowing the local techs can be huge. I had always had an interest in electronics from the age of 8 or 9... but when I had to get my first guitar serviced (and then my Jupiter 4 synth), the local tech was such a nice bloke... and was happy to stay back and show me how he fixed up the synths, helped me design some MIDI gear, etc... and led into the formation of some friendships (and music contacts) that have lasted 40+ years...

The bigger the businesses are, the less they care about you... and will spend the extra time on taking care of you 'coz YOU are important to them (and their business).

[kitwn]

May 6, 2023 21:26:02 GMT -5 gckelloch said:

May 6, 2023 20:42:13 GMT -5 kitwn said:

All very good advice.

Re the guitar itself: there are some very good copies of the Fender/Gibson guitar you think you want that will cost a lot less. Buy one of those, get a professional luthier to check it over and then spend the money you've saved and as much more as you can afford on getting your first lessons from a good teacher, one-one. You need to get off on a good start with technique and how to best make use of your practice time. "Practice makes perfect" is WRONG. Practice makes PERMANENT, and if what you start practising is bad technique then that's what becomes permanent and has to be un-learned later.

If (realistically 'when' for many of us) you can't afford to continue with personal lessons then move on to Justinguitar.com.

Amp-wise, if you share a house/building with other people then something PC-based you can practice with through headphones while still listening to backing tracks from YT is usefull. I asked my on-line guitar hero Sped Spedding what he recommended and got a Focusrite Scarlett interface and the basic version of Bias FX2 modelling software. That works well for me and was not prohibitively expensive.

Learn how to hold a pick properly without it turning round between your fingers and falling on the floor. When you find out how to do that, TELL ME!!

Kit

I had the Scarlett Solo (v2) for a while, which needed an outboard preamp to get enough signal output. I eventually replaced it with the Motu M2. The instrument inputs are much quieter, there's a separate headphone level, and the headphone amp is better. Many inexpensive units have surprisingly high headphone amp distortion at lower output levels within the critical hearing range. The M2 is pretty good in that respect. It might be worth the extra for that. There are several newer A/I's that might be better. Audient are supposed to be very good.

This exceptional player covers picking technique in this video. I've been trying to adjust my technique to some extent. It feels strange to play that way, but it does stay put better than what I do:

I got the Scarlett 2i2 on the basis that I might one day become senile enough to think I can sing and play guitar at the same time. It has a headphone output with it's own volume control, which gets plenty loud enough for me when I'm using it with Bias FX2 mixed with YT backing tracks or lessons. I've never tested the level of the main outputs to a PA.

That's a very interesting video, he's a very skilful player. Not my style of music and the choppy editing isn't going to keep me watching regularly but he makes some very good points and I like the exercise which covers all the modes in turn. Also the comment about needing to keep your chord skills up to spec.

I had a good look at his pick grip as well and might try to emulate that.

Kit

[gckelloch]

His recommended pick grip feels odd at first, and I'm not sure how I can incorporate it into my dynamic and textural style. I am not at all a Metal guy, but I respect the work.

Nothing wrong with the Scarlett line at all, and they made some useful changes in V3. One thing to consider in an A/I is whether the jacks are only secured to the circuit board or if there are screws securing them to the panels, which makes the board or the connections much less likely to break. My Motu M2 has 2 screws securing each mic/line jack, but none on the headphone or output jacks. Not sure if they still have the 2 screws, or if that's a newer thing. I may have been confusing the headphone output distortion with how the overall output distortion goes up at lower output levels. The headphone out Z on some A/I's is also high enough to roll some bass off with lower Z headphones. That was true for older Scarlett A/I's. This guy has done some very thorough testing of many A/I's, and has compiled charts for quick comparisons:

[ozboomer]

May 7, 2023 3:48:53 GMT -5 sumgai said:

I'm prompted to advise asking an additional question: "Why do you want to play an instrument? Is it because you want to make music, or do you just want to play some song like you heard it?"  Then the question becomes "Why a guitar?", and all the follow-on's noted above and elsewhere.

Further to this, I present another OzzyYarn^tm...

I re-started playing guitar back in 2006 ('coz I wanted to get back to playing an instrument, instead of programming synth sounds & recording all the time). I floundered around on TheInternet^tm for months, sifting through the nonsense, until I fell into 'the nutzhouse' in 2008, 'coz I was fascinated by the gear side of things.. and all the good techy discussions in here.

That led to years'n'years of fiddling with circuits and suffering from a lot of GAS and I finally 'went practical' and decided to 'make do' with 5(!) guitars (in order of 'active use'): the 'jazzy', the 'surf' strat, the 'blues' strat, the 'frankenstrat' and the ol' Les Paul copy.

I went to a local teacher (which is his 'main' job, although he did/does play professionally) and we tried the 'by the book' route (Berklee's William Leavitt books) for a few months... but that didn't work very well. We then tried the 'just play' route and that worked better... as far as it went. I involved myself in a guitar club (of sorts) and that gave me some better direction, to know what I want to do with my guitar playing... but the guitar club went quiet and sorta disappeared. I then hit Truefire and a few YouTube folks.. and that has been the best 'fit' for the last few years, helping me to learn about different scales, inversions, etc... and how a lot of the theory I already knew from my keyboard history applies when playing the guitar.

Concurrently, I was doing all my home recording projects... and decided (with retirement on the horizon) that I'd start hitting the theory books/on-line in more depth... and that helped cement a 'better' direction for me... I found out about 'upper structures', how to look at modes in a bit more useful way, building progressions and different voicings, etc.

...and then earlier this year, I decided I should finally hit the piano 'properly'.

...but dumbo me, I forgot all the earlier 'learnings' and tried to approach piano in the 'traditional way'... even though I'd proven a couple of times now, that this approach is not a good fit for me. I already know scales fairly well (just from years of playing)... and I can build chords just as well... So, a lot of what was required in this 'traditional method' of learning piano was 'old news'... but my ever-present lack of motor skills was still demotivating me and mucking me around... Even though I've been practicing consistently for these first few months, I still can't hear any noticeable improvement (some recordings show that)... but maybe I'll keep trying this approach, I dunno yet...

Y'see, when I was 9 or 10, I started learning the organ... and the teacher I had realized early on that for me, it was better to 'just play tunes' (a 'modern method') rather than go through the scales, arpeggios, just grind grind, etc (the 'traditional' method'). Name Drop: I've never been able to find any info about my organ teacher, dear ol' 'Mr Stanney' -- he was Judy Garland's accompanist when she toured the UK in the '50s.

So, it was always about finding sheet music (although, I've always been able to pick out tunes/chords pretty well by ear)... playing the basic tune as written... then working out extended chords/substitutions... but we never got onto improvisation per se.... which is what I learnt more about via playing guitar (this 'second time').

The thing is that I would suggest that you be prepared to swap and change as you explore what music means to you... but not too quickly - give yourself a chance to see if you 'gel' with the instrument. You might start with guitar... but you could find music speaks to you more through a clarinet... or a Bodhrán... or a harmonica. Just realize where you start may not be where you finish... and half the fun is working it all out.
 

[cynical1]

Things not already mentioned, in no particular order:

• Good set of screw drivers
• Good set of Allen wrenches
• Finger Ease or Fast Fret
• Chomatic tuner

HTC1

[pyrroz]

* Record your self and listen to the result.  If this sucks, then you most probably suck! If you suck, try to  get better!

* Try to play naturally. Silly and thoughtlessly does not mean naturally, nature follows the law of wise usage of resources, so your playing should involve minimal movement of your hands for a given "workload".

* LEARN TO PLAY SLOW. Slow and correct. This is the key of playing fast.

* Master vibrato and play with passion and feeling. First comes the passion, second comes the accuracy in that order.

* TIMING. Try to play ON TIME, this is imperative if you play in a band. Use your body to keep a tempo and stick to it. Use a metronome for the whole learning process. (which means forever)

[geo]

Rust-proof strings are an investment.

When practicing, the problem you're hearing is probably the lack of a backing track, not lack of tone.

You'll learn a lot faster on a guitar with better action.

Set yourself up to practice with headphones so you can practice at all hours.

Mod your Strat ASAP; having series configurations gives a ton more range.

[gumbo]

...forget the first four things, and play whatever makes you happy on whatever you can afford, whenever and wherever you like...

...oh, and try not to get arrested.


That's all in 1 piece of advice, BTW..

[cynical1]

May 28, 2023 6:36:29 GMT -5 gumbo said:

...oh, and try not to get arrested.

Well, that takes all the fun out of it...

HTC1

[bluesman13]

all great advice above. My own advice would be to play clean without pedals and slowly.