damaged people dot com

Ok... I need a hobby (beyond searching the intrawebs for goat pr0n).

So... I decided to buy a guitar. Sure... I haven't played one since 1982 (and I didn't play for long) and have no idea how to play one, let alone read sheet music.

But I have free time and am finally bored with computers. A guitar seems like an interesting way to pass the time.

One of the guys here at work has a Yamaha G-231 classical acoustic for sale. It's in very nice condition (the neck is straight, there's no dings or nasty scratches). He's asking $100 for it. It also has a hard case, but that's seen better days for sure (it's held together by duct tape and the handle has been replaced with a piece of string).

So... is $100 a fair price?

It's a fair price... I'd warn you away from buying a classical guitar.

You'd do better to pick one up that you can play a style of music you enjoy. You never struck me as being all up in the flamenco, and well... nylon stringed guitars have a very specific sound.

I'd swing by dutch's and try some of the electric or metal stringed (Dreadnought style, it's a body style, they'll know what you mean, but thing generic accoustic guitar that isn't a classical guitar*) accoustic guitars.

If you're looking into electric guitars, Squire makes some decent cheapy electrics. Squire is owned by Fender, and makes their guitars out of... I think China. Maybe Mexico. The body isn't going to be super expensive wood with fucking amazing sustain like you'd find in $2000+ guitars, but they'll be passable for playing Nirvana/Skynrd songs on, and getting a feel for whatever you want to do.

Other things: Check the machines and make sure it has decent tuning pegs on it. The good ones are usually closed. There are exceptions, but if you can see the sprocket on the back of the head, you won't ever keep it in tune. Play up all of the frets. This may be hard if you're new to the guitar, but if they're all good and level, you won't have any buzzing frets. The buzzing is caused by the string vibrating against the frets further down the guitar. It can be fixed, but it's annoying, and a guitar tech will have to sand down the frets, and it could be a sign of worse problems.

Lastly, after you buy your axe, take it to a guitar tech, and ask them to set it up for you. They will fix the intonation. (The 12th fret should be EXACTLY the middle of the string on all of the strings, but may vary from string to string. A guitar tech will use a strobe tuner to set the intonation. Once that's done all the strings will be in tune with each other wherever you play on the neck.) They'll also set you up with some new strings. They might ask you what guage you like. Light guage can sound tinny, but are easier to play, and whip out the wikkid riffs, heavy guage have a fuller sound, but you'll find your hands might be too weak for the barre chords... Those tradeoffs vanish later on as your hands become stronger.

Most importantly with the setup is that they'll fix these little gotcha problems that will have a huge impact of your enjoyment of the instrument. If you enjoy the instrument, it's less likely to gather dust in the corner of the room and be a constant reminder of how you never finish what you start.

P.S. - RAWK.

* - On dreadnought body styles... Ok, that picture you posted, if she was a lady, she'd be 24-12-30... a dreadnought guitar would be 34-26-40. You know. With the hips. She'd also have a pick guard on one of her boobs.

Excellent advice, Encap.

The guitar is here in the building and I took it over to Rocketdork and Deater for them to look at (as they both play and know what they're doing). They both played it and gave me their advice: pass on it.

Since what I actually want is an electric, they suggested skipping the acoustic and going straight to it.

Still... I don't want to spend a fortune, as it may sit in the corner and mock me as Encap suggested. I found the following two online:

Epiphone Les Paul Special II Player Pack (in black) for $199.99

Squier® Strat Electric Guitar Pak (again, in black) for $279.99

Oh... the Les Paul looks REALLY nice, and the comment goons seem to like it as well.

I've got a neat little widget that I play my electric through. You'll see people complain about the amps and what not. I generally play through a headphone amp.

I use a Korg PX3 Pandora. It allows for all kinds of Amp Modeling, and Effect processing. It's old, but works nicely for the fiddling about. Line 6 has come out with similar things recently, that use your computer to do the effects processing. Check out the Tone Port

Not that Tone Port. Put your pants back on.

Yes... I'm totally leaning to the Les Paul. From the conversations I've had here (and the comment goons as well), that's the better of the two.

And I'm very interested in the headphone amp. I didn't know they made such a thing until earlier today. I'll probably order one with the rest of it (and a new cable, stand, and case).

And I'm also taking it straight to the tech once it comes in (ala Encap). New strings (the comment goons command it) and a complete tune-up to make life a happy place from the start.

Thank you for the input! I much appreciate it!

I've been tinkering for a while, but I really can't progress farther on my own. I live across the street from a guitar store. (More like a block).

I think I'm going to start back into lessons.

I recommend making four albums, the middle two with prima donna lead guitarists. You'll become so sick of the pretentiousness of people incapable of wanking out 16 bars of cohesive solo that, by the end, you'll learn to do it yourself and better. Repeat as necessary. Although I have to admit that I may be firing myself for the next album. I'm already sick of my own playing style.

That's part of the plan, miftah.

I plan on learning 3 chords, then forming a band with a group of middle school students. We'll call the band "Bad Touch" or "Uncle Tone is a Pedophile" and will tour the shopping mall circuit and barely be able to feed ourselves.

Well... that's my dream, anyway.

Make sure you get the band photo done at Sears Portrait Studio. Preferably with the Spider-man background.

We all have cool edit pro. Let's make Tone's dream: NOW!

Have you checked out E-bay or anything like that for a high quality guitar? You might be surprised at how many people out there have blown a bunch of money on a new guitar and never touched it, who now just want to get rid of it. Try to avoid that by playing at least little bit every day, till you get addicted and you can't keep your hands off of the guitar because it looks so damn sweet. It is REALLY awkward at first and it'll seem like your not progressing fast enough, but stick to it. The key is practice, practice, practice. You'll be playing stairway before you know it. You'll even have times when you think you're starting to sound good, or even impressive, and then you'll see someone else play who makes it look like second nature. Just remember, that person sucked at one point too. You will improve a little bit every time you play.

I never really took any lessons and I can't read sheet music (at least not fluently). A good way to get started is by reading tabs (tablature) for a song you like and trying to play it, at least that's how I learned. Once you have the coordination to play without looking back out forth at each of your hands, find people to jam with. Other musicians will have all sorts of pointers for you regarding theory, aural skills, scales, chords, timing, and whatnot. Learn what you can and do what is comfortable for you. If you want to get good fast, get a drum set too. Learning a BASIC beat on the drums can be fairly simple, like something you'd here from the White Stripes would work. Once you can get that down you'll start seeing your timing improve with your other instruments. Also, once you have a drum set around you can jam, and that's how you get good. Good luck on your journey and let me know when you're ready to jam; maybe I'll play bass in your pedophile 3 chord band.

Man, I got in on this thread late...

Bio is being very generous claiming I play. I make a guitar sound like shit. But as with most things I am a bit OCD about the whole thing. I try to learn everything I can about the current hobby(s). In fact, I just leveled the frets on my electric guitar (cheap S101 from Dutch's). I have set the intonation on my electric and my sons, adjusted the truss rod on mine (although I don't have the confidence to touch another truss rod) and set the pickups to where they should be. I feel like I did a pretty good job, the guy that taught me ask me if he could just play it for a bit after I finished...45 minutes of Jamming later, he reluctantly closed the store and went home.

Encap gave excellent advice. I'm sure you'll follow it.

I have one of the cheap guitar sets, came with most of the stuff in the Epiphone kit. The only thing I have any desire to keep is the guitar and the seldom used gig bag. Now that I've spent hours making the guitar pretty good, I kind of like it. New tuners, nut, bridge and possibly pickups and I'll be happy...for about 10 minutes, then I'll want something else.

So, now that I've decided I *am* going to get that Johnson Tube amp that I *LOVE* the sound of, I'm giving Bio my old piece of shit...he actually seems to want it. For the life of me, I can't figure that out. The advantage of doing it that way is that he can just focus on getting a good guitar for the money he wants to spend.

I'm betting he has something in his hot little hands by Sunday...

Zipper has graciously offered me a deal I can not refuse!

He has a yellow Stratocaster, amp, tuner, etc. sitting in his basement collecting dust. He's offered to let me use it for an extended period. If I like it, I can buy it or give it back and buy something else.

Zipper is one damn cool guy!

I'm going to swing by his place this weekend to look at it (I'd go today, but I'm stuck on the mass transit gig for the foreseeable future... damn drugs!)