Tell me about Electric Guitar

I am changing schools here in a couple of days from my regular shitty 7-8 hour a day public school to a 4 hour self-paced charter highschool. Since it's only four hours and because all my friends will still be at the other school, I'm going to have A LOT more time on my hands.

I've always wanted to play electric guitar but I've held off because that's what everyone else wanted to do and I never had the time or money. Now, years later, I've decided to start playing guitar. I don't have one yet, but I'll be trading in my mom's unused electric piano.

I want to play metal guitar. I hear there are a lot of factors that go into it such as string type and how many strings the guitar has. I know absolutely nothing about guitars. If anyone can help, I'd like to know how to get started on my new hobby.

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Originally Posted by Black_Eagle

I am changing schools here in a couple of days from my regular shitty 7-8 hour a day public school to a 4 hour self-paced charter highschool. Since it's only four hours and because all my friends will still be at the other school, I'm going to have A LOT more time on my hands.

I've always wanted to play electric guitar but I've held off because that's what everyone else wanted to do and I never had the time or money. Now, years later, I've decided to start playing guitar. I don't have one yet, but I'll be trading in my mom's unused electric piano.

I want to play metal guitar. I hear there are a lot of factors that go into it such as string type and how many strings the guitar has. I know absolutely nothing about guitars. If anyone can help, I'd like to know how to get started on my new hobby.

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Your standard guitar has six strings, I've never heard of the number of strings differing really, except in twelve-strings, but those aren't really used for metal, and not many bands use them now.

You'll probably get metal strings, as those are typical for electric guitar. For brands, I'd recommend Ernie Ball, they give a nice crisp sound that I adore.

Most heavy metal bands like Lamb of God and whatnot will play in Drop D tuning, which just means you drop the tuning of your low E string one full-step down, to a D. However, metal bands such as Black Sabbath usually just play in standard tuning, I believe.

If you're learning other peoples material, then your best bet is to just get tabs off of sites like ultimate-guitar.com, and just learn from those. If you want to compose your own stuff, then do some research on different scales, this will get you started on improvising and composing riffs/solos. Also, for some good rock riffs, just look up power chords, they're very easy to start with and you can make some decent rhythms with them.

I'd be happy to answer any other specific questions you have, it's hard to just teach you about guitar unless you have specific questions, as there's so much to know about it. Ultimate-guitar.com is absolutely invaluable, as there are tons of video lessons to learn from, and hundreds of thousands of user-submitted tabs to learn. The video lessons are great, personally I can't learn something very well just from reading about it. Also, if you have trouble making a tab sound like it should, watch someone else play it, search covers of it on youtube to see how other people play it to get strumming patterns, speed, timing etc., I always do this because it really helps you to get to know what you're playing.

I recommend getting a teacher. It's perfectly feasible to teach yourself how to play from books, videos, etc, but there's no sense in self-handicapping. I taught myself from books and the internet and such, but in retrospect it's clear to me that if I had just gotten a teacher I would have progressed a lot quicker, not to mention I wouldn't have had to undo all the bad technique habits I taught myself.

Live lessons + lots of practice = guitar, baby!

Tom Hess is a guitar instructor/metal guitarist who has written lots of very high quality articles about almost every aspect of guitar playing. I particularly like the ones about ear training and the importance of getting a good teacher. Check them out:
http://www.tomhess.net/Articles.aspx

Thanks, both of you. That really helps me out. Hopefully, if playing electric guitar is anything like the keyboarding class I was forced to take, all it's going to take is hours and hours of tedious practice to get it down. Only this time, I'm willing and I'm actually going to have something cool to show for it.

So the sound of the guitar is only a matter of the quality of strings used and also the tuning?

From what I can tell by looking at this video, I'm going to need a pedal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3SySmLCm4U

Are there specific types of pedals used for specific types of effects or are they adjustable to other effects also? The guy in that video was clearly switching between a really heavy sound to a much lighter tone.

A teacher would be the best way to learn. It's possible to teach yourself (I did) but a teacher would be much faster :tongue:

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Originally Posted by Black_Eagle

So the sound of the guitar is only a matter of the quality of strings used and also the tuning?

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Not really, no. Strings do differ in quality but they don't really have that profound of an effect on the tone, especially if you're using distortion. Unless you're talking about two strings that are of a different type, such as flatwounds (don't worry about that yet, though). The freshness of the strings is a bigger factor. As for the tuning, it's not so much about the tone as it is the different things you can do with different tunings, although lowered tunings will have a heavier sound as they are bassier. You will probably be doing most of your stuff in standard tuning and "Drop D" tuning.

To be honest, you shouldn't be worried too much at this stage about what your tone will be like. At your level of inexperience, you haven't really gained the ability to make fine distinctions in tone. You should be more focused on how you will be playing. There will be plenty of time to worry about tone down the line. Although (just a little food for thought here) a great guitarist can make even the shittiest equipment sing.

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Originally Posted by Black_Eagle

From what I can tell by looking at this video, I'm going to need a pedal.

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You don't need a distortion/overdrive pedal. Which is not to say that pedals aren't useful or that you won't want a pedal, but it's not a necessity. Almost all modern amps can do both clean and dirty tones, and many even come with foot switches.

As for your question about different types of pedals - man, there are SO many. There are literally forums where people just talk about different pedals, amps, and effects (e.g. guitargeek.com). You will inevitably be drawn into the world of effects pedals eventually, but there's no need to worry about that at this stage. Just buy a cheap guitar and amp and start learning. :wave:

Alrighty then. I think I've got enough information to start out. I guess I'll get my equipment, start playing, and pick things up down the line. Man, I gotta make some guitarist friends who haven't quit since they started playing in Middle school XD

Luckily, since the local music company accepts trade-ins, like I said, I'll be able to trade my mom's boring 600$ keyboard for a guitar and amp.

I do intend to get lessons, but I'm going to have to wait until I get a job so I can pay for them myself. 'Course, now I've got to get a car before I get a job and I gotta get my license before I get a car, so it could be awhile. I'm gonna have to stick with the internet for now. Thanks for the online resources.

Now, on to the next dilemma: what color and shape guitar do I want?

http://www.americanmusical.com/Produ...rge/p46770.jpg

The Epiphone Les Paul Special II is a great beginner guitar that comes with everything you'll need, and has a great sound to it. Also, like said before, you don't really need an effects pedal, you can play anything without one, it just won't sound identical. The thing that the guy was doing in the video you posted could be done simply by switching from a clean setting on your amp to the overdrive setting, which is standard on most amps. Overdrive gives the effect of distortion, just not quite as good.

For effects pedals, personally I wouldn't buy a pedal that comes with only one effect, but that's because I play many different styles. There are pedals that comes with tons and tons of effects for about 250 dollars and upward. Where you just want to play metal though, you'd probably be fine with just a regular distortion effect, or with just the overdrive built into the amp.

Also, the gauge or size of the strings will have an effect on the sound. A larger gauge string will have a deeper, heavier sound. These things are good to know for later, but completely unnecessary for starting out. You'll want to focus on just learning songs, rather than effects pedals, string gauges, etc.

Also, the guitar itself will have an influence over what your sound is like. I can play metal on my guitar, but when I play on one of my buddies guitars, it doesn't sound nearly as good because his guitar for some reason has a much deeper tone to it, nearly like a bass, even with full overdrive on. So his guitar sounds much better with blues and jazz, while mine is good for all around, but more so for rock and metal.

I highly recommend the guitar I posted, it's one of the best deals you can find on a great guitar. For the whole pack, it was only 250-300 dollars, and it's a beautiful guitar, with a great sound. For the first like month or two I had it, I would just stare at it all the time because it looked so damn beautiful in my room.

Also, if a teacher works for you, then that's great. They can be great to have, although personally I feel I understand better from internet resources and just watching how other people play on youtube and whatnot, than paying like 90 dollars for an hour long lesson. I just don't seem to learn as well in a class, as I do from playing and figuring it out by myself, but of course, everyone is different, and teachers can be very helpful for advanced techniques and the like.

First thing you should do it learn exactly where all of the strings and frets are. You should be able to pluck an individual string without looking at it. Then work the frets so that you know where they are.

The pack that Bayside posted looks like a good deal. I also used to own an ELP Special II and agree that for the price tag they are great.

I have to say that I would not recommend group lessons. I've found that while they may be great for making the teacher lots of money, they are a pretty much a disservice to the individual students. (On a side note, I've never heard of someone charging $90 per lesson - they are usually around $20-$30 for a half hour session where I am from.)

One-on-one attention from a quality teacher, on the other hand, can expedite your progress in ways that most beginning guitar players fail to foresee. Tom Hess spells out most of the advantages in one of my favorite articles by him: Do You Really Need a Teacher? While it is true that there is an absolute wealth of information on learning and playing guitar online, navigating through all of this to find information that is both high-quality and relevant to your specific needs can be very hard, especially for the inexperienced. A good teacher can assess your needs and weaknesses and give you a sort of "road map" that will save you lots of time and frustration. You provide the ends, the teacher provides the means.

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Originally Posted by DuB

The pack that Bayside posted looks like a good deal. I also used to own an ELP Special II and agree that for the price tag they are great.

I have to say that I would not recommend group lessons. I've found that while they may be great for making the teacher lots of money, they are a pretty much a disservice to the individual students. (On a side note, I've never heard of someone charging $90 per lesson - they are usually around $20-$30 for a half hour session where I am from.)

One-on-one attention from a quality teacher, on the other hand, can expedite your progress in ways that most beginning guitar players fail to foresee. Tom Hess spells out most of the advantages in one of my favorite articles by him: Do You Really Need a Teacher? While it is true that there is an absolute wealth of information on learning and playing guitar online, navigating through all of this to find information that is both high-quality and relevant to your specific needs can be very hard, especially for the inexperienced. A good teacher can assess your needs and weaknesses and give you a sort of "road map" that will save you lots of time and frustration. You provide the ends, the teacher provides the means.

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Lucky for you.... The only place around here that gives lessons is a MusicStop, there's a few people who privately run lessons upstairs for 90 bucks an hour....

Thinking back to when I was first starting out, it definitely would have been great to have a teacher. I remember not knowing anything about different tunings, not knowing how to read chords, and for a short while I was playing all my tabs upside down because I thought by the high E they meant the one on top.... I came close to quitting at one point, because I just couldn't get anything to sound like it should have. Then I realized I was doing simple things wrong, like for songs like Hey There Delilah, I didn't realize that it was finger-picked, and had a hard time figuring out how Tom was able to play two seperate strings so accurately and whatnot.... Just simple little things that a teacher can pick up on instantly and show you were you've gone wrong, it would've definitely been great to have starting out.

So yeah, I agree with DuB, lessons are a great idea, especially when you're first starting out, it can save you a lot of time and frustration. Too many people get frustrated in the beginning, with getting over that little hump of knowledge, and just give up.

I'm most likely going to learn from both a teacher and the internet. Due to the nature of this new school I'm attending, I may be able to learn guitar at one of the ACC campuses (I live in Austin TX) for free. Until then, I'm going with self-teaching.

I'm very weary of that whole quitting while you just started phenomenon. I think I have the discipline to get through it. If I don't, oh well I didn't spend any money.

What ages did you guys start playing guitar? I'm 15 two months from turning 16. I really wish I had started earlier, but like I said, I just didn't wanna follow the crowd.

I started playing about two years ago I think it was. I would've been about 15 at the time I think.

Once you're over the initial hardships, you start to understand everything a lot faster I find. Not all that long ago, I realized how easy it was to read chords, and how to start writing your own riffs and improvising on the spot and whatnot. At the start it all seems kind of overwhelming, but soon it just seems to start to flow.

Also, like you mentioned earlier, it's all about hours of tedious practice. A few of my friends have been playing for quite a bit longer than I have, but I'm already better than them because I put the time and effort into it. The most important thing I find, is to practice [I]every single day[I]. I find if I go a day or two without playing, I start to get rusty. But if I play every single day, I find myself getting more and more accurate, and being able to play faster, and it all just feels more fluid and less tense. While hours of practice a day is great, try not to let it become a nuisance. Personally, I love playing guitar, it's fun for me, it's a passion of mine. However, I know that if I put more time into it, I could play a lot better, but I'd also end up making it into something thats more of a job than a hobby, which I really don't want to happen.

I find it's important to find a good balance between tedious practice, and still having fun and enjoying playing.

It's funny... how many people here actually started on an electric guitar?

I used to play all my songs - electric or otherwise - on my acoustic, which helped develop strong calluses on my fingers and the ability to transfer the song over to the electric (and subsequently make it easier to play).

Good advice here so far. All I can really add Black, is to not worry about the price and the look of the guitar - that's a rookie mistake. You don't know why you're paying more except for the common name and also you don't even know if you'll be playing months from the time that you begin. Start small. Think baby steps.

Skill before glamour.

Yeah Bayside, I totally get where you're coming from. At my new school I'm going to have SO much more free time. Since I've got nothing else to do in that time, why not practice?

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Originally Posted by CoLd BlooDed

It's funny... how many people here actually started on an electric guitar?

I used to play all my songs - electric or otherwise - on my acoustic, which helped develop strong calluses on my fingers and the ability to transfer the song over to the electric (and subsequently make it easier to play).

Good advice here so far. All I can really add Black, is to not worry about the price and the look of the guitar - that's a rookie mistake. You don't know why you're paying more except for the common name and also you don't even know if you'll be playing months from the time that you begin. Start small. Think baby steps.

Skill before glamour.

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Yeah, I've heard of people starting on acoustic first to learn the basics and such, then moving to electric afterwards. From what these guys are telling me, I'll do just fine on an electric alone.

Luckily, ColdBlooded, like I stated earlier, I'm going to be trading in my mom's 600$ piano. Don't know how much trade-in value I'm going to get out of it, but I intend on getting the priciest, and most cool looking guitar I can without spending any more money. If possible, I'd like to get a cheapo guitar and amp with an acoustic also. That would be epic.

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Originally Posted by Black_Eagle

Yeah Bayside, I totally get where you're coming from. At my new school I'm going to have SO much more free time. Since I've got nothing else to do in that time, why not practice?



Yeah, I've heard of people starting on acoustic first to learn the basics and such, then moving to electric afterwards. From what these guys are telling me, I'll do just fine on an electric alone.

Luckily, ColdBlooded, like I stated earlier, I'm going to be trading in my mom's 600$ piano. Don't know how much trade-in value I'm going to get out of it, but I intend on getting the priciest, and most cool looking guitar I can without spending any more money. If possible, I'd like to get a cheapo guitar and amp with an acoustic also. That would be epic.

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Yeah, acoustics are definitely great to have. I still play my acoustic all the time, it's not that great of a guitar, but the tones good enough, and it's easy to just pick up and strum out a tune. Easier than learning a full out picking song anyway, because a lot of acoustic songs just go through the same chord progressions over and over again. Plus, there's a certain beauty to an acoustic thats not quite there with electric, if you know what I mean. On the other hand though, it's easier to play electric because you can use distortion and whatnot, and hammer-ons and pull-offs are much easier pronounced, so you can do stuff like tapping a lot easier.... They both have their advantages and disadvantages, but electric is definitely more fun, for me anyway. So yeah, if you can get an electric and an acoustic, that'd be pretty cool too.

for a really really cheap starter electric, id suggest starcaster. its a rip from strats, basically a cheap beginner version, but it gets the job done

Well I finally got my electric today. Traded in the piano for 300 dollars which just happened to be the exact price of the guitar I bought. I got a pack, so everything came with it including an automatic tuner. And now I start my long, long journey. I toyed with it a bit today, but I'm going to start some actual practice on Monday when I'm free from my mother's ears.

i would advise you to learn the fret board, get a feel for the instrument, learn a few chords, maybe a scale. the penatonic is a nice and easy scale to learn and can be used tastefully in almost any situation. (almost is the key word there.)

some easy chords are:
E minor or Em
A major or Amaj
G major or Gmaj

G is the hardest out of those the but also probably the most common. there are much harder chords to play but after awhile they're all easy.

after you have a basic feel, get an instructor, learning the basics at your own pace is a lot less frustrating in my humble opinion.

music is beautiful thing. if you're in it for the right reasons it makes you feel things that sex, drugs, and downy pillows could never top.

cherish it. every fucking note.

best of luck, and really, i know you've heard it way too many times, but the more time you put into it the better you get. don't think of it as practice, think of it as a hobby and you're doing it for fun. time = skillz. fo realz.

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Originally Posted by lysergic

i would advise you to learn the fret board, get a feel for the instrument, learn a few chords, maybe a scale. the penatonic is a nice and easy scale to learn and can be used tastefully in almost any situation. (almost is the key word there.)

some easy chords are:
E minor or Em
A major or Amaj
G major or Gmaj

G is the hardest out of those the but also probably the most common. there are much harder chords to play but after awhile they're all easy.

after you have a basic feel, get an instructor, learning the basics at your own pace is a lot less frustrating in my humble opinion.

music is beautiful thing. if you're in it for the right reasons it makes you feel things that sex, drugs, and downy pillows could never top.

cherish it. every fucking note.

best of luck, and really, i know you've heard it way too many times, but the more time you put into it the better you get. don't think of it as practice, think of it as a hobby and you're doing it for fun. time = skillz. fo realz.

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all QFT, read and reread that

Learning the fretboard helps out so much especially as you get better.

Try to learn as much theory as you can along the way too. Theory is something you usually have a hard time understanding the first time you try to learn a part but then after reading some more and playing some more you will begin to understand all the different aspects.

Start improvising right away, my favorite site is:
http://www.guitarbackingtrack.com

Find some simple backing tracks on there that you can just solo over using the minor pentatonic scale. The #5 most popular one (listed off to the right on the main screen), Still Got the Blues by Gary Moore, is one of my favorites and for the majority of it you can use the A minor pentatonic scale.

Remember that there is no such thing as a wrong note. If you are just practicing by yourself its good to experiment and start breaking out of the defined scales that you learn. If you like the way a certain note sounds in certain situation then play it. You have ears so you can judge how well a note fits just as well as anyone else.

Using a metronome can be really frustrating sometimes but it really does wonders for your playing.

It is also a good idea to record yourself playing then listen back to it and see what you don't like. Are you rushing some notes or are the notes not ringing out long enough or do you need to add some vibrato or do you need to mute some of the other strings that are ringing out when they shouldn't be, etc.

Find some friends who play and ask a million question to them, on here, on guitar sites, on youtube, to google and so on.

If you have your amp loud or are playing with others, especially if there are drums then wear ear plugs. Not only is being exposed to loud sound really draining after a little while but you don't wanna damage your hearing especially with being a musician.

Here's another site:
http://www.stetina.com/tips.html

troy stetina is a genius when it comes to fast and amazing playing. I have alot of his books and they are all great and I highly recommend his stuff. Even his basic books have you playing parts to amazing songs. The books just seem like he is treating you as a learner as compared to most books treating you like you're a moron.

The most important part of guitar playing is to enjoy it. Part of enjoying it comes from dedication which will result in seeing yourself improve. You just have to strive for a balance between dedicated playing and random playing.
I love guitar playing and I hope you will learn to also.

Wow, Phobia, that guitarbacktrack website is so golden. I know how to solo but now I can practice my scales so much more efficiently!

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Originally Posted by CoLd BlooDed

Wow, Phobia, that guitarbacktrack website is so golden. I know how to solo but now I can practice my scales so much more efficiently!

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I know I love that site, I always go on and improv the ending solo of comfortably numb. I wish it went on longer like the live version though.

Another good site for learning the guitar is threechordguitar.com. I think. It's something like that, it shows you simple songs. I'm pretty sure that he does both electric and acoustic, but it doesn't matter. The chords are the same one both.

'nother couple of good sites for guitar:

http://www.shredacademy.com
http://www.musicvirtuosity.com
http://www.guitarmasterclass.net (for the Lick of the Day).

@Bayside
7-string guitars are also a common version of the electric guitar.

Oh, and I think someone mentioned Tom Hess (didn't care to read the entire topic). I'm a (correspondence) student of his :). If you'd like more info about his lessons, just send me a PM.

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Well I finally got my electric today. Traded in the piano for 300 dollars which just happened to be the exact price of the guitar I bought. I got a pack, so everything came with it including an automatic tuner. And now I start my long, long journey. I toyed with it a bit today, but I'm going to start some actual practice on Monday when I'm free from my mother's ears.

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Good luck, mate. And don't forget, have fun!:banana: