After 20 years of music tech I went on the same journey 3 years ago.
The mistake I made was thinking I could buy and sell guitars and amps as I had always done with synths and drum machines. Not so I’ve found. It’s easy to tell if the Octatrack is for you or the second hand Pro2 is in good condition. As a novice I found it hard to judge good guitar gear from average or bad and I have surfed through four guitars and six amps before getting it right. I’ve lost a ton of money on these trades.
Good Guitar and amp combos were like witchcraft to me. My advice , tread carefully unless you have deep pockets or are happy to live with whatever you buy.
Important to differentiate between a bad guitar and a badly setup guitar / guitar lacking a little final QC. Hence mentioning that, in some instances, a relatively inexpensive setup can transform a guitars playability. Many of us that started out on acoustics decades ago, for example, can vouch for having strings almost an inch high from the fretboard, rough fret ends, poorly cut nut, etc
Don’t overlook a setup as it can seriously transform even the most expensive guitars. As has been mentioned, sometimes they just play great straight out of the box and no setup is needed initially.
Get a Bass.
Play it like you never took lessons and you’ll be happy forever.
Choice of Bass is easy. P Bass or jazz Bass.
Cheap and excellent = Yamaha passive range.
Expensive and good = too many to mention.
If you still want to sound like a guitar hero just add a RAT or DS2
How much memorization will be required for you to play guitar depends on what you want to play.
There are quite a few rock/pop stars who have spent entire careers playing guitar with simple chord shapes and simple technique. Some great rhythm guitar parts don’t even have a chord - just one note at a time played with great groove.
Loftier goals on the guitar will require commensurate effort to achieve the desired results.
Piano is more of a PITA in that a major chord is a different shape in each different key. I’m enjoying learning and practicing piano chord shapes in different keys but I also realize not everybody is willing to spare the time and effort.
I also like playing on my Push 3 which has movable chord shapes like guitar. It has its own pros and cons compared to playing guitar or piano.
Yes get a guitar because the only other answer is no, don’t get a guitar and you are not a person that is going to shuffle off this mortal coil without having and playing the guitar. So stop stalling.
Yes, also get a bass. Yes, get one you like looking at so it looks cool on the wall for the times you aren’t playing. You can’t be a guitar hero without a guitar.
My main goal here is being able to freely explore some chord progressions for my music and maybe play the occasional song.
Yep, and because I don’t actually play the piano, it is very hard to get into that exploring mode to find some inspiration for a melody or some chords… I mean, I could use the piano roll in a DAW… Which works but I really don’t enjoy doing the rest on a computer and I kind of hate dragging small things on a screen
I actually had a small interlude with a bass guitar a couple of years ago. I really didn’t enjoy it but I also bought a really ugly one in a store because it was rather cheap and it was supposed to be a good “beginner bass”. I learned a ton about sound and music after that though and now I’d buy a beautiful piece of gear!
The chord shapes that I learned to start playing guitar:
5 open-string major chord shapes - C, A, G, E, D
5 open-string minor chord chapes
3 movable 6th-string root barre chord shapes (major, minor, dominant)
3 movable 5th-string root barre chord shapes (major, minor, dominant)
16 shapes to learn, which can be used for a lot of rock, pop, and folk music - excluding alternate tunings.
I guess to a beginner that sounds like a lot. However, you’ll be surprised how quickly you memorize them once you get into the habit of playing guitar. My very first guitar teacher was a college roommate who happened to be a Beatles fan. I memorized all of the above shapes quickly because he had me playing Beatles songs. Ok “Do You Want To Know A Secret” has an augmented chord in there but it wasn’t that awful to learn to be honest.
I gradually added the chord shapes that are used for jazz and neo-soul later. You won’t believe it but these juicier shapes became more useful to me after I learned the shell chord shapes - which are shapes with only 3 notes - the 3 most essential notes for identifying a particular chord… and then using those shapes to play rhythm guitar for jazz standards.
Also, there are barre chord shapes for those juicier chords which are easy to memorize - players favor them for that reason. Technically any of the open-string CAGED shapes can be movable up the fretboard but the barre shapes are the easiest to move around. Barre chords also form a user-friendly platform for the hammer-ons and pulloffs characteristic of R&B and Hendrix-influenced rock (Hendrix himself influenced by R&B)
The classic beginner boon, being able to soak up information like a sponge. “I can’t do this” on day 1 turns into “Oh okay that’s not that bad” on day 3.
You have already had some great advice in this thread. I don’t have much to add but definitely try and go into a good music shop that has a heap of guitars you can try.
For an electric, that doesn’t mean you have to plug them all into an amp or anything, but just handle as many as you can to try and see what feels the most comfortable for neck shape and balance.
It also might be an idea to grab a dirt cheap nylon string acoustic. The cheap ones can be really playable and gentler on your fingers learning some chords etc. A few weeks with one of those might help your electric guitar purchasing decisions.
I’ve started my (acoustic) guitar journey seven weeks ago for the same reasons. I did play some piano as a kid, but no real prior instrument experience (except for a Handpan)
I also wanted to learn how to improvise using some basic chord shapes, and want to learn how to write my own chord progressions (and full songs eventually).
Although the first 4 weeks were much harder for me than piano (especially because my hands/fingers are pretty uncoordinated and inflexible), i can now easily play most open chords and even a barre chord without too much hassle.
I used simply guitar and simple improvisation (playing simple arpeggios with the chords I know) and did this for 20-30 minutes per day (3/4 days a week) on a Taylor gs mini (I chose a mini because I loved the tone and it was much easier for me to play than a full size for now)
Imho, this is a very enjoyable way to learn to play a traditional instrument and if I can do it (with my clumsiness and two young kids) I think anybody can
Thanks, I actually already did! But I didn’t go with an electric guitar to keep things easily accessible and to prevent me from the many possible rabbit hole surrounding amps, compressors and all the other effects Ended up with a Yamaha F370 and if I like it, I’ll get an electric later on.
Inherited my dad’s prized possession, a 1966 gibson j-50adj. Purchased new when he was 19 or 20.
Sounds great i think and in good shape.
Been practicing some easy chords as much as my fingers will allow since yesterday. Ive always had some cheapo guitars around to fuck about with and would sample some notes occasionally.
But now im motivated to learn a bit more ‘proper’ guitar in his honour
A little backyard koala session from just now, 3 guitar loops with lots of bugs and birds in the background. I think it sounds ok for day2
If I could only have one pedal, the colour box would be it! Right now I have one running as a mic pre into a zoom digital mixer. Passes 48v phantom to the Blue microphone! It sounds so good and clear!
