Any thoughts on the guitar itself or the finish? Anybody got experience with it?
I'm playing guitar on and off for 4 years and currently own an Ibanez Destroyer DTX-120 with custom Seymour Duncan pickups, which I love to play dearly.
(Vote): Get it! (Vote): Don't get it! (Vote): Get another one (which one)!
I feel that Les Pauls aren't really good if you like shredding and doing like string skipping arpeggios. Just doesn't have the nice treble sound in my own experience. But if you like going blues scale dorian kinda stuff or rhythm playing, then Les Pauls sound great.
Any thoughts on the guitar itself or the finish? Anybody got experience with it?
I'm playing guitar on and off for 4 years and currently own an Ibanez Destroyer DTX-120 with custom Seymour Duncan pickups, which I love to play dearly.
(Vote): Get it! (Vote): Don't get it! (Vote): Get another one (which one)!
I voted for "Don't get it" and I will explain why.
First of all, I never recommend buying a guitar you have not played personally, and I am not talking just about the model/brand I mean you literally need to go out and play a guitar before you buy it, even if you have played the exact same model it is not always the same.
Second of all Different guitars are often times better for different types of music, Les Paul has deep roots in Rock and roll and even some country, and while every guitar can play every genre, I would first contemplate what kind of music do you play or would like to play, and let that help influence your decision.
Thirdly... Its white, black is the way to go my friend.
All around the Les Pauls are great guitars but I would definitely not buy it on impulse, and since you already have you already have the Ibanez I would actually recommend a different style of guitar, namely one that can use a truss rod(I mean whammy bar, you saw nothing!), such as.
The Fender Strat. (I would recommend one of these to any guitarist, they are inexpensive and beautiful guitars.) + Show Spoiler +
On May 27 2011 21:20 afiz0r wrote:well it depends entirely on the kind of music you play and your budget. But epiphone is a good brand at that price range. And les paul's are generally pretty decent for alot of music styles.
I'm playing a broad range of different stuff from general Rock to some (old) Metal. Some bands I like to put in my practice routine: Def Leppard, Social Distortion, Alkaline Trio, Offspring, Metallica, AFI, Against Me, Rise Against, Guns&Roses, Bon Jovi and so on... I like the more simple melodies and chill stuff opposed to shredding.
Budget is around 500 (~715 USD) euro, give or take some.
Edit: @Spyfire - I played it in a shop a while ago and like it, but I'm usually hard on spending money so I didn't get it yet.
- Yeah it's white, but I already have a black guitar and I kinda like the idea of having a white one in the collection
- You're right about the whammy though. My first guitar had one and I miss it a little. I'm not really a big Strat-fan but maybe I should just get over it and try one for a change
On May 27 2011 21:20 afiz0r wrote:well it depends entirely on the kind of music you play and your budget. But epiphone is a good brand at that price range. And les paul's are generally pretty decent for alot of music styles.
I'm playing a broad range of different stuff from general Rock to some (old) Metal. Some bands I like to put in my practice routine: Def Leppard, Social Distortion, Alkaline Trio, Offspring, Metallica, AFI, Against Me, Rise Against, Guns&Roses, Bon Jovi and so on... I like the more simple melodies and chill stuff opposed to shredding.
Budget is around 500 (~715 USD) euro, give or take some.
Edit: @Spyfire - I played it in a shop a while ago and like it, but I'm usually hard on spending money so I didn't get it yet.
- Yeah it's white, but I already have a black guitar and I kinda like the idea of having a white one in the collection
- You're right about the whammy though. My first guitar had one and I miss it a little. I'm not really a big Strat-fan but maybe I should just get over it and try one for a change
Just go back to the store and pick up a couple, I like to think the guitar will come to the player and you will know its the right guitar to buy when you are playing it. On another note I actually think amp/sound set up is equally important if not more important than the guitar so you may look into a really nice amp instead of a guitar haha...
My brother is building his own guitar in one of his classes, and I thought I might as well post it here to get some criticism for him. I don't really know any details about it, other than the neck is Cherry wood, it has 6 strings and it is an electric guitar. The back half of it is Maple iirc.
I will see if I can get some pictures tonight, because I can't seem to find any on his FB page.
On May 27 2011 21:20 afiz0r wrote:well it depends entirely on the kind of music you play and your budget. But epiphone is a good brand at that price range. And les paul's are generally pretty decent for alot of music styles.
I'm playing a broad range of different stuff from general Rock to some (old) Metal. Some bands I like to put in my practice routine: Def Leppard, Social Distortion, Alkaline Trio, Offspring, Metallica, AFI, Against Me, Rise Against, Guns&Roses, Bon Jovi and so on... I like the more simple melodies and chill stuff opposed to shredding.
Budget is around 500 (~715 USD) euro, give or take some.
Edit: @Spyfire - I played it in a shop a while ago and like it, but I'm usually hard on spending money so I didn't get it yet.
- Yeah it's white, but I already have a black guitar and I kinda like the idea of having a white one in the collection
- You're right about the whammy though. My first guitar had one and I miss it a little. I'm not really a big Strat-fan but maybe I should just get over it and try one for a change
Just go back to the store and pick up a couple, I like to think the guitar will come to the player and you will know its the right guitar to buy when you are playing it. On another note I actually think amp/sound set up is equally important if not more important than the guitar so you may look into a really nice amp instead of a guitar haha...
Haha yeah you're right there
Guess I'll just let it sit a while and try around a little more before deciding.
I'm still using my old Marshall amp but when I was still taking guitar lessons I was playing on a Peavey Bandit and the sound kinda grew on me.
I started music with an electric guitar. Looking back on it, guitarists are strange in a bad way.
This is mainly what I observed online. Guitarists only talk about gear. They only talk about getting a new pedal, a new amp, new pickups, new effects boards, new guitars, etc. I don't know why they do this. Many of them would never seem to talk about music or take their guitar playing seriously as a musician would.
What you need is the cheapest and most simple gear you can get. You need a guitar that doesn't fall apart and makes sound and you need the cheapest low wattage amp you can find. Only when you start to perform or join a serious band you need anything more. Don't waste your money. Either buy an acoustic or buy cheap stuff.
Instead all these guitarists, mostly very young people like I was back then, memorized every peace of gear on the market while they didn't know anything beyond power chords and couldn't read music.
-Get 'Modern Guitar method' by Berklee.press and sight read through it. (I am sure you know how to 'get' things online) -Learn all the basic chords in as many voicings. And with basic I mean Maj7, Min7, m7b5, Dim7, etc. There's like 3 really nice voicings and 4 or so more not so nice ones. -Learn to improvise these chords in a key. -Next, learn to improve all these chords modulating from key to key -Work on technique and rhythm. Rhythm is the key to playing music. Especially for a guitarist. I can't explain in simple terms what having great rhythm means and how to practice it. But just know, rhythm is key and rhythm is what everyone is bad at. Even some of the greats. -Learn the major scale. Memorize it. Don't bother learning any exotic scales. Like harmonic minor.
Only then start to play songs.
And remember, taste is an excuse to not like a certain kind of music. There's good music and bad music and the grey area in between. Music in other genres doesn't suddenly become bad because it's in a genre you don't like. Same with music from different cultures. The musicians are either skilled or not. Taste is an excuse not to like perfectly good music. It's an irrational bias.
Ooh and the best guitar solo is Shawn Lane's solo on 'Mirror' on 'Icon'.
If anyone has questions on music theory, I can answer.
On May 27 2011 21:20 afiz0r wrote:well it depends entirely on the kind of music you play and your budget. But epiphone is a good brand at that price range. And les paul's are generally pretty decent for alot of music styles.
I'm playing a broad range of different stuff from general Rock to some (old) Metal. Some bands I like to put in my practice routine: Def Leppard, Social Distortion, Alkaline Trio, Offspring, Metallica, AFI, Against Me, Rise Against, Guns&Roses, Bon Jovi and so on... I like the more simple melodies and chill stuff opposed to shredding.
Budget is around 500 (~715 USD) euro, give or take some.
Edit: @Spyfire - I played it in a shop a while ago and like it, but I'm usually hard on spending money so I didn't get it yet.
- Yeah it's white, but I already have a black guitar and I kinda like the idea of having a white one in the collection
- You're right about the whammy though. My first guitar had one and I miss it a little. I'm not really a big Strat-fan but maybe I should just get over it and try one for a change
A les paul will do just fine if you like those bands. Just make sure to actually go to a store and play on it to test it like some other people have pointed out already. It might be the best guitar ever but if it feels weird to you or you feel uncomfortable playing it then you might be glad you actually tried it out before buying it. While at the store you can also get some advise on other guitars in that pricerange. You might like another guitar suprisingly well. Dont stare blindly at the les pauls and the stratocasters :D!
Been playing for about 7 years now, mostly rock/blues; i own a Gibson SG. @pandacore: just go to a shop, try out a guitar and buy it if you like it. That's how i got my own guitar: i was going to get a Les Paul myself, then i saw my beloved red SG, i played her a bit and just fell in love, even though she's supposed to be the "cheap" Gibson it just felt great
On May 27 2011 22:33 Hekisui wrote: What you need is the cheapest and most simple gear you can get. You need a guitar that doesn't fall apart and makes sound and you need the cheapest low wattage amp you can find. Only when you start to perform or join a serious band you need anything more. Don't waste your money. Either buy an acoustic or buy cheap stuff.
Just to throw in my .02 cents (Been playing guitar/bass for about 17 years, self taught, currently playing in a band in Chicago) getting the cheapest thing you can get is usually NOT the best idea. There are some really cheap guitars (and some not so cheap ones) out there that are very difficult to play because of the construction. If the action is really bad, and the bridge doesn't allow for much adjustment, your intonation will be off and you'll constantly hear bad notes even though you could be playing the right fret. This makes learning much more difficult than it needs to be. Imagine learning SC2 on a keyboard that sometimes mistakes one hot key for another. Or one with odd key spacing or a space bar that always comes loose. That's what its like learning to play guitar on a poorly constructed guitar. It sucks hard.
That being said, you can get a really good guitar that will last you for a couple years of learning (at least) for less than $100 US. A couple suggestions: Fender Squire series. Cheaper than the Standard or MIM models, and now they are almost comparable in quality to the MIM (made in mexico) ones. Squires use to be low end and somewhat poorly constructed, but Fender has increased quality over the last 10 years or so by quite a bit and I've plugged in several un-modded that blew away guitars costing 5x-6x as much. Rondo Music also sells the SX series which has awesome Fender clones. They are all around $100 or cheaper and if you are learning at home, who cares what name is on the headstock? You can buy that vintage 1969 Alpine White Strat when you're famous, or at least getting paid to play.
The best part about both brands is they will accept after market upgrades for Fender guitars, meaning if you end up enjoy playing the guitar a lot but want a better sound, you can upgrade the parts one at a time for fairly cheap. If you play a specific genre of music, you can easily tailor the guitar to fit the sound better. In the end you will have the perfect guitar for you and your playing style.
I know professional guitar/bass players who use modded/upgraded Squires and SX guitars when they practice or even playing live because they just feel "right" and they've tweaked the sound to their own taste.
You should get the best guitar YOU CAN AFFORD if you plan on playing it much at all. Best does not mean most expensive. And Best for you is different than Best for me. Learn a couple easy chords and play as many guitars as you can at a Guitar Center (or whatever) until you find one you like the feel of when playing those chords.
The Amp is less important at early stages and for learning/practicing at home I will agree that a small watt amp is fine. You do NOT need a 4x10 cab or a full Marshall stack for your bedroom. You should be able to get a usable practice amp for less than $50 and it will last you until you start playing with a drummer. Don't waste money on one with bells and whistles, instead invest in a good multi-effects pedal that will allow you to try out 1000000 different tones and sounds before investing a TON of money into the right equipment.
And fair warning: guitars are like Tattos and Lays potato chips, once you buy one and upgrade it a little, you'll be addicted and have a hard time stopping. I currently have 3 guitars, 3 basses, 4 amps and I shop for new ones everyday, haha.
I am going to read through all of it when I am home tonight... I can also post some pics of my guitars then.
Here is a clip of me and my band performing a show in Germany. Watch from ~4:20 if you only want to watch my solo. Ofc I dont mind if you check out the whole song, too
I used to work at guitar center and it would baffle me how some guys will play a guitar for hours, finally decide they love it, then ask me for a new one in the box. I had a guy make me ship a new Mesa to the store after he fell in love with the one he had been playing for hours because "it wasn't brand new". Long story short the "new one" crapped out on him and he came back to take the original he knew worked.
Moral is buy the exact one you love hah.
BTW huge fan of the Les Paul, i have a Gibson special and a custom but its like the other guys said you need something that fits your genre or you might not be as happy.
Gibsons are soooooooooooooo expensive man... I don't know... my friend dropped like fucking 3 grand on a SG haha. He has the robot one too (self tuning), he doesn't even play guitar that much.
its not bad but I kinda like my fenders... they are cheap but sound awesome
On May 28 2011 00:53 rawbertson wrote: Gibsons are soooooooooooooo expensive man... I don't know... my friend dropped like fucking 3 grand on a SG haha. He has the robot one too (self tuning), he doesn't even play guitar that much.
its not bad but I kinda like my fenders... they are cheap but sound awesome
haha I remember when we got the first robot in our store it was more of a string launcher then a self tuner. Then we learned don't touch the neck while its tuning hah.
On May 27 2011 22:33 Hekisui wrote: What you need is the cheapest and most simple gear you can get.
Just to throw in my .02 cents (Been playing guitar/bass for about 17 years, self taught, currently playing in a band in Chicago) getting the cheapest thing you can get is usually NOT the best idea. There are some really cheap guitars (and some not so cheap ones) out there that are very difficult to play because of the construction. If the action is really bad, and the bridge doesn't allow for much adjustment, your intonation will be off and you'll constantly hear bad notes even though you could be playing the right fret. This makes learning much more difficult than it needs to be. Imagine learning SC2 on a keyboard that sometimes mistakes one hot key for another. Or one with odd key spacing or a space bar that always comes loose. That's what its like learning to play guitar on a poorly constructed guitar. It sucks hard.
Well one thing I found is doing bar chords (especially an F) is a lot harder on shittier guitars, its just really hard to push all the strings down nicely. But I have played 2000$ epiphones with the same problem... But obviously the epiphone sounded way fucking nicer.
On May 28 2011 00:53 rawbertson wrote: Gibsons are soooooooooooooo expensive man... I don't know... my friend dropped like fucking 3 grand on a SG haha. He has the robot one too (self tuning), he doesn't even play guitar that much.
its not bad but I kinda like my fenders... they are cheap but sound awesome
haha I remember when we got the first robot in our store it was more of a string launcher then a self tuner. Then we learned don't touch the neck while its tuning hah.
Haha, did you find the high e string fucking impossible to self-tune? I fiddled with it a bit and I got it to work for a bit, I think its just cause the .wav frequency is a lot smaller and harder for the hardware to recognize. Honestly, we just tune it by hand now, that thing is kind of a pain in the ass. I launched a few strings off it.
The one thing I'll say is its SOOOO awesome for stringing its so easy and fast.
On May 27 2011 22:33 Hekisui wrote: I started music with an electric guitar. Looking back on it, guitarists are strange in a bad way.
This is mainly what I observed online. Guitarists only talk about gear. They only talk about getting a new pedal, a new amp, new pickups, new effects boards, new guitars, etc. I don't know why they do this. Many of them would never seem to talk about music or take their guitar playing seriously as a musician would.
What you need is the cheapest and most simple gear you can get. You need a guitar that doesn't fall apart and makes sound and you need the cheapest low wattage amp you can find. Only when you start to perform or join a serious band you need anything more. Don't waste your money. Either buy an acoustic or buy cheap stuff.
Instead all these guitarists, mostly very young people like I was back then, memorized every peace of gear on the market while they didn't know anything beyond power chords and couldn't read music.
-Get 'Modern Guitar method' by Berklee.press and sight read through it. (I am sure you know how to 'get' things online) -Learn all the basic chords in as many voicings. And with basic I mean Maj7, Min7, m7b5, Dim7, etc. There's like 3 really nice voicings and 4 or so more not so nice ones. -Learn to improvise these chords in a key. -Next, learn to improve all these chords modulating from key to key -Work on technique and rhythm. Rhythm is the key to playing music. Especially for a guitarist. I can't explain in simple terms what having great rhythm means and how to practice it. But just know, rhythm is key and rhythm is what everyone is bad at. Even some of the greats. -Learn the major scale. Memorize it. Don't bother learning any exotic scales. Like harmonic minor.
Only then start to play songs.
And remember, taste is an excuse to not like a certain kind of music. There's good music and bad music and the grey area in between. Music in other genres doesn't suddenly become bad because it's in a genre you don't like. Same with music from different cultures. The musicians are either skilled or not. Taste is an excuse not to like perfectly good music. It's an irrational bias.
Ooh and the best guitar solo is Shawn Lane's solo on 'Mirror' on 'Icon'.
If anyone has questions on music theory, I can answer.
I think everyone in here already assumes everyone else knows how to play guitar, this is not the "How to learn how to play guitar" thread. If anyone has questions on how to play, what to play and what not, how to learn etc, then they can ask but I do not think there is anything wrong with talking about guitars and gear.
Edit:Also this is not really the correct way to learn guitar for everybody, I taught myself and did almost none of these things until a couple years into playing, if I started out how you suggested I would probably wanna quit right away because of how incredibly boring it is.
On May 28 2011 00:53 rawbertson wrote: Gibsons are soooooooooooooo expensive man... I don't know... my friend dropped like fucking 3 grand on a SG haha. He has the robot one too (self tuning), he doesn't even play guitar that much.
its not bad but I kinda like my fenders... they are cheap but sound awesome
haha I remember when we got the first robot in our store it was more of a string launcher then a self tuner. Then we learned don't touch the neck while its tuning hah.
Tuning by ear by myself for the first time was one of the most satisfying turning points in my musicians journey!
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