Ive always wanted to play guitar as a second instrument, and piano being my first, I would like to start messing around with a guitar..

Im not looking to take any private lessons or anything as I have heard it's pretty simple to get the hang of by knowing the basics, and even easier if one has played an instrument before.

So I was wondering what kinda of guitar would you guy's recommend for a beginner..

Electric, Acoustic? Which would be the best to learn with, not looking for anything fancy.. any recommendations?

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http://www.midavmusic.com

i play acoustic guitar myself and i find that it really helps with my producing. I like acoustics mroe than electric mainly due to the hassle of amplifiers and etc... and if you really must use an amplifier, you can get an acoustic guitar with a pickup.

I recommend you first learn the basic chords.. like C, D, E, F, G, A, Am, Em, Dm, and etc... and then start learning the 7th chords (like A7 for ex) and then start with the more complex chords

Usually.. the complex chords are made up of a basic chord with several other notes added on to it...

I find guitar has been very helpful as i am now experimenting with a lot of the more complex chords in my tracks...

that's my advice

Depends on what kind of music you want to play on it. I wouldn't buy an accordian if I was into trance, because I'd never be inspired by its sound.

So if you like acoustic guitar tunes, perhaps pop songs or old folk tunes, ballads, fingerpicking etc. then I'd definitely recommend getting one.

If you're way into metal and hard rock then I think it would be counterproductive. Also, it is much easier to play lead lines on an electric. Most of the time you can't really bend the strings of an acoustic.

Having said that, some pros and cons of each:

Acoustic
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Easy to pick up and play around the house.
Slightly harder to learn on; but better in the long run. (the neck is usually wider and the action a little higher and thus harder to play.)
Harder to record, if you want to make tunes on ( unless you get one with a pickup )
If you want to learn on an acoustic, I'd recommend getting a nylon string over a steel string acoustic - they are much easier to play.

Electric
--------
Easier to learn on.
Can learn how to improvise lead lines.
Needs an amplifier, can annoy neighbours.
Harder to learn fingerpicking / classical on.
Can strap it way down low and pretend you are Kirk Hammet or Slash.
Amplifiers are cool, can crank the distortion etc., buy effects pedals.

Anyway, i hope that helps! And good luck! Guitars are great second instruments, and are heaps of fun!

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Monsoon - Astrosurf

Like previously stated, it depends on what you like. I have both, but if you were interested in incoprorating it into productions I'd go with an electric, you can do more with it. I have a Fender american Strat. it's a great guitar

I have both a acoustic and Electric Here at J and C really helps in production cause i can just sit here and strum out chords and come up with great pad chords etc for a track.

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Awsome, thanks alot for the responses you guy's.. definitely helped.
I think I am going to go with an electric guitar.

One other question, I have an E-MU 1820M with an audio dock, I would be able to connect it into my soundcard's docking station and listen threw my monitors is that correct? Instead of buying an amp, or would it be better to buy an amp?

Thanks in advance..

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http://www.midavmusic.com

I would say start out wit han acoustic guitar, as people have said it's a bit harder to learn but that's the point with it. If you learn to play good on an acoustic you won't have any problems at all to step over to electric later on if you want

I myself started out with acoustic when I was 9 years old and stepped over to electric when I was 12-13 and I've been playing ever since (turning 19 this year)

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Originally posted by davedresden i suggest getting the gabriel & dresden prog-a-minute. in 3 easy steps you too could change the face of dance music. batteries not included. - dave

quote:

Originally posted by midaV Awsome, thanks alot for the responses you guy's.. definitely helped. I think I am going to go with an electric guitar. One other question, I have an E-MU 1820M with an audio dock, I would be able to connect it into my soundcard's docking station and listen threw my monitors is that correct? Instead of buying an amp, or would it be better to buy an amp? Thanks in advance..

Connecting a guitar straight in the line in isn't the thing to do. You'd better use a DI box. A DI box's main purpose is to adapt impedances (and its second purpose is to balance the line). The output of the DI gets connected to a mic input normally. You can connect the guitar into the input without anything else, but the impedance won't match. In practice, you'll lose sound quality, mostly high frequency. The guitar will sound both thin and muffled. Some DI boxes can be found for a very little price (the Behringer ones are pretty decent for 45 euros). Be aware you have passive ones, that function on their own, and active ones that need battery or phantom power.

Now some soundcards have what is called an instrument or Hi-Z (Z=impedance) input, which is specially made for pluging in guitars and stuff. The 1820M has two such inputs, but some people including me, find the impedance is not quite right. For most people this will be fine, I tend to find there's still a little bit of loss. Still, for practicing, you won't really notice it I guess. You could still get a cheap DI and plug it into the mic in afterwards.

But, and the main but, is that usually the sound of an electric guitar is given by the amp/speaker combination. If you plug it to your soundcard, you'll get the "pure" electric sound, which isn't generally the one you want. Luckily for you, you can use speaker and amp simulators, and I think such a simulator is included with the EMU.
You'll never have the same result as a real combo, and there are better software sims out there (Guitar Rig and Amplitube come to mind). But again, for practice this won't matter too much, you can always add things when you get better.

So, in your case, you can go ahead and plug a guitar straight in the EMU.

Nicely said Thy, I guess ill try to find a cheap DI box and put it into my mic line and practice with my monitors.

Another cool thing is the fx processing which I can apply to the guitar with the E-MU DSP chip, which would be kinda cool.

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http://www.midavmusic.com

Ahh (didn't see this thread when I made mine) -- I just started on an acoustic - love it so far!

I've been playing for about 15 years, and I'll tell you exactly what was told to me. Start with an acoustic. The string tension is going to be higher, and it WILL be a bit more difficult to play. But that's the reason for my reccomendation. Once you're developed the finger strength and callouses, picking up and electric will be a treat.

Hmmm well, I guess if I start with an acoustic I can still use it in my tracks by applying fx n such, I guess I might as well get an acoustic if it will do me better in the long run..

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