Guitar question........

**alphaman** · 11-25-2005, 06:29 PM

My six year old son wants a guitar and amp. Does anyone know what price range I should look at to get him a nice, quality set up, but at decent price? My mom wants to get him the one with the speaker on the side, but I didn't know if that'd be any good. I told her to hold off, and I'd pitch in the difference to get him something better.

**TheMudMan** · 11-25-2005, 08:38 PM

I've been playing since I was 14 so damn it's been 22 years now......... so when i started I could learn on an adult size guitar. I'm partial to Ibanez guitarz they are very good quality, priced reasonably, sound great, and have great action. My frirst guitar was a used I banez Artist series guitar.......... I wish i still had it

But the kid is six so you don't want to spend a whole lot of money so you could go with a Junior size guitar made for a childs small hands. You will find them starting around $70 and up.

For the amp you will want one of those rehersal type amps that if you want will have a reverb, chorus, or tube effect.......... this is built into the unit so that you don't have to buy the pedals (or bring them with you)............ again my first amp was a Gorilla that had a tube effect (distortion). This was a nice first amp and was very cheap (compared to my Marshall amps). I just looked online and I saw it for just over $100.

Now if you don't want to go through picking all this out then you can find most music shops have beginer packages on a few select guitar companies.

Have fun.......... it's a lot of hard work learning how to play the guitar but once your son learns he will love it............ and learning so young is great because the instructor will have a clean slate to work with and teach him the right way.

**wolfyEVH** · 11-25-2005, 08:40 PM

if this is going to be his first one, just pick up one of those squier strat paks.......comes with a cheap fender strat and an amp. not that much cash either.....

**legobricks** · 11-25-2005, 08:42 PM

Originally Posted by wolfyEVH

if this is going to be his first one, just pick up one of those squier strat paks.......comes with a cheap fender strat and an amp. not that much cash either.....

I agree. They are pretty good sounding as well. Or if ya want, you can get him a junior acoustic. thats what i started on back when i was 12. now i just play my dads acoustic cus i dumped my PRS Mccarty model and Mesa boogie dual rectifier half stack for a DAMN CAR!!!! IM AN IDIOT!!!!

kick me in the balls!!!!!

**wolfyEVH** · 11-25-2005, 08:44 PM

Originally Posted by legobricks

I agree. They are pretty good sounding as well. Or if ya want, you can get him a junior acoustic. thats what i started on back when i was 12. now i just play my dads acoustic cus i dumped my PRS Mccarty model and Mesa boogie dual rectifier half stack for a DAMN CAR!!!! IM AN IDIOT!!!!

kick me in the balls!!!!!

damn bro...how much did you pay for that mesa boogie DR.......like THE BEST amps there are IMO.

**Psychotron** · 11-25-2005, 08:49 PM

Originally Posted by TheMudMan

I've been playing since I was 14 so damn it's been 22 years now......... so when i started I could learn on an adult size guitar. I'm partial to Ibanez guitarz they are very good quality, priced reasonably, sound great, and have great action. My frirst guitar was a used I banez Artist series guitar.......... I wish i still had it

I still got my Ibanez 540r

http://derek.inconsiderate.org/540r1.JPG
http://derek.inconsiderate.org/540r2.JPG
http://derek.inconsiderate.org/540r3.JPG
http://derek.inconsiderate.org/540r4.JPG

**alphaman** · 11-26-2005, 07:50 AM

Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated

**J.S.N.** · 11-26-2005, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by wolfyEVH

if this is going to be his first one, just pick up one of those squier strat paks.......comes with a cheap fender strat and an amp. not that much cash either.....

i would not buy one of those at all. squire guitars are beyond shitty.

sure they're cheap as hell, but they have extremely shoddy fret work, they won't get in tune because the tuners aren't precise enough, and they sure as hell won't stay in tune, the pickups blow donkeys, they will be really murky at the upper frets, man there are way too may problems to list. they just live off their "fender presents THE strat" status. i'm not a fan of mexican fenders either. not as shitty as squire, but they suck really bad.

ibanez defintiely makes so good cheap guitars, and i can tell you that you can spend $100 and get shit, or $300 and get playable shit when he's starting off.

when you buy cheap gear, the amp will contribute more to the sound than than the guitar. BUT, if the guitar isn't of decent quality, it will be harder to play and thus less enjoyable for your kid. so, for that reason i would recommend paying ~ $50 for the little tiny marshall mini amp. they are these tiny portable mini amps that i swear to God sound good and have a really classic, warm, blackmore-sounding overdrive (distortion). and to top it all off, he can use it with a standard set of headphones which will save your family some misery lol.

here is a link where you can buy one online:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/...se_pid/482812/

then as for the guitar, i would recommend getting a regular old six string guitar, with a solid body and humbuckers. this is going to be the setup he can get the most sound out of the easiest. with someone who's already playing i would say you should go to a good store and find somethign that fits you, but since this is a very first guitar i think it's alright to order somethin online so you can get the most bang for your buck.

something like this epiphone is easy to play and relatively high quality. most of the differnce between it and the actual gibson is in the pickups, and that's not that big of a deal. they won't last as long as really good ones, but by that time he'll have upgraded anyways, or you guys can upgrade the pickups if he's in love with his frist guitar or whatever.

another guitar that's less classic-looking but cheap and high quality is this guitar. it will be a little harder to tune (actually alot), but once it's in tune it will stay that way for a long, long, time, and he can mess around with the whammy bar without it going out of tune- a favorite pastime amongst young kids learning the guitar. but like i said it's hard to tune, so i'd recommend it more if you are sure you're going to sign him up for lessons, so his teacher can help him with tuning it.

those are the cheap guitars i have played personally i think are good, it's hard for me to pick out an ibanez because while they make cheap guitars of good quality they also make some shit cheap guitars.

one last thing is you should get an electric tuner. this is a good one i used to have:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/...se_pid/210526/

**alphaman** · 11-26-2005, 04:12 PM

JSN- Aren't those regular sized guitars? Is that okay, considering he's only six?

**J.S.N.** · 11-26-2005, 04:59 PM

jeepers lol i thought i saw he was six in there. six is pretty young so yeah a 3/4 sized guitar would be ideal. lemme try to dig something up. i would def. get that little marshall amp though. those things only cost $50 and give you somethign in terms of sound that can't be touched until your get up to near a grand for standard amps.

what i would do is go to the guitar store and look at all the 3/4 size guitar and do a few simple tests:

first, pluck all the strings and let them ring. if there is any buzzing move on to the next.

next pick a string and finger every note down it and pluck it each time (press the strong as hard as you can when you're fingering it). again any buzz and either ask them if they can set it up properly or move on to something else.

grab the neck and run your hand along it like you're whacking it off lol. what you are looking for is burred/sharp edges on the frets.

if it passes all those tests, it's pretty much good to go. i would also ask if the tuners are hi ratio (16:1), as having good hi ratio tuners make it ALOT easier to tune and keep it in tune better.