I know nothing about electric guitar, help me out

[CrashDMB237]

I admittedly know absolutely nothing about electric guitar so this thread is probably going to look extremely dumb. I have been playing acoustic for about 2 and a half years now, self-taught, and I'm getting to the point where I'm actually playing with friends and recording stuff so I'd like to move into the world of electric guitars. Problem is, I have no idea what to look for.

Now I know in order to get a good sounding guitar I'm going to have to spend a lot, so thats out of the way. But if I'm looking for an electric guitar that sounds Dave/Dispatch/John Mayer-ish rather than Dream Theater/Rush-ish, is there any specific type of guitar I should be looking at? Like I said, I'm clueless. I don't even know if there ARE separate types of electrics. Any help is appreciated.

[amoore624426]

You're looking for a certain guitar?

[CrashDMB237]

No, I'm just looking for that certain SOUNDING guitar. I guess you would call it jazz/soft rock rather than hard rock? I just want to play the John Mayer style of music on electric, not Dream Theater. Am I just describing this really badly? Sorry, I'm a moron.

[amoore624426]

Hmm I might be able to help you out.

[VanHorneDog]

wowzer have you ever been to guitar center?

just buy a Mexican Strat for 400 bucks.

[bennettr]

considering you have been playing for only 2 years, you probably wont be able to tell the real difference between certain guitars. You can control a lot of the sound by using the different knobs. But probably go with a Strat, unless you don't like those.

[CrashDMB237]

wowzer have you ever been to guitar center?

just buy a Mexican Strat for 400 bucks.

The only place that sells guitars near me is full of douchebags who do nothing but show off to customers all day long.

[Crazy#41]

considering you have been playing for only 2 years,

Yeah exactly...


Dude. Take your $$$, however much you want to spend, go to your local music outlet, or a 2nd hand store. Such as "Digital World"... [I'm not sure if you guys have them there in the states, but you know..] Tell them you are looking for a few electrics in this price range. Plug em in. Test them. Play with each of them for a good 10-15 minutes. Play a song even... They normally have booths you can play in. Giver shit! Just rape that guitar and pick what has the best sound, action, feel, weight for you. Not dave or eddie or john...

You!

[Dobler]

john mayer is all about the strat. He's got that solid tone, and its definitely a great guitar for his style.... dream Theater and those more technical players are more about using ibanez. those guitars are for if you want to play a million notes/minute!! haha I myself use a gibson studio, its a lot cheaper than your gibson stardard (like 1,300-1,500) i think its good for all styles whether your playing like warren haynes, slash, metallica, rage, tool etc.... so in the end i think your best bet is a strat (us-expensive!! mexican-lot less costly)..... in the end though they are pretty much the same guitar, its just the name pretty much. I've played mex strats that were better than us strats by far!!

[RushianSyrinx]

Actually, John Petrucci of Dream Theater uses his own Ernie Ball Music Man Signature and John Myung uses a Yamaha signature bass.

Not ibanez.

[Dobler]

oh ya, thats right..... well he use to use ibanez though. He had that 7-string ibanez. I dont really follow up on dream theatre that much anymore.

[Dave45]

I think you'll find that your amp selection has at least as much play into your tone as any guitar selection you can make... if not more. When you say you want to stay away from, I forget what it was, that "80's Rush Sound" or something... I think you may just be talking about a super-overdriven Marshall JCM800 or something.

Someone mentioned a strat, and yea, really the big question for you is probably Single Coil or Humbucking pickups. A strat through a Fender DeVille or something will give you that killer John Mayer clean tone, but you're basically signing up for that (and maybe some light blues overdrive) and nothing else with that combo. I'm more into Humbucking pickups just because I feel I like the tone a bit better and there's more room to play (with volume, etc) with a pickup with more output. They can also sound pretty nice clean with the correct amp. So, once you make that decision, just pick up a guitar you like! Lately I've been pretty impressed by some of the Schecter models, they definately won't break the bank (its MUCH easier & cheaper to pick up a "pretty good" electric than a "pretty good" acoustic!!!), and sound great, and play very well!

I'm mostly an acoustic player myself, but do break out the electric on some songs. I sold my strats, and have only an old Epiphone Les Paul and will be most likely getting a Schecter or something similar here pretty soon. The amp I use is a Mesa/Boogie F-50 combo (now called the express I believe), but it stood out to me because it puts out cleans like a Fender, and can get really nasty in overdrive. Not that 80's type of distortion because its actually 6L6 tubes, instead of EL34s... but I'm only looking for clean and blues and sometimes solo tones.

I've always been intrigued by those Line 6 or Vox modeling amps. They seem like they offer just TONS of value for money. The only thing is, I never felt completely natural playing through them - like I can't feel the guitar interacting with the amp or something...

Sorry for the long post, but just trying to share some ideas, maybe if you get back with what type of band or music you're playing with some people could share their ideas of what works...

[CrashDMB237]

Awesome guys, thanks a lot. And I just got paid today, timing couldn't be better!

[bennettr]

dave45, do you know much about Orange amps? I hear that they are really loud. And I know they look badass, but I don't know anything else about them. (never played on one)

[Dave45]

dave45, do you know much about Orange amps? I hear that they are really loud. And I know they look badass, but I don't know anything else about them. (never played on one)

A guy in a band I hang out with a lot plays through an Orange head and some wierd-ass cab. He plays teles and a few Richenbachers, doing alot of solo ringy echoey leads... It seems to work well with that kind of stuff. Similar to a marshall but seeming a little less muted when you're not in all out overdrive... Yea, that band is one of the loudest I know, my ears ring ever time I catch a show.

[jmccue7]

basically there are two types of pickups: single coil and humbuckers.

single coil pickups, such as those found on strats, are thinner sounding, but you can cover more tonal landscape with them.

humbuckers are thicker and darker sounding, less background noise though.

all genres have played with all types

my solution (and i'm assuming you don't want to spend a lot of money) is to get something like a mexican strat ( which you can get used, but make sure you play it first) and a tube amp (something small like an older 5 watt Fender champ, or an older Gibson amp)

but know that you'll never sound like mayer or any of those guys because 90% of tone comes from the player

[bullox005]

i'd start with a Languedoc...that's a good beginner electric.

http://www.strangedesign.org/rigs/

[VanHorneDog]

The only place that sells guitars near me is full of douchebags who do nothing but show off to customers all day long.

and thats different from every other guitar place how? :lol

lol, actually there is a guitar place by me thats really cool. the guys are really nice and helpful, half of them are gigging musicians and they dont show off. they just sit around and talk all day.

but really, go to that guitar place and say. "im looking for a mexican strat" they will say "dude you need an american" you say "dude if you buy an american strat you are a dumbfuck wasting your money, unless you like being a dumbfuck or wastint your money" then they will go away becuase you already know more about guitars then them. if they know anything about guitars they will not be all high and mighty over the 3 deathnote solos' they know and the powerchords with distortion they are actually good at playing.

sit down, plug it into a fender tube amp and see if you like it. and dont worry about sounding good, play what you know. play some chromatic scales up and down the neck to check its playability and quality (if the dumbasses say dude you suck, say dude do you know how to buy a guitar? you sure as hell dont seem to be able to sell one by yourself)

[MGH4007]

i'd start with a Languedoc...that's a good beginner electric.

http://www.strangedesign.org/rigs/

ehhh, too cheap. I want to spend at least 20,000.