Any guitar tips?

I'd say get a cheap acoustic. It can take a really long time before you can really say you're any good, and if you're as fickle as I am when it comes to hobbies such as this, you probably don't want to invest too much from the start. But if you're sure you want to dedicate a lot of time and energy into it, you can go ahead and get a cheap electric guitar for $80 at your local pawn shop. Personally, I think acoustic is harder. But that's the beauty of it; If you get good at acoustic, you can sound amazing on an electric. But that probably has more to do with taste.

I bought an acoustic, spent too much on it (couple hundred), played it for a few weeks, and now it sits in the corner of my room.

I'm not really sure which is harder, but I think Acoustic might be.

I had an acoustic guitar and was lousy at it. The end.

I stole my acoustic guitar in high school and its with me to this day. I don't play it a lot. It's been over a year actually. I need to remedy this...

It's definitely not "easier" to start on acoustic. If you're just learning the chords and such, you won't notice much significant difference either way. But not having to invest in an amp is handy, as is taking it with you anywhere. If you get too cheap of an instrument to start off with, sometimes it's hard to tell how much of its crappiness is coming from its flaws versus your own fingers. But the point about not investing much money until you know you're serious is valid. I didn't spend over $400 on any of mine until I'd been playing for about seven or eight years. Now, after 23 years, I have 17 of them, but find myself only playing the expensive ones.

Yamaha and Takamine make some decent affordable acoustics. For a cheap electric, I might go with a Squier Stratocaster, an Epiphone Les Paul, or maybe a Dean in whatever style feels good to you.

i wish i could give you advice over the internet.

really, i'd say, learn what you want. i learnt on electric guitars, but i mostly play acoustics these days.

what you need to do is: learn all the open chords. and then your power chords because these are all the chords you need for most of the music you wanna lear as a beginner. then learn to play some songs. the easy ones. work on getting your rythym sparkling before you bother trying to learn scales and lead licks.

i don't know if that's gonna help any. for me, i never learnt scales or any of that technical stuff. i taught myself. i listened to music i lved and played around. i learnt how to play the bass lick for smoke on the water. and the main riff for teen spirit and knockin' on heavens door. i started a punk band and played a shit load of power chords or a while. just get involved. if you really wanna learn, play play play, every single day. everytime you're sitting doing nothing. practice. even when you think you'll nver make your fingers work properly enough to go from G to C.

yeah, and on the quality of instrument. if you plan on playing guitar, if you're completly serious about this, not just in a phase, buy i decent one. not top of the line, butnot a shitty one either.

squire by fender do super chea pakage deals for telecaster and stratocaster electrics. and they're classic guitars, i love me some tele.

and like mr furle mentions above, takamine have fairly affordable acoustics. very nice sounding too. i own one myself. there is a great little brand called "Crafter". now, i've noticed them in the last couple of years, and i felt like buying a new guitar a while back, and nearly bought one. they were cheap. looked pretty special. and sounding fucking nice. still didn't get one though. ended up buying this sexy little white 5 watt, Vox valve amp. no regrets.

You should totally arpeggios with your hammer ons and pull offs, dude.

I think electric is easier to start with, especially if you're into rock. You can get a crappy electric guitar and it will play decent, but if you get a crappy acoustic you probably just won't like it. Acoustics are usually worthless if you spend less than $300. Those starter electric packs that come with an amp won't cut it down the road, but they're probably the best way to learn if playing rock and roll is the goal. I started on acoustic but I don't play traditional power chord rock. If hard rock is what you want to learn then playing cowboy chords on an acoustic won't help. There are specific techniques to rock, folk, blues, ect., and learning one style won't necessarily translate into the skills needed to play another. Furthermore, the electric distortion techniques just won't translate to an acoustic. Slipknot unplugged just doesn't work. With piano, theory dictates the style, with guitar there is an added emphasis on technique.

If you live in a big city pawn shopping is a great way to find inexpensive yet quality instruments, but you gotta do your research. There are all sorts of problems you have to watch out for on used guitars, like worn frets or broken truss rods.

If you can find a used Stratacoustic for $175 or less, that's a great guitar to start with. It's a hybrid acoustic/electric. http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-Stratacoustic-Guitar_W0QQitemZ290371150515QQc...

Craigs List and Ebay are probably the best markets because there's enough competition to drive down prices. But if you do buy a used guitar, take it to a guitar specialty store and have them adjust everything for you. Minor maintenance by a professional will make an okay guitar play great.

Regardless of what you get, keep in mind that your starter instrument is just a starter instrument. The quality of an instrument becomes much more important when you play with others. Martin acoustics, for example, are so loud that the poor Stratacoustic would have to be plugged in to play along or it'd be drowned out.

Hope this helps.

*holds guitar and hums Hendrix tunes.

Thats all I got..

look, of course there is gonna be different techniques used for different styles. and different chords to learn etc. but i just think, start with the basics. learn your open chords first, then power chords, because that's what is used for most songs.

i say, just learn what you want to. you'll delve into other shit later. when you can play. but to hold your attention, before you become passionate about the instrument learn songs you lik to listen to. beause they will make you feel fuckin awesome when you play them.

I got started on an acoustic, but it wasn't until I got an electric that I really got into playing more than just every so often. I think acoustics are good to learn on because there's a certain discipline about them, with electric's it's too easy to just jam away and never work on perfecting your technique. I recommend learning the basics on an acoustic, some notes and chords, and then perhaps purchasing a cheap electric. If you go to music stores, most will let you try things out to see what you like.

Electric starter kits are cheap, and you get what you pay for, but it's still cool to have an electric. As long as its capable of being tuned and such it's still a blast.

i think more than anything people say to learn on an acoustic because the fret board is usually substantially thicker, the actual frets are wider and the strings are thicker. therefore, in theory, if you were to learn on an acoustic you would have no trouble playing on n electric down the road. but seriously. i learnt on electric, because it's all i could learn on. i got given my first guitar by a friend because i couldn't afford, nor could my parents, to buy one. now, i mostly play acoustic.

you'll be fine. stop listening to us jabber on and go pick th thing up. better still, drop it and keep learning piano, it's a way better instrument. go and learn you some honky tonk!

Wow. I just realized I don't even remember what I started with, so I have no advice =/
well, acoustic strings are harder to press down on than electric because of the action, but when you start, your fingers are going to hurt regardless of what you're playing. get both. spend a hundred on each to get yourself started.

I'd say get an acoustic because a) you won't need an amp, so less money, the transition to electric becomes much easier once you get familiar with the instrument, and c) if you hate it and want to sell it, an acoustic is easier to sell oftentimes (IMO).

Plus, you'll build up better muscles on an acoustic. I always rehearse on an acoustic even when I'm learning something for electric.

As far as recommendations, a cheap-ish one is good to start, Music Go Round or a pawn shop, but make sure it's playable. My first was awful and the strings were so far off the neck I was fighting the damn thing just to get a sound. Then I got a better guitar and it was 10 times easier to play based on condition alone. 100 bucks should get you what you need.

P.S. I don't think I know any of you... have I been away so long?

Oh, and that smiley was supposed to be a letter b followed by a ).

Stupid smileys.