Best DVD/E-Course for Guitar Lessons? Electric Guitar Prices?
There are no stores that sell guitar lessons in my area (closest is about a 3 hour drive) and I really want to play guitar so my best option is either those DVD packs or one of the e-courses ive been hearing about. Whether its free or expensive, I want to know a couple of really good dvd's/e-courses for guitar lessons. So far i've found:
http://books-videos-music.musiciansfriend.com/product/Rock-House-Learn-Rock-Guitar-Beginner-Intermediate-Advanced-Package?sku=942719 ()
http://www.learnandmaster.com/guitar/ (0 - looks the best)
http://www.guitarmasterpro.net/ ()
http://www.justinguitar.com/ ($free)
If there's any better ones, or a preferred one that I should use from above, let me know.
Second thing I want to know is the average price around electric guitars and I guess amps. Im not 100% sure im going to be serious about it so I really dont want to buy a really expensive one. Is there an approximate range in guitar prices that anyone can give me? Thanks.
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US $19.99
I’ve been playing for 22 years. I checked out the http://www.justinguitar.com site since it’s the free one you mentioned. Looks pretty well structured to me. I would recommend that site at least until you decide for sure that playing guitar is something you want to do. He recommends getting a tuner on that site and I agree whole-heartedly. Until you learn pitch really well, you are going to need that tuner. Playing out of tune and not realizing what is wrong is highly discouraging. You may be playing something right but it sounds wrong and you get frustrated trying to make it sound right. Get a tuner and check your tuning often. Since you’re probably going to get a cheap guitar that is not professionally set up to start out with, you will probably have to tune it a lot. I have a Korg CA-30 tuner and it’s fantastic.
My daughter expressed interest in guitar last year so I bought her a Dean Vendetta XM for $120 brand new. I would give this guitar a very high recommendation for a beginner. It’s so much better than the pile of crap I bought from a big box store when I started playing. It weighs nothing, yet it’s solid. It stays in tune well and the pickups are decent when you consider the fact that they are almost free. It also has 24 frets and pretty nice action. It does have some drawbacks, like the really cheap tuners, but I could actually take this guitar on the stage. Since my daughter decided not to play, I use it as a practice instrument.
You didn’t mention what type of music you’re going to be playing. That will affect what type of amp you want. However, the amp I would recommend would be a Line 6 Spider III 15 watt. That amp costs $100. The cool thing about it is that it’s what’s called a "modeling" amp. That means it uses software to imitate other amps. And it has several effects built right into the amp so you don’t need to buy a bunch of seperate pedals. So you can dial in all sort of different sounds from country to rock to blues to metal to grunge. Keep in mind, this is a practice amp. You can’t use it on stage. However, it’s probably the only practice amp you’ll ever need.
Here are links to the gear I mentioned. I also highly recommend this online retailer.
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Dean-Vendetta-XM-Electric-Guitar?sku=512150
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Line-6-Spider-III-15-Guitar-Combo-Amplifier?sku=482276
http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/product/Korg-CA30-Chromatic-Tuner?sku=210527
You really don’t need to spend any money on any of those things. Justinguitar is where I learned and I’m pretty damn good. If you just get the basics down such as open and barre chords, and the major and pentatonic scales you’ll be on your way. Then if you start transcribing like he recommends (learning songs by yourself by ear) that’s all you really need to do. Hendrix didn’t have big fancy DVD courses or look up online tabs. He listened to records from old blues players, learned their stuff, and then his own style formed from that. Same with Slash, Jimmy Page, Clapton, and pretty much all the guitar greats. :earning by ear is ha8rd at first, but it’s the way to go.
Electric guitar prices range can range from a used $50 POS, to pretty much however much you want to spend, thousands or tens of thousands of dollars. For an OK beginner guitar, the Fender Squires models are about $200 but you can get them in the lows $100′s used. Once you can get into the $400 range you’ll start seeing some better stuff such as used Mexican Fenders which are good. But if you really want it cheap, and really don’t know if you want to be serious, you could just get a Squire starter pack. They’re not the best, some of them are horrible, but they will get you started. If you look on craigslist and ebay you can find some great deals sometimes.