Amen.

Here is something I previously posted.

This is my first guitar videos I've posted in over a year. I know it's not perfect, that part at the end doesn't make sense.

So I've been practicing the guitar for about a month and a half now, at most I'm an intermediate beginner, I can play a few riffs pretty decently and for the most part can figure out how to play something without having to read tabs or anything and given enough time (I figured out how to play a one-string rendition of the Sailor Moon theme song in about five minutes). I can't play chords to save my life, though (which, from what I've heard from all my guitar playing buddies is the easiest fucking thing ever).

But recently I discovered tapping (you know, that thing Eddie Van Halen does on Eruption) and it seemed to come to me natural (well, basically all I do are variations on one lick, but Chuck Berry made his entire career out of doing the same thing, so why can't I?). And I know I'm not just deluding myself, cause I like to visit Guitar Center and mess around with the expensive equipment, but I usually have to wait until it's empty cause I'm embarrassed to attempt playing in front of all the real guitarists, but today my newfound tapping actually received compliments from some staff. One guy said what I was playing sounded really cool and asked me how long I've been playing and he was shocked when I said about two months.

So I don't know if you're suppose to know a thing or two about instruments when you work at Guitar Center or if the staff were just a bunch of schmucks hired to keep kids from touching the $3000 Les Pauls. But I'm sure one of my good friends on DDD is bound to give me the straight dope. Is tapping really all that difficult? Am I now officially a guitarist since I got a few compliments from the Guitar Center staff? Can I start a band now?

Also, I've been thinking about getting an electric guitar. I already know what amp I'm gonna get, but I've still been trying out different instruments to see which one I like best. So far I've been pretty smitten with a semi-acoustic Ibanez that's $349 (I've set a price range at $350). But I also liked the LTDs and Deans I've tried out. Not too crazy about the Fender Strats or Squier models I've tried (I still wanna take a look at Telecaster and/or Jaguars (I think that's the Squier knock-off), though). And the Les Paul stuff (Epiphone, don't have the guts to ask the staff to take down a Gibson for me, but I assume it's the same damn thing) just doesn't do it for me (besides, everyone plays those fucking things).

What do you guys think would be the best kind of guitar for me? I eventually wanna start making music (nothing serious, just for fun, unless someone out there actually likes it). If you know me, you know I like my shoegaze and space rock, so I think I'd want whatever's good for that (the amp I want takes care of sound effects for me), and I guess one that's good for tapping since that's all I can do. Of course, I don't really know the difference between a Squier and a queer, aside from how it feels in my hand (oh, hahaha). So if someone could get me the ol' Dell customer service run-through on what I should be on the look out for, it'd be greatly appreciated.

I've been wanting to ask advice on this subject for a while, but every guitar player I come across (not including my friends, who I don't have any more) is an elitist jerk and don't seem to like it when I try to talk to them, but at least here I can be deprecated in a more comfortable environment.

I can't give you any advice on what guitar to buy, but I've had a similar experience with tapping. It's a skill that requires very precise rhythm and stamina, I've seen plenty of guitarists that are far, far better than me who can't tap Aerodynamic by Daft Punk, often because they can't keep up the rhythm. I'm pretty good at chords, but horrible at picking riffs, so I'm in a comparable position as a beginner guitarist. I do think that your ability to tap means something, but I'd definitely not just abandon the other skills.

i pretty much found tapping to be the easiest thing to do on guitar, and about as useless as whammy bar dives in the grand scheme of guitar techniques.
as for what guitar to buy, regarding fenders, you can pick up a decent second hand american made strat for not much more than a new squier, which is a far superio investment imo.

Yeah, once I got over the initial thrill of the discovery, it lost some of its charm, but I wouldn't say it's entirely useless. I found it to be a great way to discover and play riffs I wouldn't normally be able to playing the traditional way.

The ease of which one can use various techniques really varies from player to player. Tapping is a technique I'm really not very good at - though this may be down to me favouring a comparatively high action on my guitars.

As for guitar recommendations, I'd check out the Squier Custom Tele II. It's widely regarded as one of the best guitars in its price range - ~$250.

Anyone know any good books or other resources that focus on fingerstyle guitar? Not necessarily classical guitar but like modern folk-y stuff that involves lots of arpeggios and what-not.

hey that_guy, what type of guitar do you have now? I find that people who have electric guitars as their first (and only) guitars get sort of deluded with their learnings since, like you, they spend most of their time "goofing around", being distracted by the grandeur of the bombastic sound of the guitar and just wanting to wail power chords. I remember when I got my Straocaster, Instead of learning basic techniques (like chord shapes) I learned the intro to thunderstruck and (like you) I would try to tap like Eddie Van Halen and play crazy solo's that was way out of skill level.

I'd recommend getting a cheap acoustic guitar to help you learn the basics. If you want to get into song writing I think having an acoustic guitar is especially vital. I got a Jasmine for $100 and it was the best thing I ever did. Now pretty much 95% of my guitar playing is spent on my $100 Jasmine, and my $1,000 Fender Strat is really only used when I want to transfer my learnings onto something thats louder. An acoustic guitar makes everything a lot easier to learn, it's almost like a drawing board.

I play an old Crestwood acoustic, actually. I started learning to finger pick on that. Why would learning to finger pick be considered "goofing around"? It's still a technique, no matter how gimmicky it may seem.

I actually meant tapping, not finger picking. Tapping is a technique (and a pretty advanced one at that), but I think its sort of superfluous at this point in time. Keep it simple, be patient and keep learning some basics like strumming patterns, palm muting, chord shapes, bends, hammer-ons etc... and continue with finger picking. I'd honestly do away with tapping until you have all of those things ironed out, i've been playing for 4 years and I haven't even attempted tapping or heavy soloing because i'm still pretty intermediate, actually probably more of a novice.

Huh?

this forum doesn't get much traffic but here's hoping someone will be able to give me some advice. my amp blew up recently. it wasn't such a great amp (15w behringer prac amp) and i've had it for ages and with plenty of savings i'm looking at something new (or in this case second hand). i have a pretty good opportunity at either a fender '57 tweed or fender vibro king at approximately half price from someone i know (5-6k amps down to 2.5k). I was wondering if anyone had any information on either of these amps; if they are tailored for specific genre's, if anyone's played either or generally any notable pros and cons. i'll do some of my own research and have a play of both but i know shit all about gear.