For those who play a musical instrument...

[Perd Hapley]

Among the many, many useful things I never bothered to learn from Dad in my childhood:  Guitar.  Actually, I asked if he would teach me, but he protested he was self-taught and wouldn't be a good teacher.  I think he actually just recognized I would give up on it.  He also plays the mandolin.  He's a blue-grass head.

I can sing tenor, though.  My preacher is threatening to teach me to read music, which will make things easier for all of us, come next Christmas cantata.  Just got through the latest one last night. 

[Strings]

fistful: do you want to learn how to really play (as in coming up with your own pieces), or would you just like to be able to play other folks stuff? If the latter, it'd be fairly easy: you'ld just have to learn tablature (which is incredibly simple)...

[Perd Hapley]

HR,

You know I've never gone in for that originality stuff.    Is that something I could learn on my own?  I'd need a guitar, of course, and I don't think Dad would loan me his vintage Martin Dreadnought. 

[Strings]

you can get a half-way decent electric off EvilBay fairly cheap. And tab is dead-simple to read: you have six lines, with a series of numbers on each. The top line is the top string on the guitar (low E), and the numbers corespond to the fret. Simple enough for ya?

[Perd Hapley]

I hope it's simple enough.  I've always been quite thick-headed as far as music goes.  I can hear it and sing it, but sometimes I can't tell if a note is higher or lower than the one before it. 

I just noticed that I broke four thousand.  Where are my cookies, cosine?   

[280plus]

No, no, no, you got it all wrong. Your first guitar MUST come from a pawnshop, find someone who plays and talk them into going shopping for one with you. You can find some awesome deals if you look around enough. I walked out of one once with a $1,000 guitar for $70 and that included the hard shell case. 

[Strings]

I wouldn't count on deals like that all that often!

 Probably one of THE best guitars out there for a student is the Steinberger. Small enough that you can carry it with you everywhere (mine fits quite comfortably in the case from my Beretta Storm), so you can practice at almost any time. Add a pocket amp, and you won't even disturb anyone (I used to practice for hours at the local coffee shop). Some examples:

Cort copy
Knock-off w/strat body
Similar to mine, except mine's a japanese made with aftermarket EMG 89s...

 And for pocket amps: here's the same one I use...

 Any other ideas or questions?

[cosine]

Hey fistful, go ahead and learn to play the guitar. It's not all that hard; I taught myself (although I'm only able to play stuff up to the difficulty of Clapton's Unplugged album, anything harder is a bit too difficult).

I see Hunter Rose is giving you many good ideas for electric, but you might want to consider acoustic. You can play it when the power goes out in St. Louis. If you have any questions in the acoustic side of things go ahead and ask!

Oh, and BTW, I'm making cookies later this week.

[Strings]

you can (for the most part) play anything you would normally play on an coustic on an electric, but can get an electric for much less...

[Perd Hapley]

Y'all don't know me.  I'd play an electric, but I'm definitely a hollow-wood sort of guy.  I was raised on Bluegrass and folk music, and I don't intend to plug in an amp just to pick a tune.  And, I'd probably want to try classical guitar at some point.  Could I just put some nylon strings on my vanilla acoustic guitar?  

RE portability, there's at least one model of slimline acoustic out there.

[cosine]

Regarding acoustics...

Don't bother with the Martin Backpacker (that's the guitar in the pic you posted) if you want a slim guitar. The thing is really small, almost impossible to hold, and just doesn't feel like a real guitar. Plus, it doesn't have much of a tone, both in volume and in quality.

If you want a small guitar, there are a lot of better options. Not all full size guitars are as big as your dad's vintage Martin Dreadnought. Smaller guitars include the Seagull Grand, the Big Baby Taylor, Taylor's x12 series, and Martin's 00 and 000 models.

[Perd Hapley]

I was just pointing out there were portable acoustics out there.  I'm not that interested in the BackPacker.  I think my Dad has an old beat-up Yamaha I could borrow. 

[280plus]

Well, as long as you don't buy anything that has to do with "Esteban". :barf:

[Strings]

Well, if you're going to INSIST on an acoustic, there ain't much advice I can give you. I've got a Kramer/Ferrington that's fun, but I don't do much acoustic work (with a guitar)...

[Perd Hapley]

Well, if you're going to INSIST on an acoustic, there ain't much advice I can give you. I've got a Kramer/Ferrington that's fun, but I don't do much acoustic work (with a guitar)...

You soulless drudge of the corporate consumerist culture. 

280, what's an Esteban?  Stevie Wonder?  Stevie Nicks? 

[280plus]

Don't you guys get a guy that calls himself Esteban and claims to be a guitar God on QVC or HSN? Were's a leather bolero looking hat and dark glasses. Has a package for three "Easy Pay" payments of $69.95 with a guitar he calls handmade that he says is the same quality as his own personal luthier made guitar and his instructional videos. He claims to have studied with Segovia. I'd like to know for how long. 20 minutes maybe. Why, it even includes a pick and a guitar strap!  You'll be playing all your favorite songs in less than one hour.  

[Perd Hapley]

Dude, I just ordered!  I'm gonna be a total guitar master! 

Thank God I don't have TV.

[El Tejon]

I'm very happy with my Seagull guitar.  http://www.seagullguitars.com/

[280plus]

Dude, I just ordered!  I'm gonna be a total guitar master!

And in only one hour too! 

[Perd Hapley]

Thanks for all the advice, gentlemen. 

[richyoung]

you can get a half-way decent electric off EvilBay fairly cheap. And tab is dead-simple to read: you have six lines, with a series of numbers on each. The top line is the top string on the guitar (low E), and the numbers corespond to the fret. Simple enough for ya?

Uh,...no.  The top line is BOTTOM string of the guitar, the HIGH E - it's like you are looking "down" onto the fingerboard as you play...unless your name is "Jimi"....

[Bogie]

I can't play a darn thing hardly... Not a great sense of rhythm...

But I can run sound for those of you who do...
 
Now, will you PLEASE try not to drop the dang mikes?
 

[crt360]

I've got one of those little Martin backpackers.  It's a neat little instrument that's fun to play and has a very unique sound - great for CSA soldier campfire blues kind of stuff.  It obviously will not sound remotely like a D-28 or any other full size acoustic and takes some practice to figure out how to hold it.  I wouldn't recommend it as a first guitar.  Compared to twenty years ago, there's a great variety of cheap, "very good" guitars out there.

[Strings]

you're right, Rich... I went dyslexic for a minute. That, and i haven't looked at tab in quite a while...

 For those who want to just learn covers (without trying to figure them out on their own), check out www.mysongbook.com