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I've been playing guitar professionally for 15 years. In that time, I've gotten a BMus in classical guitar performance, taught music, accompanied several accomplished musicians on stage and in the studio, and played in bands that have performed festivals / won grants / were written about in nationally distributed newspapers and magazines. I've edited three LPs and six EPs, mixed three records, and have production credits on them all. I've appeared on stage and in the studio ~ 1k times. All my income comes from teaching, playing, and writing.

Tips:

1. Never stop being a student of your craft. Be humble and take every opportunity to learn.
   
2. Play live frequently! I've met many talented musicians who want to reach a large group of people but don't play shows. There is no big secret to breaking through a scene: The more you appear on stage, the more people see you play.
   
3. Professionalism goes a long way. If you're playing a gig for a single person or a thousand people: Respect your crowd. Don't treat a gig like a throwaway ever. Communicate and be engaging no matter the size and demographic. You'll be surprised what one fan can do for you. I once met a guy in a small crowd who had traveled to my city and happened to be there. He liked our set and happened to book shows where he lived; this person became a springboard for us to reach an entirely new market!
   
4. It's important that you're well-rehearsed and sound great, but bar owners care about how you treat the business end of things as well. If you want to succeed: Don't get blackout loaded and forget to do things like man your merch table, give shoutouts to the serving staff, and treat the venue respectfully.
   
5. Network with other bands. We need each other to help an entire scene grow. I've been having songwriting sessions with other bands in my hometown and it's really fun to crossover and rewarding too.
   
6. Learn to sing. I've only ever sang backups but I can hold a tune. This is a very valuable skill, even if you're only singing "Ahhh" in the background. Backup vox can improve a song dramatically.
   
7. Invest in your craft. Sound matters! What's the point in honing all that skill if it's not going to sound great. Be on top of changing trends and know when a deal is a steal. You can grow your backline and not break the bank if you're well-educated. All this takes is time and browsing the internet.
   
8. Be conscious of your crowd. Looks and gear matter. When I get booked to play solo jazz at a corporate cocktail event, I'm not going to show up with a ratty jeans and a flying-V (rad as that would be). And, while those wallflower gigs are kind of boring, I can charge $500/hr or more and they don't blink an eye. That amount of money is nothing to them and pays my rent / expenses for a month.
   
9. Teach! All the time. There is nothing more rewarding than watching a person learn to do something they love and know that you helped them get there. At any level, you can become a teacher. Find a person who needs what you know, and share it with them.
   
10. Listen to music. Know what's out there. When you get stuck in a rut as a player, find an entirely new genre. The opportunity to do so, given what the internet is, has never been greater. You can invest in hours of listening at zero cost.
    
11. Transcribe music by ear. Knowing theory and being able to read sheet music is great; but a strong ear is the most valuable thing a musician can have. Contrary to what you might think, this is a skill that can be taught and learned. You might be horrible at it to begin with, but if you frequent Ricci Adam's MusicTheory.net every day, you will improve. I used this to quiz myself during my degree; great tool.
    
12. Know your value and don't be afraid to demand it. Music is a business and you will be your only agent for a long time.
    
    Books:
    
    
13. The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick.
    
    
    
    

My two cents:

• Electric - a cheap electric is far easier to play than a cheap acoustic. While it will be important to build callouses and finger strength (both of which are facilitated by playing an acoustic steel string), I feel it is far more important for you to enjoy playing and make some initial progress. If you can get some momentum in learning/playing, then you can start worrying about strength, endurance, etc. If you give up after 3 months b/c your hands hurt and you haven't made any progress (b/c it hurts to practice), strength, endurance, and everything else is moot. However, if you really want to play acoustic, consider starting with a nylon-string (classical) guitar.
  
  
• I would look for a used electric, probably something like a Mexican-made Fender or a lower-end asian-made guitar (Ibanez, Jackson, Schecter). Many folks like the Epiphone entry-level models... I haven't played one so I can't say.
  
  
• As I said above, electric is more likely to get you quickly to the point of playing something interesting and enjoying it.
  
  
• In my experience, most guitarists do not read music. (Many have only a superficial understanding of theory and some don't even know scales or chords by name). Significant portion of those that do read cannot sight-read (self included). Anyway... it's perfectly reasonable to learn to read while learning to play. Barring that, tablature is widely available and very popular. Well-made tab is useful and often will include rhythmic information.
  
  
• Get started by learning some riffs and songs you like. Also, learning something like the 12-bar blues will let you start playing with friends and that can greatly enhance your enjoyment and learning.
  
  
• Being self-taught is fine. Many guitarists never take lessons. I personally have benefited a lot from taking private lessons. However, practicing and playing new stuff will get you a long way. I recommend getting a good book to use as reference. The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer is a personal favorite.
  
  Have fun and good luck!

With a sound card made for studio usage, lag/latency shouldn't be a major issue. Some basic knowledge is required to set it up, but that same knowledge is required for any sort of computer-based recording, so it's easy to come by these days! There's tons of materials about this online, but I'll write a brief summary (not to be considered a tutorial!).
(I'm assuming Windows usage here. For Macs, the default sound card may be good enough -- it was in my 2006 and 2011 Macbook Pros. Apple's Core Audio API is really good for a OS stock one!)

You need a sound card (or: "audio interface") with good ASIO drivers. In practice, that means one that is designed for studio use. That doesn't have to mean anything very expensive, though. The cheapest ones are about $100-120, but a pretty decent one is probably more like $180.
A few examples:
FocusRite Scarlett 2i2 (a 2nd generation is on the way, so I wouldn't recommend this right now. Also, I returned my Scarlett 2i4 due to having issues.)
Roland Quad Capture (the one I use personally)
Presonus AudioBox 22VSL

The sound card you already have might work well enough with the ASIO4ALL driver, in which case you may be able to use the hardware you already have.

Once you have one of those, you install the drivers and set up the ASIO latency or buffer size (different names, same thing) to some low value. You might have to tweak this -- having too low a value will cause dropouts as the computer doesn't have time to apply effects and so on before it's time to move the sound to the speakers.

With that in place, there are a few ways to go. You need some sort of effects (like amplifiers, cabinets, delays, EQs and so on); the easy way to do this is to use some package. I mostly use Guitar Rig for this, but there are plenty of others, such as AmpliTube and Peavey ReValver. There are fully free options as well, e.g. the LePou plugins.

You can use those in several ways. The simplest would be to use a simple audio editor, like Audacity. Another way would be to use a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), i.e. an application used for recording music, with tracks and mixers.
I use REAPER for that, as it's about $60 and I still prefer it to ones that cost ten times as much. Other popular choices are Cubase, Logic (Mac), Pro Tools, and so on.

So, yeah, it's a bit of an involved process... but once you're there, the main difference between playing for fun (to a track or by yourself) and recording an album is clicking the record button before you start playing. :)
As for cost, that really varies. If you're lucky and your sound card works well with ASIO4ALL (or you have a Mac and that works well), you can do this for free. If you need to buy a sound card and want to use the software legally, you might have to pay a few hundred bucks for the combo.

First off, no need to apologize for inexperience. Asking good questions means you are gaining experience.

1. Now-a-days Squier makes a fine guitar, but just get it set up by someone who knows how if you haven't already! A good setup is so important to how any guitar plays. I would rather play your Squier with a good set up than an American fender with a shitty set up. As far as upgrades go I would think about some locking tuners. I think those are just drop in tuners with no drilling needed even for Squier, but I would make sure.
   
   
2. There are a ton of pickup makers out there but you can not go wrong with Seymour Duncan. Just browse around and take a look at their output and EQ charts that show how hot the pickup is and then listen listen listen to sound demos. Pickups are very subjective so youtube is a great tool.
   
   
3. Personally I love Elixir strings! They last a long time, especially if you have sweat like mine that kills strings very fast. That being said a lot of people don't like the feel of Elixir. They don't like the "slippery" feeling of the coating on the wound strings. If you want to stay with coated strings that feel more like traditional string you can check out D'addario EXP strings. Again it's subjective like anything else, so test drive and see what you like.
   
   
4. Oh boy pedals. Pedals can be a slippery slope financially haha. I also think /r/guitarpedals would be able to help you (better than I can at least) there but if you like distortion then I have heard a lot of good things about the Mesa Flux-Drive and the JHS Angry Charlie.
   
   As for your amp I do not have any personal experience with the Vypyr but if you like the sound and it is loud enough for your applications then go with it. Those are really the only things determining if you need a new amp. If you ever want to upgrade to a tube/valve amp I would suggest looking at the Marshall DSL line if you are into heavier tones and want to spend money.
   
   The pedals and amp are really based off what you like to play. If you are not satisfied with your current amp there are A LOT of good combos out there that are more affordable than tube amps. Andertons Music youtube channel just put out a great combo amp round up video you should check out if you want. I hope that all helps!

When I was first starting out, way back in the last century, there were few places to go to learn this type of thing. And those that had the knowledge were usually less then excited at the thought of sharing their knowledge with you, so that you could become their competition.

But times have changed, and we have this Internet thing, and everybody is sharing everything. Maybe it isn't the Info Age, as much as it is the Era of Sharing, and sharing means a lot of crappy stuff gets thrown in the mix.

So choose your trusted sources carefully, and see who their trusted sources are.

For a good primer in guitar electronics, I recommend reading this book. It's dated, but it's basic info is good, and it's free to read in your browser (takes some time to load):

https://www.scribd.com/doc/2154081/Craig-Anderton-Guitar-Electronics-for-Musicians

I'm anticipating another book on guitar electronics from a source who's previous work I like:

https://hazeguitars.com/completeguitarwiring

This is a good video to understand shock hazards associated with play the electric guitar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS_5K5YEYv8&feature=youtu.be

When it comes to other aspects of guitar adjustment, Dan Erlewine has been the go-to source for decades. His books on guitar repair and maintenance are the gold standard. This first book I've linked is more for the guitar repair professional, and might be a bit much. But the second book I've linked should be must-reading for anyone curious about adjusting their guitar to play it's best:

https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210

https://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Electric-Guitar-Great/dp/0879309989

Although I haven't actually read any of the books by John Carruthers, I studied under him and on the basis of that experience I would recommend anything he's involved in:

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/books-sheet-music-media/alfred-teach-yourself-guitar-repair-and-maintenance-book?src=3soswxxa

There are a bunch of John Carruther's videos on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9C05D39374BFA9B1

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLB7631EF18F62E16D

I like this book because it's illustrated so well:

https://www.amazon.com/Players-Guide-Guitar-Maintenance/dp/0879305495

Dan Erlewine is a consultant at the guitar tools and supplies seller Stewart-MacDonald. They are a good resource for not just tools and supplies, but they have educational videos, some of which you can get via email, and some of which can be seen on YouTube:

https://www.stewmac.com/

Many of the boutique pickup makers have blogs on their sites, where they talk about pickup design and characteristics.

Just learning good practices on installing strings on various types of guitars is an important starting place:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfK8lQZaq_8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW0d9bBzUao

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvTFtHLOQvk

And if you can master the secrets of floating tremolo set-up, you can impress your friends and strike fear into the heart of your enemies:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYcGmMJnX0M&feature=youtu.be&t=213

There are so many more good sources, but that should give you a start.

www.guitarzoom.com. Look for the course "Music Theory for Life". It's a 12 week online course by Steve Steine. Very good. You can also find many of his videos online that talk about music theory in shorter form but still more than enough to get you started. Here's a good series to follow by him: https://www.lessonface.com/absolute-fretboard-mastery-steve-stine

The other thing that really helps is playing every day. This really helped me get through solos that previously I never even attempted to play because i thought I would never be able to. I use an app on my phone called "habit" to track that. I mark every day I play and end up with a streak. I never want to break that streak so I play every day. I started with a wall calendar where I crossed off the days. After a while, you have a nice long line of days and you will feel really bad breaking that line.

Now comes the question of: "Ok... I can play everyday, but what should I play?" I had that issue. So I went ahead and bought this book: http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-per-day-Developing-Maintaining/dp/1423414357/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462400123&sr=8-1&keywords=guitar+aerobics

This book is basically a year's worth of every day licks to play and practice. Priceless. It will give you something to do every day by default. No thinking required. It starts off easy and builds up. It will teach you usable licks straight away from different music styles. It will also teach you how to play in time since you should be using a metronome (or the drum tracks they provide).

I use the book when I am not in the mood to practice a song I am working on that day. I make sure I am playing some "challenging" song since it's fun to end up with a song you've been wanting to play. I give it time... no hurry. I've been having fun learning "Hangar 18" for like 2+ weeks now. I am taking it slow and making sure I am not rushing through parts.

Good luck!

My advice would be to focus on learning music theory, and applying said theory to your play. Everyone here loves to recommend justinguitar.com, and I'd agree. I'd also check out Steve Stine on YouTube (index of playlists). Best theory teacher I've seen in a long while. I'd also absolutely recommend musictheory.net.

Lastly, the Berklee guitar method books will simultaneously teach you to read music and to play your instrument. These books are the single best thing I did to progress my guitar skills.

Reading music helps greatly with understanding theory. Despite what you may hear from old-timers, reading music is extremely useful.

Another very useful skill to practice is ear training, which when combined with your theory knowledge, allows you to play music by ear. I'd suggest playing back some slower jazz guitar tunes on YouTube and figuring them out measure-by-measure. There's also Matt Warnock's Play Jazz Guitar group on Facebook which combines all of the above. Matt has a doctorate in Jazz Guitar Performance. He picks a tune each month, and everyone in the group works on it throughout the month, starting with the melody, to comping chords, to improv soloing. There are players of all skill levels, and I mean all. He provides excellent, free critique to everyone. I'm going to throw him a bone and buy a few of his books shortly since his excellent group has helped me so much.

Edit: I'd like to add as well that I don't really consider myself a jazz player; it's just that jazz skills are very useful and may be applied to virtually any genre.

I'll comment on the tools. I do my own setups and have for years. I don't have any professional luthier tools. I do not do setups for others to receive payment.

I view tools like those linked as great resources for professional techs who are looking to do a lot of setups quickly and to a very high degree of technical accuracy. Having high quality tools makes the job easy and efficient.

But I don't think that level of tools is required. You could fashion your own from some basic stuff you could get at any hardware store or use some other 'tricks' that don't require tools. Also, realize that the idea of 'setting up' a guitar is not a black / white binary situation. Getting a guitar setup to a place that it plays well to your preferences is very doable with a screwdriver and some practice.

For example, the basic setup kit has some great tools - but you can accomplish a similar job much cheaper with some research. The string action gauge could be made by printing those radius' on a piece of thick poster board. Dan's book 'How to Make a Guitar Play Great' has this exact tool as a punch out in the back. A precision straight edge could be replaced with a decent ruler or wood or metal that is confirmed straight elsewhere.

Again, with the tune-o-medic kit you can service a Tune-O-Matic bridge very successfully with a typical screwdriver. The specialized tools would be helpful if you're doing a lot of setups each day - possibly on valuable or vintage guitars where a greater level of care is needed.

A truss rod wrench could be replaced with a screwdriver and a set of hex heads available at a hardware store.

So if it were me, I'd buy a copy of that book (linked above) and go through it. Some basic screwdrivers and allen wrenches should be able to get you through almost all basic setup procedures. If you get to more advanced things like fretwork, finish repair, or are doing lots of setup for paying customers - then look into specialized tools.

• [Wilkinson] (http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/All_Hardware_and_Parts_by_Instrument/Electric_Guitar_Parts/Electric_Guitar_Bridges_and_Tailpieces/Electric_Guitar_Tremolos/Wilkinson_Gotoh_VS-100N_Tremolo.html) trem. Drill press would be ideal for the post holes, but you could also just clamp a guide to the body.
  
• LSR nut. Unless you have access to a router jig, I would suggest a rectangular file matching the LSR's dimensions to clean up and deepen the slot you're going to start with a super fine cut saw.
  
• Locking Tuners. Staggered, so no more string trees. Super stable tuning when paired with the Wilkinson and LSR, even after divebombs. Those "F" tuners have a super accurate 18:1 gear ratio. I also like that particular design because they're stabilized with a pair of incorporated pegs that slip into pre-drilled holes, instead of relying on a tiny little screw.
  
  I can't comment on the Gen 4 Noiseless, as I've never used them. My wiring is more like a Les Paul, with dual HB, three way switch and push-pulls for coil splits. This is a pretty good resource for wiring ideas, if you're looking for inspiration. Generally speaking, you'll also want to replace the switches and pots with Switchcraft, CTS, etc. My guess is that the MIM's come with Alpha, but I could be wrong.
  
  EDIT: Keep in mind, when researching wiring diagrams, that "Noiseless" usually means humbucker. It might look like a single coil, but it will be two coils stacked one on top of the other. Check manufacturer specs to confirm whether you're dealing with four or two wires, then plan accordingly.

You need a method, not random bits of knowledge. You may use Justin's, or you may look for a book.

The secret here is structure, which is only provided by a method. Otherwise you'll always feel your knowledge is scattered all over the place and hence barely usable.

A good method should at least:

• give you tools for identifying the notes on the fretboard. I highly recommend this book, in addition to whatever method you choose.
  
• the CAGED system - essential knowledge. Once you master this, you'll easily be able to play: the chord, the arpeggio, the major scale and modes for each of these five shapes, anywhere on the fretboard.
  
• accent the role of the major scale (the Ionian mode of the diatonic scale), because if you know its shapes in all five (CAGED) positions, you already have the shapes for all other modes, and using modes becomes simply a question of choosing the respective harmony, not learning new shapes. Also, by simply removing certain notes from it, you automagically get the pentatonic scale. You get the idea, most common use scales and modes may be played using the major scale patterns.
  
• teach you intervals and how to build chords, which are simply intervals stacked on top of each other
  
• point out the use of arpeggios in soloing, as opposed to scale soloing only, this makes a world of difference if you want your solos to be interesting
  
• teach you rhythm and how to play in time, even (or perhaps especially) when soloing
  
  Once you have a structure, the Internet truly becomes an awesome resource, because now you can research the issue at hand with a better sense of purpose and more specifically.
  
  So don't fret, this isn't a stupid question, it actually shows you are ready and willing to progress, you'd be amazed how many people become dismissive at this stage, and think they've achieved mastery, because it's "all feel and talent, man," and don't even see how much there is to learn and improve.
  
  TL;DR: get a method by trying several, then stick to the one you choose.

When it comes to improving rhythm playing, as well as overall fretboard knowledge, I'd recommend diving deep into the CAGED system and learning how to play chords and progressions in different areas around the neck. Fretboard Logic is pretty much the classic book on the topic.

Learning to focus on chord tones while soloing/improvising, as u/pigz points out, is also massively important. The 12 bar progression is definitely a great place to start with this, but as you get comfortable with it, it's worth branching out and practicing the same thing over other common progressions.

Also, if you're pretty comfortable with the pentatonic shapes, it's probably a good idea to start practicing the shapes of the major scale. I'd still focus on the pentatonic stuff when you're practicing soloing and improv and stuff, but go over the major shapes as a separate part of your practice to start laying the groundwork.

Also, if you don't already, it's a tremendously good habit to sing along when you practice. I don't mean singing songs, rather when you practice scales and/or licks, try to sing the notes as you play the scale, or sing the lick before playing it. This will help you build a connection between the notes you hear in your head and where they are on the fretboard.

One thing I tried doing was learning every chord in every position and every inversion. I'm not done writing them up, but I have charts for dominant, major, minor, and half-diminished chords I could scan for you. I also have the arpeggios to be played over the chords.

Another thing is to learn are your scale modes. I'll pick either 4 modes in 1 position or 1 mode in 4 positions and practice each scale for 5 minutes.

You could improve your sight reading with this. It's not meant to be studied, but to be opened up to a random page and played.

I'm also a fan of speed and dexterity exercises. You don't have to shred, but sometimes you need to get from point A to point B in a hurry. After playing these for a while, you'll also feel less fatigue. My favorite books for this are John Petrucci's Wild Stringdom and Frank Gambale's Technique Books

Also, if you really get into jazz, I highly recommend The Jazz Theory Book. It will help with your improvisation and teach you how songs are structured, which will help you with other genres. A more classic theory book that's good is The Complete Musician.

After you get technique stuff down, it all comes down to where you want to be as a player. What do you want to play? Do you want to write? Do you want to do covers? Maybe you want to teach.

Sorry this was so long. I love teaching music myself, so if you want to learn anything specific, PM me and I should be able to help you out and send you some materials.

Apartment conditions make it tricky to go valve because you can't headphone into a valve amp as far as I know. And apartment living will really benefit from being able to use headphones to be able to play at any hour you if you feel inspired to play. I live in a house so it's no big deal to be able to plug into the tube at 2am, that shit would never fly in an apartment without some irate neighbors. So as long as you live in an apartment you basically need something that can let you play into headphones. You could still go valve like a nice used fender reverb deluxe 22 watt for bedroom playing then when it's late plug into something like this during quiet hours and have the best of both worlds. I'm a big fan of clean tube amps and using a pedal for distortion. If you buy a dirty amp, you'll never get as clean as a clean amp, and with a clean amp you can always add dirt with a pedal. For me personally, a strat into a Two rock is my personal heaven sound, but that's just my opinion, you gotta find what you love on your own. If you love gibsons / humbuckers, don't buy a fender-style amp, a marshal style suits it more, if you like single coils, fender style amps work great, actually single coils play well into about anything IMO, but humbuckers are more picky since they tend to have more of a mid-hump built into them.

Find a decent teacher. A good teacher will identify your strengths and weaknesses, then gently push you out of your comfortable rut. You might need to ask around locally and try a few different teachers before you find a good fit.

The intermediate to advanced lessons on JustinGuitar.com are worth a look. The jazz and songwriting modules might be of particular interest to you.

Truefire have some fantastic courses on jazz and rock improvisation, all the way up to professional standard. It's not cheap, but the all-access pass is excellent value if you're serious.

If you're serious about mastering the guitar, take a look at Leavitt's "A Modern Method for Guitar". The book goes back to basics with classical notation, scales and harmony. There are no shortcuts and it can feel like a hard slog, but you'll reap the rewards for your work.

The Sodajerker Podcast is full of invaluable ideas on the process of songwriting. They talk to some of the best songwriters in the world about their creative methods.

If you're interested in jazz guitar, check out Jens Larsen, Morten Faerstrand and Jazz Guitar Lessons on Youtube and the lessons and forums at JazzGuitar.be.

On improving your chord knowledge. The best place for you to start would be to find fingerpicking songs you like, learn them, and play them a lot. Through the process of learning songs, you will improve your chord knowledge and your overall musicianship. Also this book.

For your singing/strumming problem, remember, singing is rhythmic and will fall somewhere on or between strums. Start doing simple songs. The more you do it, the better you will become at it. If you try to do it 5 times, it will probably be pretty hard at first. Maybe even perceptively impossible. If you do it 10,000 times though, I promise you it will be easier.

So pick an easy song, play and sing through it a gazillion times. The first few times might seem impossible, but each time you do it, you will learn and become better. Never give up. You'll get it.

On improving your listening (aural) skills, most musicians don't have "perfect pitch", but you can improve your relative pitch by doing some ear-training (www.musictheory.net/exercises). Another great approach to ear-training is by simply figuring out songs by ear.

Also don't forget your metronome is your friend, and playing with it constantly will make you a better guitar player and musician.

Hello little martian,
I recommend the acoustic [Jasmin guitar]http://www.amazon.com/Jasmine-S35-Acoustic-Guitar-Natural/dp/B0002F58TG/ that you can find on Amazon for 80$. (US)

I bought it myself JUST to try it out to see if it was worth recommending to beginners. (I've been playing for 15 years now)

I think this is the perfect beginner guitar for many reasons:

• it's dirt cheap (even if you have money and would like a nice guitar, wait until you know how to play, that way you will know what sound you like, and will be able to choose the perfect guitar for you that will last you years)
  
• it sounds great for a guitar at that price. I've never seen anything like it.
  
• it's an acoustic guitar so you don't need Anything else
  
• you can bring it anywhere and not be scared to ding it. (Think playing songs in a park, on the beach, etc.)
  
• It looks like a nicer guitar ;)
  
  This is the perfect guitar to learn how to play your first songs.
  Don't spend to much time choosing one and start learning!
  
  Cheers.
  
  ps: how do you plan on learning ?

If you want a P-90 in the bridge position with minimal effort, get yourself a Seymour Duncan Phat Cat. It's a humbucker-sized P-90 pickup and it sounds pretty damn good as well. P-90s are a little dirtier than your average Strat single coil though, and probably won't help for that cleanish tone you seem to want. They're great for stuff like Revolver-era Beatles, early Clash and blues.

Since this is a cheap Strat copy the tuners are probably garbage. Replacing tuners can be really easy or moderately difficult; I've had guitars where the replacements just dropped in and fit with the old holes and I've had cases where I needed to drill new holes. I know I installed a set of Gotoh vintage slotted tuners into a cheap Fender Starcaster neck (those crappy strat copies they sell at places like best buy) and I had to do some drilling, but it only took about 15 minutes with a hand-held Dremel, and once the screw holes were there they installed easily.

There's nothing stopping you from sanding down the whole body and clear-coating it. John Lennon did this to one of his Epiphone Casinos, and you see them done to project guitars on eBay all the time.

I hate tremolo bridges; for years on my crummy Ibanez Strat copy I had the tremolo springs removed and shoved a wooden block under the bridge to keep it from moving. :P Never slipped out of tune once. You can get a tremolo bar cheap on eBay or from Stewart-MacDonald.

Is it worth it? That's a totally subjective question, but I've had tons of fun over the years fiddling with cheap guitars and making them not suck. One time I replaced the tuners and bridge pickup on a cheap $200 Epiphone LP Special II, and it sounded & played great. I've also had a couple reissue Duo-Sonics that I've replaced pickups on, and I built one frankenstein Strat out of parts from eBay that I gave to my brother.

The best way to learn is to break stuff and mess up repeatedly. I still can't do a lot of it properly (mostly the woodworking type stuff) but I can do plenty of other things no problem, like re-wiring a guitar or installing tuners.

TL;DR It's definitely possible to do most of the things you want, plus it's fun! Do it!

There are plenty of books and websites out there about this, but probably the one book that helped me the most is The Guitar Player Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine. Tons of useful information.

Hope this all helps.

Hi. Former Guitar Center manager here. We used to sell this model and I can weigh in.

In short: there are better guitars our there for 100 bucks. The Rogue isn't the worst guitar out there for the price, but they're sure as hell far from best. It looks like others in this thread have already mentioned Fenders and Jasmines, which are far superior.

This one is 14 bucks cheaper and will out perform and outlast the Rogue. I have one myself as a beater guitar and it's great. The satin finish lets it ring and the neck is really comfy.

https://www.amazon.com/Jasmine-S35-Acoustic-Guitar-Natural/dp/B0002F58TG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1520260278&sr=8-2&keywords=takamine+jasmine

Here's a Fender FA-100. It's a great starter guitar that sounds even better with a decent set of strings. IF you can spend a bit more, bet a Fender DG-8 instead. Otherwise, this will do fine.

https://www.amazon.com/Fender-FA-100-Beginner-Dreadnought-Fretboard/dp/B075P9367B/ref=sr_1_8?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1520260380&sr=1-8&keywords=fender+acoustic+guitar


Epiphone makes a few good ones too, but Fender and Jasmine tend to outperform them. Avoid Luna (crap guitars that only look pretty), Rogue (not terrible but you can get more for you money), Mitchell (QC is awful. Have unboxed many with cracked tops, seperated fret boards, and missing parts), First Act (toys), and Ibanez (but only at this price point for Ibanez. They get way better once you go up a bit).

Don't forget to look at used stuff, either! A Used Seagull or Fender T-Bucket would be awesome finds and not too expensive.

I highly recommend Fretboard Logic SE by Bill Edwards. It teaches the CAGED system for chords and scales in a very natural and intuitive way. No prior music theory knowledge is necessary for the book, it starts from the ground up. It isn't very long, you should be able to get a solid grasp on the foundation of the ideas it teaches within a week, but you'll be going back to back to it to learn more for a while to come. I was simply astonished at how much better I understand the guitar after a short time with this book. Before the book I was in the same position as you, played guitar but only knew chords through rote memorization and learned solos by copying others, after I was able to begin writing my own music and I felt comfortable and ready to go deeper into the music theory rabbit hole.

The book teaches the CAGED system, and I know there are resources online that teach it, so if you don't want to drop the money on a book, you can find those and they'll teach the same concepts as Fretboard Logic. However, Bill Edwards does a great job at easing the reader in to the ideas and makes them very easy to understand. Plus, it's nice to have a physical book to reference the diagrams inside of it.

If you're new to guitar, don't worry about a 'routine'. Buy a classical guitar songbook, or better yet, a classical guitar lesson book. A really good one is by Noad, and has good classical pieces to learn: http://www.amazon.com/Solo-Guitar-Playing-Frederick-Noad/dp/0825636795/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317996077&sr=8-1

Rather than focus on scales (which are very uninteresting), try working through a book, or pick a few classical guitar pieces to work on. I think this is the best way to hone your chops, but also keep your interest. You want to be motivated to practice, and scales just don't do that for me.

Classical guitar, if you work at it enough, will naturally build your finger dexterity. In contrast to scales/fingerboard exercises, you are able to see improvement in very definable ways--that is, from one piece to the next. That's where the excitement and drive to play comes from for me.

Good luck!

I started guitar really late in life and as such, my hand dexterity was really shit. Guitar Aerobics is helping out a lot with increasing my fretting accuracy and speed. I still struggle with the max speed in the individual exercises, but i have noticed improvement week over week.

It's not a cure all and while it may expose areas where you have technique deficits, it won't really be able to tell you what to do to correct it. On the other hand, it's a good addition to and a good warm up in a longer practice session. It's well structured and covers a different technique each day of the week, each week building on the last. It's was definitely worth the $15.

I ripped the CDs that come with it and put them on my phone which made it much easier to use them too. The play along drum tracks are a nice alternative to a metronome.

I recently asked a very similar question and a fellow /r/guitar redditor turned me on to [Revalver4] (https://revalver.peavey.com/) and I have to say, it doesn't suck at all. If you just want to dabble, you can download the Amp Sim for free from Peavey's website and only purchase the amp models that you are interested in running (or can afford). That makes it pretty cheap to get into the virtual amp game, but you'll be money ahead buying the $99 combo that unlocks all of the amp sims and stomp boxes.

The [Behringer UM2] (https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-U-PHORIA-UM2-BEHRINGER/dp/B00EK1OTZC/) does not suck at all and the price is pretty reasonable. The preamp in the Rocksmith is pretty cheesy and old tech compared to most modern USB inputs.

What kind of PC do you have? Many (not all) amp simulators these days do "virtual component modeling" instead of sound sample-based modeling. The big difference is the virtual component modeling sounds far superior, at the expense of using up a ton of CPU cycles.

Best of luck on your new adventure.

Ok, my original suggestion still stands. Here's what's the used market looks like on Reverb. Most are under budget, and you can buy an inexpensive interface and play through your computer for the time being. If you have a Mac, GarageBand is free and has a few amp models and even effects. If not, AmpliTube is another popular option, plus there are many more. I would think you would get much more enjoyment playing a better guitar, than by buying a cheap guitar and cheap amp.

If you'd rather not go the used route, here's some other suggestions, in addition to the Jazzmaster (obviously shop around for prices:)

Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster

Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster

Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar

Squier Standard Telecaster

G&L Legacy

G&L Tribute ASAT (My pick of the bunch.)

Basically, I would spend most of your budget on the guitar, and play through an interface. It'll be far less frustrating learning on a subjectively better quality guitar, then buying one that's half as much.

Hope that helps! (For what it's worth, I play similar music, and I have a Telecaster and a Strat style guitar.)

The best way to start, IMO, is to read. Get as much info as you can on the subject. There's a couple of books that are pretty good; This One or This One are good places to start. Another thought is to check out websites like projectguitar.com. They've also got a forum with lots of tips and such.

Finally, it's going to be a big asset if you already know your way around some various woodshop machinery, if you plan on doing it all from scratch. Knowing how to solder helps too.
One final thing. Do't expect to be able to build something utterly incredible your first time around. Start simple; it's easy to bite off more than you can chew. You will make mistakes; it's pretty much guaranteed. Don't worry about it. When you finally finish, you'll have an instrument that you can be proud of.

Good luck!

EDIT: Almost forgot, there's also an /r/luthier subreddit as well.

plug something like this into this and then run it via USB to your computer. any mic and interface will do, but those 2 happen to be pretty basic and easy to handle. as for software, i recommend Reaper as you can use it for free for awhile and pay once you've decided it's worth it (which it will be, so make sure at some point you throw 'em the cost).

point mic at amp speaker, select track on Reaper and press record. rock out like the glorious rock god you are, and then press stop. File menu>render (i think, can't remember right now)>pick format and save.

very, very rough walkthrough!

I wouldn't be too worried about the nut. Chances are that they didn't need to do any change to the nut when going from factory 9s to 10s. I've put 10s on all my Fenders and haven't had any issues with the nut action. Even if it was filed slightly, the chances are that it isn't going to really cause any issues going back to 9s, but you won't know for sure until you get it strung up and see what the nut action is like. As for the rest of it, basic setup on a strat is pretty straight forward. You may need to adjust the truss rod slightly in order to get the proper relief, but it isn't difficult. Just do it slow and make small adjustments at a time. The most tedious part is really adjusting intonation and/or if you want the trem to be floated. It isn't difficult, it just takes patience as you have to keep re-tuning after every adjustment.

As for taking all the strings off, you shouldn't have any problem with this. I've never had any issue with taking all the strings off when I restring, because I usually do a fret board clean (and oil if it is rosewood or ebony) and a quick fret polish. The only real worry is the need to reset the trem if you want it floated, which in this case you would have to do anyways since you are changing gauges. It really isn't difficult to do a setup. Just read up/watch some how-to videos and take your time. Also, if you plan on doing your own maintenance I highly recommend checking out this book. It is definitely a great reference/guide for most repair/maintenance work.

I have a slightly newer version of that same guitar (same color and everything) that I bought brand new as my first electric almost 20 years ago. I still have it and really like it. I wouldn't be in a rush to change anything. Just set it up the way you want, play it, and then figure out what needs to be changed. MIM Strats are nice guitars just the way they came and I kind of wish I left mine mostly stock. I even wish I kept the stock pickups as I now think they sound good; I swapped them out for Lace Sensors about 15 years ago and I was never a big fan of them. I wish I kept the originals. I'll probably eventually pick up a set on ebay.

I did, however, just put Fender locking tuners on mine yesterday. I'm really glad I did it because it makes string changes so much quicker and easier. I didn't have to drill any holes and they fit just fine. However, that's not always the case with those. Take one of your tuners off and look on the back of the headstock. If you have 2 little guide holes, in addition to the hole the actual tuner goes through, you should be fine.

The other little thing I did to mine a few months ago is put on a set of Dunlop strap locks. I used the original screws instead of the ones that came with them. I really like these things and put them on my other guitars as well.

See this video regarding pole piece heights on strat pickups. Darrell Braun's channel has a lot of really good stuff on it including a lot of videos comparing pickups and busting some common myths.

They are both brilliant and will last a lifetime, I've had them for around 5 years and they still blow my mind, and keep me learning.

Some others I own and think a great are:

[Creative Guitar 1 and 2 by Guthrie Govan] ( http://www.amazon.com/Guthrie-Govan/e/B0034Q44JU/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1) In my opinion the best guitarist around. He has a mastery over the guitar at a level I have never seen! These books are excellent a written in a ways that enjoyable and easy to understand

[Single Note Soloing, Volume 1] (http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Guitar-Single-Soloing-Volume/dp/0769209726/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0MRB4A99W8P09SX6GMQG) and [Volume 2] (http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Guitar-Single-Soloing-Volume/dp/0739053841/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1GGV91GVW1H6MM5AQ6C0) by Ted Greene. Excellent for jazz soloing.

[The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine] ( http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=pd_sim_b_17?ie=UTF8&refRID=1FP5R211R7V7ZDP5Q4GT) THE book on jazz, this is without a doubt a must own!

If you want to get really deep and crazy take a look at the Scott McGill books:

[Scott McGill] (http://www.amazon.com/Scott-McGill/e/B00J36EZ58/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1)

And lastly for an insane look at rhythms [Advance Rhythmic Concepts for Guitars by Jan Rivera] (http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Rhythmic-Concepts-Foreword-Machacek/dp/0615979831/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0J05GGH3PGDQRWPRB298) Metric Modulations, Polyrhythms and Polymeters galore! I feel with most guitarists rhythm is often overlooked and getting your rhythmic playing down separates the men from the boys. It's amazing how good rhythm can make the simplest of solos mind melting.

So you'll definitely want a guitar stand. Don't put your guitar away, the more you see it, the more you'll want to play it. Grab one of the small clip on tuners, the snarky brand one's are pretty good, and they're dirt cheap. You'll want a string winder too, and keep a couple extra sets of strings around. My favorite strings are the martin SP series strings, very lively tones.

As far as lessons go, while I know a lot of people get a lot out of them, I'd say your best bet would just be finding songs you want to learn how to play, and learning how to play them. These days, you can find a Youtube walkthrough on how to play almost any song. After learning songs you want to play, the abstract concepts of what actually makes up that song will start to soak in. This in addition to learning all your basic chords, and you'll be off and running in no time. The thing I'd be worried about as far as lessons go would be if it ends up feeling like a chore. That being said, it's all up to you.

String winder : https://www.amazon.com/DAddario-Accessories-Pro-Winder-Guitar-String/dp/B0002E1G5C

Tuner : https://www.amazon.com/Snark-SN5X-Guitar-Violin-Current/dp/B01H74YV56

My Favorite Strings : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002CZST4

I am 21 (well, almost) and I've been playing guitar for two years now. This is how I went about it. I am in no way claiming this to be the best or most efficient way to learn though. First, I learned the major chords: D, A, G, F, E, and so on (I just googled "major chords"). I constantly played them whether it was while watching TV or sitting down and focusing on it. At the same time, I looked up tabs to music I enjoyed. One of the first pieces I learned was "Green Eyes" by Coldplay. It's a great one because it's got pretty much all the basic chords (and a lady killer if I may say so ;). Also if you take a look at the top 100 tabs on Ultimate-Guitar, those are some good pieces to learn not only because they are good songs, but you'll learn a lot about playing guitar in the process. After about six or so months of this, I really wanted to jam, so I began learning scales. I began with a natural scale, then moved on to memorizing the pentatonic scales. I'm still working on that actually! I recently also ordered this book to help get more comfortable as well as a theory book. At the same time as learning all the scales and things I'm constantly looking up tabs, trying to pick up pieces by ear, and all around fiddling with my guitar! If I ever get frustrated, I put that bad boy down and do something else. Been playing for two years now almost every day and I love it. Just take it slow and easy.

Edit: Grammer

The same way you learned the E string, you can learn the A string with A-shape barre chords. (Then you can learn the C, G and D shape barres.;)

I have spent some time using just about anything I could find for help with learning the fretboard. I use a little trainer app on my phone, and I also used this book. The author uses a system based on five patterns for finding all positions of any given note on the fretboard. ("Pattern 1 has roots on the second and fifth strings, two frets apart.")

In addition, as cthrubuoy says, knowing about the octaves is very useful.

Try learning just the natural notes, or try drilling yourself regularly. Put your finger behind a fret and then identify the note. Or pick a note and find all of them. 10 minutes of this a day can be a HUGE help.

I also memorized a few landmark notes on the fretboard. Places where E, F, B, and C are stacked on top of each other, for instance, helps to learn the notes around them. Also, knowing that in standard tuning the nut (open), the 5th, 10th, 12th, and 17th frets are all natural notes could be useful.

In the end, what works best is consistently applying yourself to getting it. Until I started working at it every day (a few months ago) I could pretty much tell you the E string, and some of the A string, and anything else I would have to count out.

My advice is to buy some books. There's a lot of info on the internet, but it's all spread out and often chopped up into pieces, which can make it a bitch to make sense of. If you're going to go the internet route, though, check out guitarlessons365.com (not affiliated in any way). The vast majority of the lessons are free and the music theory section is completely free, not to mention very good.

http://www.guitarlessons365.com/lessons-archive/music-theory-lessons-archive/

Regarding books, this is a great, easy to read book on music theory that won't hurt your head. I'd start either here or with guitarlessons365.

http://www.amazon.com/Everything-Music-Theory-Book-understanding/dp/1440511829

For guitar books, Fretboard Logic is a must read. Definitely buy this. It focuses on the 5 position system (CAGED). If you're interested in learning the 7 position system for the major scales and other 7 note scales, check out guitarlessons365.

http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348759781&sr=8-1&keywords=fretboard+logic

After that, I'd check out this as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348759708&sr=1-1&keywords=guitar+theory

Worth checking this out as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348759937&sr=1-3&keywords=guitar+theory

Here's another important book. I'd probably buy this last, though.

http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348760257&sr=1-1&keywords=jazz+theory+book+by+mark+levine

This is a really short description of each, but hopefully will help.

CAGED system is a way of knowing how to play chords all over the neck. If you know the notes of the fretboard and where the root note is in each chord shape, then you can use that to play any chord, in any position using only the C, A, G, E and D chord shapes. If you're looking for a C chord near the 13th fret, there's an C on string 2 fret 13. The D shape has the root note on the 2nd string, so if you play a D chord shape at the 12th position (which uses the C root note on the 2nd string), that'll be an C chord. Alternatively, you could think about it this way... if a D chord is at the 14th position, slide a full step down to the 12th position and you'll have a C chord.

Next, if you know the scale positions and the root note within each, you can combine the CAGED system with scale positions and blend them.

The keys to understanding this are 1) understanding the CAGED system, 2) knowing scale positions (you mentioned pentatonic and mixolydian - just pick one scale type for a start), and 3) knowing the notes of the fretboard. Once you have a solid understanding of those, a bit of practice will get you over the hump with combining them.

The thing that helped me put all of this together (apart from hours of practice with backing tracks), was a book called Guitar Fretboard Workbook. The exercises are short and helped with memorizing note positions on the fretboard, and it has a good explanation of the CAGED system as well.

I hope this helps.

Edit: corrected chord name.

I've been playing for 17 years, and had my share of plateaus, but these days I can't wait to get home and practice, and I feel like I get better every time I pick up a guitar, even if its in a very small way.


I think this is partly because I am in a band again, and writing riffs and songs that will actually get played live. So I'm eager to make these songs awesome, then to take a break from working on songs, I'll just solo over something for a while for fun/technique.


Also, I recently quit drinking and smoking, so I have been channeling a lot of restless energy into the guitar.


I still feel the thrill, but I feel it more often when I have a sick drummer behind me and strangers in front of me.


I highly recommend the book Zen Guitar , it may sound a bit cheesy at times, but it really helps you to have a positive and practical attitude, and to forget about competitiveness and wankery and gear lust and other things that get in the way of you getting better. It also helped me realize that there is no such thing as 'the best'. He describes playing as a path with no end, and our goal is to always walk forward on it. Some people sit down on the path, others lose the way...

For Christmas, my girlfriend got me a Vox AC30 amplug 2 headphone amp, which is a digital modeler of the classic Vox AC30 tube amp. Now she can watch Dancing With the Stars or whatever and I can still be on the couch practicing.

My initial impression is that this thing is bad ass. I really couldn't be much happier. I use a pair of Audio-Technica M50 headphones and the sound quality on this device is crystal clear. It can get loud too! When you crank the volume and gain to 10, it fucking roars in your headphones.

There are three knobs, volume, tone, and gain, which in and of themselves are incredibly versatile, offering a full range of tones from clean to incredibly overdriven.

It also has an effects button that cycles through clean, chorus, delay, and reverb. You can also put the whole device through three different modes by cycling the power button once it's on (mid boost, low and hi gain). Those boosts really give you new timbres and flavors to play with.

It's entirely possible to run this through a bunch of pedals too; it's an amp after all. It also has an aux in for jam tracks, metronome , etc. ALSO, you can definitely run this directly into a digital outboard recording system or your computer and record with it! The audio output is just a headphone jack, so there are a myriad of ways to record or listen to it. Even computer speakers!

Caveat to that: I've read that it the sound quality is directly related to the quality of your headphones/speakers though. Like I said, I have a decent set to play this thing through, but if you try to use some crappy earbuds your experience will much worse. Solid sounding, over the ear headphones are the way to go with this. Or again, speakers are totally an option.

I got the AC30 model, but there are also a classic rock, metal, and bass variants. It might sound like those are the way to go, but believe me, the AC30 can get just as filthy as the metal one. I've played an SSS strat, an epiphone sg tuned to C, and my Ibanez bass guitar through it, and even the bass sounded good through it. I like stoner rock and doom metal, really mid-heavy, low tuned stuff, and this can give me a lot of the sounds I'm looking for, while still retaining the sweetness and versatility required by famous Vox AC30 users like the Beatles, Kurt Cobain and Tom Petty.

And for $40, it's right there in your price range. Look up a couple demos on youtube and I think you'll be impressed. Just be careful not to buy the original model as it's the same price but without the effects and boosts.

If you have any questions let me know!

I did exactly what you're explaining with my dad. The process takes a long time. I'd recommend starting with designing the body. If you want to design your own body, sketch it out, and GIVE VERY EXACT MEASUREMENTS ON THE STENCIL.

This includes the center line. EVERYTHING ON THE GUITAR IS BASED ON THAT CENTER LINE. The neck, pickups, and bridge all have to be exactly on that line.

Also you have to factor the scale of the neck you're planning to get. I got my neck from Warmoth. It's a great neck and I can't be happier with it, but a finished neck is around $250.

Back to the body: What wood do you want to use? Are you going to book end the wood if you're going to use a translucent finish (burst, dye, etc.) or are you going to just paint it? I dyed my guitar and used layers upon layers of laquer (~15 to be exact of museum quality finish).

Hardware is something else to consider. Stewart-MacDonald is a great site for that. Think pots, switches, tuners, bridges (stopbar too if you're doing a Gibson-style bridge), pickup rings if you're not using a pickguard, pickguard, neck plate for bolting the guitar on, etc.

Basically, there's a lot to consider when building a guitar. It's not easy at all, but if you have fun with it, you can build a hell of a guitar. I recommend buying a couple books on guitar building. This is one of the books I got. It's really good and I highly recommend it.

Good luck!

last year i bought like 3 guitar books. two were mostly theory, but my favorite one was Guitar Aerobics. Its basically a book full of riffs, broken down into 6-7 categories of different mechanical skills (alternate picking, barre chords, rhythm strumming patterns, sweep picking) spread out every week, with backing tracks and sample sound banks of the riff being played. Every day you have something different.

it starts off basing everything on the Am pentatonic and starts building on complexity as it progresses
I didn't really stick to it daily, but i really think it still improved my mechanical abilities a lot. I was basically only using downstrokes to pick but now i find myself naturally alternate picking even across strings.

my favorite aspect of it is that if you don't know how to practice, amd at a certain point in time you only have 10 minutes can open up the book to where you left off, do one of the exercises.

at <15$ on amazon it's cheaper than a guitar lesson but works great for supplementing your spontaneous "i have to learn this song" moments by helping you get the chops to handle harder stuff

Buy a book called The Guitar Handbook by Ralph Denyer.

I bought my copy a few months after I started learning (been playing for close to a decade now), and my only regret is not having bought it even sooner. It's tattered from use, but I still read it often and still find new things to learn. It's always in my flight case.

It has sections on any guitar related topic you can imagine: from biographies of influential guitarists to music theory to illustrated guides on how to rewire your electric guitar's pickups. It's essential, and I consider it worth at least ten times its price.

Edit: There's also a British guitar magazine called Guitar Techniques that I used to read up until about a year ago. I only stopped because importing the mag to South Africa became too pricey for me. It features top quality lessons by professional guitarists, tablature, music notation, exercises, articles, etc., as well as a CD with backing tracks, et al. A copy of the above-mentioned book plus a subscription to GT and some regular, disciplined practise will probably turn you into Eddie Van Halen :)

Good luck and have fun!

From a recommendation by this sub, I've been learning lead blues guitar from a book called "Blues You Can Use". I can't recommend the author and book enough. He also has other books in the series, but I'd start with this one. Then, if you get through his works and still want some more work in the blues vein, the author Joseph Alexander wrote some great stuff, like The Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar.

After that, I recommend using a few books on the "CAGED" system of learning scales/chords/patterns. In particular, some that have helped me are Joseph Alexander's The CAGED System and also Fretboard Logic.

Then, if your head hasn't already exploded, use Justin Guitar.

Good luck!

While I'm a few years out of building my own, here's the thread that documented basically everything I did for mine: Link. I'd also highly recommend purchasing this book - there are some invaluable tips and hints scattered throughout it.

Overall mine was probably about $1000, but the main costs came from the pickups and components I used -- as a side note, good wood can be found for cheap if you do some thorough research. Additionally, I contracted out the fretboard to a local man who built guitars as a hobby, and that cost a few hundred IIRC.

As everyone else is saying, StewMac and the internet will be your best friends if you decide to move forward with building one. There are dozens of particle board/acrylic templates online that can be purchased and printed off. A good guitar can be built for only a few hundred dollars if you are patient and learn from your mistakes as you go. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

Firstly, I never recommend going to GC for a setup...GC is the WalMart of guitars. Instead, I highly recommend going to your local guitar shop where there are people dedicated to setting up guitars, and do so on a daily basis.

Knobs are usually just 'push on, pull off' toppers, so it is very possible the plastic 'head' of the control knob simply wasnt tight, or the threading on the pot itself was stripped, therefore not gripping that knob as well. If you bought it at GC, it is possible it was a recurring problem since before you bought it.

Note that there is a difference between 'acoustic' buzz (unplugged) and 'electric' buzz (plugged in). It is okay for a little bit of fret buzz on an unplugged electric guitar...this doesn't necessarily mean that the action is poor. However, if that fret buzzing passes through to your amplifier, you need to adjust your action.

Alternatively, if you are getting very terrible buzz, you may need to adjust the bridge itself (where the 'thumbscrews' you mentioned are) and raise the action. It is not very difficult, but if you don't feel confident take it to a guitar tech.

Here is an article going through a setup (albeit slightly more advanced) of a Les Paul guitar.

Here is a basic YouTube video discussing various pieces and how they affect action on a Les Paul.

In this video, Joe Walsh does a pretty decent job explaining the basics of a setup on a Les Paul.

Also keep in mind that thicker strings on a guitar = more tension on the neck.

Don't be afraid of your guitar! You only learn from adjusting it yourself. It can be intimidating at first, but once you do it several times you will feel much more confident. Like I said, don't be shy about taking it to a trained technician at a local guitar store.

I hope this information was helpful.

EDIT
Also, for some quality reading material, check out Dan Erlewine's 'How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great'....very useful to have sitting around

Here are two books that helped me exponentially:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0634049011?pc_redir=1413778480&robot_redir=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/063406651X?pc_redir=1413771056&robot_redir=1

The first book helped me visualize the fretboard a lot faster, and also taught me how to form really complex chords using interval knowledge. The second book gets into some really advanced stuff like modal interchange, chord substitution, and playing with modes over extended and altered chords. I'd suggest you start with the first book as the second book ramps up really quickly and it's easy to get lost if you haven't figured out the basics yet. Oh, and there are tips on how to use the harmonic and melodic minor scales as well, which is super helpful if you want to get into jazz.

At the same time, I still use a lot of lessons from justinguitar.com because that guy is amazing at relating complex concepts to others in a simple and coherent manner.

I'm working through Troy Nelson's Guitar Aerobics at the moment, and it's really excellent. What makes it is the structure: 365 exercises, one for each day of the year. The techniques repeat on each day of the week. e.g. Monday is always an alternate-picking exercise, Wednesday is always a string-bending exercise, etc. The exercises build on each other, they start off easy and get progressively more difficult. But they do so in an incremental and logical way so you don't feel lost (at least I'm not so far, 6 weeks in).

I'm finding it great to help nail the various techniques....you practice a 2-bar hammer-on lick for half an hour, you'll get the technique pretty well down. Whereas if it was part of a longer song, it'd be easy to half-ass it and move on to the next bit before you'd really got it right.

The structure of the book, where you have your practice plan laid out for you for the next year, is a good motivator too.

I have this one and while it's a little awkward, I've never had any problems with wear yet. It cuts all the gauges I use easily.

I wouldn't say a string winder is a game changer, but it's definitely nice to have, and the cutter is better than using a Leatherman multi tool (which was my previous string cutter). If you have a traditional acoustic with the bridge pins I bet it helps a lot with that too. It's super cheap though, so it's hard to justify not having it.

Depends on what you like. I was big into metal and hard rock when I was starting out. Black Sabbath is easy enough that you could be playing songs within the first couple months, if not just weeks.

If you're interested in actually learning guitar and not just memorizing songs I'd recommend working through these as well:

• Fretboard Theory
  
• A Modern Method for Guitar
  
  You'll want to take the Berklee book someplace to get it spiral bound. Also note that it's not a tab book. You'll have to read standard notation. It starts off super easy and gets progressively harder, page by page. A looper pedal for the duets will be helpful.

Your questions are pretty broad theory questions and the FAQ should cover most of them or at least help point you in the right direction. If you've been playing for 15 years but don't know what a Cmaj7 is, you have a hill to climb, but not an impossible one.

It seems like your questions are theory based, you already know basic chords, so start with learning basic music theory. What notes make a scale?, Do you know your notes on the fretboard?, What notes of a scale do I use to make a chord? What are intervals? You don't have to be an expert in theory to be a great guitarist , but you have to know the basics, and should be able to answer these questions. This book is a great resource.

You can get a number of headphone amps for guitar for like $30-$40. Vox makes a good one, IMO.

Using your 3.5mm adapter and microphone input on PC with an amp sim will sound like garbage. A proper interface will cost nearly as much as the amp, and free amp sim software is decent but sometimes difficult to get working properly...and leaves you tethered to your PC.

Find either a battery powered amp or headphone amp like the one I linked below. That way you can play on headphones anywhere you like.

Do not just get a regular old headphone amp, those are meant for hifi not guitar. They'll give you flat, lifeless sound. The natural harmonic distortion of even a "clean" amp is part of a guitars sound. The amplifier is part of the instrument, without it you aren't playing electric guitar. So whatever you get, make sure it's actually acting as a guitar amp.


VOX AP2AC amPlug AC30 G2 Guitar Headphone https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NAUHX1G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_uHSRzbGQ9P2V9

Thanks!

Over the years it's faded a bit, but the artist did such a great job. It was supposed to be a Japanese-calligraphy style. Originally it looked like it had very detailed brush strokes that were cool. I really should get it touched up after 15 years.

I got the design from the book 'Zen Guitar' by Philip Sudo. Do yourself a huge favor and get the book. It's a must-have for guitar players. It totally changed the way that I approach music back then.

http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Guitar-Philip-Toshio-Sudo/dp/068483877X

If I were you I'd look into Justin Guitar for a solid base and to just get you playing songs. He's produces the best internet lessons I've seen and they're all free. He's an amazing teacher and is very entertaining in his lessons. Start with the beginner's course and work your way to intermediate and then into specific areas you want to learn.

I also enjoyed this book. It covers basic music theory and how to navigate the guitar.

If you're serious about fingerstyle playing, enough to spend some money, I recommend picking up Solo Guitar Playing Vol. 1 by Noad. I haven't come across a more comprehensive analysis of technique, down to hand placement and individual movement of the fingers. I picked the book up after 8 years of playing and was learning fundamental techniques described within the first few pages. It's also a great introduction into reading sheet music, not quite as fast paced as Modern Method for Guitar, the other commonly recommended book.

I second the JustinGuitar recommendations. His Practical Music Theory and Chord Construction Guide eBooks are great introductions to music theory.

Short answer is with your wrist. You also want to ingrain good habits now, that will help you with string skipping, speed, etc, later. First, don't hold the pick between the tips of your fingers and definitely don't use your fingers to move the pick. The fingers hold the pick, your wrist is what moves it. The pick should rest between your thumb tip and the side of your index finger (not the tip). Tighten your grip by making a complete fist, rather than squeezing two fingers.

It's best to not anchor your pinky/ring finger onto the body of the guitar for stability. If you're making a fist, you'll be less inclined to do this. Try to train for accuracy without anchoring and it will pay dividends later. Ideally your only anchor should be your forearm against the guitar body's edge. Lightly anchoring the wrist against the bridge is OK, and sometimes actually necessary to mute strings, either to palm mute the string actually being played, or to silence the lower strings when playing the higher ones not being muted.


You should also be angling your pick on two separate planes. The more important of these being the string horizontal plane. That is, you don't want to hold your pick perfectly horizontal to the string, but rather angle it a bit so your downstroke strikes with the nut (headstock) end of the pick first (the other end being the bridge side). You also want to pick in such a way that your downstroke ends slightly under the strings and your upstroke ends slightly above. Not as important as the horizontal plane, but this second tip will help with moving from string to string.

Start practicing your alternate picking on a single string, using just a single finger on your fretting hand, if necessary.

Use Amazon's "look inside" feature to check out the first exercise in this book. Once you can do that, you can progress to multi-string patterns. With multi-string patterns, you'll have to be more mindful of upstrokes and downstrokes, as they relate to the movement from string to string, but always try to stick to the up/down repitition and try to avoid throwing in consecutive down/down or up/up.

Use a metronome and start as slow as necessary to maintain accuracy. Once you can repeat a pattern flawlessly, bump up the BPM's, rinse, repeat.

EDIT: Fixed Link

I recommend Noad. There are two volumes. This is a classical guitar book, but covers almost everything.

You'll also need a dedicated fingerstyle blues/folk book. These tend to be more fast and loose, and hence they can be light on actual instruction. Best is probably the Tommy Emmanuel technique book.

I also really like Pumping Nylon by Scott Tenant.

The all-time best right-hand exercises are by Mauro Giuliani and Fernando Sor. Some of these are included in PN.

You're right, the instrument does not factor in as much as one's interest. Totally right.

Of the packages listed, the first Yamaha one for $159 looks very nice. You'd definitely get more than your money out of it. Yamaha has a great rep. for longevity.

I own this Rogue for $79 and love it to death. I taught Grade 6 and students were allowed to play whenever they wanted - it never got any rest from students or teachers.
I'd get this Snark tuner, this guitar strap, these strings, this string winder, and finally this stand. Oh, and these thin picks.

That gives you a grand total of $119.24. I've either owned or used all of these products and can vouch for them.

Now, the other thing I'm thinking of... there's this instructional book on Google Books, where you get the first 64 pages for free. It's a great resource, but the name escapes me. If I think of it, I'll write back. I hope this helps.

Regarding #2:

What I've been doing for the quarter of a century I've been playing (god knows I should MUCH better than I am) is pulling the string and creating a bend about 1" past the tuning peg.

Once I put the string in the hole, I use my right hand index finger to hold the string down and use a string winder to get the first full wrap around the peg and then I pull it taut and guide the additional wraps under the initial one. I generally get 2-3 wraps for the low E through G string, and a handful more for the B and high E string.

For my Strat, I bought the Fender locking tuners and they were SUPER easy to replace. For my teles, one came with the vintage style tuners and I installed them on the other. I use the above methods when restringing my Les Paul or PRS.

The string winder I linked makes things SO much easier and I've yet to have it mess up on me. Plus, having the built in string cutter is nice.

If you're looking to improve your technique (chops), i HIGHLY recommend checking out guitar aerobics

Its broken down into daily 5-10 minute segments. Really easy to get through it, since it comes accompanying audio tracks that progressively pick-up the BPM. The lesson itself has both notation and tabs (so you can use what you're comfortable with, or try to pick up reading some notation)

Starts of real basic, so in the first two days I did the first week or two. In two weeks I improved so much more than I had in the 6 years I'd been playing up to that point. Forcing you do a technique PROPERLY at slow BPM is just as important as being able to do it quickly.


Best $20 I ever spent on guitar.

Guitar Fretboard Workbook is a great place to start if you want to build a strong theory foundation from scratch. I recommend it to every person in this sub that asks this type of question because it's such a useful resource. Good luck!

A little late, but it kind of depends on what you want to play. But I really like Fretboard Logic and the CAGED system, makes chords/scales pretty logical:

https://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060

But there's a ton of free resources out there too. YouTube isn't a bad place to start.

Hey, I`d totally recommend this https://www.amazon.ca/AP2AC-amPlug-AC30-Guitar-Headphone/dp/B00NAUHX1G/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=pocket+amp&qid=1563342201&s=gateway&sr=8-5

​

They make ones that play different styles like metal or hard rock etc. and they have 4 or 5 different effect types you can switch between. I`ve had amps, solid state, tube, even pocket amps and I think the value of this thing is pretty much unparalleled! Good luck in your search my brother

Well depends how crazy or simple you wanna get. You have a ton of options.

You can do decent practice amp with headphones out

Multi effects pedal with amp and cab sim

Audio interface but then you need software, mess with plug ins, drivers and output. Like you mentioned before PC speakers should be ok for practice.

And if you want super simple, they sell this little adapters that connect to your guitar that have built in effects and are for headphone use.
VOX AP2AC amPlug 2 AC30 Guitar/Bass Headphone Amplifier https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NAUHX1G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_yvH5Cb2SHFAB0

My younger brother got one and it’s not amazing sounding but pretty decent for what it is. They have various models. But this would be more of something extra for quick and easy practice and not really for a main or serious practice. Unless someone has more experience with them. I only played with one briefly.

This book is one of the best. It goes to a beginner level and introduces you reading music and then playing in a fingerstyle that is original music but with a heavy classical feel. Note that it is best done with an instructor or used by someone with a good background in music. It offers some instruction along the way but if done without an instructor, it can be a little tough. Still, I think it is awesome.

I just put these (amazon.com) in my American telecaster yesterday. It was a zero modification drop-in and took about 5 minutes. I've heard that mexi strats take the same tuners.

I can confirm that the nut is 10mm. This never happens, but I grabbed a 10mm wrench out of my toolbox randomly without knowing the nut size and it fit perfectly. It was like winning the lottery.

OK, I've recommended this book on this subreddit before and will continue to. This book is amazing. Advanced Modern Rock Guitar Improvisation by Jon Finn is pretty spectacular. I took the class that he wrote the book around and it's pretty eye opening. I can't rep a single book harder when it comes to just straight ahead practical rock playing with a solid theoretical background.

After that, Chord Chemistry by Ted Greene is a classic and every guitar player should have a copy.

Definitely a tuner, and some spare strings, nothing worse than when one breaks and you can't play for a few days! I think these are the strings you probably want:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DAddario-EXL110-3D-Regular-010--046-Electric/dp/B000EEJ91I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473760707&sr=8-1&keywords=d%27addario+10-46

A metronome would be good too, although you can just get an app for that on your phone...

A stand for the guitar would be good, too.

Oh, and a string-winder and string cutter:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Planet-Waves-Pro-Winder-String-Winder/dp/B0002E1G5C/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1473761366&sr=1-1&keywords=string+winder

I'm not sure the plectrum holder on your wishlist will work on the guitar you've chosen... I think it will only work on acoustic guitars, because it hooks onto the strings at the headstock, which are spaced differently on electrics.

Also, definitely don't get that Behringer PB1000. That's just the board for you to put pedals on, and doesn't have anything on it itself. The amp you're looking at already has some effects on it, so it's probably best to not bother about any more effects for the time being!

Books are a great idea. Not necessarily books of TABs, or method books though, unless he's specifically asked for something... they can be a personal choice thing.


Coffee table type books with lots of pictures and articles on guitar history, blues history etc are always a good gift. Or an all-round encyclopedia book (like Ralph Denyer's Guitar Handbook )


Then again... Rocksmith 2014 would be a good gift for a player as well.

Silk and steel strings may help you achieve your technical goals. You don't need a nylon string guitar to learn the method. The most significant gain of going that route is the generally larger string spacing.

If you do go for a classical guitar, a pro setup on the least expensive solid top guitar you can find, with some really good strings should hold you over for a long while. Just make sure it has an adjustable truss rod. Upgrading to a bone saddle/nut will improve the tone of the best or worst guitars for a very low price.

This book: Solo Guitar Playing - Book 1, 4th Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0825636795/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_6XrmDbNG3FF0H

Probably the most commonly(successfully) taught/learned classical method book ever to have existed and is geared towards a total beginner.

Rock on dude. \m/

I use a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB interface which you can get for about $115 if you shop around. For a mic I have a Sennheiser e609 ($109) and a AKG P120 ($79) but the sennheiser is way better than that particular AKG. I use Reaper for recording.

Someone mentioned the little handheld digital units like a Tascam Dr-07. Those work pretty good but you have to then copy the file into your computer if you want to edit it.

So far the book "make your own eclectic guitar" has helped me a lot.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0953104907/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

I suggest building from a kit to start out. The shop I work for is an AllParts dealer, so I really like them, an I'll bet if you emailed the boss he'd cut you a deal, but Stewmac.com is good too.

The book I suggested it's really vague on finishing, so I suggest looking up an online tutorial specific to what finish you're doing, YouTube has been a big help, but Stewmac.com has some good tutorials on their site. be sure your clear coat, paint, and sanding sealer all work together I had to start over because no one will give me a clear answer about how to finish an ash body with a stain.
Here's a link to the StewMac videos.

http://www.stewmac.com/online_video.html

You don't need to know theory to write music. It's certainly useful, but it is by no means a necessity. You probably know more theory than you realize. There are likely various patterns and things that you recognize as common, you just don't have a name for it. A lot of music theory is just giving names to those things.

If you're looking for a good resource to get you going, I recommend Tom Kolb's Music Theory for Guitarists book. It's basically a crash course on A LOT of theory subjects. It's far from the most in depth look at any of the topics involved, but it does a great job of immediately relating everything to the guitar.

I also recommend Rikky Rooksby's How to Write Songs On Guitar. This book is a flat out classic of guitar and songwriting instruction.

Happy to help.

A set of allen keys, a ruler, and a screw driver will take care of most basic setup issues. Go slow and don't over think it. Searching google and youtube can get confusing and overwhelming. I keep a copy of Dan Erlewine's book, The Guitar Player Repair Guide as a reference. https://smile.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210 Once you learn the how-to stuff then it is a matter of determining and setting everything to your personal preferences.

Good luck. I hope you get everything sorted out.

Sure thing. Musicians have a lot to learn from each other. You can get a guitar USB interface for pretty cheap these days eg: http://www.amazon.com/Focusrite-Scarlett-Solo-Compact-Interface/dp/B00MTXU2DG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1453972513&sr=8-2&keywords=guitar+interface
I have a more expensive one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005OZE9SA/ref=s9_hps_bw_g267_i1

Great to have because it opens the door to using your computer as effects pedals and amplifier too. A lot of the software for that is free! :)

I'd get Jazz Theory by Mark Levine. It isn't guitar-only centric, but nor should your understanding of jazz be guitar only, as you really need to understand all the other musicians to really play well with others and compose. Great book. Make sure to look up all of the listening examples.

Yes to all of that.

You will want this Dan Erlewine book.

And this Dan Erlewine book.

You can make DIY fret files using a feeler gauges, like this.

A strobe tuner for best results.

A nice steel ruler.

Assorted screw drivers and mini-screw drivers.

Powdered graphite or "nut sauce" lubricant.

Clear nail polish and super glue.

Appropriately sized deep sockets and a "thumb wheel" socket driver.

Fret refinishing is the only place, IMO, that requires actual dedicated tools, but there are guys who DIY that as well.

I got the StewMac 3-in-1 fret file for crowning.

I still haven't decided if I will DIY or purchase something like the Nut Seating Files for when I make bone nuts for everything.

I use a set of diamond sharpening plates from HF to touch up flatten and a HF 19" Flooring Level (sorry no HF link, they don't seem to carry it any longer)and some strips of 220 sandpaper sticky glued to that straight edge to do fret leveling.

Chord Chemistry is a great book. It's my guitar bible. I'm always coming back to it. It was written by one of the best guitar players ever, Ted Greene.

I've heard The Advancing Guitarist is quite good but I've not read it.
One last suggestion. If you can find a book called SuperChops by another legendary player (Howard Roberts) you'll be set. It's a great 20 week course that'll take your playing to new levels. Howard was one heck of a jazz player, teacher and nice fella. It's out of print (now) so it may be a struggle to get a copy but once you do...hold onto it.

Great points. For radius, I got a set of stewmac metal under-string ones as a gift; an even better idea for most would be picking up this great book, which actually has a set of plastic radius gauges included.

For tuners, also true. Biggest protip there is probably checking your hole measurements before you buy replacements, I'll never make that mistake. Again. :/

I own about 20 guitars. I've learned to do most of the basic stuff. I don't file nuts, and I don't dress frets, but I've successfully adjusted neck position, truss rods, pickups, replace or adjust bridges, saddles, intonation, etc. I'll even do minor soldering, although I'm skittish about soldering on the pots since I don't think I have the right tools to do that without damaging them.

I'll second the recommendation for Dan Erlewine's book -- his stuff is fantastic.

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-Book/dp/0879309210/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

How often? Well, usually if you get the thing adjusted right, and it is not put in storage for a long time or subjected to major temp/humidity changes, it shouldn't need too much tweaking. You ought to be able to change strings (to the same brand and gauge) without having to change much, if anything. In general if everything else is right, and the only thing that has changed is the humidity, a minor tweak of the truss rod alone might do it. If you're going to change string gauges, like going from 10s to 11s, you'll have to re-intonate it and perhaps have issues with everything to correct for.

You'll have to buy a new switch, open the back of your guitar, remove the old one and mount and solder the new one in.

Any good guitar store will have the switch in stock, and it will be cheap. Just tell them what model your guitar is.

The rest is easy or hard depending on your soldering skills. You could just take careful notes of where each wire is connected on the old switch, and then resolder the new switch in the same way, but i might be good to get some schematics for your guitar.

If your interested in being able to service your guitar, The Guitar Player Repair Guide by Dan Erlewine might be a good purchase.

Did this about 12 years ago. Bought most stuff from StewMac.com I would heavily suggest buying their premade neck-fretboards. I did, and it turned out pretty awesome. I bought the maple neck/ebony fretboard for through neck type construction, an alder body blank, bridge, pickups, wiring, and paint all from them. Cut out the body sides and use them as clamping cauls when you glue the sides to the neck. I bought the book "Build Your Own Electric Guitar" and it was a great help. TAKE YOUR TIME!!! DO IT THE RIGHT WAY!!!

No good comes from waiting. I take classical guitar lessons at a university and wish I had started sooner. The only thing I'd be wary of is developing poor technique early on, which can be killer to fix later. Just watch out for your left and right hands. Make sure the thumb of your left hand is always on the back of the fingerboard (not curved around) and that your right hand is not perpendicular to the strings but in line with your wrist; like this. I know you said not to name books, but this book is the one that has been teaching me classical guitar and it's great. Now as for spanish/flamenco style guitar, I play a little and am learning, mostly from this video.

Sorry, I know you said not to post anything, but I got excited.

Verdelet gives good advice!
All I would add is the age old advice of "measure once, cut twice"

I also recommend Make Your Own Electric Guitar by Melvin Hiscock. The book is considered the "Bible" of guitar making, and is an excellent guide/ reference.

I'd also recommend reading plenty. Project guitar is great. MIMF is another good site. By reading about mistakes others have made you can avoid them yourself ;)

so after doing a little more digging, i think i will go with this

AT2020 condenser mic (XLR, not usb cable version):

http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT2020-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B007V3PVNA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1458573519&sr=8-2&keywords=AT2020+xlr

and

Focusrite 2i2-USB recording interface:

http://www.amazon.com/Focusrite-2i2-USB-Recording-Interface/dp/B005OZE9SA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1458572655&sr=8-1&keywords=focusrite+scarlett+2i2

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This guy doesn't have very many views but he gets the point across

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d50-zxV3UOA

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Here's an example of one of his recordings, the sound audio sounds amazing and this is what i want

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44K_ittAmNc

let me know what you think when you get a chance

thanks

Here's a great site that explains the CAGED system, which in turn explains the fundamental layout of the fretboard very well.

http://www.cagedguitarsystem.net/

A great all-around book is "The Guitar Handbook" by Ralph Denyer. It has everything from Theory to construction to influential players and the history of the guitar in one handy resource.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Guitar-Handbook-Ralph-Denyer/dp/0679742751

Ted Greene's Chord Chemistry

For chordal stuff, he is one of the absolute greats and I cannot recommend him enough. This book contains pages and pages of shapes for every type of chord you can think of, but also goes on to teach you how you can apply them and reharmonise from a guitar point of view.

His website with lots of free lessons and chord melody tunes. You can get the gist of his stuff here. The book has also got all hand written chord boxes like the stuff on his site.

Example of his playing

Tommy Emmanuel talking about the book Bitches love Tommy Emmanuel.

I really enjoyed this book, the rest in the series are a bit blah, but this stood out as helping me a lot.

https://www.musicroom.com/product-detail/product332583/variant332583/guitar-springboard-technical-workout/

Also the popular Guitar Aerobics book might be what you want. I dont own this one, but I will buy it eventually, some friends have it and seemed to really improve when they stuck with the 52 week thing,
When i borrowed it i just went through it at my own pace which might not be best, as I cant remember most of it.

https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-day-Maintaining/dp/1423414357

I have several friends who are professional musicians/instructors at the college level, most of them classical musicians. I've asked them this question before, talked about taking theory from them (which is a FOUR semester course sequence), and looked for options that are a bit less involved. Ultimately I ended up with Tom Kolb's Music Theory for Guitarists, which I liked a lot better than the college-level textbooks my friends gave me.

I've been playing 30+ years and most of the theory I knew was simply from playing, learning from others, etc. This book opened up a lot of doors.

One of the biggest downsides is your intonation will change especially on a guitar with a trem system. so essentially your guitar will no long play in tune all along the fretboard. your action may also become lower causing fret buzz or possibly notes fretting out on bends.

it's worth it to learn how to take care of your guitar yourself. its going to be your best friend for the rest of your life, take some time and effort and learn the in's and outs of guitar maintenance.

here is a good book to learn from
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0879309210

If you want to save for the Yamaha or a Boss Katana then try one of these for headphones. $40 and I love mine. I got the AC30 and it’s just a blast. Then when you’ve got the money for something good, get something good. I have a cheap amp that I can’t stand. It’s just not worth it

https://www.amazon.com/AP2AC-amPlug-Guitar-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B00NAUHX1G/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=vox+headphone+amp&qid=1565598503&s=gateway&sprefix=vox+headp&sr=8-1

There's only 1 kind of setup and it involves adjusting the neck relief, saddle/bridge height and nut slot depth.

Contrary to what some of these posts have stated you should be prepared to adjust all of these things when changing string gauges. Learning how to setup your own guitars is a skill I would recommend to ANY guitar player.

I'd recommend using/buying a book called 'The Guitar Player Repair Guide' -- written by Dan Elewine. It does a good job of explaining the setup process for some common electrics as well as acoustics.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484774002&sr=1-1&keywords=dan+erlewine

Strat all the way for the Chili Peppers.

I'd recommend Squier Classic Vibe since they come with proper AlNiCo Pickups, so it'll sound great, and the main problems are the input jack and gloss neck. The neck is completely subjective, so you might actually dig that, and a new input jack is like $15 max, and it's about as easy as it can get when it comes to soldering. Even if you pay someone to do it for you, you'll still save money over what you would pay for a MIM Strat.

The one that looks the most like John's main Strat is the '60s Classic Vibe

If you have the $600, I'd say put locking tuners on to make string changes eaiser, a new nut for tuning stability and tone on open strings, and a good input jack since Squier's are notorious for their loose input jacks.

Glad to see that you're on the road to guitar independence. It's great because nobody can know better how you want your guitar to play than you! This book has everything, it is indispensable. The Guitar Handbook

Pure theory alone will not improve your technique on any instrument, but will enable you to understand the mechanics of the music being played, and communicate it to another musician. You might consider applying your knowledge to extended chords and harmonies available in Jazz. Books by the following would be useful:

• Mickey Baker - Book 1 and Book 2;
  
  
• Ted Greene;
  
  
• Mick Goodrick;
  
  
• Frank Gambale - Book 1 and Book 2
  
  ---
  An answer with useful music theory resources that I gave recently:
  
  https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/4h5i2y/question_which_book_should_i_read_to_understand/d2njtxs

https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499754614&sr=8-1&keywords=jazz+theory+book

I used the shit out of this book in high school when I was preparing to go to university. This was also the period where I wanted to move from blues into jazz. If you have technique, then this is a great launching point for jazz. It's pretty comprehensive (until you get quite advanced) and could be used as a sort of desk reference when you're done studying it. It's by far the most useful music book I ever bought in my development. It's super no nonsense and because it's written for people of all instruments it takes guitarists out of that "guitar culture" mindset which isn't always a good thing musically.

To apply the things in the book, listen to a shit load of recordings and start going through the Real Book. Pick out tunes you really like and learn them in basic ways. Look up charts for jazz guitar chord voicings and start comping along with records. Then throw in the melody. Next improvise by messing with the melody. Then start improvising with modes and chord tones. Finally, start transcribing your favorite solos, doesn't have to be just guitar players.

That's how you learn jazz.

Ok thanks. I'm really just interested in using my computer in place of an amp. Is there any bare bones one you would recommend for that purpose? I saw the UM2 by behringer for $50 that seemed pretty decent. Link.

I was prepared not to like this guy .. for several reasons .. most of them with your interpretation/flavoring of your opinion about the guy and "if" I learn his stuff I'll be liberating myself. It felt a little pretentious and put me on-guard.

However having given it a listen - I do like it - and I thank you for pointing him out.

I will say that I don't think the only avenue to liberating yourself as a guitar player is to learn to play this guys stuff.

For me there were two keys to liberating myself on guitar .. the first was when I was a teen my mother would come home drunk/stoned at 3 AM with whomever she had picked up at the bar and blast her stereo .. on a school night.

I had a Peavey Bandit 65 and a low endTokai japanese $100 guitar but I would open it all the way up and just play whatever my rage spoke to me - and at the end I would yell "BIIIIIIITTTTCCCHHHHHHHH!" at the top of my lungs.

Usually after 2-3 verses of my rage inspired performance the music from the stereo downstairs would stop.

The other key came much later (perhaps 25 years or so later) which was getting a book called Zen Guitar. I had been in a bit of a rut, and I being older and self sufficient I was no longer "inspired" by my mother's antics I was looking to expand my skills and stumbled on that book and bought it on impulse. I personally think it did a lot more for me than any music theory book I could have purchased.

See to me - the music that impresses me the most .. is the music that has an incredibly unique voice.

The opposite of that of course is "pop music" - which, to me, often sounds formulaic and vapid.

So in Zen Guitar I finally forgot entirely about chords and progressions and what sounded right and started playing in a completely exploratory way .. and that's how I liberated myself the second time. Which has stuck with me as it doesn't depend on someone else to exist :-)

Anyhow .. thanks for the recommend - sorry for the long winded reply.

"Music Theory for Guitarists" by Tom Kolb is popular. http://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/

The above-mentioned Fretboard Logic is good, but it isn't quite what you're asking for, if you were to buy only one book.

The above Mikrokosmos is a classic, but aimed specifically at piano. For some people that's not an issue, it can be a plus. For other people it is off-putting or confusing.

I really couldn't say what the best non-instrument-oriented music theory book is; there are so very many of them -- and I've got a whole bunch, just not one in particular that I think is an absolute must-read. There are a lot of topics even in basic music theory, and lots of approaches (very formal and academic versus casual writing style, for instance).

The one you found seems to cover a lot of the important topics, and is well-rated by 37 reviewers on the U.S. Amazon site, too, in addition to the 6 on the U.K. site.

You could always combine that one with the guitar-centric one.

The Berklee Method books are highly praised. They have a lot of great information about learning theory and sight reading. Alternatively if you dont want to buy them you can just download the PDF here

Of course having an instructor to really guide you along is the best way to learn.

The William Leavitt books are good:
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Method-Guitar-Volumes-Complete/dp/0876390114

Also, depends on the style you want to go for. If you go classical, get a really good teach and learn where to place your right hand fingers. Its better to learn correctly than have to re-learn.

Make sure you get a neck with the proper scale length to match the body. On the flip side, if you have a body with pre drilled holes, make sure the bridge holes are in the proper place for the scale length to match the neck.

Also I would very highly recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Make-Your-Own-Electric-Guitar/dp/0953104907

I've gone to school for guitar building and the core of what I learned there is covered in this book. Comprehensive, easy to read, good illustrations, etc.

I always recommend dropping $25 on this book.

It's an easy read, and gives you a great understanding of intonation, string height, truss rod adjustments, etc. The more you know about your instrument, the better you can make it suit your needs.

This is more of a stocking stuffer but one of these - http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0002E1G5C/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1417904591&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40

I love mine. It has a winder, clipper and an acoustic pin puller. Kind of a Swiss Army knife of string winders.

My suggestion is to learn on your own, and if you choose to go to college, pursue a major that has more profitable career options. Minor in music theory and invest your free time in practicing your instrument. Here is a reading list I recommend to start getting into serious music study and guitar playing:

• William Leavitt's Modern Method for Guitar - all three. buy it on amazon, this is your guitar bible
  
• Chord Chemistry by Ted Greene
  
• The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick - Seriously one of the best practice guides around. It is light on content, but explains how to practice and challenge yourself.
  
• A Real Book, for reading practice
  
• Tonal Harmony by Kostka
  
• Materials and Techniques of 20th Century Music, by Kostka
  
• The above books by Kostka will cover most of the theory content in the general undergraduate requirements for U.S. music programs
  
• Elementary Training for Musicians, Paul Hindemith - Very good book, particularly work on the sight reading material
  
• Progressive Sight Singing One of the most important skills for a well rounded musician
  
• Paul Gilbert's Terrifying Guitar Trip - Out of place with the above, but easily the best technical guide to guitar playing I have ever found. Even applicable if you don't want to play rock guitar.
  
  That was a fucking wall of text. Hopefully I didn't come off like a negative asshole or bore you to death. If you have any questions or complaints, let me know!

Your original post and replies aren't super helpful in elucidating what types of things you're looking for. Also, I'm not sure whether you're looking for acoustic or electric. "That thing" will not help your son improve his technique. Since "expensive" is relative and my flair is a PRS logo. Your son should have a PRS SE guitar, which is valuable but also not expensive, by some definitions. I will make a couple of other attempts to answer your question, if an electric guitar is too expensive.

Vox makes pretty affordable mini headphone amps in different flavors depending on what sound your son would like: https://www.amazon.com/AP2AC-amPlug-AC30-Guitar-Headphone/dp/B00NAUHX1G

If he is playing acoustic guitar, buy him some electric guitar catalogues and some rock CD's.

Read This It's widely known as the bible for guitar making. Find your local lumberyard for wood - don't get 'luthier wood' from eBay, it's much more expensive. The other questions you asked can't really be answered without a day long conversation to find out what you like. I'd personally go for something pretty simple for my first build - think bolt on, Telecaster simplicity. Getting the simple stuff right first is more important than being able to carve a perfect Les Paul top for example

I used to mess with audacity as well haha. It seems very barebones, not sure how it would handle plugins. Even with a program like that, and audio interface will get you best results. i would say that if you have have an op amp and spare parts, might be worth it to get a small speaker and rig up a DIY mini amp. for the time being. if you have some money to spare as well these may be worth your while.

The books I recommend for guitarists and musicians aren't so much instructional as they are tomes of wisdom.

The first is Zen Guitar, which is helpful in shaping your attitude towards playing guitar, improving, and interacting with others.

The other is The Music Lesson by Victor Wooten. Kind of new-agey, but also a ton of advice that isn't really taught in instruction books.

If you're just looking for instructional books, however, William Leavitt's books are good, as are Troy Stetina's books.

Here's a list of basics that I bought recently to give you an idea:

Feeler Gauges

Hex Key Wrench Set

String Action Gauge

String Winder

Contact Cleaner for Electronics

Neck Rest

I already have various sized screw drivers, but if I didn't that would be on the list as well.

The above would be enough to do a basic setup: adjust truss rod, adjust action, get into the guts and clean the electronics. Everything will fit in a beat up old shoe box haha.

Along with YouTube videos, this book is a good reference guide. It has everything from basic repair and maintenance information all the way to repairing a broken neck or trying to repair a messed up truss rod.

Other books mentioned in this thread are good, but so is the Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine. Even if you're not interested in jazz, this book is useful for most styles of music, though for classical you're better off with something like Tonal Harmony

I bought this a couple of months ago and whilst it's mainly pretty simple stuff, it really does help! Just pick a couple of exercises and just repeat them for an hour and go through the book. Really helped me move quicker around the neck and get a better picking rhythm, all basic things but stuff that makes the difference when you realise how much easier things are to play http://www.amazon.co.uk/Troy-Nelson-Guitar-Aerobics-Book/dp/1423414357/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412696309&sr=8-1&keywords=guitar+aerobics

It's quite possible to teach yourself, of course. The question is really how quickly do you want to progress? A teacher is your single best resource as they can give you feedback that a book or video just can't. So, if you can find a teacher in your area that teaches the style you want to learn, I would definitely go that route.

With that being said, as far as books are concerned, anything by Fredrick Noad will be helpful - especially his 2 book series on solo guitar playing.

Here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Solo-Guitar-Playing-Book-4th/dp/0825636795

As for playing the classical guitar using an acoustic guitar approach, keep in mind you're conflating a couple of different things. A "classical" guitar is the instrument - nylon strings, wider neck, lighter body. Classical guitar is a style of music (and differs from Spanish guitar, but that's another conversation practically).

So, yes, you can learn to play folk, blues, jazz and any other sort of genre on a classical guitar. And you can learn classical guitar music on an accoustic (or even electric) guitar, though it won't sound the same and might be a bit more difficult.

http://www.amazon.com/Solo-Guitar-Playing-Volume-1/dp/0825636795/ref=pd_sim_b_1

I've been playing classical for about ten years, and I'm currently studying it at a conservatory. This is what I learned out of, and I think its a great method. There are plenty of methods out there if you don't like this one: Shearer, Duncan, Tennant, and others. If you want something older look at the methods by Sor, Giuliani, or Carcassi. There are tons more, just look around for what you like. All of these require being able to read music, if you want to really do classical guitar, you have to start reading it. Don't let that discourage you, though, classical guitar is well worth the effort.

I came up learning before the internet was big (like pre high speed where video wasn't a super viable option, and content wasn't so much in regular people's hands) and spent a lot of time reading books, articles, and message boards.

Dan Erlewine became my biggest teacher in books and This book was my bible for a while.

I originally started getting into it after getting the third degree by a mom-and-pop shop when I brought a bass in for repair that I didn't buy there, but when my friends in school would see the things I was doing, they'd ask me to work on their stuff too.

Been a while since I've actually had to wrench on anything guitar wise, but I still keep up with some of the new stuff coming out and browse new catalogs when I get them in the mail.

Edit: I also had the first edition of this book and it seemed to be more related to guys who play and are just getting into working on their own stuff.

I think I know what you mean. I have been playing for 3 months, for the past month I have played maybe 2 or 3 days of the week for less than an hour a day. It's not because I don't have the time, I could play 6+ hours if I really wanted to. I sure did when I first started playing.

I don't think I'm losing interest in guitar because I have been reading books, watching videos and browsing forums related to guitar. I think I'm just feeling down and downright lazy as fuck right now. It might be that I'm afraid of playing because I know I'll put myself down when I can't play something right.

That said, I have been reading the book Zen Guitar. It gives an interesting outlook on how you should approach playing guitar.

The other commenters saying to go to a music shop and play a few first are right, but a budget is a budget and I doubt you'll find one for less than $100.

This isn't black, but a friend bought this one and I was surprised at how well it was made for the price point. Definitely not a "prop" and it felt nice to play : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002F58TG/ref=sxr_sxwds-rbp_1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=3346373142&pd_rd_wg=HQ7US&pf_rd_r=6VHAPSDACBHY3QYGSCPE&pf_rd_s=desktop-rhs-carousels&pf_rd_t=301&pd_rd_i=B0002F58TG&pd_rd_w=mZxOL&pf_rd_i=acoustic+guitar+takamine&pd_rd_r=34760c56-8829-4c2f-ba3d-26c7fc3cf107&ie=UTF8&qid=1520256568&sr=1

1. Allen wrench set, various screwdrivers, various pliers, guitar polish, and a clean cloth will get most things done.
   
   
2. Plug it in and try all the knobs and switches, the switch is going to do it's thing or it won't. Your pots or "knobs" will either work or not, and they might make a bunch of noise and need to be replaced or sprayed with contact cleaner.
   
3. There isn't a really short answer to this, heaver or lighter strings may or may not require a truss rod adjustment and/or intonation adjustments to still play fine. If you want your action and intonation perfect then adjustments will have to be made.
   
4. Replace it.
   
5. Put something between the trem block and the body like this guy does you can use just about anything but a block of wood is quite common.
   
6. Replace it.
   
   
   If you're serious about wanting to learn how to do basic guitar setup and repair, this book is worth every penny. It's easy to understand and has tons of valuable lessons from a real expert.

If just want to play into you computer, the quarter to eighth inch jack will certainly work. However, if you want improved audio quality you can purchase, as mentioned by the guy above me, and audio converter that plugs in via USB to you computer. The two leading units are probably the scarlet 2i2 or the audiobox usb. They both pretty much do the same thing.

Get a headphone-amplifier?

Something like AmPlug, that you plug directly into your guitar for the sole purpose of using headphones.

I own the AC30 model and it's pretty nice. Can get a little noisy if you use the gain in it, which you'd expect from small electronics trying to do so much, but overall you get pretty damn good sound quality considering what you're trying to do.

A Modern Method For Guitar by William Leavitt is a great book for this. Starts of with teaching you the staff and how to read notes all the way to advanced theory and improv. It is all standard notation though so you need to be able to read music OR be willing to learn (and will make it easier to learn theory), which this will help you with. It has a ton of songs and practice pieces in every position in it to guide you, and you'll know the fretboard in and out if you stick with it. I highly recommend it.

The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick

It's a more advanced book than you'll 'need' right now, but there is a fearsome about of wisdom and information within it's pages. I've had it for perhaps 18 years and still have more to learn from it!

I've owned a number of copies over the years due to people borrowing it then not returning it, which although annoying I think is a good measure of a book's quality!

The link is to an Amazon page so you can have a look inside to get a feel for the style and type of info in there.

Enjoy!

In truth, I'd try to add sight reading somewhere in there, perhaps subbing out the initial use of your music theory flashcards. For one, most music theory you'll want to learn will be in notation. Learning theory in the absence of how it immediate relates to your instrument will stall learning.

If you focus on working out of something like Modern Method for Guitar for the first six months, not only will you be compounding a lot of good practice technique, but you'll start providing yourself a strong foundation to play the theory that you learn.

I might get down voted, but this is the guitar I've had for years. Don't let the price fool you, it's an awesome guitar. Good luck.

Typically, they'll be sold in sets of 6, but some vendors, like stewmac or warmoth do sell them individually. I would just replace the whole set and take the opportunity to upgrade to locking tuners, if I were you. I'm a big fan of this Fender staggered set.

Your main concern will be the ferrule diameter. You want it to match the holes in your headstock, or at least not be bigger than the hole, or else you'll need to drill them bigger. Slightly smaller is not a major issue, particularly with the set I linked to, because of the dual stabilizing pins on the back that make the machine sit quite stable, but do require drilling holes for them on the back of the headstock. Most other tuners have a single stabilizing screw, which may or may not line up with the drilled holes on the back of your headstock. If the tuner(s) you end up with do not line up with the pre-drilled holes for the stabilizing screws, just pre-drill some new ones. Do not screw into your headstock without a pre-drilled hole.

It's your audio interface, or rather, your lack of an audio interface. Crackling in audio like you're experiencing is due to the ASIO drivers and your soundcard not being able to keep up with the bitrate to play back your audio without dropping data packets.

Audio interfaces that will fix your problem and let you play at much lower latency aren't expensive.

If you really want to spend as little as possible then you can get this Berhinger interface at just over $50, but I recommend spending the extra $20 or so and getting this Steingerb UR12. I use the 2-input version (UR22) and it's been great.

Thanks for the links and videos, I'll dive in depth into those. I also ordered:

Music Theory for Guitarists: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask (Guitar Method) https://www.amazon.com/dp/063406651X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_Xln3VhwSHiFF

And

Alfred's Basic Guitar Method, Complete: The Most Popular Method for Learning How to Play, Book, DVD & Online Audio, Video & Software (Alfred's Basic G https://www.amazon.com/dp/1470631407/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_WIiVhvj3WgX2F

I'll take it one bite at a time, thanks a ton!

capo is pretty useful. a string winder like this one is also useful for removing the bridge pins when you change strings.

Is it this one?
It certainly looks like something that might be able to help me, I'll probably get my hands on a copy! Thanks for the input!!

One good thing to do would be get this book and follow the dvd to do learn to do it yourself. Electrics are pretty resilient and unless you really mess up the truss rod most of the time they are pretty hard to break where it cant be repaired. The best way to learn is to do it and practice on some cheaper guitars.

I have used this Fret Logic SE

You are most likely already used to moving the A and E shapes around.
I tend to simplify the fingering for the C, G and D shapes personally omitting the high E string :)

I thought this book was great and the scale patterns especially helpful.

It’s cool to play, but you also have to practice. Sounds like you are just playing and never practicing with a specific focus in mind. Learn music theory and the fretboard.

I bought this Guitar Fretboard Workbook book in the recommendation of another Reddit user and feel like I always have something to be practicing. He mentioned to work through it slow and it should take at least six months to a year to complete. I am roughly a month in and only on chapter three and have done the exercises over and over but on the side I am also learning music theory so I am working on what I learned there too.

The Advancing Guitarist will be useful to you from beginning to end. Everything is explained in a concise, easy to understand way.
That being said, it is probably best used in combination with a method book.

Sorry for the double up comment, but if you're really interested in a kit, here are each of the tool's they'll give you

Feeler Gauge

Allen Wrench Set (this is actually more comprehensive)

64th inch ruler

Straight Edge (For judging neck relief/bow)

Mini Screwdrivers

String Winder (with wire cutter)

Compare to $60 dollars

$100:(http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Essential_Tool_Kits/Basic_Setup_Kit.html)


This actually seems like a solid deal, but you can get all of these at a hardware store for less and not pay for shipping and wait around for it.

Fretboard Logic has been the best book I've seen that sets a great foundation and builds on that. The guitar grimoire series is good for reference, but but that's about it. It will map out any scale or chord you can imagine, but fretboard logic will give you the tools to figure it out yourself and you become better for it.

I found this book :Guitar Fretboard Workbook by Barrett Tagliarino: to be a great book to compliment Freatboard logic. They both teach the same concepts in different ways. Work through them together to help you got to that AAAAAHAAAAA moment faster.

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320691780&sr=1-2

Get Fretboard Logic SE from Amazon or somewhere else. It's a book that teaches you how to memorize & navigate the fretboard easily. It's all broken down very well and very easy to understand. It doesn't have any biases toward a specific genre.

The best part is that it teaches you how to understand the fretboard in a logical way, so it's not just hard memorization of an abstract concept.

http://www.amazon.com/Fretboard-Logic-SE-Reasoning-Arpeggios/dp/0962477060/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1322260893&sr=8-5

im not trying to be a commercial at all, but i used this book and i think it is great for anyone who wants to learn guitar
http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Fretboard-Workbook-Barrett-Tagliarino/dp/0634049011

you can learn the fretboard easily and logically and "shred" without having to know anything but 5 patterns.

here's how you learn (very paraphrased):
there are 5 patterns that emerge up and down the fretboard.
these are the 5 different positions of root notes, essentially. for instance, using C as the root, the first pattern would be C on the first fret of the second string and including the C on the third fret of the fifth string.
now memorise that scale and fingering for the major and minor.
the second pattern would be the C on the third fret of the fifth string and the C on the fifth fret of the third string - the octaves.
memorise that and so on.
do this for all 5 patterns and you will be able to jam knowing virtually nothing.

Alright, let me give you a rundown of my personal library.

Beginner:

• "Guitar World Presents: Steve Vai's Guitar Workout"
  
• "A Modern Method for Guitar: Volumes 1-4" By William Leavitt
  
• "Creative Guitar Volume 1" by Guthrie Govan
  
  Intermediate:
  
  
• "Reading Studies for Guitar" by William Leavitt
  
• "The Advancing Guitarist" by Mick Goodrick
  
• "Melody Chords for Guitar" by Allan Holdsworth
  
• "Joe Pass Chord Solos"
  
• "Charlie Parker for Guitar"
  
• "Hybrid Picking for Guitar" by Gustavo Assis-Brasil
  
• "The Jazz Theory Book" by Mark Levine
  
• "The Bill Evans Guitar Book" by Sid Jacobs
  
  Advanced:
  
  
• "The Brazilian Guitar Book" by Nelson Faria
  
• "Creative Chordal Harmony for Guitar: Using Generic Modal Compression" by Tim Miller, Mick Goodrick
  
• "The Art of Two-Line Improvisation" by Jimmy Wyble
  
• "Elementary Training for Musicians" by Paul Hindemith (not guitar specific)
  
  I'm sure others will disagree with my ranking, and obviously my library is rather genre specific. But it's a lot of quality material that will definitely improve your playing no matter the style.

If you can read music then some guitar theory wil help you. For starters, I recommend getting a copy of this: http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Elements-Music-Theory-Guitar/sim/0898987008/2 (Not pushing amazon) It's an inexpensive workbook that walks through some of the basics. This will help you determine if going the theory route is what you want to do. If you do then I recommend this book. http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Theory-Book-Mark-Levine/dp/1883217040/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403193441&sr=1-1&keywords=mark+levine+the+jazz+theory+book

https://www.amazon.com/Music-Theory-Guitarists-Everything-Wanted/dp/063406651X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484811349&sr=1-1&keywords=music+theory+guitar someone recommended this to me years ago and it actually helped me a lot, even moreso than theory classes I took in high school/college. it's a really quick and efficient way to progress. youtube videos are ok but you might want something more structured and organized with specific exercises meant to train you to identify different concepts

edit: also the [circle of fifths] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths) is your friend

>How do I properly utilize practice time without a mentor?

A good book written as a series of lessons building upon one another leading toward your goal.

Get one or two books and work through them studiously. Don't skip the parts you don't like, and be honest with yourself.

Two I can recommend in line with your goal:

• Guitar Soloing - MI Press
  
  • if this doesn't resonate with you, substitute another highly regarded book. It has to be a curriculum though, and not a series of licks, or tricks, or techniques.
    
• Freboard Workbook - also MI press
  
  • this is foundational, and well-worth anyone going through.
    
  • you may be able to go through this quickly if you have a lot of it already down. But do everything it says, studiously. i.e. Say the parts aloud it tells you to say aloud. Play the parts it tells you to play. Most important: Get a pencil and extra neck printouts and work through the parts it tells you to.
    
  • this book should take a beginner 1-2 years to work through. Breezing through it quicker will result in deficiencies in your understanding and long-term retention of the material. Your time will probably be less, but I point out 1-2 years because if you're being honest with yourself, you won't glance at it and skim past stuff you aren't 110% sure you have down pact.

I have the VOX headphone amp that I use with my Traveler Electric. Headphones, amp and tuner fit right into the guitar bag. The setup is great for travel. I can play on trains, in airports, in cars, anywhere. The guitar is loud enough that I can't play in, say, a library or on a plane, but anywhere with a little background noise no one gets bothered.

The headphone amp does its job well. Doesn't sound anything like my home setup, but it delivers some good sustain and even reverb and makes practicing on the go useful.

I think you should get this book and practice the exercises for 15-20 minutes a day. Done daily, this will develop both your technique, theoretical knowledge and riff vocabulary. If you're not going to practice daily, then just don't bother getting the book - it won't help you.

Edit: You'll need a metronome to use this text properly, but you can download them for free onto your smartphone, so no big deal :)

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Aerobics-One-lick-day-Maintaining/dp/1423414357

I'm not crazy about his music, but I got a lot of mileage out of "Rock Discipline" by John Petrucci and, more abstractly, check out "The Advancing Guitarist" by Mick Goodrick.

Oh, and you're looking for something a little more free, I'd recommend GuitarCardio.

first of all, thanks you and that's by no means too much info, I take all I can =)

I guess I'll have to waite for the pedals since I will have to get an amp before. However I live in a small apartement that's why I decided for headphone amp beause I didn't want to disturb people with me learning the guitar. I got this Headphone AMP which seems to have different sound settings but I haven't really played around with them yet.

I've been wondering, is there a reason to go for a standalone amp except for the price ? since I'm going to safe up a bit for one I might go for a slightly more expensive one which I could be using for a longer time. I've only just now noticed with your comment that I could plug my headphoens into an amp and I kinda feel stupid for not knowing this =S

Also do you know if there is a risk in buying a second hand AMP (loss of quality aftera while or short span of life) ?

And if you don't mind answering me questions, do you know what exactly the "tone wheel" on the guitar does ? I just set it to what somewhat sounds good to me but I have no idea what it actually does.

Thanks again for your response

If it were me I'd get the highest quality guitar I could afford and something like this to hold me over until I could afford a decent amp. I own one of these and it actually sounds really good.

Also, in regards to the top comment, $350+ isn't required for an amp when the Boss Katana 50 exists. I know some will disagree but I think this is one of the best amps for <=$200

I would personnaly go for the Scarlett right now, because it might be a little money right now, but it's worth it (and you can always sell it used for a good price if you don't damage it). If you really must go down in your price range, simply search ''Solo Sound Card'' on google, amazon, ebay, etc. and you'll be able to find a wide range of stuff, for example

The Advancing Guitarist by Mick Goodrick. Excellent, excellent book filled with tons of ideas on how to take your playing to the next level and think outside the box.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Advancing-Guitarist-Mick-Goodrick/dp/0881885894

EDIT to add:

The Guitarist's Guide to Composing and Improvising by Damian John.

http://www.amazon.com/Guitarists-Guide-Composing-Improvising-Book/dp/0634016350/ref=pd_sim_b_16?ie=UTF8&refRID=0V593FDV2H8756D7K3DK

This book is one of the most useful tools for any guitar player/musician I have ever read.

https://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Handbook-Professional-Acoustic-Electrice/dp/0679742751/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1522698934&sr=8-11&keywords=Guitar+book

It really breaks down a lot of concepts really well, can help make you a more refined guitar player almost no matter what your skill level, and will give lots of insights into basic music theory. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for your input! Did you happen to buy your all-in-one online? And do you know the company you bought it from? Someone in the comments suggested the "D'addario all-in-one" from amazon, but after reading the reviews multiple people have said that the wire cutter barely makes a dent in the strings. So it basically is useless in being able to cut through the guitar strings and their guitars looks like acoustic (from the pics they posted). I'll link you the product down below.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002E1G5C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Eg5iDb87RY7Z1


Any help would be appreciated!

Thinking about your original post more this might not be the book you're looking for.
For straight up the best in guitar theory I'd recommend:
https://www.amazon.com/Advancing-Guitarist-Mick-Goodrick/dp/0881885894
This is the book all the guitarists went nuts over while I was at Berklee.
Even before that I would suggest Effortless Mastery: http://kennywerner.com/effortless-mastery
This book is essential for anyone getting serious into playing music and looking into theory.

I probably should have mentioned this in the post, but I play on this: Jasmine S35 Acoustic Guitar, Natural https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002F58TG/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_OphKwbXZRPKJ7

What does getting it set up mean exactly? Is it worth it for this guitar?