Heartland

Help!!!

My 10year old wannabe Avril Lavigne has decided she wants to use some of her savings to buy an electric guitar!

She already has an acoustic, but seeing as i know sweet fanny adams bout these things, i was wondering whether it was worth just buying a 'cheapie' to start her off? (Must admit am veering towards this seeing as the £300 drum kit is still shiny and good as new one year on!!! )

Any advice would be muchly appreciated!!!

RAWK

i'd probably get her an 100 quid "fender stratocaster" copy - that would be a good general purpose learning guitar

the quality of geetar you can get for around 80-100 quid these days is pretty good - fender moved their production out of america into the far east a few years ago and as a result there are loads of factories in china and japan churning out what are in effect fender-designed guitars, made from slightly cheaper materials, with different badges on

Either that or go for a nice second hand job. Ebay is good for that.

Don't bother forking out for brand new £300 guitar, its only when you've been playing for a while that you know what style of guitar you want.

Yup,

as Quiff says, 100 strat copy should be fine for a start.

Paddy.

I did think about looking on ebay, trouble is, the little madam has cash burning a hole in her pocket and itchy fingers! In other words, she wants it asap!

Re the Fender Strat - do i just mosey on down to any music shop and purchase one?????

Jeeze, give me the recorder any day!!!! So much simpler!

You need to bear in mind that owning an electric guitar isn't much use without an amp! Try looking for a cheap package deal that includes a guitar, guitar bag, strap & practice amp - you can usually pick this kind of stuff up from £120 upwards.

Get down your local Argos or look somewhere like http://www.guitarstrings.co.uk/search_r ... t=electric who'll do you next day delivery for around £6!.

Best start with a cheapo, use it to learn to play, experiment with sting-types and tunings. If she still plays it in 12 months time, spend a little more on something she knows she's going to like!

Spot on Rob.... hes goth.... but hes good!

Paddy.

Lamia wrote:She already has an acoustic

can't you suggest that she moves on to electric when she's demonstrated some commitment to practice etc ?

or are 10 year-olds non-negotiable-with (?). you know what i mean

I guess there's not much to say really other than

don't forget to buy a cable and a plectrum

(and black guitars play better than white ones!)

Moz Magister wrote:I guess there's not much to say really other than

don't forget to buy a cable and a plectrum

And some earplugs.

wintermute wrote:

Lamia wrote:She already has an acoustic

can't you suggest that she moves on to electric when she's demonstrated some commitment to practice etc ?

or are 10 year-olds non-negotiable-with (?). you know what i mean

Aww bless her - she plays the acoustic absolutely fantastically - virtually self taught (albeit with a little help from my baby bro - the only one she'd let teach her anything, 'cos he plays in a band so he's cool'). She taught herself keyboard. She's pretty lucky in that she can listen to a tune and play it back virtually note perfect! She feels she's ready to 'move on' to electric!!!!!

Not sure if my ears are ready for that yet tho.........!!

Think im gonna get her a cheapy package from Argos - bout £100 for guitar and amp - hope it doesnt blow up too soon

Most practise amps come with a head phone socket

...which is especially useful if she decides to become a bassist!

Ed Rhombus wrote:Most practise amps come with a head phone socket

And if you manage to get her to use it, you'll have to let me know the secret.

1. Open up the back of the amp.
2. Snip either one of the wires leading to the speaker with wire cutters.
3. Amp can now only be heard through headphones.
(4. Wire can be re-soldered in the future at parent's discretion)

5. Deny offspring any access to soldering iron.

6. Offspring rings Childline.

7. Childline send round an electrician?