What gear do I need?

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask on this forum, but I'm curious something regarding gear...

What will I need? I already have 2 Guitars (one Electric Stratocaster-style guitar and an Acoustic). I have a practice-Amp (10W, no Overdrive or Distortion) that came with my Electric guitar. I have a tuner (capable of working with both Acoustic and Electric), 4-5 picks, a capo, and of course a cable for my Electric. I also have a note-stand for holding sheets of paper with tabs for me.

Yet somehow, I feel that something is missing... can someone tell me what that would be?

Also, I'm new to playing the guitar, so I know very little about it, which is why I'm here.

Missing in terms of what? All you need to play guitar is....well a guitar. You have what you need to play. What are you asking? You can just look online at a music shop like guitarcenter.com and browse around at all the stuff they have.

Originally Posted by: hunter1801Missing in terms of what? All you need to play guitar is....well a guitar. You have what you need to play. What are you asking? You can just look online at a music shop like guitarcenter.com and browse around at all the stuff they have.

So... I'm pretty much set to start rocking (or start learning to rock, anyway) with what I have? Great. I've looked at a few of the Effect-Pedals, but I'm not sure if it can be recommended to get some of those (Overdrive and Distortion). I assume that's the kind of stuff I should go see the local music-store about? Maybe get them to help me pick the effects needed to play true 60's-to-80's-style rock?

If you are just starting out, then spending lots of money on guitar effect pedals wont help you much. I would rather buy some better modeling amp that has some effects built in because you will get a MUCH better sound then your starterpack (I assume) amp. If you buy a £200 distortion pedal and run it through a 10 watt no brand starter pack amp then more often then not it will sound terrible. It is better to upgrade the amp and guitar first, and only then think about effects and tone.

Before I go on any further, what exact amp and guitar do you have?
If your amp is one of those starter pack amps, then it might be good to upgrade it first.

Because you are a beginner, investing much money into expencive tube amps and tube effect pedals is not wise, as you don't know what exact tone you want yet. That will come as you play more and learn more songs.
So modeling amp is a more logical choice. It will allow you to play around with many different amplifier simulations/models and effects. You will be able to get a very big variety of differnt tones and sounds. They are much cheaper then bying valve amps and good effect pedals.

I would recommend Peavey Vypyr 30 with Sanpera I foot controller. This will provide you with a home setup that will last you a long time before you need to upgrade. It will allow you to experiment with amps and effects, and find a combination you like. You will learn how each effect and stompbox affects the sound. You will find out how different expensive amps sound like and how their tone differs from each other. The foot controller will allow you to change from one sound preset that you design to another by a press of a foot switch. It will also allow you to engage a looper that will allow you to record some riff into the memory and then play some lead solo or something on top of it. Posibilities of what you can do with it at such a tiny price are endless.
I have one of those as my home practice amp, and it is a very good choice.
The amp costs around £170 and the foot controller around £70. That is a terrific price for such a variety of sounds and stompbox/amp/effect combinations.

Also, you said that you want 60s-to-80s rock style sounds :D
That made me smile. Literaly. :)
There are thousands of different sounds that were used in this time period for the electric guitar. This is another reason why a modeling amp like Peavey Vypyr 30 is a good choice as you can dial in or program so many different sounds. There are other good modeling amps, but I don't have personal experience with other ones so I can't comment much on them.

Anyway, if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

Just my 2 cents.

Originally Posted by: andrius.bIf you are just starting out, then spending lots of money on guitar effect pedals wont help you much. I would rather buy some better modeling amp that has some effects built in because you will get a MUCH better sound then your starterpack (I assume) amp. If you buy a £200 distortion pedal and run it through a 10 watt no brand starter pack amp then more often then not it will sound terrible. It is better to upgrade the amp and guitar first, and only then think about effects and tone.

Before I go on any further, what exact amp and guitar do you have?
If your amp is one of those starter pack amps, then it might be good to upgrade it first.

Because you are a beginner, investing much money into expencive tube amps and tube effect pedals is not wise, as you don't know what exact tone you want yet. That will come as you play more and learn more songs.
So modeling amp is a more logical choice. It will allow you to play around with many different amplifier simulations/models and effects. You will be able to get a very big variety of differnt tones and sounds. They are much cheaper then bying valve amps and good effect pedals.

I would recommend Peavey Vypyr 30 with Sanpera I foot controller. This will provide you with a home setup that will last you a long time before you need to upgrade. It will allow you to experiment with amps and effects, and find a combination you like. You will learn how each effect and stompbox affects the sound. You will find out how different expensive amps sound like and how their tone differs from each other. The foot controller will allow you to change from one sound preset that you design to another by a press of a foot switch. It will also allow you to engage a looper that will allow you to record some riff into the memory and then play some lead solo or something on top of it. Posibilities of what you can do with it at such a tiny price are endless.
I have one of those as my home practice amp, and it is a very good choice.
The amp costs around £170 and the foot controller around £70. That is a terrific price for such a variety of sounds and stompbox/amp/effect combinations.

Also, you said that you want 60s-to-80s rock style sounds :D
That made me smile. Literaly. :)
There are thousands of different sounds that were used in this time period for the electric guitar. This is another reason why a modeling amp like Peavey Vypyr 30 is a good choice as you can dial in or program so many different sounds. There are other good modeling amps, but I don't have personal experience with other ones so I can't comment much on them.

Anyway, if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

Just my 2 cents.

You're absolutely correct about the 10W Amp I have being a starter-pack Amp. When I bought my starter-pack, the Amp came for free, along with several picks, a bag for the electric Guitar, a tuner and a couple of accessories, and all I needed to pay for was the Guitar in itself, so I asked the guy in the shop what his recommendations were, and what would be affordable for a newbie, and he helped me pick a good guitar, rather than the cheap starter-models (still not too expensive, since they were running a "30% discount on all Guitars" campaign).

I've looked a bit at the website for the people I usually buy from, but they don't have the "Peavey Vypyr 30" Amp you mentioned. Do you know anywhere that I can order it that ships internationally? I don't really have the £240 to buy both the Amp and Footswitch right today, but I'll probably buy it by the end of the month, when I have enough money for it.

Ya, pedals are cool, but won't make a difference coming out of a low quality amp. I do however have to point out some good reasons TO get pedals first though. Simply to learn how to use them. Once you ad distortion, or mess with a wah, delay, or any other pedal, you'll quickly find out that it's a whole other thing to learn on guitar. Your sound changes and the way you PLAY changes as well.

So you can get a couple pedals (distortion is usually the first people get. I got a wah-wah 2nd).

Also, let's face it. Distortion and other effects just sound cool. Even out of a bad amp. It'll give you a little more confidence and drive to keep playing. If you just play out of the amp without messing with effects, it might be "boring" to some beginners.

Whatever you buy (pedals or investing in a new amp) think about how long you want it to last. If you know you are going to stick with guitar for a while, save up and spend that extra money for the quality gear. It'll last you forever and you won't have to re-buy stuff when you outgrow them.

The guitar I use most now is my first electric I ever bought. AMERICAN Fender Strat. I made the decision in 7th grade that I loved guitar and would be playing forever, so I chose not to buy the cheaper Mexican Strat and instead invested in the American. Also have the same wah-wah. My distortion pedal was junk, but it did make me feel cool playing it, which drove me to continue.

Edit: As far as the Vyper goes, I would recommend only buying it if you can afford the footswitch. With modeling amps like that, there are too many different things you can do with it. You can't keep walking to your amp, turning dials and pressing buttons every time you want to change your sound. You need that footpedal to do it quickly. That's one of the reasons I didn't buy a Vyper and went for a ValveKing instead.

The up side to that is with the vyper, you don't need to buy as many pedals since the amp does what you need. So basically, buy a vyper+footswitch, or buy a NON-modeling amp+pedals.

Don't feel like you have to rush and buy things now though. It's almost always better to have patience and wait while you save up for something you NEED, rather than spend the money you have now on stuff you WANT.

Hey again.

During today's practice, I noticed that my 80$ Amp has a button and rotatable thing (don't know exactly what it's called) labelled "Gain". I tried pushing the button and turning it a bit up, but I couldn't tell exactly what it did, other than make my guitar sound a lot louder. Could someone please explain this in as simple terms as possible?

This lesson should help you out..

http://www.guitartricks.com/lesson.php?input=18793

I think I'll watch it again..
good luck
Gordon

Thanks for the help, Gordon :)