guitar help
 

what would be an appropriate beginner guitar and amp for an 11-year-old?

Danelectro guitars are dirt cheap, and look/sound cool. They are also light.

would it be good to learn on? are they easy to find?

Sexist.

The above reminded me of a joke about the instruments that girls are generally relegated to in a band:

Triangles
Tamburines
Keyboards (you don't have to lift them when you play them)
Drums (reduced drum kits or the fatigue increases)

no! it's for a boy! and he's going to be 11! he requested this for his bday from grampa.

Ha. Sorry, I missed the last bit.

haha.
a tambourine really isn't a bad suggestion if he's as musically inclined as i am!

Why not go acoustic? Not as loud, plus your kid can become the Dylanesque folk singer you and floatingslowly always wanted to rear.

Make sure to get a 3/4 'child size' guitar..

well.

1) he wants electric.
2) i remember a story told by my ex-BFF. he wanted to learn guitar as a kid and took guitar lessons with an acoustic. hated it. he wanted to rock. i can understand that.

my boy wants to rock.

Acoustic guitars can be painful to young soft fingers, and they are also very unforgiving of mistakes, which can be frustrating for the novice.

Danelectros can be found all damn day long.

I would advise against most other ultra-cheapies though. I didn't start playing in earnest until I had equipment that sounded at least passably decent. It makes a huge difference, and it's not that much more expensive to go a little bit better.

Fair enough.

Amps, you usually have to shell out the full price for. Guitars however, can be found quite cheaply on eBay if you look in the right places. Don't be afraid to buy used either- used doesn't mean abused.

Teisco and Danelectro guitars can usually be found used for quite cheap and they shouldn't disappoint. :)

Get a FirstAct guitar and amp set, that's like $100. It's a cheap Fender Squire knockoff, though those will only set you back $150 or so so you might as well just get that.

savage clone? opinion?

You can get a nice looking Firstact easily.
I see them on Craigslist all the time, especially from people who bought the VW bug that came with one free and they don't play guitar.
They're cheap as shit, but the bodies have a nice shape and they're OK for a student...

squier bullet. 100 bucks. someone gave me this guitar cuz they bought it and did not like it, and I have been using it ever since. I borrowed a brethren's 1500 custom shop strat and I missed my cheap little squier. I highly recommend it for beginning, as you never know how it will progress, so why sink too much into it?






a slight upgrade, the squier affinity telecaster for 170, it is much nicer on the hands and the ears.

I also have one of these, Epiphone SG special for 150 bucks and I enjoy it quite a bit, though it does need new pick ups for a crisper sound, though this should not be to much for a beginner.








for a beginner, sound is less important then feel. you want a guitar the feels good for a good price.


any of these will do actually
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/navig...06241+8&page=3

Second hand Mexican Fender Telecaster with a 15 watt marshall amp.

for amplifiers:
fender frontman 25 for 130 bucks


but I prefer the peavey Rage158 for a small practice amp.

thank you very much for the advice!

i think the First Act and Squier packages are good choices for a beginner. I'd also throw in the low-end Fernandes guitars, but they may not be as readily available.

Fender and Crate make some ok amps of all sizes that are good for beginners. If you have a guitar center nearby or something like it, you can always take the kid and let him try things out to see what he thinks is cool.

this looks awesome: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=8055566

I don't think you can really go wrong with those First Act, "Starcaster by Fender", or "Maestro by Gibson" guitar packages you can get at Wal-Mart/Target/Best-Buy

Do you know who his favorite band is? Kids usually want to emulate their favorite guitarist. When I bought my first guitar, I got a Les Paul type guitar because I liked Led Zeppelin. I assume your AC-DC fan would get a Gibson SG style guitar and your Hendrix/Pink Floyd head would get a Stratocaster style guitar.