Electric guitar for noob

[MileHighGrowler]

(01-11-2022, 02:50 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Thanks

I'll probably run over to some local pawn shops and see what I can lay my hands on. I've just been dipping a toe into looking and one of the dings on the cheaper guitars I've read say 500 bucks or so is the necks are bad to bend, stretch, and shrink and very hard to keep in tune. Just playing for an hour and you have to retune them 3 times or whatever.

And I'm old school so to speak, 70's 80's rock and some country. Been learning Sweet Home Alabama and such.

You can hit the pawn shops, but it'll be really hit and miss what you find (condition-wise).  I honestly recommend going to a music store with the biggest selection possible and just get your hands on a lot.  You'll learn a lot about the feel from that.  You'll also be able to grab a $5,000 and $500 guitar and maybe realize to your hands there's not much difference.  It can be pretty educational.  I bought my latest guitar a couple years ago and I made a trip to Guitar Center just for that reason.  Didn't even plug a single guitar in, just played about 5 different styles because I was trying to decide what I wanted (I was treating myself to a new guitar to celebrate 20 years of playing).  I wasn't going to buy my guitar there, but the selection is so massive I knew I'd be able to get my hands on everything I wanted to try.  Once you know what you're looking for, you can start shopping around to find the "one."  

That Fender amp you're looking at probably meets what you're wanting in terms of tone and I've seen good reviews on it.  Looking back, I wish I had gone the tube route out of the gate to get a set of tones I just couldn't with a solid state amp.  But 40 watts is more than enough if you're just playing at home (you could even consider the 20 and have plenty of volume).  And solid state is easier to maintain.  It's kind of amazing to me how amps have improved so much over the years and there are so many now that are good quality in the same price range.  

Definitely want to know how your search goes and what you decide to get!