[Posting and Toasting] – Sat, 31 Aug 2024 11:00:00 GMT
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16 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.09.01)”
Okay, I suspect I’m going to regret doing this, but since it’s quiet today and Young Raven has asked me to “ask those guys on Knickerblogger” what electric guitar he should buy as a starter kit, I’m asking.
Background — he’s 15, a quite accomplished cellist (been playing for 12 years), taught himself piano, and just taught himself acoustic guitar this month on an old beater he had fixed up. Odds are decent that whatever he gets will be gathering dust in a few months. He wants a clear tone, I want something cheap as dirt.
I suppose there are things that come with it, like an amp…? What do I know. Anyone (JK?) have a recommendation, I’d appreciate it.
For amps，there is such a thing as a “modeling amp”, which seems to be a small amp designed to be practiced with rather than to give a good volume for performance, and that has the ability to imitate various amp sounds. The sounds are supposed to imitate various types of amps and also allow you to adjust the apparent amp gain and effects like reverb. In principle, this is a great thing. Why not try out different guitar sounds? In practice, when I was attempting to learn electric guitar, I didn’t like the quality of the altered sounds very much and stuck to “classic” mode, which seemed to give the cleanest tones. I suspect this was mostly me, rather than the amp. I get the impression these types of amps are quite popular, so it’s something to consider.
JK is far wiser than me, but I would advise your son as follows:
Go to stores and play as many different guitars as you can in a “discovery” phase. The stores should let you. The big corporate guitar center guys might/will roll their eyes, and some places will feel more welcoming for beginners but push through any anxiety, grab guitars off the wall, and strum those open chords. Play new and used and all price points— everything.
Reason being: all the necks are sort of different and the real magic happens when your son finds a guitar that is comfortable and keeps him interested.
Even if you want to spend very little money, encourage him to play the expensive examples back to back with cheaper ones. I would also encourage almost all this testing be unplugged bc the neck and feel are really more important (IMO) than the electronics at this point.
Most likely your son will narrow down which family of guitars makes him want to keep playing — Gibson or Fender or Gretch, PRS, etc — prolly even which model is a favorite — Les Paul, SG, Tele, Rick 360, or Strat (I mean the guitar ;-))
If/once he decides he wants a specific type, say Gibson Les Paul, there are usually very good quality inexpensive examples on the used market in stores, even on Craigslist and FB marketplace. If a new guitar is preferred for various reasons, almost every high end guitar has a good equivalent in a very low price point. Epiphone is the entry level Gibson brand and so on. For example just a couple days ago I was playing a new Squier Affinity Telecaster at 250 bucks, auditioning it for my daughter. It was honestly a great guitar and I was shocked. The new Fender Player 2 Jaguar 800 bucks is also insanely good quality. The only thing you must watch out for on the cheaper stuff is that the individual examples vary greatly, so play any/every specific guitar before buying, or if you must order online, don’t be afraid to return until you get one you like.
Last thought: a cheaper guitar can be improved greatly with a professional setup and good strings. Most towns have a guy/luthier who will do this for a hundred bucks. He will make sure the neck is perfect, intonation, etc. I’ve played some very cheap guitars with good setups that feel way better than guitars costing thousands. It’s worth doing this for even your most modest priced guitar. The combination of cheap plus good setup might save a ton of money.
As for amps, I don’t know modeling ones but have heard good things. If he wants “clean” Vox, and the small Fender amps are known for exactly. In philosophy I agree with him to get the best clean sound you can. Pedals so the rest.
Sorry for the long blah. Just mainlined some coffee. Disregard as you wish.
Obvs defer to JK, but you probably can’t go wrong with a Squier. I got my kid a used Sterling Cutlass and that actually felt pretty nice/clean to me. She eventually moved towards acoustic and piano, but I don’t think it was the Cutlass’ fault.
Thanks, guys. My ignorance is truly profound, so any and all suggestions appreciated.
I would add as a childless catless queerdo, also in reference to the kid talk yesterday, I find this profoundly wholesome. Y’all seem like the right people to be Dads and whatnot.
I agree that Fender’s made-in Mexico Squier line is a good option for a starter guitar. Squier Stratocaster copies are perfectly playable and every Guitar Center has a million of them, that’s kind of like their bread and butter product. You can get one of those for under $300.
KBA gives good advice here about trying out a bunch of different guitars at the shop. He might prefer a hollowbody style guitar, or a Les Paul style, or something else, and there are always starter versions available of pretty much every classic guitar type.
As far as amps go, there are also lots of decent starter amps available these days. I have never played through one but the Boss Katana is around $300 and they have a good reputation. They do the amp modeling thing and can get a lot of different tones, which means you won’t need to get into buying pedals. The Katana can do distortion and delay and chorus and all of that stuff. Blackstar and Fender are other good options for budget amps but I think a modeling amp is probably the way to go.
Also get one of those clip-on tuners!
A couple of other bits of advice: agree about getting the guitar set up and not just using it off the rack. It will stay in tune better and more importantly, it will improve the intonation, meaning the guitar will be in tune at all positions on the fretboard. An improperly intonated guitar might be in tune at the third fret but not the twelfth, for example.
Also, when you do the setup, have the guy set the guitar up with light gauge strings, .09 or “nines” as they’re referred to in guitar speak. Light gauge strings are just easier to play and don’t really come with any downside.
Back when I was guitar-curious I occasionally would try out different models in Manny’s and now-gone shops. All I can say is that, as someone who never got the hang of it, it’s still obvious that specific guitars make a huge difference. I found an old acoustic in a place in the West Village (Sammy’s? I can’t remember) that was like magic – all the sudden I could play! Problem was it being $3400. I still almost bought it, because for the first time I sounded good. But reason took hold and I walked away. I already had a Steinway concert grand, and I always believed if you couldn’t make a shit instrument sound good you didn’t deserve a great one. Sometimes I wonder, though… It was nice to finally be able to make music and not just chords….
Anyway, point being, yes, have him play until he finds one that makes him feel good about his playing. Great advice.
+1 on JK’s tip on Made in Mexico Fender guitars and the clip on tuner. Also if you come across a Made in Japan Fender, I’ve had good experience with their quality as well.
Since we’re on music, and in oblique connection to Geo’s comments yesterday about artists’ careers, has anyone read Rick Rubin’s book, “The Creative Act: A Way of Being”?
I didn’t know Rubin really beforehand, but I read his book on the plane yesterday, and I found it so generous and inspirational for anyone looking to live more in the present and to create anything at all, even and especially to make art for one’s own pleasure. His hint: it’s the only way.
Rubin’s prose style may be a bit “hippie/guru” or his thesis familiar for some folks, but IMO he articulated a useful proactive way to re-calibrate my senses and goals.
Anyway …. Just a bit of digressive joy on a Sunday.
PS — My Uber driver in Rhode Island yesterday “knew” Tyler Kolek , “Oh yeah, that kid from Cumberland. Knicks fans are gonna love him!”
Hey KBA, yeah, I read some of it and gave it to my son for Christmas. Seemed as useful as could be for a somewhat abstruse subject.
Rick Rubin’s approach as a producer is really interesting. He apparently has very limited knowledge of gear and equipment and technical things, and is instead a “big picture” guy who focuses on the things that are really important: having the right team in place, focusing heavily on songwriting and lyrics, not trying to reinvent the wheel but always looking to bring out the inherent strengths of the artist.
He basically imagines the record he wants to hear, then sets out about creating the conditions to allow that record to happen organically. He was the head of Columbia when my longtime friend and colleague Pete Yorn was set to make his fourth album, and he shaped it in a way that made it one of Pete’s strongest, in my opinion his second best album.
Pete is a prolific songwriter, always has a lot of songs in the mix, but Rick Rubin got him to really focus on ten songs, hone in on the lyrics in a specific way, and create something cohesive with an album feel. He put together a production team with Mike Mogis doing the hands-on production, and made the record in Omaha in a relatively short time with great session players, away from the distractions of Los Angeles. It was the polar opposite of Pete’s previous record, which had lots of good material on it but was made in scattershot fashion with a bunch of different producers, and as a result played more like a compilation album than a cohesive artistic statement.
I never met Rick, but that project made me really understand why he is so great.
Tiafoe wearing a Randle jersey while warming up and get shade from announcers for it.
saw/heard rick rubin recently on this podcast…
referenced a morning routine of walking, breathe work and doing standing squats (no weights) as his go to for staying mobile…
Thx, JK. Love the anecdotal context about process. I could read that stuff all day. Also bought Yorn’s debut just now. Can’t believe I only have “Relator” in my library.
Bo, Tiafoe has gotta be our guy, then, if he’s wearing Knicks gear. I’m onboard. Tuning in right … now.
And Geo, yeah, that’s good advice for me. Thx. Will head out tomorrow for a walk just like that.
Peace, all.
Wow, finally a discussion where I can add something! I spent about fifteen years in music technology, though I’m slightly distant from that. And I’m a bass player, not a guitar player.
The advice up here is quite sound. Fender Squiers are perfect for a student. Mexican and Chinese and Korean production has gotten quite good in the last decade or two. His first decision is the guitar “type” as was noted by KBA. And a lot of that, when youa re 16, is just vibe. Do you want to be Keith Richards (Tele)? Or Slash (Les Paul)? Or Hendrix (Strat)?
And the comment on Made in Japan Fenders is correct — I own a few MIJ and CIJ Jazz Basses, which are terrific for the money.
Anyway, the only two things I would take issue with — modeling amps are really for those with more expensive tastes, who are trying to record Guitar and want a “Vox” or an “Orange” or a “Freyette” sound. You are fine with any basic Fender amp or the equivalent.
The other thing I’ll take issue with — I have a friend who is the number two at Rick Rubin’s shop in LA. A lot of the “I can’t play anything and don’t know anything about the technology” is hype. Rick knows more than he lets on.