Essential Gear For the Beginning Guitarist

!±8± Essential Gear For the Beginning Guitarist

If you have recently bought a new guitar, whether that guitar is electric or acoustic, what follows are some essential items you will need as a beginning guitarist. Probably the number one rule is change the strings. Factory strings are really inferior, and if you do not know how, then a trip to the local music store, or some help from one experienced, to change these strings is essential. As a guitarist, I would recommend one of the following to suit your tastes:

Electric: Rock and Roll, Heavy Metal, Blues, Country - Ernie Ball Super Slinky - Extra Light

Acoustic Steel String: Popular, Folk, any genre - a good start would be either some Martin Light strings, or if you wish to spend a few more bucks, the Dean Markley Alchemy in Gold or Phosphorous (Light) are excellent choices.

Acoustic Nylon/Classical Strings - The Dean Markley brand is quite cheap, and fairly good sounding for an aspiring guitarist.

My suggestion would be to change strings about once a month, especially after much use. More expensive strings, nanoweb-coated such as Elixir last longer, but you will have to fork out a few more bucks.

What is important is your guitar's ACTION. This is essentially how close the strings are to the neck. If the action is lower, the guitar will be easier to play. If you have bought an electric guitar, you may need to have your action adjusted by a professional, to make sure you don't have blisters on your fingers after a week of rehearsal. There are also many brands of "finger-ease" coating to help you play, as well as keep your strings clean.

In addition, action modifications, can also be accomplished by a professional on acoustic guitars, steel or nylon strings.

In addition to new strings on your guitar, you will need to invest in a way to tune it. There are many devices out there, ranging from PC tuners, hand held tuners, as well as the tried and true pitch pipe, for tuning up your guitar to "440" - a normal tuning (from the top-lowest-fattest string) of E-A-D-G-B-E. If you find you are having trouble, turning the guitar tuners (machine heads), for a few bucks you can buy a string winder, which will help you accomplish tightening the strings. String winders, usually also double up, on being able to pull the guitar pegs, located on the bridge of the guitar.

If you only know a few chords on the guitar, you may want to consider purchasing a capo. Essentially a capo is attached across the frets, so that the guitarists can play in different keys while using the same simple chords. Capos come in all varieties and are inexpensive.

You will need some guitar picks and they range in thickness. I prefer Jim Dunlop 60 mm. which can be used for rhythm as well, as lead guitar. They also tend to last longer, than the regular pearloid guitar picks which tend to break, if you do a bunch of strumming. Again, this will become more apparent with practice. Choose a pick that you are comfortable with. The Jim Dunlop's I use usually run about 4 for a buck. Most music stores will give you a few freebies, if you are a customer.

It always a good idea, to invest in a guitar kit, which includes polish, as well as string cleaner. Having clean strings and great looking shine to your guitar add to the overall enjoyment and aesthetics of playing. Martin guitar polish is a great choice for acoustic guitars. GFS has a number of different quality items for guitar polish, as well Fast Frets, for cleaning and maintaining strings

You may want to begin rehearsing guitar sitting down, but sooner or later, especially if you are an electric guitar player, you will need a strap. Straps come in all varieties, and made from various materials. Much of this choice will be of personal preference, such as color, logo such as Fender - what counts is the strap being comfortable. You may want to check out eBay to shop around and compare products and prices.

If your guitar did not come with a gig bag or case, I would advise you to invest in one. Guitars get nicked and scratched up very easily. A gig bag should cost you about 10 or 15 bucks, depending on the quality, but if padded with Styrofoam or other material, can be more expensive. Good quality guitar cases can also be expensive. In essence, you may ask yourself, is this guitar I value, and wish to protect. I tend to have guitars which are encased, but also have a "beater" guitar, which I can take to a campfire or jam, and not worry about the potentials of damage occurring. Plus it doubles up as a canoe paddle, if needed. But seriously, your investment today on a guitar may increase in decades to come. I bought a used Fender Telecaster in 1975 for 0, which is worth about 00 today.

If you have an acoustic-electric, or an electric guitar, of course you will need a cord to plug in, for amplification. Don't skimp on this item. There are very inferior cords out there which will deconstruct on you. Nothing is worse, than screaming feedback, unwanted buzzes and noise, if an inferior chord is used. This will drive you nuts. Been there, done that. Invest in a plastic molded cord of high quality, avoiding the screw together, and soldered type. You may have to spend 20 or 25 bucks, but you will not be spending 10 bucks a pop repeatedly on junk.

If you have not bought a guitar, then you may be interested in one of the guitar kits available in local music stores or online. Usually such a kit, such as the Epiphone Les Paul II kit or the Fender Squier kit, offers a good deal of these items mentioned, as well as an amplifier to plug your guitar into. I would take time to read the reviews of these items, of which there are many posted, in online stores such as "Musician's Friend." This site is really hard to beat, especially when shopping. It provides a good touchstone for comparing prices and values for music gear, in general.

In Conclusion

New Strings - -
String-winder (optional) - or so
Capo (optional) or so
Finger-Ease Coating for Strings - -
Guitar Picks - 4 for and Up
Guitar Polish - -
Guitar Strap - and up
Tuner or Pitch pipe - (Free online) and up
Gig bag or Case - and up
Guitar cord - and up
A life time of enjoyable guitar playing - PRICELESS!

Essential Gear For the Beginning Guitarist

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Guitar Accessories? Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar?

!±8± Guitar Accessories? Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar?

There are a number of guitar accessories that you might want to buy for your guitar. Guitar accessories are relatively cheap and if you are buying a guitar, you might be able to pick up a good deal if you want to buy a number of accessories as well.

Here is a list of guitar accessories to consider (in order of the most popular):
Guitar bag or case Guitar tuner/pitch pipe Guitar strings Effects pedals/Foot Switches Amplifiers Guitar stands Plectrums (also known as picks) Guitar Leads/Cables Guitar straps Guitar Capo Guitar Slide Headphones Metronome Cleaning and maintenance (polish, nut file set, wrench set, fret file set) Footstool Stringwinder (also known as a pegwinder) Straplok set Power adaptor for effects pedals
Guitar Bags and Cases

If you plan on gigging a lot or travelling on planes/trains etc. I recommend buying a guitar case, otherwise a padded gig bag will do just fine. The Kinsman guitar cases and guitar bags are a very good quality and are also one of the most popular. The Kinsman guitar bags come in three grades.

1) Standard - hardly any padding and one small pouch for music books and accessories

2) Deluxe - quite well padded, with two pouches

3) Premium - extremely well padded, with large and small pouches and a shoulder strap.

The Kinsman guitar cases are made for Stratocasters, Telecasters, Les Paul shape, electric, acoustic or bass guitars.

Guitar tuner/pitch pipe

There are hundreds of guitar tuners to choose from on the market. The best brands in order of popularity* are:

Korg Stagg Yamaha Intelli Seiko Qwik Tune Boss Ibanez

The two guitar tuners that stand out from the rest are the Stagg Automatic Guitar/Bass Tuner and the Korg GA-30. These two guitar tuners are sold more than any other guitar tuner on the market.

Guitar strings

It's always wise to have a spare set of guitar strings to hand. You never know when one will brake and leave you in a difficult situation.
You will need to buy steel strings for electric, bass or acoustic guitars and nylon strings for classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitars

Here is a list of the top brands of guitar strings, in order of popularity*:

Ernie Ball D'addario Martin Fender Elixir GHS Augustine Earthwood Dan electro Gibson Markley Newtone Savarez Rotosound Darco Dean Elites Thomastick Tonesearch Maxima Warwick Rickenbacker PRS Legacy John Pearse DR
Effects pedals

For some groovy sounds you will need to buy an effects pedal. The two most popular are the Jim Dunlop GCB-95 Original Cry Baby Wah Wah Effects Pedal and the Ibanez Tone-Lok Series SM7 Smash Box Effects Pedal.

Here is a list of the top brands in order of popularity*:

Ibanez Jim Dunlop Korg DigiTech Vox MXR Yamaha Dan electro
Amplifiers

Amplifiers are used with electric guitars, bass guitars and electro-acoustic guitars.
You will need to buy a lead to connect up to your guitar.
There are many types of guitar amplifiers ranging from the smallest which is normally 10 watts up to 500 watts! or more:

Practice amps (these are normally quite small)

Standard amps (used for playing in bands or gigging)

Bass amps (used only with bass guitars)

Keyboard amps (used with electronic keyboards and stage pianos)

Mixer amps

Speakers and Monitors

Combo amps (also known as combination amplifiers)

Amp heads

Which brand of Amplifier do I choose?

There are a number of brands of guitar amplifiers, here is a list in order of the most popular*:

Marshall

Fender

Vox

Peavey

Laney

Line 6

Mesa Boogie

Kustom

Crate

Carlsbro

Ashdown

BB Blaster

Yamaha

Warwick

Dean

Crafter

Cruiser

Danelectro

All guitar amplifiers sound different. Some (like Marshall and Line 6) are good for Rock and Roll, others have a softer and less bright sound like the popular Vox amps and Mesa Boogie.

For beginners, I would recommend either the Peavey Backstage or the BB10 blaster amp.
The Peavey Backstage is by far the most popular and best value for money beginner's guitar amp on the market.

Guitar stands or Guitar Hangers

There are lots of different types of guitar stands, it really depends on which stand is more suited to you.
There is the standard guitar stand, the universal guitar stand, the auto grab guitar stand, the double and triple guitar stand and the wall mounted guitar stand. The standard guitar stand is the most popular and comes in three different types: i) electric/bass, ii) classical and iii) universal.

The most popular* brands are:

Stagg

Hercules

QuikLok

Giraffe

Warwick

Fender

String Swing

Ibanez

Plectrums (also known as picks)

Plectrums are very cheap and can be bought individually, or in packs.
Most commonly you can buy plectrums on the web in packs of 6.
Guitar plectrums come in different gauges. Usually the thinner ones are
used with Classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitars, the medium gauges with Electric and Acoustic guitars and the thickest ones with Basses.

There are lots of brands of plectrums. The most popular* are:

Stagg Jim Dunlop Fender Gibson
Guitar Leads/Cables

Guitar Leads normally come in different lengths: The most common is the 15 feet/4.5 metre leads. This length is ample if you are playing in a band.

Popular* brands of guitar leads/cables are:

Ibanez Peavey Stagg
Guitar straps

If you want to buy a gift for a guitarist, there is nothing better than a nice leather guitar strap.

Levys and Gibson are the most famous brands of guitar straps, Levys have the most comprehensive selection.
Other guitar straps to look out for are Dickies and Wrangler.

Guitar Capo

A capo is a clamp that you can use on different frets of the guitar to change the pitch of the open strings. Each fret on the guitar is a half step. If you place the capo on the 1st fret, all of the open strings will sound a semi-tone higher than normal, this makes changing the key of a song easy.
Dunlop and Shubb are the most popular* guitar capos.

Guitar Slide

The guitar slide is a tube of some hard material about one to two inches long. Commonly, it's made from glass and metals. Each type of guitar slide has distinct characteristics, tonality, and overall sound. The guitar slide is pressed lightly against the strings so as not to touch the strings of the fret, producing a sustained tone which can be varied in pitch by moving the slide across the neck. A quick side-to-side motion is often used in this way to generate vibrato.
The most popular brand to go for is Dunlop.

Headphones

If you want to play at home but don't want to disturb your neighbours, then a good set of headphones is recommended.
Any headphones will do, so take your pick from any of the following leading brands:

Acer Acoustic Research Advance Advent Aiwa AKG Alpine Altec Lansing Amphony Apple Artwizz Audio-Technica Behringer Belkin Beyerdynamic Bluetake BoomGear Bose Bravo British Telecom Clarion Compucessory Cornbow Creative Labs Denon Design Go Direct Sound Dolphin Music Etymotic Research Fostex Franklin Gainward Gemini Sound Products Genius GN Netcom Grado Griffin Technology Grundig Hama Harman Kardon Hewlett Packard Jensen JVC Jwin Kenwood Kinyo Kondor Limited Koss Labtec Logic 3 Logitech Macally Maxell Ministry Of Sound MM Gear Nady Systems Nesa Vision Nike Numark Olympus Panasonic Philips Pioneer Plane Quiet Plantronics Power Acoustik Pyle Pyramid Roland Rosen Samson Sanyo Sennheiser Shure Skull Candy Sony Stagg Stanton Starvision Technics Toshiba Trust Ultimate Ears Ultrasone Unwired Vestax Vic Firth Vivanco Wharfedale XO Vision XtremeMac Yamaha Zalman Tech
Metronome

If you want to play your guitar in time then you are going to need to buy a metronome.
You can choose from modern electronic metronomes or traditional mechanical metronomes.
Traditional metronomes look very nice and are made from either plastic or wood, they are also known as pendulum metronomes because the ticking sound is produced by a small pendulum that swings back and forth, much like the old Grandfather clocks. The Traditional wooden or plastic metronomes tend to be a lot more expensive than the electronic metronomes.

The leading metronome brands in order of popularity* are:

Wittner

Korg

Yamaha

Seiko

Qwik Time

Cleaning and maintenance (polish, nut file set, wrench set, fret file set)

To look after your guitar you will need to at least buy some guitar polish. Gibson produce a good guitar polish and also Doctor Ducks Axe Wax is very popular.
If you are serious about guitar playing then you might want to have a nut file, fret file or wrench set. You can keep your guitar in top playing condition.

Footstool

The guitar footstool is used mainly by Classical, Spanish or Flamenco guitarists.
Their style of playing and the way they hold the guitar makes the use of a footstool quite important.

Stringwinder (also known as a pegwinder)

If you have lots of guitars, own a guitar shop, or tune guitars on a regular basis, the guitar stringwinder comes in handy as a real time saver. Instead of turning the guitar pegs by hand, you can use the stringwinder to speed up the process.

Straplok set

For replacing the bolt that holds on your guitar strap.

Power adaptor for effects pedals

If you use effects pedals then you will need a power adaptor to connect to the mains.

*Please note that the above article makes references to guitar accessories listed in popularity order. The popularity order of these guitar accessories is taken from http://www.Soundsmusical.com - the leading UK musical instrument website.

I hope this article has been useful and you are now more informed about guitar accessories.

If you are ready to buy some guitar accessories you can find a comprehensive selection here: Guitar accessories, tuners, bags, cases, guitar strings, stands and more...

Guitar Accessories? Which Ones Do I Need To Buy For My Guitar?

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Adam Martin and the Compadre

!±8± Adam Martin and the Compadre

Adam messing around on a Martin Backpacker and testing out the Compadre Travel Guitar Stabilizer - an ultra-lightweight "prosthetic" device that straps on in seconds and allows you to play without a strap if you choose. check out www.kraftboy.com to learn and see more. www.deadbugs137.bandcamp.com

Adam Martin and the Compadre

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