New member with intro requiring some wisdom

[Justpounds]

Originally Posted by Charlie Bernstein

Welcome, Justpounds! I'm like you: no innate ability but lots of motivation. I just love playing the dang things! Been playing a long time.



Legitimate. For many, songwriting is excellent therapy.



That's a satisfying mix — just what I do.



Actually, not necessarily. A lot of players get hemmed in by a particular nut width or neck contour or scale length or tone wood, but I don't think that's useful or healthy. It's better to be able to be comfortable with a wide variety of configurations.

But I do agree that you'll get a bigger sound from a bigger guitar.



As much as it takes! The guitar you love is the guitar you'll play.



Simple: Get the one you love.



We all have different approaches. In the US we have a saying: You make the road by walking. I don't generally look for a particular make or model, though I must say, my two flattops are Guilds, and I got the second one because I like the first one so much.



You're welcome. Let us know what you decide and how it works out for you. Operators are standing by!

Glad I’m not the only one! Thanks for the great reply

[Justpounds]

Originally Posted by thefsb

I tried a Martin D-X2E in a Guitar Center last year and was impressed. Does the budget go that far?

Guild D-140 and Seagull S6 are also great fun to play.

I like the guild brand for no other reason than it seems like one with history and I like the logo! My budget is up to £1000 or about $1250.

[Seb_274]

Originally Posted by Justpounds

Hey all from the UK, 43 year old, that got his first guitar aged 14 but never really got beyond wonderwall, until I was gifted a guitar a couple of years ago and despite a complete lack of natural rhythm or sense of pitch am really enjoying the journey.

No interest in playing publicly but having a go at writing my own stuff which I find cathartic after some tough times.

I’m very slowly getting better I think but still fairly basic - open chords, barre chords some picking but mainly chord notes form progression. Learning theory using the “no bull” books and discovering more and more of fret board. Practice is usually mix of working on my stuff and learning songs I like.

Moving forward I’m working through Justin guitar courses from beginning to make sure I spot bad habits I’ve picked up and am not missing foundational skills or knowledge. I’m also intending to get audio interface so I can record and hear back and also use daw to play beats as I’m playing to work on that rhythm.

Two guitars I have are great - Yamaha FS-TA and Ibanez ac240 both concert sized. One hog and one spruce top. Like em both and don’t think I notice that much between scale lengths or nut width to be honest. Maybe I will when I get better.

I do however miss the boom of larger guitar when strumming, so considering a few options. I’m wondering basically how much to spend and with that comes figuring out how much I’m likely to notice between all solid and just solid top and whether I should go dread or jumbo to compliembt what I have

options on the lower end of budget are: fg830, epiphone masterbilt Texan, lj6, IBG j200, Eastman E1SS

Higher end: Yamaha fg3, lj16, Gibson g45, Eastman e10ss, used USA made Texan.

Now I will definitely try before I buy, but I’d like to slim down my list and make sure I’m focussing on the right thing, so figure it would be wise to ask folk who have trodden this path already for their advice!

Thanks and advice and tips welcome!

Wow, I was almost reading a description of my own guitar journey How is Justin working for you? I gave it some though a while ago but never got to doing it.
As for guitars, the FG830 looks and sounds pretty good. You may want to try a Taylor. I have a 210 (entry level) and it sounds really good. Happy hunting and keep that journey going!

[musicman1951]

Welcome to the forum.

There are a couple of ways to buy guitars: see how much money is in your wallet and shop for something that fits, or shop until you fall in love and then save until your wallet matches your heart.

Given that you're near the beginning of your journey and have two guitars that you like, you might want to consider the second route. If you don't have a pretty clear image in your head of what you'd like the guitar to sound like it's difficult to make a selection.

Another consideration: some players would rather have four $500 guitars and others would rather have one $2,000 guitar. Over time some people move from the first group to the second group. If you're not sure where you find your comfort between the two it might be another reason to wait a bit.

[Justpounds]

Well my wife is going to like you guys. I’m going to wait and look into playing with others to figure out what I like over time.

Well unless sweet deal comes up for a decent dread on local classifieds of course!!

Interestingly this guy is only 30 minutes down the road, so with a bit more saving maybe that would be cool: https://jwjguitars.co.uk/

[rick-slo]

A word in the link below from Martin about fingerstyle guitars advantage (versus say a dread). Also more comfort holding the guitar for most people in a position best suited for fingerstyle.

https://www.martinguitar.com/collect...cking-experts/

[Glennwillow]

Welcome to the AGF Justpounds! Glad you are here!

Yamaha seems to be doing a great job at providing wonderful guitars at modest prices. Their LL and LS series guitars are very nice and within your budget.

Hopefully you can get to some guitar stores and play a bunch. You'll probably discover something you never thought of and come home with it!

- Glenn

[Moldstar]

Originally Posted by Justpounds

options on the lower end of budget are: fg830, epiphone masterbilt Texan, lj6, IBG j200, Eastman E1SS

Higher end: Yamaha fg3, lj16, Gibson g45, Eastman e10ss, used USA made Texan.

Thanks and advice and tips welcome!

I would drop the G45, I have yet to hear one that I think sounds worth a hoot. I would add a Guild D140 or D150 (5-600 used, all solid), and on the higher end, I would add a used Taylor 4 series, or 5 series, (or DN4, DN5) used you can find many of the 4 and 5 variants around the 1300-1500 mark, or lower, and they were ~3k new. Nice guitars.

The Eastman e10SS is much more $$ than the fg3, lj16, and the usa built Texan is like 2.5 to 3k?. I guess I'm not really understanding your choices. There are many guitars i would choose over a texan or E10ss. Also, these also all very dissimilar, so it's hard to give you suggestions based on what you have here. The only think I can say is that I think the G45 is total junk, I am sorry. It is one of the very few guitars around today I would say that about. I think the whole G series is a shameless cash grab, and any of those models are beat out by lots of much less expensive guitars.

[Br1ck]

Rule #1 for me has always been to strive to play the best possible guitar I could afford. This is the long game, and will in the end save money. Buy used whenever possible. That guitar that is new for $1200, could be a ten year old guitar that bought new would be $2000. Buy that guitar and you will be able to sell it for what you paid.

It took me a very long time to get to the standard series Martin, but only two guitars. I resisted the incremental or lateral upgrades. You need to buy that one in between guitar. Yamaha and Godin's brands are good value. An all solid body guitar will get you to the time and place you can buy a standard Martin or other such guitar. Avoid buying more than one in between guitar.

[Justpounds]

Originally Posted by Seb_274

Wow, I was almost reading a description of my own guitar journey How is Justin working for you? I gave it some though a while ago but never got to doing it.
As for guitars, the FG830 looks and sounds pretty good. You may want to try a Taylor. I have a 210 (entry level) and it sounds really good. Happy hunting and keep that journey going!

Thanks! Still early days with Justin, think he explains well but as I’m starting very early probably not as interesting as it will be when it gets more challenging.

[Justpounds]

Originally Posted by Moldstar

I would drop the G45, I have yet to hear one that I think sounds worth a hoot. I would add a Guild D140 or D150 (5-600 used, all solid), and on the higher end, I would add a used Taylor 4 series, or 5 series, (or DN4, DN5) used you can find many of the 4 and 5 variants around the 1300-1500 mark, or lower, and they were ~3k new. Nice guitars.

The Eastman e10SS is much more $$ than the fg3, lj16, and the usa built Texan is like 2.5 to 3k?. I guess I'm not really understanding your choices. There are many guitars i would choose over a texan or E10ss. Also, these also all very dissimilar, so it's hard to give you suggestions based on what you have here. The only think I can say is that I think the G45 is total junk, I am sorry. It is one of the very few guitars around today I would say that about. I think the whole G series is a shameless cash grab, and any of those models are beat out by lots of much less expensive guitars.

Thanks for the tips, especially on the G45. My choice are mixed new and used options, the e10ss can be had for about £1k used here and I saw a USA Texan for 1.6k which would be very much pushing the budget. My choices are basically options I’ve looked at that seem in budget. That said I’m probably going to wait for now as I acknowledge it’s all a bit all over the place as I’ve not tried enough yet. Will Check out your suggestions too. Cheers!

[Justpounds]

Originally Posted by Br1ck

Rule #1 for me has always been to strive to play the best possible guitar I could afford. This is the long game, and will in the end save money. Buy used whenever possible. That guitar that is new for $1200, could be a ten year old guitar that bought new would be $2000. Buy that guitar and you will be able to sell it for what you paid.

It took me a very long time to get to the standard series Martin, but only two guitars. I resisted the incremental or lateral upgrades. You need to buy that one in between guitar. Yamaha and Godin's brands are good value. An all solid body guitar will get you to the time and place you can buy a standard Martin or other such guitar. Avoid buying more than one in between guitar.

This is sound advice. Thanks

[Moldstar]

Originally Posted by Justpounds

This is sound advice. Thanks

I agree as well.

[jaymarsch]

Welcome to the forum. In my experience, you can’t go wrong with Alvarez, Yamaha, or Eastman. It just depends on the sound and feel that you want. Let us know what you decide.
Best,
Jayne

[jontewright]

Welcome to the forum from a fellow Brit.
Some great advice in the posts above. You can't really go wrong with Eastman or Yamaha.