I'm a little sick, and a little jealous at the same time...

[echale3]

The other day I got the chance to go to the GC an hour north of here, and mess around while it was still quiet (no Zakk Wylde wannabees puching the master volume to at 11 and doing pinch harmonics over and over and over and over)...

I'm looking over a '72 Tele Custom RI (which I really liked) and a teenager boy and his dad come in. The boy has this sort of goth/emo look to him, and looks kind of bewildered/intimidated... The dad gets one of the "Dood, UR like, gonna LUV this GTR, its soooooo KEWL" sales associates over, and starts pointing to a guitar up on top of the wall. The "salesdood" drags the ladder over, and the dad keeps going "not that one, THAT one...." and pointing. "Salesdood" finally sets his hand on a $3400 gorgeous black LP Custom, and the dad says "Thats the one.." "Salesdood" takes it down and hands it to the kid... He puts it across his knee, and it's "plink, twang, dink clank"--the kid is a total newbee who hasn't learned to play a simple two-finger chord yet... We all gotta start at the bottom, I know, but "It's his first guitar, he's wanting to take lessons" the dad announces to "Salesdood" and everybody within earshot.

As I'm leaving, the kid is plugged into a Marshall combo (didn't see which one), and is going "plink, plank, twang, plung, tink" on a $3400 "first" guitar, and Dad is whipping out the plastic. At least the kid was smiling real big instead of looking like he swallowed a frog like he did when he came in...

I'm feeling a little jealous--it must be nice to be able to afford to drop that much coin on a "first" guitar.... As I was leaving the GC, I was thinking that having good gear to start with makes the process a lot smoother because you aren't getting discouraged by fighting crappy gear at the same time you are trying to learn, but that was bordering on ridiculous.....

 

[Speed_Racer71]

not sure which emoticon i like better for this thread

im guess im torn between and


i think both would be a good reply

 

[RockStarNick]

Actually, I've heard from lots of people, about articles written about how starting on crappy gear actually inspires you to learn better and faster. Because the notion of getting a NEW, better guitar is a reward system. If I play better and faster and get my technique down, then I'll DESERVE a new guitar.

If you start playing guitar with one of the best possible guitars ever, then where do you go from there?

The motivation to go from a squier, to a mexican 62 reissue, to a american standard, to a fender custom shop guitar... its a natural progression, and a fun one.

The motivation to go from a $3500 gibson, to a $4000 gibson, to a $4500 PRS, or whatever... mentally, it doesnt work the same way.

True. I bet the $3500 gibson plays great.

That being said. I played a $200 fender squier the other day that felt solid as a rock, had great action, comfortable neck, alnico pickups, 2 point trem... GREAT guitar for $200 bucks

For someone who has never picked up a guitar before, the nuances of playability that WE recognize don't even matter. Its just all about action. IF the strings are low enough, they'll be able to play it. If they're too high, it'll hinder their technique and development.

This squier wouldnt have hindered anyone. Great guitar.

I'm glad that I didnt start out on a $3500 guitar. The process of starting out on a $150 epiphone acoustic, saving $450 for my firs les paul studio, saving more $$$ for my first strat, getting a les paul standard as a graduation present, buying a $900 tele with my first bonus check from work. It's been a really rewarding, fun ride. that seems like a natural progession.

 

[RockStarNick]

That being said, if I saw the same thing happen, I'd want to pull the dad aside and be like "are you f*cking serious? Are you insane?!?!?!?! Or just rich and dumb?"

:BITCH

 

[echale3]

These days, a $200 Squier is likely to be a pretty nice guitar. We're living in the golden age of inexpensive yet decent guitars...

For me, I started off with a beat-to-hell Japanese Zenon guitar and a tiny little volume/tone tube amp with a 6" speaker w/whizzer cone. The Zenon had a neck shaped like a banana, no truss rod, cast plastic bridge, the pups (single coils) had foam between their bases and the gigantic plastic pickguard so you could "adjust" their height a little.... I had a little minibike I bought for $35.00, rode the hell out of, and then, when it was about ragged out, I traded it for the guitar/amp.

I thrashed that puppy along to my KISS, Deep Purple, Zep, Steppenwolf, Sabbath, etc., albums. My next guitar/amp setup, which I bought with money I got for painting my grandparents house and completely replacing all of the glazing compound in all their window sashes, was a Gibson Sonex S180 Deluxe and a Peavey Classic VTX amp.

I would have loved to have started with something as even nice as a Squier 51 and a cheap Marshall MG-series amp back then, I think I would have picked stuff up even faster than I did....

 

[echale3]

That being said, if I saw the same thing happen, I'd want to pull the dad aside and be like "are you f*cking serious? Are you insane?!?!?!?! Or just rich and dumb?"

I was seriously considering asking the dad if he'd adopt me, but since I'm probably a few years older than he looked, I didn't think he'd go for it

 

[abovethewave]

Amidst learning theory and making music, RESPECT for the instruments is an integral process for learning, IMHO.

Last Christmas, my sister bought my niece (whose in college) a $300 Ovation that she asked for . . . She wanted to learn to play. Well, she got the guitar and proceeded to go Pete Townsend and smashed it when partying. Granted it was a cheap guitar, but I am convinced she would have done the same thing if it was $3400. She simply has no respect.

This made me sick to my stomach that she did this. I simply do not understand how some people can be wired this way. I really hope that kid at the GC came to know what he had...but I suspect that he may loose focus when he gets the BMW M3 for his birthday...

 

[Flying Panda]

My first thought is of a dad who doesn't spend enough time with his son & is buying his way out (in his mind, at least). Hope I'm wrong. My 9-year old son saved his allowance over several months to get a Squier mini and I teach his lessons, and we both get much more out of it than just music.

 

[SW33THAND5]

he's got more dollars than sense

 

[getbent]

When I see that.... I just think... man, I'm gonna get that for 2200 on craigslist in about 6 months.

 

[theinteriorleag]

Unless he is just loaded, how much time is that kid gonna put on that guitar versus the dad, though?

 

[George Johnson]

That being said, if I saw the same thing happen, I'd want to pull the dad aside and be like "are you f*cking serious? Are you insane?!?!?!?! Or just rich and dumb?"

:BITCH

Good move. He'd probably be so impressed with the level of maturity and pure logic behind that statement
that I'm sure he'd reconsider the notion of doing something really cool for his son. The nerve of that guy!

 

[RockStarNick]

kovachian,

I'm not a parent nor am I pretending to have any ounce of parenting skills whatsoever...

But do you HONESTLY think that getting a kid a $3500 guitar, for his FIRST guitar, is the right thing to do?

I think it's a very generous act on the fathers part, but I feel that by doing so, the kid is really missing out on part of the fun of learning to play and progressing and saving for a better guitar.

I'm glad that I had to learn how to work hard to make some dough, and to save it. I'm glad I got to learn and progress my way thru the "ranks" of instruments. It gave me the opportunity to dream about better guitars, and develop a healthy amount of gear-lust.

Saving up for months and months and months, and then FINALLY getting to go buy that guitar with your own money... THATS rewarding man!!! That felt great as an 8th grader, to be able to save up $475, and get a kick-a$$ black les paul studio. I felt like the MAN! I was able to tell my friends "yeah, I bought this MYSELF, I mowed a million lawns to get it."

 

[Izy]

I was seriously considering asking the dad if he'd adopt me, but since I'm probably a few years older than he looked, I didn't think he'd go for it

haha!

Know how you feel echale.

I never could afford expensive gear till much later in life.

But looking back, it made me appreciate every piece of gear whether its expensive or cheap because i "earn" every piece with my labour.

That's one thing no one can take away you.

Yea, i may play like crap, but i earn my gear!

:BEER

 

[customstrat]

Let's hope Dad was a player or at least knew what the kid was getting into with the LP. Or he could be buying the kid's affection.

I do know that I bought my little bro a guitar for Xmas. He saw a couple of Johnsons and Corts that he said he liked and wanted to start playing with his friends who are all pretty good players and had a couple of Johnsons. I went and played a few and they were decent little guitars. The guy who sells them totally re-sets them up so action being high is not a problem like on other cheap ones.

I then saw a nice used Washburn J12S that someone was selling on consignment. The guitar usually sells for 350 and the kid wanted 220 for it. I played that and it sounded and felt awesome. So I picked that up for him.

I just spoke to him recently and asked him how it was going. He said that he loves it and the guitar is great. I asked him how it was compared to some of his friends guitars. He said that they were all jealous and that he cant stand playing theirs.

If I wouldn't have got that then my bro probably wouldnt have taken playing seriously. I think that the benefits of buying something a little better are tremendous. $3500 trememdous? I don't know.

 

[enalnitram]

happiness isn't getting what you want, it's wanting/using what you have.

 

[carbz]

Thats nothing. A customer (friend) of the store I work at just bought his son a brand new 2008 $40k Infiniti G35 coupe for his first car and he just turned 17. Sometimes I can relate to people that just go awall. I've worked for basically everything I own and I don't own much.

 

[justonwo]

If Dad doesn't buy that gorgeous black Les Paul Custom, well . . . the terrorists win.

There will always be rich people buying things like that. I don't see why it bothers you so much. When I was in high school, kids were getting Mercedes and BMWs as first cars, but I still was very happy my parents bought me a used Nissan truck. Just be happy with what you have and don't worry about what other people buy.

 

[echale3]

haha! Know how you feel echale. I never could afford expensive gear till much later in life. But looking back, it made me appreciate every piece of gear whether its expensive or cheap because i "earn" every piece with my labour. That's one thing no one can take away you. Yea, i may play like crap, but i earn my gear!

As a young teenager still in high school, I had my own lawn-mowing business and at least one paper route, plus I'd do odd jobs on the side to get more money...

I don't have the most expensive gear on the planet even now, but what I do have I worked for, and I think I appreciate it the more for knowing what it takes to get it....

 

[KHAN]

But do you HONESTLY think that getting a kid a $3500 guitar, for his FIRST guitar, is the right thing to do?

$3500 guitars are made for people who can afford $3500 guitars.

All I know is that I can smoke that kid with my LP Studio.