Hello, my name is Ricky and I am 28. I bought an electric guitar and an audio interface for my computer from Music Go Round maybe three months ago. About a week in I realized I already had an audio interface for my mic and I returned the one I got and also got a small practice amp. The people at Music Go Round were not totally helpful but I’m not here to knock them.
I have always loved rock, heavy metal, punk etc; and have a few friends in bands. I asked around whether I should start with electric or acoustic and they said to get what I want to play. Well I want to play angry heavy punk/metal lol. So I got an electric and really couldn’t be happier. It cost just about $100 and has some slight rust on the screws on the pickup side, I am wondering if that is a problem. It sounds fine enough to me for the time being and as I am only just now learning I’m not very concerned (unless I should be).
This is mostly just an introduction and way of saying Hi!! I am at Module 3 of the beginner course and very much enjoying the learning process. But I do have a couple questions:
When should I replace my strings? I’m not playing everyday but I am playing regularly maybe 3-4 times a week. They look and sound fine to me but as I mentioned earlier I believe this is an older guitar as there was some rust on the tiny screws on the pickup side of the guitar.
Also, should I wait until I’m more skilled to get a pedal??? I have become obsessed with rig rundowns on my favorite bands and find the pedal world very interesting. My main goal with learning guitar is to be a member of a punk or metal band at some point. Could I circumvent some learning and just get a pedal and make decent music? I think that is a vague question but maybe not LOL.
Hi Ricky,
Welcome here and I wish you a lot of fun
what kind of strings, what is the composition of your sweat, of course always play with clean hands (I do and my strings have a coating), how many hours per day, etc… take a look around and use the search box at the top right, but also Feel free to ask any questions, there is always at least one person who can answer your question almost exactly…
Hello Ricky.
There’s many reasons for wanting to play guitar. Making loud rock ‘n’ roll is a great one.
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A little rust on the screws is nothing to be concerned about at all. Especially not a first, 2nd hand, budget guitar. Some people pay a lot of money for ‘relic’ guitars! What guitar is it? Any pics?
Now, and every 2-3 months if you’re playing regularly. Gauge 10 is a good choice for starting.
No, absolutely not. There is no substitute for learning, getting the fundamentals, being good at the basics. A clean sound is always the best choice when first learning so do all of your exercises and drills and ‘work’ in a way that you can clearly hear the strings. At the end of a practice session, when it is fun time, for sure, play dirty and loud if it makes you smile. What amp do you have? You may not need pedals.
Welcome to the forum, it’s great to hear you are playing what you enjoy!
A bit of rust on the screws doesn’t concern me at all. Even a lot of rust on the screws wouldn’t affect anything.
How often you change strings depends on the type of string. If they are coated, you should get months out of your strings. If they are uncoated then I’d suggest weeks.
So far, myself, if I get a new to me guitar, I change the strings and clean up my new to me guitar as soon as I get it. That’s string change one. As for future changes, I suppose ya can get many answers. I’m thinking some folks really change them often. And strings do get to sounding kinda dead after some time goes by. That said. Myself being just a amature, I change all my strings when I break one string. I also clean the guitar at that time including the fretboard while the strings are off it.
Myself, I wouldn’t worry to much about a rusty screw unless its really, really rusty. Then I might have a look at the rest of the electronics of the guitar to see if they are rusty too. If they pots and hardware were rusty there too, I’d have to think about my next move. Not sure what I’d do. If everything works proper, I might do nothing even then.
My opinion is to get one whenever ya want to. They can be fun top play with for sure. Be careful though, getting pedals can be a rabbit hole where ya just keep getting more and more effects. There are also other options now a days that have many fx all rolled into one box.
imho, no. Also, imho, effects tend to mask how your playing as some effects can cover up some mighty bad habits.
I thought I was gonna really want a gob of pedals when I picked up the guitar too. Over time, that idea has changed. Yes, I did get some pedals, 3 or 4 of them. But I for sure don’t use them as much as I thought I would. I find I want to hear how I play and for me, pedals cover up how I play to some extent. When I do use pedals, many times they are turned down for a little bit of effect, but no where near the full effect, to me, that’s when the effect starts washing me out and I can’t hear what or how I play.
So, for sure, get some pedals, but pedals will not circumvent learning how to play.
ymmv.
Have fun here. It’s a great place to be with much to be learned.
I’ve been on the learning journey for a long time, but for about a year of regular work and I bought my first electric maybe 9mo ago.
I still don’t have any pedals. I have a tiny portable amp and then a larger one that stays in my practice room that both have the ability to get at least some of the sounds that pedals could make. I honestly don’t even use those very much. Most of the time on my electric, I play “clean” straight through either amp. Very occasionally I’ll make the adjustments on my amp to get a particular sound for a particular song.
I could see getting some pedals in the future if I wanted to be able to make specific sounds, and especially if I wanted to be able to change easily during a song, but for now, I’m not there.
As for the guitar, if it plays how you like, you don’t need to be concerned about the screws. though you might be able to replace them to freshen things up pretty inexpensively.
Depending on what type of punk you want to play. Many people think they just play power chords and thats that but this is not usually correct. If you look at NOFX, Bad Religion, the Vandals even going back to the Clash, they are very skilled guitar players and when diving deep into the guitar sections you will find they have a ton of different voiced chords, arpeggiated sections and they manipulat the guitar in a non-standard way that is not always easy to play in progressions.
I really think you need to have some solid basics down to understand why these work and sound good togeather. The other thing is the strumming in punk and metal. It takes time to practice and get proficient at it, you wont be able to pump 16th notes at 180bpm in any cool rhythms until you can get some solid strumming practice with slower and more basic skills. Unfortunatly no pedal will take the place of practice time. The cool thing is there are a ton of great songs and ideas that you will be able to use and learn very soon. Those skills will help you when you are playing loud with speed.
Since you like metal and punk then you know, loud is good and speed is good. You will have fun learning the foundation to do those two things playing the guitar even at the beginner level and you will start recognising ideas that are used. It takes time to assimilate all that info and takes time for you fine motor skills to start doing these things naturally.
Lots of good responses above - especially what @Richard_close2u says.
You for sure will need to learn to play - no shortcuts if you want to be a good guitarist.
I recommend getting yourself a stand or wall hanger - having the guitar easy to just pick up & play when you only have a few minutes makes a difference! Getting a lot of little practice “chunks” in this time of year — waiting for my wife to finish getting ready to go out!!!
Good luck with your guitar journey!
Tod from New Mexico USA
P.S. I have a local Music-Go-Round here in Albuquerque - They’re very hit-n-miss as far as knowledge goes… it’s a good thing if you can find a Mom & Pop music store… they tend to be a LOT more helpful & know more about their business as a general rule!
Hi Ricky, welcome to the community forum. I have heard Justin say that in the beginning you might want to get a small modeling amp that has several pedal effects and see what works for you before you buy a lot of pedals. I’ve got a Fender Mustang amp and a small Postive Grid amp. Justin gives demos of the popular Boss Katana amp on the website.
Thanks for the advice everyone! I think I will hold off on getting any pedals until I have progressed further. I set a mini goal/step for myself that if I can stay consistent with learning over the course of a year I will look into upgrades (or maybe decide not to bother at all!)
I’m attaching some pictures of my guitar and amp in this comment.
Really happy to have found Justin Guitar, between work and the rest of life getting in the way having this resource is such a blessing. The lessons I think are really helpful and easy to understand.
Yeah, those strings look like they badly need replacing. And while they’re off, maybe you can get some of the grunge and rust off of the bridge. If you can find a white Scotchbrite pad (equivalent to 0000 steel wool), use that. Don’t use actual steel wool as the magnetic pickups will catch the little steel pieces, and that’s not good.
@TanglyCrescent I hadn’t heard of the Sawtrooth 10W practicer amp, but checked it out on YouTube and the overdrive/distortion channel seems to have decent metal tone. The amp appears similar to the Fender Frontman amp, but may have better metal overdrive/distortion tone.
No pedals (gain/distortion/fx) would mask the problems with your rhythm. If you are going to play heavy metal, part of your practice should be with the high gain tone. It will force you to practice overall muting, with both strumming and fretting hands. Practice straight 8th notes and galloping a lot, both clean and dirty.
Welcome to the forum. If I were you, I’d take my guitar to a reputable guitar shop and have them set it up for you. It’ll cost you about 60-85 bucks depending on where you go. They’ll change the strings, show you how to clean it up and make sure the neck is set and strings are set to get the most out of the instrument. It will make the instrument better to play and will set you on the right course of learning to see and hear what your guitar can and will do. Most of all, it will give you the confidence that your instrument is ready to go and the rest is up to you. Overall…have fun.
The guitar is a Tradition brand. It was likely made in Korea at the Samick factory. Whoever had it before and played it must have been sweaty-handed or lived in a humid place. It is not just the screws. Those bridge saddle springs are choked with corrosion.
If I buy a guitar that is ‘well used’ the first thing I do is strip off everything that can come off … strings, saddles, tuners, pickguard, volume / tone knobs … everything. And I get to work cleaning. If for no other reason than hygiene and the peace of mind that comes from dispensing with someone else’s grime and dirt.
If you are handy with a few very simple tools, have some basic cleaning products and don’t mind spending a couple of hours on aesthetically improving your guitar, that is definitely time well spent. We can talk you through the process. It isn’t too daunting.
If the guitar is at least well setup for playability as of now, you want to take photos and measurements before beginning. If it isn’t, well, that doesn’t matter as you don’t want to take it back to a bad place after your efforts.
For the amp, I would suggest start with the three EQ settings at 12 o’ clock and the gain setting between 7 and 9 o’ clock. use the volume for loudness, not gain. On that type of amp, gain will add buzzy distortion.
Normally, I am all in for recommending people spend money on a good setup for a guitar tech / luthier. But on a I’m afraid I do not in your case.
The guitar cost less than $100 and is a budget brand to begin with. It has been neglected to the point that it is probably not worth spending almost the same again to make it play a bit better. You can clean it up and change strings and make it play okay yourself for almost nothing.
I presume if you had almost $200 you would have bought a more expensive guitar. Save that money and buy a different guitar in six to twelve months if you feel the need / desire.
Here late to the party so I mostly echo what my confraters are saying above ^^
Change the strings and perhaps consider buying a second hand multieffect to mimic some of your favourite artists’ rigs by combining some of the crucial effects?
If you are going to clean the parts, you’ll probably need a setup afterwards.
As said, you might be putting a lot of cash in a cheap guitar.
Though, it could be good exercise to learn how to do it as some point (probably when you have a second one)
You can do a lot with just a clean, dry paint brush and a bit of lemon oil (specific guitar product) can clean up the fretboard. I did that once with a cheap Stagg guitar neck and it plays like butter now.
@LievenDV is right and it is very easy for me to say what I am about to say but I want to say it to give you confidence, I could spend an hour or two on that guitar give it to you back and you would not believe it was the same guitar, and that is because I have been where you are now, take it apart clean it put new strings on and ask for help here you will get it, It all helps in your guitar journey. I still have my old guitar and it is not worth twenty pounds but it is priceless to me, it is the reason I play a 1988 USA Fender Strat now and a 2010 Gibson SG and I can clean and work on them all because of that first guitar so go for it and enjoy your guitar days, if you need any help please ask cheers Hec
