58 years old, living in Oregon USA and retiring in 6 months! I should have plenty of leisure time now to learn guitar for the first time. This is for personal fulfilment and to keep the neurons firing and to stave off mental decline as much as possible! A lot of people online recommended JustinGuitar as a great learning resource for beginners (and others too), which is why I joined!
Anyway, my favorite music is blues - Buddy Guy, BB King, etc. That’s what I would like to eventually learn to play although I know there are many steps I will have to take to get from where I am (level 0) to that level.
Need some advice on picking up my first guitar as a retirement present to myself! Been reading online and a lot of people are pointing towards a Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster as a good guitar for bluesy music that won’t break the bank and has decent quality. Any other recommendations?
Thank you very much! Great to be here in this community and hope to learn a lot. Cheers!
You’ve come to the right place for lessons. Follow Justin’s Beginner Course and don’t skip any thing. Justin teaches Blues starting in grade 2 and has several Free and Paid blues courses after that.
Make sure to keep it fun and don’t rush.
I’m more of a finger style acoustic blues guy so can’t help you with electrics.
Thanks! I love listening to finger style acoustic blues as well. Are the basics the same? Can I follow all the same lessons starting from Beginner as you indicate and then at some point try out finger style acoustic? Or is the pedagogical sequence very different from day 1?
The basics are the same how they’re apply are different. Acoustic blues is more melody over a base line on a single guitar. Justin does have some lesson on basic acoustic blue but most of his blues lessons are for electric.
Welcome Sam! Fellow Oregonian here, there are several of us in the Community. I live in Corvallis. Where are you? Always hoping to find someone around here to play with!
Judi
I live in Portland. Been spending a lot of time in Southern California (Santa Barbara) though where we have a place as well and where the winter weather is better!
Hi Sam, welcome to the community and greetings from Germany.
I am 54 and (re)started the guitar journey with the same thougths of having this hobby for my retirement. My guitar is a cheap acoustic one I bought 30 years ago and played several chords from time to time. My goal now is to go with the acoustic through Grade 2, learn slowly and solidly the basics, and reward myself with an electric and go then into blues that I also love. So I can’t recommend any guitar for you, but i look forward to suggestions from the other, as I can use them also for me.
I wish you much fun and a great NGD soon with a guitar you will have much fun with.
Cheers Withold
Almost retired … well I can’t think of a better way to spend my time … For the style that you want to play on an electric, any guitar will do as far as I’m concerned. I usually play Justin’s blues arrangements on an Ibanez Q54, which is not at the top of the recommendations on most rankings (but most of those arrangements would sound better on an acoustic for me) ,
Before you know it you’ll be playing the blues with so much practice time …take the lessons and you’ll get the hang of it quickly,
Welcome. I’m a big fan of the blues. As you look around at the real masters of the blues, you’ll see lots of different guitar types in use, however the Telecaster is one of the least common. The only bluesman I can think of who regularly uses one is Albert Collins (he’s known as The Master of the Telecaster.) The Telecaster is more associated with country music.
I think the Stratocaster is the most common (Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan, etc.) Joe Bonamassa mostly plays Les Paul, but has said that if he could only have one guitar, it would be a Strat, because he can dial in pretty much any tone he wants with one.
I cannot speak to the Squier Classic Vibe Telecaster, I have never played one of those, seems like a decent option though. You will also need a decent Amp and if I were to go back and start again, I think I would favor an amp that has effects built in, like the Boss Katana. You might not think you need it all, but its good to have and will save you from needing pedals in the short term at least.
As far as the course I would say this same thing here:
Justin has a lot about Blues, but you need to also learn the instrument so just go through and you will definately get to the Blues.
I’d agree with this …
I own a Squier Bullet Strat & wish I would have purchased the Classic Vibe instead… nothing really “wrong” with the Bullet per se but it needed quite a bit of work to get it playable by a luthier… so the money I saved on the purchase ended up getting spent on making it “right”!
My Tele clone is from AIO (All In One) guitars & I think it’s a LOT of guitar for the money! They’re under $450 with free shipping within the US & it’s a really nice guitar that is set up to your specs!!! Super nice value!
Another brand to consider is D’Angelico… their DC Mini Tour models are very affordable & again they’re affordable but very well made!
Whatever you purchase, get yourself a stand, an electronic tuner & a comfortable strap.
As far as amps go, I would recommend the Boss Katana line… very useful amp & not outlandish in price!
I wish you luck along your journey!!!
Tod from New Mexico
By the way… Justin’s course is laid out to teach you the basics regardless of the type of guitar used or the genre of music you’re interested in playing… follow the syllabus & don’t skip anything… you’ll be able to start setting your own course as you progress!!! It’s important to make sure to play daily & to have lots of FUN!!!
Hi SAM
Welome to the forum.
I have had a Squier Classic Vibe 50s Butterscotch for 4 years. It is a superb guitar the only negetive thing about it is the weight since it is made of Pine. There are other CV teles made of lighter woods. My main recomendation is whatever you buy gat it set up by a luthier. New guitars always have the nut set high so that people can set it for there own preference. A low action is really important for beginners. When having a guitar set-up I always say lower the nut as if it had a zero fret. Action at the 12 fret and saddle intonation are also important. I would factor in about 70 dollers.
Teles are very versatile, i love the simplicty of the design.
You might also find one used as it is a buyers market at the moment.The only drawback is that as a beginner it would be difficult judge the quality.
Going to have to disagree with you a little here Plenty of blues players with teles … Muddy Waters is the obvious first pick, it was Eric’s main guitar from 63 to 66, Roy Buchanan, Early BB (probably an Esquire tbf), etc … do we count Keef, Jimmy (with a ‘y’) and Jeff?
I’ll grant you the Strat is probably more common, but the tele is an incredibly versatile guitar.
and regarding the original question, I’ve got a classic vibe and it’s a great guitar, compares very well to another much more expensive tele I own.
I agree 100% about the versatility of the tele. I’ve noticed that teles are more and more often used for playing jazz. There are numerous examples on YT how to get a beautiful jazzy sound out of a tele even with the traditional pickup configuration.
Welcome and congratulations with your decision to pick up the guitar!
Tele is always a great choice, but my first advice is to look at different guitars and decide what you like visually. That’s the most important thing for your first guitar since you don’t know yet what you need from the instrument. Love how Tele looks? Grab one. Think that SG or Les Paul are cooler? Get one of those.
If you have a guitar store nearby, then going there and just looking and holding a bunch of guitars would be great.
It’s hard to get a really bad guitar even in the low budget range, so get one that would make you pick it up as often as possible and enjoy playing it.
Hi Sam, welcome. As others have said, Justin Guitar beginner courses in general are not type of guitar or musical genre specific. Working through each lesson may work better than cherry picking lessons. I have not specific advise about the guitar you’re asking about, mine is a Yamaha strat like. Have fun.
Welcome Sam.
Exciting times ahead my friend! Retirement, new guitar journey…cant get much better than that…
You’ve hit the jackpot landing at Justin Guitar; brilliant tuition, and a great community, with a warm friendly atmosphere.
Electric Bues is very much my thing; quite a few others here as well, so you’re in good company.
Re the guitar choice. Whatever you choose, ensure you’re happy with both the look and feel of it. Try them out instore if possible. I have Telcaster and Les Paul style guitars, and both are great for Blues.
There should be some good threads here in the forums about guitar choices too. Might be worthwhile reading through some of those.
Hi Sam, welcome to the community forum. I would go to a guitar store and at least hold both of the Tele and Strat styles and see what feels best to hold before you buy. You want to play a guitar that feels right for you. I agree with everyone else to start at the beginning and learn the basics. You will start blues in grade 2, but it doesn’t hurt to look ahead some as you work on grade 1. Have fun learning to play guitar in retirement. I know that I do
Welcome Sam. Justin’s lessons are great and the community forum is a very friendly place.
I bought a Squier Affinity tele first and then a classic vibe as I love how teles look. The classic vibe is definitely better in terms of the hardware and the pickups are excellent. However the affinity is more comfortable to play. Better neck and the body is a bit thinner and has a belly cut on the back that really makes it comfortable. Sound wise, I’d say there’s a big difference in the pickups but any tele can easily be modified.
I think there’s quite some variation in quality with Squier. So I may have got lucky with the affinity.
A lot of people online recommended JustinGuitar as a great learning resource for beginners (and others too), which is why I joined!
… For the style that you want to play on an electric, any guitar will do as far as I’m concerned. I usually play Justin’s blues arrangements on an Ibanez Q54, which is not at the top of the recommendations on most rankings 
(but most of those arrangements would sound better on an acoustic for me) ,
…
