Epiphone SG - Waddya reckon' for a beginner??
Discussion
Would like to start playing the Guitar and have always loved the styling / lines of the SG.
Would this be suitable for a beginner? I mostly listen to Rock / Metal so was hoping it would give the sound i'm after.
Also, any advice on an Amp to suit. I have no neighbours so noise isn't a problem
Thanks.
Would this be suitable for a beginner? I mostly listen to Rock / Metal so was hoping it would give the sound i'm after.
Also, any advice on an Amp to suit. I have no neighbours so noise isn't a problem
Thanks.
Fortunately the quality of guitars is high enough that you'd be unlucky to get a complete dog. Most important is make sure that it feels comfortable to you. Stretch to try to reach all the strings all the way up and down the neck and see how it feels. Compare it to other similar guitars. It may not feel natural but you will hopefully get some idea.
Get the guy at the shop to play it for you and see how they get on with it. People working in guitar shops love to show off. If you get them to play through the amp you're interested in then you'll find out how it'll all sound when you get home.
Worth having a look at Vintage guitars (the brand rather than just old guitars) as I think they do an SG style thing. Beware of guitars such as Westfield and Stagg as although they're ok there's better out there for the money. I'd also be wary of starter kits personally (guitar, amp, stand, cable etc in one box). Anything by Yamaha will be pretty good as they're consistent on their quality control.
If you're buying a guitar and an amp try to get them to throw some stuff in free such as a stand, cable, strings, plectrums etc.
Speaking of plectrums, get a few different shapes, materials and thicknesses. You'll soon figure out what you like.
Where abouts are you? I'm sure someone on here could recommend a shop for you to visit.
Get the guy at the shop to play it for you and see how they get on with it. People working in guitar shops love to show off.
If you get them to play through the amp you're interested in then you'll find out how it'll all sound when you get home.Worth having a look at Vintage guitars (the brand rather than just old guitars) as I think they do an SG style thing. Beware of guitars such as Westfield and Stagg as although they're ok there's better out there for the money. I'd also be wary of starter kits personally (guitar, amp, stand, cable etc in one box). Anything by Yamaha will be pretty good as they're consistent on their quality control.
If you're buying a guitar and an amp try to get them to throw some stuff in free such as a stand, cable, strings, plectrums etc.
Speaking of plectrums, get a few different shapes, materials and thicknesses. You'll soon figure out what you like.
Where abouts are you? I'm sure someone on here could recommend a shop for you to visit.
gingerpaul said:
Most important is make sure that it feels comfortable to you.
WRT, particularly, the SG, this is important (or, at least, it was to me anyway). Some years ago, I was in the market for a new axe and the Gibson SG was in the price bracket. Given the fact that I'm rather keen on its looks, and Tony Iommi managed to get a nice, meaty tone out of one, I gave one a try.Played nice enough, good tonal range and quality. But I just could not get comfortable playing the thing: it felt like strapping on a piece of 6x4 plywood with strings. Horrible.
But ask Angus Young, and he'll give you a completely different opinion
Pothole said:
Those do look nice, but as they are similar price to the Epiphone would i be better sticking to a brand i've heard of?
Peach guitars in Braintree are very good and I've bought a few bits from them.
When I went to try out a guitar for the first time I just played a few scales like the pentatonic scales and this way you can find out if you like the feel of the guitar. Don't feel awkward where ever you try a guitar as everyone was a beginner once.
When I went to try out a guitar for the first time I just played a few scales like the pentatonic scales and this way you can find out if you like the feel of the guitar. Don't feel awkward where ever you try a guitar as everyone was a beginner once.
I bought myself an epiphone SG as a present when I got my first ever wage packet in 1998! I'll blame Andy Cairns from Therapy? for my influence & choice of guitar!
The guitar was my first proper guitar (I had a really cheap second hand no-make effort before just to see if I liked playing). I still have the guitar now (my only one) & all is still working as it should. I'm only a hobby player & the guitar has only ever been wiped down every now & again so not treated to full cleans & strip downs that other players seem to go for!
I have 2 friends that are into guitar playing a lot more than me. They have several more expensive guitars between them yet both have commented on hownice the action is on the SG & how easy it is to play (& sound good when playing - more importantly!)
The guitar is very easy to play sat down as the shape lends itself to resting nicely on the leg. However the only bad thing I find is that the weight/balance of the guitar is not ideal when stood up. You cannot let go of the neck as it will simply swing to the floor. This has caught me out on a few occasions although no lasting damage done
In summary, I still love playing it & wouldn't hesitate to recommend one!
The guitar was my first proper guitar (I had a really cheap second hand no-make effort before just to see if I liked playing). I still have the guitar now (my only one) & all is still working as it should. I'm only a hobby player & the guitar has only ever been wiped down every now & again so not treated to full cleans & strip downs that other players seem to go for!
I have 2 friends that are into guitar playing a lot more than me. They have several more expensive guitars between them yet both have commented on hownice the action is on the SG & how easy it is to play (& sound good when playing - more importantly!)
The guitar is very easy to play sat down as the shape lends itself to resting nicely on the leg. However the only bad thing I find is that the weight/balance of the guitar is not ideal when stood up. You cannot let go of the neck as it will simply swing to the floor. This has caught me out on a few occasions although no lasting damage done
In summary, I still love playing it & wouldn't hesitate to recommend one!
Tokai are meant to be quite good but I've never tried one so I couldn't recommend one to you.
Amplifers is huge subject. To summarise as much as possible there are two technologies, valve and transistor. Whilst everything has transistor electronics these days the magic of a guitar amp comes from having valves. Amps with valves tend to be more expensive, although not necessarily. Some transistor amps are called modelling amps because they are trying to replicate one or more sounds that various different amplifiers, mostly valve, would make. Line 6 Spiders are an example of those and the 4th generation are meant to be quite good. The amp I pointed you at is about as cheap as you can get for an amp with valve(s) and sounds pretty good given its cost.
You then have a choice between heads or combos. A head is just the amplifier with no speaker. You buy a separate speaker cabinet to plug into. A combo comes with everything you need to make noise built in except for a guitar and a cable. For home use I would see little point in getting anything other than a combo amp. I'm sure that someone will point out a good reason that I've not thought of though.
Amplifers is huge subject. To summarise as much as possible there are two technologies, valve and transistor. Whilst everything has transistor electronics these days the magic of a guitar amp comes from having valves. Amps with valves tend to be more expensive, although not necessarily. Some transistor amps are called modelling amps because they are trying to replicate one or more sounds that various different amplifiers, mostly valve, would make. Line 6 Spiders are an example of those and the 4th generation are meant to be quite good. The amp I pointed you at is about as cheap as you can get for an amp with valve(s) and sounds pretty good given its cost.
You then have a choice between heads or combos. A head is just the amplifier with no speaker. You buy a separate speaker cabinet to plug into. A combo comes with everything you need to make noise built in except for a guitar and a cable. For home use I would see little point in getting anything other than a combo amp. I'm sure that someone will point out a good reason that I've not thought of though.
Thanks again Paul.
I've been looking at these amps as they are not a bad price, any thoughts??
www.gak.co.uk/en/peavey-rage-258/5197
www.gak.co.uk/en/orange-crush-pix-20ldx/27117
www.gak.co.uk/en/laney-lx35/3829
I've mostly looked at brands that 'i' recognize (not that it means much i guess),as i said, trying to stick around £100. Only for home use, not planning on any stage performances just yet
I've been looking at these amps as they are not a bad price, any thoughts??
www.gak.co.uk/en/peavey-rage-258/5197
www.gak.co.uk/en/orange-crush-pix-20ldx/27117
www.gak.co.uk/en/laney-lx35/3829
I've mostly looked at brands that 'i' recognize (not that it means much i guess),as i said, trying to stick around £100. Only for home use, not planning on any stage performances just yet
I would be careful choosing an Epiphone, and an SG shape guitar in general. Epiphone use cheap parts on their guitars (the machineheads with plastic keys are utter s
te) and the pickups are dire. Very wooly with no bite at all. They sound very dull and are the complete opposite of what you would call "harmonically rich". If you absolutely must buy an Epiphone guitar, budget another £200 on top of that for some decent pickups.
As for SG shaped guitars, I think it's a flawed design. Due to it's upper strap button placement, the weight balance of the guitar is too far towards the headstock, so it drops towards the floor when you are standing with it and you take your hand off the neck, commonly referred to as "neck dive". This may not seem a big problem at first, but it seriously grates after a while. Something ergonomic and properly balanced like an Ibanez will sit there perfectly and let you play it, guitars that you have to work with are just a chore after a while. I sold my Epiphone Les Paul because it sounded poor and was just an old fashioned, un-ergonomic design, compared to what the Japanese offer. To properly balance a guitar, depending nding slightly on the length of the headstock, the upper strap button needs to be in line with the 12th fret of the guitar, as on an Ibanez RG, Jackson soloist etc. The SG is nowhere near hat, and it's no surprise they neck dive badly. The ESP Viper rectifies this problem slightly by pushing the upper horn towards the 12th fret.
Further more, SGs and Epiphones in general have big, fat necks, which are ok for chuggy rock, but if you want to play some more intricate rock or metal it will work against you. Not everyone likes thinner necked guitars, but if you look at the world's best players (from a technique perspective), guys like Vai, Satch, Lane (RIP), Macalpine, Gilbert etc, they don't use big fat necks because they just hold you back when you want to let it fly.
If you are just starting out and you like the look of the SG you might go ahead and buy it and not listen to anything I've said, but if you get a chance to test some guitars out (even just sitting and holding them, you don't have to be able to play a single note), you will see quite quickly that in a similar price brack, the offerings from the likes of Ibanez, Jackson, Charvel, ESP LTD etc are much more ergonomic and built to a higher standard than what Epiphone are offering.
te) and the pickups are dire. Very wooly with no bite at all. They sound very dull and are the complete opposite of what you would call "harmonically rich". If you absolutely must buy an Epiphone guitar, budget another £200 on top of that for some decent pickups. As for SG shaped guitars, I think it's a flawed design. Due to it's upper strap button placement, the weight balance of the guitar is too far towards the headstock, so it drops towards the floor when you are standing with it and you take your hand off the neck, commonly referred to as "neck dive". This may not seem a big problem at first, but it seriously grates after a while. Something ergonomic and properly balanced like an Ibanez will sit there perfectly and let you play it, guitars that you have to work with are just a chore after a while. I sold my Epiphone Les Paul because it sounded poor and was just an old fashioned, un-ergonomic design, compared to what the Japanese offer. To properly balance a guitar, depending nding slightly on the length of the headstock, the upper strap button needs to be in line with the 12th fret of the guitar, as on an Ibanez RG, Jackson soloist etc. The SG is nowhere near hat, and it's no surprise they neck dive badly. The ESP Viper rectifies this problem slightly by pushing the upper horn towards the 12th fret.
Further more, SGs and Epiphones in general have big, fat necks, which are ok for chuggy rock, but if you want to play some more intricate rock or metal it will work against you. Not everyone likes thinner necked guitars, but if you look at the world's best players (from a technique perspective), guys like Vai, Satch, Lane (RIP), Macalpine, Gilbert etc, they don't use big fat necks because they just hold you back when you want to let it fly.
If you are just starting out and you like the look of the SG you might go ahead and buy it and not listen to anything I've said, but if you get a chance to test some guitars out (even just sitting and holding them, you don't have to be able to play a single note), you will see quite quickly that in a similar price brack, the offerings from the likes of Ibanez, Jackson, Charvel, ESP LTD etc are much more ergonomic and built to a higher standard than what Epiphone are offering.
Mastodon2 said:
A whole bunch of useful stuff...
Thanks, i guess i'll just have to find a shop with a good selection and try and get 'the feel' of one i like.Just don't want to end up buying something that is not much good, just because i've been sold it with no real knowledge myself.
Budget is around £300 btw.
Buy a Telecaster or good clone, Tokai, Squier etc.
Great balance, more tonal range than they are ever given credit for and the clean sounds will make you a much better player. ( you first learn to play guitar and then you learn how to play Telecaster )
Have a listen to Bill Kirchen played with Commander Cody back in the day and shows off heaps of voices here.
You can thank me later.
Great balance, more tonal range than they are ever given credit for and the clean sounds will make you a much better player. ( you first learn to play guitar and then you learn how to play Telecaster )
Have a listen to Bill Kirchen played with Commander Cody back in the day and shows off heaps of voices here.
You can thank me later.
suthol said:
Buy a Telecaster or good clone, Tokai, Squier etc.
Great balance, more tonal range than they are ever given credit for and the clean sounds will make you a much better player. ( you first learn to play guitar and then you learn how to play Telecaster )
Have a listen to Bill Kirchen played with Commander Cody back in the day and shows off heaps of voices here.
You can thank me later.
Appreciate the comment, but would a Telecaster (or similar), give me the rock / metal sound i'm looking for?Great balance, more tonal range than they are ever given credit for and the clean sounds will make you a much better player. ( you first learn to play guitar and then you learn how to play Telecaster )
Have a listen to Bill Kirchen played with Commander Cody back in the day and shows off heaps of voices here.
You can thank me later.
Gassing Station | Music | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff