You CAN Get Good at Guitar with Cheap Gear...BUT

[@gunsofsteele]

Nothing worse for a beginning guitarist then saving & buying your first pedal, riding your bike home really fast and realizing you only got one cable. 😖

[@joe1504]

And then having to explain to your parents that you need that extra cable when they just bought you a $120 metal zone haha nice nostalgia trip

[@theguvner83]

Lol thanks for the nostalgia 🤣

[@anthonyphillips111]

Sweet jesus god bless ya. Or owning an awesome pedal then one of your 2 cables stop working and your broke ugh. Just got out of a rut like that

[@sportidiots6587]

@@joe1504 my first pedal was a used cry baby wah pedal and I still have it just sitting in the corner waiting for me to play a Kirk Hammett solo on it

[@BlakeSpohn]

@@sportidiots6587 DO IT MAN

[@mikedr1549]

The cool thing about gear today is that there is a ton of really nice gear available at very affordable prices. Back in the 80's when I started cheap gear literally was crap. Today you can get a decent guitar (one that stays in tune, intonates well, and has decent frets) for a few hundred dollars. This is the golden age of gear for guitar players.

[@allendean9807]

My first electric was a Hondo2 LP copy, and i wish i still had that piece of garbage!! Hahahahah

[@cameronwhite9959]

My first guitar was crap, the high E string kept getting stuck under the fret edge, only now do I know the fix was superglue! Hendrix used CBS Strats because they weren’t great, but they were consistent; you could say the same about modern Squiers.

[@johnjackson393]

Not for left handed players :/

[@TribalGuitars]

The difference in the quality of even a Squier Bullet from when I first saw them coming into the store I worked at in the 90's and early 2000's, and what they are now, is beyond night & day, and for not that much of a price increase.

[@loopyloo8169]

and lets not forget all the low watt/Hi gain tube amps and everything line 6 has done

[@calamityjohnny1646]

Wait! You started teaching in '97, but you look like you're in your 20's. Looking good, brother.

[@loveaboveallelse5789]

@Myke Fuller Dudes giving a compliment, not strange at all lol

[@KaiserBruh]

@Myke Fuller he's 40 something and commenter said he looks like he's in his 20s...how is that weird. Its a compliment. maybe you see it as weird because you never get compliments but they're generally a polite thing to say

[@gumbly4174]

@Myke Fuller you jealous?

[@thehowlingjoker]

Yes you need good gear, but good doesn't mean expensive. A well set up squier is gonna be able to take you places.

[@benallmark9671]

Without a doubt bro !

[@samkupper]

I think a car, a bike, walking would be the best to take you places, a guitar wouldn’t move that far

[@richardwhite6062]

This is all a bad idea. Learn how to make crap sound respectable. Then you can really know if you have a passion worth investing in the good stuff. The good stuff you cant truly utilize to its potential if youre a noobie.

[@bastardcommieguitarman]

@@richardwhite6062 i get what you’re saying but you can’t progress if your gear, especially your guitar, is fighting against you and not letting you play the best you can

[@BOBANDVEG]

You definitely have got to get a "tone strap". People just dont understand how much the strap affects the sound

[@mikeet207]

Mike is exactly right. My first guitar cost $100.00's. It had one humbucker, it was all flat black with a "strat" style body. No tremolo. I don't even remember what it was. I didn't even have an amp for like 2 months. I had to play it unplugged except when I was at my lessons. This actually made me really want to practice because I wanted to get back to the lesson each week so I could plug it in. This made me take baby steps and made me focus.

[@HannahCope88]

A quote that comes to mind "all the gear and no idea". I know people can easily get pulled into that and I can certainly be one of them, so I made sure to get a decent starter pack by Squier/ Fender, instead of breaking the bank getting some expensive gear when starting out. I'd rather have had something cheaper to learn on rightaway instead of waiting even longer to get something at a higher price point to start learning. I'm so glad i did that. I then saved up my money for just over a year to buy my SG.

[@Impassion]

I just heard that saying for the first time yesterday!

[@louaguado995]

I love SG's. I have a faded special and an SGJ. I'd love a standard 😊

[@HannahCope88]

@@louaguado995 mine is a 2005 model, previous owner had it for 10 ish years but barely played it so it was basically brand new, I just had it setup and it's all shiny and new, sounds amazing 🙂

[@HannahCope88]

@@Impassion it's a good one, I'll sometimes say it to myself if I feel I'm getting carried away with buying new stuff or even thinking about buying new stuff. Just gotta focus on practice and playing what you already have.

[@CianRourke]

I’ve never heard that quote before, but that is awesome. 🤙

[@TheHesseJames]

Those blues legends from early last century often had shitty guitars. But they were THEIR guitar and they took the most out of it.

[@allendean9807]

Yep- some of them were home made...

[@0000song0000]

Kurt Cobain famously played whatever lefty he could find... anything works

[@DeliriumXM]

@@allendean9807 home made guitars are a whole other can of worms, and something I’ll do before i ever spend 1000$ on an electric guitar. But i wont make an acoustic... that scares me...

[@KrazyIndeed]

Willie Nelson. That piece of crap made a lot of records.

[@SchecterIsKING]

​@@DeliriumXM Wait. I'm interested to know if your opinion on this has changed at all in the last 3 years? Why would you sooner build an electric guitar rather than pay $1000 for one?? Is their benefits to doing do??

[@skylacken]

I started out on a cheap acoustic guitar my dad bought me. The problem was that it had buzzing frets, so basically half of the frets weren't playing properly at all. My learning kinda stagnated because of that: It wasn't fun to play, I couldn't learn a lot of songs. We eventually repaired the guitar, at the cost of a higher action. It is really hard to play fast, and your hand hurts after playing barre chords. I remember i went to a guitar shop and picked up a low-action shredder Ibanez, and it was just magically easier to play. Didn't even know I was that much better than I thought. Point is - don't let the price stop you, slow you down and make it difficult and not fun to play.

[@khgear7160]

This!!! Its true that bad guitars can "help" you evolve ONLY if youre a diehard rock/guitar guy BUT a easy playing guitar (set up, quality, neat tone etc.) will make you pick it up more guaranteed. Less of a chore hah. When fun becomes a chore, its no fun no more

[@lukegleeson2134]

Hey, Mike! My dad used to say “a bad workman blames his tools” and I think it’s a very applicable little saying for guitar. My main guitar is a strat my granny bought me nearly 11 years ago - shortly before I put the guitar down for a decade. So when I picked it up again 4 months ago I resolved to never blame it for not sounding amazing - that’s on me, I have to improve. In a way being a relative beginner on a nice guitar feels good because I know with certainty that the guitar isn’t the issue with my playing, and it makes addressing gaps in my playing easier that way. Plus I really wanna feel worthy of such an amazing bit of kit!

[@burtpanzer]

Your dad was right, assuming the tools are in fine working order, but it takes more than just talent to make something great.

[@adrianscarlett]

It's a common saying, but if you have really bad tools you can probably get good results with them, but it will take longer and you have to be really patient and talented. If you have good tools, you can often get good results faster and with less ability

[@DeliriumXM]

@Arthur Frayn I’d be more worried about any guitar without a setup, especially if cheap or used

[@DeliriumXM]

@@adrianscarlett doesn’t really apply that way other than a good setup... also personal preference is another big thing, for example on any guitar with shallow frets I sound like a dying monkey doing bends. Or maybe you have to have a whammy bar, locking tuners or whatever else, but a well setup cheap guitar (unless the nut is badly carved; again any competent tech know that and can swap it if need be) is going to outclass a badly intonated expensive guitar any day

[@jacobsobelman3923]

I’m kinda in the same boat. I’ve owned a guitar since I was 9. I’m 22 now and I’m just picking it up again for the first time in about a year or so. I go through phases where I’ll play a lot, but I’ll also go through phases when I don’t even touch the guitar (mainly because of school, work, etc.). Right now I’m back in my playing phase

[@sebd8849]

From my guitar experience: I got my first guitar about 11-12 years ago. It was cheap accoustic guitar (for about 25-30$) which wasn't really staying in tune. The second one I got was 2 years later - Takamine G340, I got it for around 100$. However, I always wanted to have an electric gutiar and I wasn't excited to play it. So 10 years passed, I could play some basic chords, nothing special. I got my first electric guitar (it was 1 and a half years ago) - it was ~800$ japanese 1990/1991 Burny Les Paul Custom (black). Since then I made pretty good progress - much bigger than through 10 years with accoustic guitar. This guitar really inspired me to play, I love it so much. And now I can see that I wasted 10 years with the guitar I didn't really want to play. Excuses, excuses, but that's how it goes. So yes. You can make cheap gear sound good. But better gear can also inspire you and make your life easier. The most stupid advice you can give to beginner guitarist is "buy the cheap guitar first". If someone can afford more expensive guitar, it's better to buy more expensive guitar, even at the beginning.

[@richardbehrendtiii6858]

Lately I’ve bought a couple of “guitars I always wanted” and after playing them for awhile I keep going back to my strat I’ve had for 20 years.

[@yanaybolbachan]

This is exactly what happened with me. I started off playing on a classical guitar, which is way harder to play especially for a beginner, i was playing for a year enjoying the classical but i wanted a electric so bad. and then the day came when i went to a guitar lesson and my teacher told me I'm ready to have an electric guitar. I had to earn the electric guitar and it made the experience of playing guitar in general more fun and challenging.

[@drdre4397]

As a 3rd year player I'll say this... In the beginning I always tried to replace failure with gear. My first guitar was a Washburn strat copy with a 10w amp for 100$. I ended up spending 600$ buying a thr10c and a partscaster. I forced myself to learn on that gear and always wanted more distortion because I was sloppy. I assumed my cheap guitar and amp was to blame. Fact is I was trying to do hard rock on a strat bridge and with an amp specifically designed for cleans it just didn't work. I bought a roland GP8 and that was my first experience pressing a pedal and hearing a difference. I now own an acoustic, that same strat but with texas specials, a spark amp, a ts9, a wah and a sugar drive. Now the sound that comes out of my guitar is exactly the one I have in my head. Everytone I want to get out of my strat I can get with my gear. By being limited financially I only bought what I needed and made the most out of what I had. Most of the issues I had with my gear went away when I practiced more. I don't often get the urge to play acoustic but everyday I get an urge to pick that strat up...

[@molekyyli]

That's funny cos I've had it the other way so far - avoiding distortion when playing for others (just a few videos) cos I couldn't (and still can't but started working on it) mute properly and well, then it's the real hot unlistenable mess. 🤣 Otherwise I love metal and distortion but for those videos I chose things that can be played (or are meant to be played) without distortion. And I have a decent amp and decent guitars, so I know if it doesn't sound good, it's ME. Be it bad setups (either on amp or guitar (I set up my guitars myself)) or just my sloppy beginner playing. Or very possibly both at the same time. 🤣

[@jmwicked]

there is barely such thing as "failure" when it's about music (only happy accidents ? 😁 )

[@88Nikoli]

Distortion won't cover up sloppiness it makes it stand out front and centre !!! Usually this thinking comes from non players , the "oh they use so much distortion because they can't play " myth . I remember reading a story about Hendrix's guitar tech /roadie saying he used so much gain he could get nothing but noise and feedback from his setup as he wasn't good enough to mute every string but the ones that were being played !

[@redshed5467]

Over the span of 3 years I went from "Bedroom Nirvana learning beginner" to "album releasing, singer songwriting performer" this was all with the same white fender squire that was at most $120

[@juanvaldez4043]

Another avenue to explore is used gear, I bought my kid a used brand name guitar and amp for around $100 and it’s nicer than my stuff when it was new.

[@NoName-hd1gr]

i love how he just has a guitar in his lap in every video without even playing them

[@CarrLuke]

Dude, I love your perspective. You're so earnest and passionate. Even though I don't play anymore, I take joy and even maybe some pride in being able to still love the instrument through people like you. Keep up the good work!

[@DirkRadloff]

Expensive gear will not help you to get good, the only way is practicing :-) I think there is even an advantage of using bad gear: If you can play something on a bad guitar with high action you you can play it then with ease on a better guitar.

[@thepagnaet6361]

My first bass was $100 no-name P/J knockoff, action was almost 1/2" at the 12(!). I still prefer the buttery smoothness of my Schecter, but a bad setup is going to slow me down.

[@geronimosilveira7349]

Or U get tendinitis for working for working with shitty gear. Using cheap gear is sometimes depressing, I spend a year busking with a Bad amp with a lot of problems, and now that I got a Roland I feel morè comfortable, progress faster and play better. U don't need expensive instruments, but functional ones, and sometime its not possible to fix It with a fre bucks

[@DeliriumXM]

@@thepagnaet6361 half an inch! And you never dropped it at all? Thats some dedication, and on a bass no less! Im in love with my schecter and its like low action too though,

[@DeliriumXM]

@@geronimosilveira7349 exactly, if you dont have gear that can produce the style/tone you want to some degree, it can be a huge blow to motivation and make you feel like your not good since your not getting the sounds you want to be hearing. But you also dont need to spend 700$ on tube amp if your brand new, its completely pointless; if you can’t discern the difference in tone it makes

[@digitalskyestudio]

Thanks for reminding me about my original guitar, I haven't played it in years and years. Cheap (at the time, 30 years ago ) three different paint jobs and a pick up upgrade until the better guitar came along. Time to break it out and relive some great times.

[@jamesmarkham7489]

I have had many students who are able to buy very nice instruments and they stop progressing as much just like you said. I told them to keep the one they had and focus on practicing and every time they didn't listen.

[@stormcrow9339]

i personally think that haveing a realy bad tone doesnt make you worse but it does take away lots of fun playing

[@DeliriumXM]

That is exactly the way i see it, thats exactly why I’ll always recommend a decent modeling amp for a couple hundred and to get on with your day, sure its not the purest sound but it gets the job done pretty darn well

[@mattwaters7371]

@@DeliriumXM bro modeling amps are the best bang for your buck tbh

[@glenncooper3524]

Definitely!!! I had a cheap Ibanez roadstar 2 and peavey practice Amp and I believe it made me better cause to get a decent sound out of it my picking and palm muting etc. Was top notch. When I'd get on good gear I turned heads. The owner running over to grab there guitar back lol. Actually happened several times. That cheap Ibanez I eventually I put a Duncan distortion and that guitar was instantly awesome

[@racerex3159]

My Hondo II LP copy I got in 1977 was holy grail of guitars for me at 13. I made the biggest strides on that instrument out of all my gear throughout the years.

[@friedrudibega6384]

Those are good and even desirable guitars. Super hot pickups.

[@louaguado995]

I had one too. I put Dimarzio pickups in it and always recieved compliments on my tone and playing.

[@rome8180]

If you can afford it, I suggest starting on a mid-priced instrument. By that, I mean a Made In Mexico Fender or something similar. You can get one for $400-500 used, and it's good enough to last you forever if you want it to.

[@thearabianmage]

Get a MiM and deck it out - sperzel locking tuners, upgraded pickups, upgraded bridge and saddles, new nut... you’ll have a guitar that’s miles ahead of anything you could pick up off the shelf and half the price of something with equivalent components. Phillip McKnight is particularly knowledgable in this area.

[@rupertshitgrin7336]

Got a Fender J Bass from the 90s made in Mexico. Good shit.

[@jimherleva4541]

I dunno. I have MiM Strat - doesn’t feel great. I’d rather Chuck the extra few hundred in and get a second hand US Strat or Les Paul Classic.

[@steelheron1309]

In my personal opinion I love the sounds and tones that you get from cheaper gear much more than what a lot of the more expensive stuff gives you. To me, the emotion just comes out through the music better than it does with the more expensive stuff.

[@findantu]

Your forced to be more creative and imaginative with limited setups.

[@JD-vj4go]

I have almost no time to play due to work. I got caught in the collecting trap for a while. Now I have a bunch of guitars I don't have time to play.

[@josefbleaux6724]

Same...

[@WingmanStudios]

@@josefbleaux6724 That must really Bleaux....

[@fduranthesee]

@@WingmanStudios 😂

[@darker2357]

I had an acoustic guitar with only 4 strings that was my first guitar but even tho I still learnt some songs and managed to make them sound cool

[@zackh7570]

A good setup on any guitar makes all the difference, even a squier bullet or any offbrand guitars can be setup to be an enjoyable instrument. I'm still using my 200$ bass I got when I started a few years ago and I love it. I traded in my 15w practice amp for a fender LT25 amp a few months after I started because I wanted to have some digital effects and the ability to save multiple different tones and i havent thought about upgrading anything else since. My recommendation to anybody thinking about upgrading their gear. bump up your amp to an affordable amp like Fenders lt25/lt25rumble for

[@DarkDao]

As long as your guitar doesn't cut your fingers, doesn't buzz on every fret and holds its tuning, guitar's fine. But nice tube amp with a quality speaker will make all your mistakes quite a bit more noticeable. Even cheap one. Cheap transistor amps got this quality of smoothing bad technique.

[@spiderfan1974]

Starting out I would recommend no amp. It's just a distraction in the very early days of learning. You will find your tone your sound. Beginners don't need to obsess about tone learn the basics you don't need an amp for that.

[@Tigermaster1986]

@@spiderfan1974 I don't think this is good advice, tbh. You need an amp to learn how to mute your strings properly. I started with a classical guitar, then I got my first electric and I was in for a really rude awakening - the amplifier did its job well enough. It amplified all my mistakes.

[@yogxoth1959]

@@spiderfan1974 Playing without an amp is a very bad idea. You won't hear your mistakes as well, also take into account what Alex above me said about string muting.

[@sixthgear5874]

This is a good point, you don’t need amazing gear, I bought my first squier for $75 at a pawn shop, that got me through about a year and a half. I think everyone should start with a decent guitar (not crappy) but decent, a $200 guitar can be bought for $100 or cheaper at a pawn shop or in the used market. Once I got my fender I had an amazing appreciation for the instrument and my playing greatly improved once I had the drive to play for hours, I was able to put it to use and get my money’s worth. Pro tip: BUY USED, I spent $75 for my squier and $380 for my fender, I even got my amp used (but relatively new) for about %75 of retail

[@kenboi169]

My first guitar was a cheap-o acoustic. Did wonders developing calluses on my fretting hand. Main thing was I had the passion and never thought bad of that guitar. Over time, my parents felt that passion and eventually upgraded me to a beautiful Gibson ES-335.

[@jjonchh]

last time i was this early, megadeth still had 2 original members

[@pastorofmuppets1968]

I started with an Arbor explorer copy with one humbucker. I ran this into a Acoustic 100 watt solid-state head into a Paradise 4×12 cabinet. My secret weapon? The Boss DS-1! Didn't even have a tuner yet. I felt like a rockstar! Circa 1984.

[@guitarloverszone4183]

Great wisdom for the guitar lover like my self..m using a Chinese squire n a blackstar fly it all abt hard work n the luv of this instrument n the tone came out of it...wen my fingers didn't work n feel bored I just left it for few hours n had a cup of tea n watch Hendrix, knopfler or mateus asato videos n I feel inspire n pick up my guitar n all those efforts came back to life...u cant let go of this instrument if u once n felt in luv..its the feeling n the luv of playing dat ll lead u to the the promise land of guitar playing...

[@eskrimadorchris]

I had a similar experience as you did, Mike. My first guitar was something I bought off a friend for $25. It was a DIY Les Paul copy of some kind that was painted with brown house paint. The pickups were terrible and the wax had at some point melted out of them (probably from sitting in a hot car, attic, or garage), the tuners were lose, and the action was between 1/2" and 3/4" at the 22nd fret. It was a nightmare. I also played through a Realistic keyboard/vocal amp with no effects. Painful and uninspiring experience...but I never gave up. That guitar and amp are long gone, but the passion never ended. The progress in playing would hit milestones and I would reward myself with a new guitar. Whatever it takes to inspire progress (new guitar, effect, amp, strap, cabinet, picks, etc) is the right move to keep moving forward.

[@Robher85]

My first guitar was a Yamaha too. Yamaha Pacifica 521, still have it, so easy to play and made out of alder wood. Sounds great.

[@shreddergirl8607]

Pacificas are great I have one of those as well modified it with two hot SD humbuckers.

[@brendenrodgers7821]

I felt this. Always leave yourself room for improvement specially with gear. Been playing for 10 years now and just got myself a music man majesty. It was just surreal to own and play something so nice

[@jerrymiller4020]

My first was a cast iron and plastic red strat no brand. I did buy it pure fore looks en because no idea. Couple years later i got my self a second hand Gibson Marauder, because no idea, but that one turned out right afcourse. I still used a crap Marlboro transistor amp. (I had it fore give away in 2018, zero entries). Anyway i play some mid range guitars now a days. Fore me the game changers where teechers who managed to spark me!

[@88Nikoli]

That was fun trying to guess what you were trying to write ! Lol still haven't a clue what afcourse means or is about ....here's a tip if you can't spell any better than a four year old child try using the spell checker and predictive text features .

[@khgear7160]

Love the point he makes. Once you're in a jam / band situation. You realize your gear has to be up to snuff

[@yearginclarke]

Exactly.

[@inwen8258]

Bought my Squier Affinity a few weeks ago. Having a full time job I often didn't feel like I had the energy to practice at the end of the day when I finally had time for myself. Then I started my 'Build my own guitar from scratch' project. Got me the plans, bought all the wood. It's gonna take months to finish and I know it's gonna be an awesome instrument. That alone is such a motivation to practice with my 'cheap' affinity because I wanna be able to play something on my self-made guitar once it's done!

[@Darla_Lo]

Started with a plywood single cut Les Paul Jr. with a single P90 looking pick up plugged into the Aux. input of a Sherwood integrated home stereo amplifier. I was set with my second guitar, a Hondo Ebony Les Paul Copy. My Amp was a Fender Sidekick 10. What a dream compared to what I started with, but it wasn't perfect. I always figured if I really wanted to play guitar, I would make it work with whatever I had.

[@erikbailey2525]

I started off with a similar cheap imitation Les Paul, played it for over 10 years, and eventually upgraded to an Epiphone Les Paul Studio. Played that for another 10, and only just recently I finally upgraded to the dream: Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s. I still only consider myself an intermediate guitarist, but holy crap is this guitar ever a joy to play! And it's just like you say: I wanted to learn guitar because of Slash, so finally having THE guitar is totally pushing me to learn even more.

[@Denkersis]

11:17 I'm on that boat right now. I started playing on 2010, being Alexi Laiho a huge influence for me. For the last couple years I've been really lazy when it comes to practice, but after buying Alexi's signature pickup (in my country everything is expensive) I've been motivated to learn how to sweep and some COB songs, since I feel I must "earn the right" to play that pickup.

[@sheegs1]

My favourite part of starting on cheaper gear was that I used my brothers old acoustic to learn and had no idea it played terrible and the action was way too high so when I eventually got my own guitar it was a surprise how easy it was to play

[@allendean9807]

Ever have a singer come in, and they have all the PA gear, but can’t sing for shit? Gear is meaningless. Willie Nelson’s guitar has literal holes all over it. Brian May still plays the guitar he and his father built from a tabletop. My first guitar cost 75 dollars, my first amp 40 dollars. It’s about learning your instrument. If you want to ‘sound’ amazing, practice. Learn to train your ear. This is a great video for beginners. Beat the hell out of that Squier!

[@Kylora2112]

Having a PA but not being able to sing is how Ozzy got into Earth/Black Sabbath :P

[@HipsterEatinShark]

Trigger is a Martin N-20! Hardly a meaningless piece of gear. (Not even going to get started on comparing the Red Special to some dude's PA.)

[@shallex5744]

@@Kylora2112 ozzy was a great singer

[@jmwicked]

a singer with his own PA is actually quite a gem ! Most singers I met usually don't have any gear at all (not even a cheap mike) and rely on other's gear.

[@memphishancock6483]

My first guitar was a squier strat which I played through a bass amp, then my parents bought me a fender jaguar and my grandparents bought me a fender mustang amp both for my birthday after I’d played for a year. After that jaguar I was hooked on guitars, buying cheap ones and building partscasters, cleaning some up to sell, and buying nicer guitars and building a collection of nice guitars and amps which after nearly 5 years since I started playing I can say I deserve and they inspire me to play every day. Plus I’ve learned how to make an awful guitar play brilliantly and restore them to better than new so I was able to get a couple of my nice guitars dirt cheap and fix them up.

[@Gomorrha21]

Thanks for your insights, Mike. Most of us, at least those who have enough money to fuel their hobby, will probably go through this gear-fixed phase you mentioned at least once. So we cannot blame each other, as it probably seems easy on paper: Better Guitar is better to play (maybe a less could only could be missing just a proper setup instead, but that's not the topic here), theoretically learning easier and faster to fret notes, a more lovely sound inspires you to play more. If it wasn't the fact the sound still is made out of your fingers ... Shit in, shit out ;) My two cents: Still, the easiest method to decide if you should really go through more expensive guitars (or any related stuff) the first time probably is, if you already feel motivated to do this already, and you are not one of those people having a fully working guitar in their closet sitting for years and just hoping, that super duper custom shop pro axe waiting in the basket of your musician's store website since so long will suddenly bring back the magic to go to the ever life-learning guitar stage again. Might work, or might not. I am not entitled to judge this in any way, of course. I went that route and awarded myself with a new axe (Ibanez S Prestige) last december. So the thing is, already having an Ibanez metal axe before and liking it as well, I wanted something more versatile. I always tell myself I want to use the full potential of that thing, also having a tremolo which is so nice, even with the cons a trem system has. And that doesn't mean to compare to any pro players who played for decades their life for many hours will still be better. I do not know enough how much talent affects the learning rate. Like, if someone gifted with learning guitar faster could do as good as someone else in half the time? All assuming both pratice the same efficent way and the age difference is not too big. Don't know. Luckily there are so many hobbies out there, where people splash ridicolous amounts of money as well. We should ne be too shy compared to other hobbies, when awarding us with lovely gear if this is our wish, while being no BB King, Gilmour, Satriani and others. Just enjoy making music. Nothing else matters, like a certain band had a song with this title :P

[@AxelAlexK]

4:01 this is me. Not until this year when I first started feeling like I had progressed beyond the beginner stage did I give myself permission to upgrade to a $450 guitar from my $200 squire affinity. Upgrading before that felt unnecessary and self aggrandizing even though I could afford it. I had to earn the upgrade otherwise I wouldn't feel good about it.

[@kirkcavanaugh1493]

This was a particularly good video. You managed to explain complex matters both thoroughly and precisely. And in a manner that anybody who is actually interested in hearing about such things would be able to understand. That is not an easy thing for a lot of people to do. That is cool because it shows that you care enough about your lessons to make the effort to put everything together ahead of time so that nothing is left out of your lessons. And having huge holes in your music knowledge sucks. Anyways, keep up the good work. Peace.

[@AQMusic10]

Great talk. Started on a Sears catalog Les Paul knock off. Wish I still had it.

[@rct3isepic]

My mom always said, if you can’t play it on a hunk of junk, you can’t play it on a $2K instrument

[@lokarrsboots9337]

Very good and important video. A thing I would add to that: If you buy more affordable guitars, go the extra mile and take it to a professional luthier to get it setup properly. It isn't too expensive to do that; you can get a decent basic setup for about 60-120 bucks (depending on factors like: do the fret ends or the nut slots need to be filed or not). This step will level the playing field quite a bit when it comes to affordable vs. more expensive guitars. I personally always had this notion of "I need to **earn** a new/better guitar". I had to get noticeably better to be worthy of better gear because I would have felt like an imposter if I had this expensive guitar while I'm still in the "I can play the first pentanonic box and that is my solo" phase. But that's just me of course. At the end I learned most of what I can do on guitar now on affordable gear and I don't regret it at all.

[@fabianthio4011]

To me, it’s not abt if your gear is cheap or expensive but more like getting the correct guitar teacher to teach the right way, hence watching your videos is the right thing to do 😂 I had to learn to play guitar the correct way even before if I can make my cheap guitar sing!

[@PulledPurk]

My high school van had 3 on the tree. Now I drive a Y2K Honda CR-V. It’s practically a corvette.

[@StarDarkAshes]

I got a gretsche I was playing for a while and I spent so much time tuning it. Never stayed in tune for more than like 5 minutes. Then I started playing my sisters PRS since she wasn’t really using it and because the Gretsche had a broken string (I didn’t have an extra to put on). Now I am using the PRS exclusively because it always stays in tune. I obviously have to tune it but compared to the other guitar it’s great. Maybe the Gretsche is broken or it’s the tremelo bar but I am selling it. Never again..

[@yudipitre5720]

This was very wise words. I got cheap gear. I love my guitars. Thank you 😊

[@insanemtl5890]

3:56 Yep! I'm far from just having started out, but I still haven't bought my dream bass, because I wont consider myself worthy of it until I've pulled off being able to play a few certain songs. The motivation is there! :)

[@ER-le6oj]

My first guitar lacked the stick-thing inside its neck, which made the whole thing a bit crooked, so the action was messed up. It was generally really high but even higher on the G, B and E strings. So my muting abilities got pretty bad because I hardly had to do anything to mute. Luckily, I got a new guitar two years later, so it worked out. The point is, cheap guitars isn't a bad thing, but a bad guitar is. And some people might struggle with seeing the difference.

[@joecinder]

This video is so true, I started out on a yamaha around 10 years ago, and started learning pop punk songs. I appreciated it and it got me to a point to where I needed active pickups. I then picked up a schecter and started learning metalcore songs. I was in a music program at the time and I would watch kids start out on gibson Les Paul's and American Strats. They hardly would practice and didnt really respect their guitars. I would spend around 5 hours a day during the summer playing my schecter. I still have both the schecter and Yamaha, and many other guitars now, but I recently got to the goal of getting a Les Paul standard, and I appreciate it, and I worked to get to it. So I understand what you mean exactly

[@ToxicSentinelTTV]

My first guitar was a Jackson Dinky from a pawnshop and my first amp was a Marshall MG30FX both of which I still use and love

[@Scoots_McGee]

I have been playing for 17 years, and I still have my very first guitar. Yamaha ERC-121. Base base base model that came in a kit with Amo and gig bag for $150 17 years ago. It's actually a decent guitar, 5 way selector switch, double coils on the neck and pickup and single coil in the middle. It is set up as my low tuning guitar, I was playing some Arch Enemy songs and Dethklok songs on it earlier today, still plays nice, although it could use some TLC, the selector switch and likely alot of the internals are rusting and the signal cuts out alot, but I just give it a whack and it seems to do the trick

[@christopherguzzi1316]

Mike brings up an excellent benefit of having an in person guitar teacher. You can't ask a KZbin video or online tutorial to play your guitar for you to see if their is something wrong with it. Most likely it is fine but just knowing can help a student move forward with confidence.

[@russgare6523]

I remember Harmony guitars from the 1970's they were cheap guitars sold at Sears but they also made the Buck Owens red white and blue acoustic guitar and if you can find one of the original 1970 version of one of those today they sell for $3000 and up the first guitar I bought was a 1982 Fender Concord acoustic I got it from a pawn shop for $50 the action on it was terrible eventually i had a bone nut and bridge put on it and it greatly improved the playability of the guitar I still have it although I don’t play it much anymore

[@stevewarren4813]

I had a fellow guitar teacher that got so sick of his students saying, or inferring, that the only reason why he was good was because of the quality of the guitar he was playing. He went out and bought a really cheap Squier Strat to use for lessons and the students could no longer say that he was only good because of his gear.

[@electricsoundboard3375]

Totally agree with bonding with a guitar you have put the hours into. My first big purchase was a highway one strat, modded it and played it constantly for years. It may not be the best guitar I have owned over the years but it is always the guitar I go back to.

[@jonathanpatze87]

Started out on a Cheaper Ibanez GIO. Replaced the pickups after several years and upgraded the bridge. Allthough I upgraded to a Flying V a while back (my dream guitar right there) I still love my GIO. 1:36 and 7:48 I have a feeling Mike is trying to tell us something ... come on, just do it, rip out the chainsaw!

[@jethrohill6102]

Great video. My first set of drums were cheap but well made Linko drums in the 80’s. I still have them - will never sell them. My second kit was a 90’s tama 5 piece. Still play this one at gigs.

[@jcaquin]

You make me grateful for my gear thank you sensei

[@0000song0000]

i started on the yamaha pack... i STILL have that guitar and amp (2003) you can totally plug a head thru that 5" amp and for me it sounds awesome, cause you don't have to go 150db to make it crank

[@richardbrodbeckbeginninggu7330]

Started on a Bullet Strat starter kit last year. It does the job. I enjoy it and won’t get rid of it (gift from the family). But, I just got an ESP Ltd 256 and a Boss Katana MK2 50. Wow, what a difference in ease and tone. But I also know that if I would have started with what I have now I would have sounded about the same due to my skill level and not the gear. Once I got to where I can change chords well and a few songs (rhythm portions) under my belt, I wanted to expand. Plus get something with the humbucker sound along with my single coil. But glad I started with the Bullet.

[@belltown88squid28]

You made some excellent points. My first guitar was a cheap Hohner tele knock off; not the Prince guitar and I actually started with a small bass combo that my girlfriend had when she tried (not really) to learn bass. I played that for a bit, sounded bad. I saved up to by a Marshal 8080 valvestate and that rig lasted me for years. Great stuff.

[@miniguitarjams]

i love my harley benton guitar. it taught me a lot, but now i am ready for the fender strat i always wanted.

[@MrMajorDirt]

my first guitar ever has been Hetfield's iron cross, been wanting it for a decade till i finally got it and started playing! everytime i look at it i wanna pick it up and learn a crushing riff. great feeling that is.

[@poserdisposer6460]

It’s crazy how nostalgic I am for my first guitar after watching this. It’s a squier afffinity tele. I love that thing.

[@AlexSilva1976]

About the part "New gear inspires you": Trough my personal experience I find that to be true. As any self-taught guitarist out there with little chance to jam with friends for whatever reason, I sometimes hit a point of stagnation in developing my skills. And that usually affects the motivation to pick up the instrument everyday. I found that I regained motivation to play and improved my skills whenever I bought a new piece of equipment: either a new guitar, a new amp, a new pedal... hell!... I bought a slider thingy for €5 and that made pick up the guitar for like 2 to 4 hours everyday for about a mounth. I did not became a slider master and i'm not into slide playing anymore... but it made me learn the basics of that technique, it opened my mind to new tones and, more important, it made me more confortable with different kinds of tunning. So, that's that. The same kind of thing happened when I bought my first looper, and more recently whan I bought a " Digitech Trio+" (wich are amazing when you don't have friends to play with). Everytime I get a new piece of gear, even cheap gear, I regain some enthusiasm and I almost always discover new exiting sounds and tones and i get better a little bit.

[@sportshak2598]

I have a $300 ESP LTD Les Paul model, and I make sure to take great care of it. My first guitar was some cheap Yamaha acoustic, and my first electric was a beat up Ibanez G10 that I got for $32. And all I wanted was that ESP that I got for Christmas, and my brother plays the drums so we both take lessons and play together. He wanted real acoustic drums and also got them for Christmas, after that we really started to progress and get better. We really started to feel motivated to play. Just to clarify I am 11 and my brother is 9, I didn’t want it to seem like we are 30 and our parents still buy our stuff for us.

[@markdavidofficial4274]

I started on a cheap Squier guitar and a Peavey practice amp. I upgraded to a Peavey Vypyr 3 kind of impulsively and a cheap ESP LTD and got a lot better because I was playing more. Now I have a lot of pedals, a Hot Rod Deluxe, and a MIM Telecaster and I’m happier than I could’ve been. When I upgraded, I played more and got better as a result. I can play through anything as long as I have a Loud clean amp, a overdrive, and a delay, and I’m good

[@SBanas]

TBH those peavey bandits are not that bad, especially red stripe.

[@theelectrodefunhouse4651]

I used to use a Peavey Supreme head that’s basically a 100 watt bandit because they were cheap and sounded good.

[@GTO_Mike]

I started off with a Drive practice amp and a parts guitar my uncle put together and had given me for a Christmas gift was i 14. As soon as he saw i was picking it up and improving, he gifted me an Ibanez RG320 and a Peavy Renown amp, both of which came from pawn shops. He told me i didn’t need super high end gear to play good and I’ve stuck with that the last 11 years. In fact, one of my best playing guitars is an Ibanez Saber i got for $60 at an EZ Pawn, and it came with Seymour Duncan’s lol.

[@gohjohan]

I started with a Vietnam made Strat copy and upgraded to a Fender Highway 1 Strat. I still have the Highway 1 Strat and bought other MIA Strats along the way. My skill level was beginner when I got my Highway 1 and because I took a 15 year break and return to the hobby 2 years ago, I moved from beginner to intermediate within the short time frame because I got interested again. Anyway, my Highway 1 is still my "go to" guitar when coming to practice or trying out new songs. After that, I'll use my Fender Elite Strat for stage use, so yes, having decent guitars and gear help, especially when the interest is there and when you get better, you know what type of music you like and the gear that you want.

[@OrdinaryDoughnuttz]

The best beginner gear: A well set up Squier Bullet or Affinity and a Fender Mustang LT25 amp. It’s a modeling amp, that means: You can use effects. If you want to save money: Buy a Harley Benton from Thomann and a Mooer modeling amp. The Mooer is a modeling amp is great and has many effects, you can use it as a real bASS and and a real acoustic amp! The Harley Benton (TE20) is a great guitar for about 80$, the cheapest guitar on Thomann.

[@MrRelaxedanderson]

My favourite guitar at the moment is the very first guitar I ever owned. It's an incredibly cheap JHS thing made out of plywood that my Dad bought me for Christmas 1986. I hadn't seen it since the early 90s when I found it rotting in my Grandmother's attic last year. I spent months cleaning it up, replacing hardware, pickups, completely rewiring it and generally trying to get it into a playable condition. Now I can't stop playing it. I've got Fenders, Gretschs, Schecters etc all lying around but I keep going back to this old piece of plywood.

[@alexandertheguitarist]

The gear doesn’t matter, all that matters is the passion for music!

[@moneyman9495]

Love your content man.

[@danielfitzgerald8477]

A Harmony Strat copy and an old Peavy was my first set up! This is a great video for parents/kids looking to get into guitar (I really like the Squier packs for beginners). The only thing missing from this video was to talk about how a beginner doesn’t need a half stack, and eventually they’ll realize combo is the way to go.

[@davidpalmer9014]

Upgrading my guitar helped my playing, and it made me want to play more. My old guitar had an uncomfortable neck, sharp frets, and was a little too heavy. Then I sprang for a Gibson SG, and it was love at first play.

[@Theylieohio]

My 1st guitar was a Hondo SG copy , that was 30 years ago . I now own 3 PRSs a stratocaster, and a Godin freeway. The PRS Silver sky is the Best playing guitar I've ever played, sounds great also! I'll never sell that one.

[@sleepystars3042]

Thank you so much!!!!!! I’ve been wanting to buy a electric guitar but I have an acoustic and I don’t have the money to buy a really good one I started saving for one already I was starting to shy away from my dream cause I thought I wouldn’t be good enough but now I feel like I can still reach my dreams!!!!!!

[@stephenshoihet2590]

My first guitar was a yamaha Pacifica I got for free that needed a pickup selector, my first bass I got was a yamaha trbx174 I got cheap from Amazon warehouse deals. I have better, more expensive instruments but those are still my favorites. I've found that in music and other arts, a big part of learning and being successful is being able to solve problems and I think that having lower end instruments sometimes makes you work a little harder to be able to accomplish things, like swinging with a weighted bat. You may have to play slower and more deliberately but when you move to that better guitar, you'll be rewarded for that work. Obviously you don't want to play a total crap instrument with a high action or buzzing frets but there are lots of inexpensive instruments that play well with a good set up.

[@jasonrhames6182]

When I first started it was on a couple different guitars, but I remember the acoustic/electric Harmony the most. In the early 90s, a group of us ended up in north Florida on the beach almost homeless and would get a free old beater acoustic from who knows where, and make it work. The action was terrible, and we would usually just use the old strings that were already on it. We were able to keep it in tune for a while. Anyway, Nirvana was very popular at the time, and we would sing and play the songs off of their unplugged album down on the boardwalk, and on the beach. Believe it or not, we would usually draw a crowd of other partiers that would join in and sing with us. We did not need a good guitar to make the magic happen. Those songs sound ok on an old beater anyway. But it did make my fingers compensate for the terrible guitar, and after a while, I could make it sound great. When you only have a bad guitar with terrible action, and you finally get something good, you are in heaven. Not to mention, you earned it!

[@jasonrhames6182]

And now, many, many years later, I have a Marshall JCM 2000 triple super lead head with 1960 lead cabinets. My axe is a Dean Dime Razorback set to Dimebags specs, with a Floyd Rose tremolo. I have several pedals like a crybaby Wah, and a Digitech death metal pedal. My favorite is my multi effects pedals. My Vox valvetronics tone lab se multi effects is awesome. I also have an old school Digitech RP3 multi effects pedal. I do have an acoustic/electric as well. It's a Takamine with a built-in tuner and EQ. I could go on and on about all of my equipment, because I have plenty more, but it just goes to show that you can start out with a beater, and if you are serious enough, end up with a gold mine. Hell, even my cables are made of gold. Expensive, but nice. Thank you truck driving industry. I could not afford it without you!

[@cornpop1363]

my first guitar was a used Yamaha nylon string I got way back in the early 90s. I dragged that thing with me all over the country, and I still have it today. I hardly ever play it now, but I make sure it has good strings on it and keep it in tune. of all my guitars my cheap Yamaha is the one I'd never part with.

[@Sharpened_Spoon]

Totally agree with struggling just enough. Learned to play on acoustic, then bought a used Ibanez ST style guitar to play electric. After a year or two I got offered a friends SG to play a gig and it was like playing a cloud! So easy and smooth, that was when I invested in a mid level LTD that was really my style. Also, I think we can definitely be inspired by great tone, but it takes knowing a less great one to appreciate it.

[@thenormalyears]

I learned to play guitar on some hand me down rogue acoustic and I just have to agree with everything you said in this video especially about how you touched on the concept of not buying something until you need it lol

[@j.r.warren5794]

I lucked out my first guitar was a 71 SG that still plays like a dream. It did make learning much easier. Now you can pick up great gear for cheap. The entire rig I'm using now cost about as much as that SG back in 78. Don't get sucked into the top brands and keep an eye on the used gear. Picked up a nice left handed seven string Schecter at a local store. It's now my go to guitar.

[@randomassguy]

Oh god I don't miss my first guitar at all back in the day I was so young, still in middle school I used to play like 8 hours daily. Not the best pravtice sessions but learning songs. Still I got so much done with it but the pick ups were muddy, it would go out of tune just by laying eyes on it and the neck was wide like a freeway.

[@adamrasmussen9939]

My first setup was a Memphis HSH strat copy with a little Cherry (or Cerise, I forget now) amp that I got for $220 at Christmas 98. The nut kept slipping about 3/16" 'up' toward the low E string, ensuring I was ALWAYS slightly out of tune. My dad glued and clamped it for me, but within a week, it was slipping again. Even still, I'm happy now that I began on a cheap electric vs a cheap acoustic. My (non-musician) parents wanted me to get an acoustic, but knowing how much acoustic guitar $200 bought in the late 90s, early 00s, I may very well have quit playing with how bad the action was on some that Ive played. Since I have owned a $800-$1000cdn for an Alvarez MD-60 (i think) I loved that, was easily the best acoustic I ever owned. Now I have a 2017 Squier Tele w/Fender MustangII amp, and a sonicake multipedal and wah/vol combo switcher pedal, one was $100cdn, the other was $50. The whole setup is well under $1000, and I can easily keep myself entertained. And after growing up on that old Memphis, I don't even mind having to retune my G/B every 3 songs, since it feel so good comparatively. The quality of 'cheap' guitars has really come way up since the widespread introduction of Asian import models that manage to be mass produced, yet easily and seemingly consistently playable instruments that can play really well with a quality setup. I've lost count of how many guitar pros Ive seen 'blown away' by these $100-$200 instruments they ordered online.

[@SuicidalGrind]

For me if you are thinking about buying a new guitar, price should only be what's in your spending/saving budget, and only a 2nd priority. My 1st priority is always looking at reviews and seeing what especially negative reviews say about it first before I consider whether this is worth the purchase or not.

[@sindreholen5665]

I can’t imagine him getting the hm2 and playing Swedish death metal but I really wish I could

[@coleslawyum]

I learned how to play guitar on a Jackson USA SL1. The neck had a beautiful feel but for the life of me I didn’t know how to setup a Floyd Rose. It frustrated me for months (this was before internet) until I finally got it. It took hours of research from looking at books magazines and bbs forums. The most important thing I learned about getting your first guitar is neck feel and action. Scale length is probably the next thing. I just got a PRS McCarty 594 and the short scale length makes it so easy to play. I wish I had this guitar when I first started.

[@steveelling9604]

Develop your ear, then focus on gear. One other point for beginners -- learning on a cheap acoustic can be really brutal. It will tear up your fingers. You can definitely learn more with a cheap electric. I'd suggest starting with a used, $300 electric and them moving into more expensive gear and better-built acoustics.

[@s60416]

learning on a cheap acoustic gets really frustrated as well...almost gave up when I was learning Paranoid solo on a $30 acoustic. Then I got a $40 electric and that solo became so easy