USB Guitar..?

[azekeil]

As pinched from izzy_stradlin - You can now get a USB guitar (that can also be used normally), with software. Excellent! Wonder if this might finally inspire me to pick up a guitar properly and play it?

Comments

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

Meh, they've been around for a while. They sound a bit crap compared to the real thing though unfortunately. Also the components used within are a bit on the cheap side, so when used through a traditional amp, they don't sound as good as they could.

I've used my PC as an amp before now, all you have to do is plug the guitar into the audio input of a decent sound card and then use a piece of good software to run distorion/compression/etc. over it in real time (good soundcards will tend to do this in hardware too, which is nice) and it can sound great. :) Any old piece of software can slow down music for practice, but I always preferred practice withouth the backing anyway.

That said though, it is a nice cheap way to get started! Music is freely available on the web in tab format for pretty much anything you could wish to play. Do be aware though, that strings will be one of those 'ongoing costs' you hate. ;) They cost about £7 a set.

Hell, if you start, maybe I'll actually be motivated to pick mine up again and get back into practice? Could be fun. :)

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm sure the guitar is cheap as an actual guitar - but that's still fine to learn on, which I guess would be the whole point for me.

Buying replacement strings wouldn't be so much of a problem - especially as I could just wander down to a music shop in town and pick some up. It's the repetitive monthly costs of services like MMORPGs and so forth that I really hate, because that 'forces' you to play so much in a month to make it worthwhile. And I just wouldn't. Computers is another example of a hobby where I guess I can swallow the incremental ongoing costs.

Yeah, could be good to practise with :) It's certainly another hobby that is a little less.. tiring as DIY, with the creative feel-good about it :)

[daemons-goddess.livejournal.com]

oh dear god il never get my eldest off the pc if he see's that lol hes always either guitaring or on my pc combine the two il be lucky to see either him or the pc lol.
ingenious though :)

[izzy-stradlin.livejournal.com]

:) If you need help pooking/learning guitar, I am happy to help. I also have a spare acoustic...

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Cool! Thanks :)

[vasic.livejournal.com]

I guess a lot of it depends upon what kind of guitar you want to play. To grossly over-simplify things, learn on an electric if you want to play lead, learn on acoustic of you want to do rhythm stuff.

You can play either on either but I'd say the most important thing is to decide what your goal as a guitarist is and the kind of music you want to play. Do you want to be bashing out hot licks with it turned up to 11 or sitting about in darkened rooms pouring out your soul? Do you want to be playing Van Halen or is Crowded House more your thing?

Personally, I love being able to pick up an acoustic and knock out a Portishead number or have an acoustic Depeche Mode moment. Granted, I do the singing thing so acoustic is the way forward for what suits me.

Once you know what you're after, try guitars out. You'll find some far eaiser to play than others, irrespective of price. Find something that you don't have to press really hard on to get some kind of sound out of or you'll find you never want to pick the damn thing up because it's a frickin' cheese grater on the fingers.

I'll stop now before I go all over-the-top, pretentious-sounding guitarist-type. Which is odd, as I'm really not a guitarist.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Oh, interesting! Thanks!

Hmm.. I do love the thought of being able to sit around a camp fire with an acoustic, but I'm not keen on the singing aspect of it.

Mainly this came out of idle curiosity because I've always had a fascination with the guitar but never really properly tried to learn.. then Guitar Hero came out and it was fun being able to imagine I was playing all these classics ;)

Yes, a number of people are now pointing out the pitfalls of a cheaper guitar, which all make perfect sense. I'll obviously have to give this some more serious thought, including how much time I have to spare on this sort of thing..

[ev1ldonut.livejournal.com]

I have both electric and accoustic, but am so out of practise it is laughable, hehe! Personally I'd say go electric, as I never had any problems playing the more accoustically minded stuff on an electric (to myself without an amp), but stuff more with an electric in mind never sounded any good at all on an accoustic, bleh. Plus, I prefer rhythm, but the sort of rhythm I like to play would sound so naff on accoustic it'd put me right off (rock and metalhead I'm afraid, but you knew that). I still have the accoustic though, as some things, no matter how good the eletric guitar/amp, will just never sound as good as they do from a nice accoustic. :)

Find something that you don't have to press really hard on to get some kind of sound out of or you'll find you never want to pick the damn thing up because it's a frickin' cheese grater on the fingers
S'good advice that. *nods*
I adjusted mine somewhat for this reason, fiddled with the bridge and nut to lower the action a millimetre or two, made all the difference. :)

[apathyintheuk.livejournal.com]

Once you've heard it you will be anything but inspired. Yuck.
Begginers who start on really cheap instruments are more likely to quit than those who pay a lil bit more for the next level up. I'm not saying go out and buy a fender strat sraight off but i'd avoid this (and encore guitars for that matter).
My personal recomendation would be Cort guitars www.cortguitar.com

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Thanks.. I'll bear this in mind.

[izzy-stradlin.livejournal.com]

I have to say, my first ever electric guitar cost me £90 when I was 11. It is still my main guitar and the sound has remained fantastic ever since. Having played on big brands like Fender, I actually prefer the sound of mine. *shrugs* so I suppose its down to experience.
The best idea is to play a few different ones and pick whichever one suits the sound you want.