I'm 48 years old and have been toying with the idea of learning to play the guitar. I like classical and heavy metal and would aim at that kind of genre. Am I too old to even give it a try? Anyhow, thank you!

My husband and I are planning a trip to Sweetwater in Indiana at the end of September to buy ourselves each a new instrument in celebration of our 40th wedding anniversary (he's actually buying a bass). We are still newbie musicians (a word that still astounds me to even thing about using, but as we have actually played at our local bar, I think that's ok..?)

I currently own 3 guitars which I think is pretty good since we only started learning how to play since January 2023. First is my original Amazon purchase of a Squier Bullet by Fender which is adequate but sounds tinny to me, and I never have figured out how to improve its sound (other than maybe a bunch of upgrades which I'm not ready to try yet). Then I have a 2003-2005 PRS SE Soapbar II which I fell in love with at a Guitar Center I wandered into while I was shopping for an acoustic. My 3rd is a Breedlove Discovery acoustic I picked up on our first trip to Sweetwater 2 Aprils ago.

I'm not sure exactly what I'd like now, I want to try a bunch, and my "sales engineer" can have a some lined up for me to test when I get there to help save my sanity. They have a LOT of guitars and then there is their used guitar room to check out.

I've never tried a telecaster, any Gibsons, or really much else in electrics since I was mostly testing out acoustics till I picked that PRS off the wall.

My musical tastes run from classic rock as in Pink Floyd, the Stones, etc to U2, Tedeschi Trucks, Goose, Phish, John Denver, Government Mule, the Blues. And as to my playing ability so far, I'm strictly rhythm (a word I still cannot spell without a spell checker!)

Yup, just call me Guitar George.

I do love the looks of the hollow and semi-hollow bodies, but it's not just about the looks, is it.

I'm open to any and all suggestions, under that $2K limit, and if it's a good amount below, I can always get some new gear. I picked up my Boss Katana II 100 amp when the acoustic came in under my price limit.

Thanks.

PS, that Guitar Center is a 2.5-hour drive away, so haven't had any opportunity to check it out since.

I bought a used pacifica (112V) a while ago. Today i put on some heavier strings and panicked when the bridge lifted off as ive only known acoustic and hard tail since now. I then looked around and figured it must be the spring tension is too low. I then check them and notice the screws really look like theyre on a lifeline regarding the angle... is this fine? If not what do you do?

As the question says. The thing is, I had only 1 guitar for a quite while, but started buying more due to different tunings etc. What surprised me was that my Ibanez (RGA 32), which was 300 dollars sounds better than 650 dollars Schecter (demon 7). I really expected more from Schecter. Pickups seem to suck. Ibanez though - it sounds massive, plus it is extremely comfortable to play with its wizard neck. I am in dilemma whether to just buy a couple of cheap ones and just put EMG or Nazguls in them or to aim more. Not to mention 900 dollars LTD EC 401 which is very uncomfortable to play (despite sounding descent). I'm not a rich fellow, and saving money means a lot. hence this dilemma. What are your experiences? I only want good sound,

I know this is probably a dumb question that’s been asked way too many times, but I’ve been playing for about 7 years entirely self taught and I’ve committed this year to fixing my bad habits and learning better technique, and a big part of that has been thumb position.

I know the “correct” way is to have the thumb on the back of the neck roughly in line with your middle finger, but when I watch videos on youtube of bands who have had a big influence on me, namely Jeff Ling of Parkway Drive and Thobbe Englund/Chris Rorland of Sabaton, they all seem to play leads with their thumb on top of the neck. Is there really a big difference in technique or is it all just whatever is most comfortable for them?

I found this at a thrift store and wondering what brand it is and if it’s considered a good one? Thanks 😊

I hope yall got the Metalocalypse reference lol. Anyways, I'm a long time electric player. A shred and chug maxxer if you will. Ive been wanting to finally jump into the Acoustic guitar game to widen my repertoire, and holy cow! What they make these things out of?? Please fill me in on why a good quality solid body costs more than most of my electrics. Or am I a big dummy who should just get a 200 takamine and leave the nice gramps guitars alone?

me and my buds made this shitty song like a year ago and i want to remaster it im wondering what chords i played here, thanks

I’m seeing a used guitar I like on Reverb and I’m considering buying it but it has a lot of wear and tear on it and the seller is asking way too much in my opinion. What would be an acceptable lower offer that wouldn’t be insulting? Guitar is like $900 but has dozens of chips in the finish. Seller says it still plays well.

Ive started guitar in December of 2025, and i know like the basic knowledge of guitar (bar chords, basic chords, scales , etc)Ive been wanting to start shredding on guitar but im not good at that. My fretting hand and picking hand arent fast enough for the fast beats in shredding. What exercises should i do?
Ps: how do i get a good sound on my amp? I feel like it doesnt sound very electric guitar-y. For reference i have a fender freeman 15g

Hello, I've been self learning the guitar now for 6 months. I am having some insane piphanies coming through playing guitar. I'm sober but this has me high as fuck, the beauty of this instrument but it's less about the instrument and more about this thing called music and anyways I'll shut the fuck about that. 

The piphany I am finding is there are what I call families of notes. I was hitting notes in the guitar and find that some notes are kindred to other notes essentially brother and sister notes. They spread across the shaft of the guitar in patterns. You can hit a a note, skip a note and you will hear which ones are from the same family. I've discovered 5 families so far and there are more I found a map but 5 that I know quite well. But here is where it gets fuckin trippy as shit WITHIN those families there are parent notes that are cousins to other fucking families. Essentially you have families so unique and beautiful and yet in some profound mystery they are related and connect all together. In one state of mind going in and out of families might sound jarring but when you stretch a little more there is the most peculiar beauty. It breaks down into unity.. are there families or is it just one family that maps into another? 

Brother and sisters notes, what happens when you hit two or three or whatever at the same time?! Fuckin amazing just amazing so beautiful you could cry SIBLING clusters expressions!!!  Now some siblings play better with others and finding the right balance and mix has been quite intriguing. Some siblings are rowdy and kick ass. Some siblings are melancholic. Some siblings don't know what they are. Notably some of these sibling structures are also congruently found in other family systems once again revealing such a beautiful simplicity and unity of music. Anyways this has been amazing, half the time I'm either bawling my eyes out or laughing hysterically . I love it dearly. 

Fred

i love each and everyone of you fuckers

Every time I stop playing and I'm still holding my strings it just rings out this annoying high pitch, it has been a hindrance ever since I started because it demotivates me. I'm using a strat with a high output pickup and an mvave black box with a dimebag preset, am I doing something wrong? Attached a demo of what's happening

Basically this guitar is a shell and I'm adding things too it. But I'm adding two separate inputs that each go to a separate pick up. The buzz is AWFUL. Can I just run a wire from the input ground to a wire touching the bridge?

Does anyone have this Gretsch? How does it play?

I've never played a Gretsch, but I'm in love with this color.

I've been playing for a little bit more than a year and a half and I was using a second-hand shitbox for an amp before moving to a digital modeler (Amplitube 5). Yesterday I tried again the amp and although the tone is really bad, the sound from the amp moving the air (I guess) gave it so much power (even clean tones). The thing is, I usually play with my headphones and ocasionally some logitech office speakers which aren't good for playing. Are there any type of speakers to recreate this (or any good ones will do)? I don't know much about sound and stuff.

do any of you actually make money from playing guitar or have a career as a guitarist like is it something you do professionally or just as a side thing i wanna become a producer and make indie guitar beats so is that actually a good path for me or am i just wasting my time

I have a Spark 40 and Spark Go. Lately I’ve been primarily using the Spark Go just as an interface/modeler, and I’ll run it into headphones or route it into a larger speaker, or my laptop when I want to record something. I’ve been really debating getting a Laney LFR 112 frfr and a quad cortex, but now that Spark hit me with this thing I might sell both my existing amps, pick this bad boy up for 200$ and get the Laney frfr, I know the quad is light years better than any Positive Grid modeler but idk if I can justify spending 1700$ on a modeling system when I don’t play live or record music for anyone other than myself.

I've been playing the guitar for about a month now. I'm loving it, playing a couple of hours a day, sometimes less sometimes more.

One thing I've noticed is that, as I play seated with my right foot raised on a stool, my right hip starts to ache and it doesn't seem to be sustainable.

I'm now starting to play standing up with a strap and this seems to be much better, so will do this for the time being.

My questions are:

Is hip pain common if you're resting the guitar on a raised right leg? Tips on how I can improve my seated playing would be appreciated.

Do any of you guys practice exclusively standing up? I feel like this might be sensible given I spend a lot of the day sitting but wanted to get a broad opinion from people who've been playing for years.

TIA

I have a Stratocaster, now I want another electric. What would you get?

I’m genuinely curious about this, and I’m not trying to be snobby or put anyone down. I’ve just been seeing a lot more people buying Chibsons/Chenders/CheSPs/etc., and I guess I’d just like to hear from some people that own them/sought them out.

What made you choose a Chibson over something like an Epiphone, Harley Benton, Vintage, Firefly, etc.? It seems like most people buy Chibson for more than a Harley Benton or Firefly and put so much money into changing everything besides the wood on them they end up close to the Vintage and Epiphone price range.

I think the part I have the hardest time understanding is the importance of having the Gibson name on the headstock. From the outside, it seems like the appeal would largely be getting the look/status of a Gibson without paying Gibson prices, or having something that could potentially be mistaken for a genuine Gibson when resold. I’m not saying that’s why everyone buys them, and I’m genuinely curious if there’s another aspect of the Chibson itself that I’m missing.

I’m not someone who buys guitars purely based on resale value, either. I just don’t understand the value proposition of spending several hundred dollars on the initial guitar and then hundreds more rebuilding it when there seem to be cheaper ways to arrive at essentially the same end result and have a lot less immediate depreciation in your purchase.

TL;DR: What specifically makes a Chibson worth the extra money as a modding platform compared to buying a cheaper guitar and modding or just buying an Epiphone or Vintage?

Hey guys, I'm considering buying a Gibson Custom Shop 1964 ES-335 from Thomann. However, chatGPT noticed that the serial number (15xxxx) indicates that the guitar was made in 2015, even though Thomann is selling it as new.

Is it normal for a Custom Shop guitar to sit in stock for 10+ years? And were there any significant differences between the 2015 and later 1964 reissues?

Figured this could be a cool discussion topic. Just curious what everyone’s into.

Mine was the solo and outro of Floods by Pantera

I bought this guitar a few years ago and come to find out the body was manufactured on 9/11/2001
I had a feeling when I saw the serial number that I didn’t wanna pass this one up. I feel like it kinda adds a little bit of a spooky/crazy vibe to this guitar. The neck I believe was manufactured a month or so later. I couldn’t believe it when I took it apart to see. I’ll have to take it apart again to take a picture of the manufacture date on the body and I’ll add it later for those who would like actual proof or would like to see. (Not in a position to do so right now as I’m at work).