PS.. if you're looking at acoustics.. can't go wrong with Yamaha for cheap ones with good quality and sound

 

i agree... i don't know much about guitars but my very first guitar was a "shitty" epiphone acoustic that my dad bought me for my 11th birthday. i still have it and i still love it. my dad bought me a fender strat a few years later and he gets frustrated cause i hardly use it and prefer my acoustic. partly cause i'd rather play an acoustic than an electric, but also cause i just like that guitar better... it's my trusty lil guitar. but then again i'm not a very "serious" guitar player. i'll sit down and play a few songs when i get bored or when family members ask me to play and that's about it. i'd say... it's really cheap and pretty much a guitar is a guitar if you're just learning so if that's what you want, get it! if you find out that you want to get more serious than you can always upgrade. you're not going to put a 15 yr. old driver in a ferrari. you put them in a corolla and move them up as they get more experience. the simpler guitar is less intimidating...

 

Buy a Volkswagen, get a free Guatar.

 

haha... i've seen the commercials for that. wtf is up with that???... kind of a random gimmick. it's one thing to get coach luggage with your lexus... but a guitar with your v-dub? weird...

 

I bought a Danelectro Convertible years ago...just before they switched over to the modern tuners. I love that guitar if cheap is what I was after.


EDIT: I don't think Danelectro makes guitars anymore. I'm looking into it.

 

Thanks for all the feedback! I've been talking to some of my co-worker who play guitar, and they all suggested me to go down to the local music store to test it out first. And I think it make a lot of sense. I will go down this Sunday to check it out

 

I decided to try and learn the guitar about 3 years ago as well. I went to the local guitar place and they had me try all sorts of guitars.

What I ended up with, from their recommendation, was actually one of these "packs" as you posted above. It was a Squire (Fender's "saturn" to go with the above poster) strat pack.

The Squire Strat really isn't bad at all! I've played both the fender and the squire and since i'm awful there is really no difference. When my teacher plays both, I could hear a small difference, but not when I was hitting the strings.

A used guitar is nice too, but I liked having everything all at once - the amp, extra strings, a strap, picks, a tuner, the bag (which was nice for carrying the axe to and from lessons), and even the "The Fender Method" book wasn't too bad!

Anyway, if you're looking for a beginner's electric, I really think you can't go wrong with this.

I now own an acoustic as well, but I like playing the squire much more.

Here's a link from the store you were looking at above of what I bought:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Squ...-Pak?sku=519633

 

100%

for acoustics less than $500, i definitely recommend yamaha. they're sort of no-frills guitars (very simple, not flashy) but are built well and sound better than most of the other guitars in that price range.

good luck with your purchase!

 

as stated above goto a guitar shop and listen to each guitar. you wont be able to tell minor differences as a beginner but you should at least be able to feel the string and how hard it is to push down on the frets. Also have the workers play for you and listen or play something yourself while up close against the wall so that the sound bounces off the wall and you can hear it better.

i highly recommend going with acoustic first. if you learn on electric it will be a step up to go to acoustic since acoustics are harder to play. learn acoustic first so that if you goto electric it will be cake. also acoustics are nice because you dont need any equipment, they are no hassle.

most low priced guitars are about the same. I personally had an epiphone for my first guitar that cost about $300. it was fine and i still have it but never play it since i have a taylor now =) but yeah ephiphones are fine, yamahas are nice, and i even like takamines too. basically your first guitar isnt going to be great, but good enough to learn on. dont worry too much about sound and just get something that is easy enough to play.

once you play you are hooked. ive got 3 acoustics, 1 classical, and 1 electric. good luck, dont stress too much on making the best purchase now because if you get into it and are serious about it you will probably buy a better guitar within a year or 2.

 

Another thing not yet mentioned is that, while acoustic guitars are harder to play, this can be good for a beginner's guitar. When you finally make the transition to electric you won't have to "re-learn" how to play.

My first electric, the Squier Supersonic, has a left-handed neck on it. I didn't know until after I bought the guitar, but now I like the uniqueness of it.

Sidenote: There is a program called GuitarPro5 that will play the song in a MIDI-type format and show the tabs in real-time for you to see how to play it. There is a 26,000+ song bank so pretty much anything you can think of. I don't know the cost though.