I'm a budding guitarist, and I'm going out soon to get my first electric guitar. Having a little trouble selecting one, so I was hoping some of you could suggest a few. I had originally selected a Warlock, but I read some negative comments some players had about them, so I'm looking for another one. It needs to be reasonably priced ($400 or less), but still with good quality. Looks are also important, but I'd rather have a guitar that sounds good than look good.

So anyway, if you have any suggestions, be sure to run em by me.

Thanks.

EDIT: And if it matters, my favorite bands are Iced Earth, Metallica, and Helloween, and the music I'll be writing and playing will be similar.

Check out some Ibanezes. www.ibanez.com Go to a music store near you and ask if you can try some guitars out.

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Ibanez have some great gutars. Prefect for beginners since most are well priced too. I think you would enjoy learning with one.

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So is that $400 in total for guitar AND amp? Or $400 for the guitar alone?

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...ase_pid/519687/
This one looks nice. $404.99. When you get better, you can replace a pickup or two.

Read the thread "Wanting to get started"

My dad doesn't want to spend more than 2-3 hundred for the guitar itself, not including the amp.

I read over that thread, and Ibanez sounds like a solid guitar brand, I just don't know what to pick. It needs to be in my price range, but still have good quality, and of course looks are important (prefer a black one) too. All I can find are 22 fret guitars, do I need 24? And which Ibanez's do you suggest?

Don't worry about having 24 frets just yet. I will take some time before you might even need them... if ever. Some poeple never use the extra 2 frets and the ones that do don't use them all the time.

EDIT: Here is a nice Ibanez RG for beginners. I like the RG style of guitars myself and the cool thing about this one is that its well priced but can be upgraded with better hareware later. They look cool, play good, and sound good ( with the right hardware of course ). This one will allow you to get a good amp and maybe some kind of FX to learn with until you get better and want to start upgrading parts since it doesn't cost so much. I will admit that I don't trust the bridge on this guitar, but it might not be that bad.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...ase_pid/519644/

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Okay, I'll hold off on the 24 fret models for now, but I still need some suggestions. An affordible, good quality, nice looking Ibanez model.

I edited my last post. Look there for the link I posted for you.

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Yes Ibanez are good beginner guitars, i think you should stay away from BC Rich Bronze Series, its what i have now, and well, lets just say im not really as happy as i thought id be with it . Epiphone are also nice but not the Special Series ones. Say Gothic Series, made out of mahogany and with set neck also made out of mahogany, and when you feel you need to change, switch the pickups to some duncans or dimarzio and youve still got a nice guitar.

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i personally hate the epiphone gothics, they felt really crappy and sounded like shit althought the sg was alright, way better than the lp with the crap floyd. Anyways the ibanez sa seems a bit pricey for wat ure gettin, maybe just try find some secondhand ibanez's, or go with my fave starter guitar, an Aria http://www.music123.com/Aria-MAC50-i102020.music (very very nice)
http://www.music123.com/Aria-XL-DLX-i101344.music

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Aria's are pretty nice. I think you'll be happy with Ibanez aswell. And if your just starting out, a Bc rich bronze warlock wouldnt really be that bad, although in like a year you'll probably think its the worst guitar in the world.

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i have an Epiphone Gothic SG and i was perfectly happy with it until recently, so i switched the pickups to Duncan JBs, and now im incredibly happy with it once again.

I'm going to a few guitar shops this weekend with my dad, but I plan on getting one of those two mentioned, seem like solid guitars based on reviews, they're affordable, and don't look 1/2 bad either.

Now we come to the amps. I'm not sure what I need to start out with, and, again, price is a factor. 10-20W I assume? But which models should I go with?

And what other things do I need to get? I plan on playing thrash and power metal for the most part.

Keep in mind that the shops you go to may not necessarily have those in stock, and they may also be more expensive.

You'll need a few other things.

A cheap tuner: korg ga30 $15 (wow. I bought mine for AUD$42 which was on sale.) or something more expensive if you want a metronome or ease of use if you detune in the future.
Bag: $15
Strap: $5
Cable: $5

Schecter Omen 6

What I got and I love it (exept in Maple Satin, which in my opinion looks a ton better than black). The neck is thicker though, so if you don't like thick necks, it might not be your bag. Feels like a les paul in a way. I got mine for about 300$ish new.

Schecter guitars are great. I like them alot.

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your best bet is buy used man, check a bunch of places with used axes and PLAY THEM. we can tell you whats good and whats not all day long but frankly our opinions don't mean shit. i remember the thread with one of our best tabbers having a piece of shit and being able to make it sound ok. there are some things to avoid qualitywise. stay away from:
the absolute lowest end epiphones (the 200 dollar and under ones)
bronze bc rich series
anything squier

my suggestion to you would be while your there check out some used schecters, especially the c1 classic (got mine mint for 400 used), i use them for all my standard tune iced earth type stuff, as i am also a huge fan of theirs. also check out used gibson sgs, built dam well and again has that gibson sound which alot of the bands you talk about use or have used at one point or another.

however again the main thing is to play as many guitars as you can and see which one feels/sounds the best to you. because anything else is just someone imposing their opinion on you, like for example i hate ibanez guitars, but other people like them. are they crap? no, but they aren't for me. you will develops tastes like this as a guitarist.

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I'm going to go mess around with some this weekend, but I just want to know what some other players use and try those out first.

As for amps, I have absolutely no clue what to get. Can you play around with those aswell?

EDIT: That Schector has got some GREAT reviews! Thanks so much for the suggestion, I had hever heard of Schector before. It's a little pricey for what my dad was willing to spend, but maybe I can coax him into it. I really hope it feels as good and sounds as good to me as the reviews say.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7...ase_pid/519658/ Got a lot of nice reviews too.

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