The Big Gear Mistake Beginners Make!

Getting the right gear is always a challenge for anyone. When you're a beginner it can be easy to get caught up in the race to get whatever does the most, but thats not always the best idea.
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[KevinORourke]

The biggest mistake a beginner makes is thinking that if they could just get to the next level of improvement, whatever that might be, that they will be satisfied. Playing guitar is an ongoing process that never comes to an end if you stay with it. The process is the only thing that you can count on. If you are results oriented as opposed to enjoying the process, you will get very frustrated very quickly. This was a very good video with great advice. Thanks for posting it.

[kdrake]

Mistakes Advanced Players Make.... Splurging on a dream guitar thinking it will cure their gas forever.

[williamjeffreys]

The only gear mistake I ever made was selling items. Have had some great gear and wish I still had most of it.

[MegaDieseldriver]

I just want to add this in, I had spend a few months without my pedal board and pedals and plug just straight into my amp . That did more for my playing than anything. Having to play without delay, distortion, reverb and stuff forced me to learn a bunch of new stuff I wasn’t doing or wasn’t doing right . I became much more dynamic and musical and leveled up !

[JordanColey]

Thank you for addressing the "starter kit" issue. I work in a music shop too and I have to work so hard to explain to parents buying for their first-time players why that's not the best option. Music is an investment and the worst thing you can do when starting out is set the new player up for failure with something that's so poorly put together it discourages them from playing. That "I'm gonna lose money if Johnny doesn't stick with it" mindset is the worst! Well said!

[tonybrooks]

Bought a Katana 50 for my 13 year old. Insanely good for very little money. So good. Wish they existed 30 odd years ago.

[VlrGuitarWorld]

My rig: modified squier strat, vox pathfinder 10 and a reverb pedal..thats it

[thethingsyasee...]

"Less is More" an old saying that holds true today

[emiliocurbelo]

Agreed! I'm a begginer and my gear is a super cheap guitar(Squier Bullet Mustang, 140$) and a cheap but decent amp (Boss Katana 50, 235$). That's all. It sounds good and I'm very happy with it

[tbone]

Took up the guitar in my late 40s. Have wanted to play my whole life and finally went for it. I got an entry level Squire Tele, a Blackstar 3w practice amp and a good set of headphones. What I finally realized is that I can play at night while the family is asleep and be virtually silent. This little 3w amp through headphones sounds great! With these few affordable items I am having a blast. I think the lesson is to do your research and get some quality gear at a fair price that fits your budget.

[dknedlik]

You're still a beginner. How depressing is that for the rest of us lol

[kpt.haddoc]

Playing for 17 years now. My regret is buying too much stuff too fast instead of just playing and understanding music theory/harmonics. My recent setup is just a simple tube amp and an overdrive pedal. I really enjoy the simplicity.

[niclastname]

This is exactly why I always recommend the Katana amps. They have a lot of bells and whistles if you want them/when you get to that level, but they have a very simple front panel with no screens or menus. They are fantastic straightforward amps if you never plug them into a computer, and have lots of nifty functions if you decide to. That way they're very simple and easy to get a good sound out of for beginners or people that want a "normal amp", but you still have lots of cool features if you want them and/or start to want them in the future. It's an amp that is easy but grows with you if that makes sense.

[jeffreyeagen]

I bought a Line 6 amp with most of the bells and whistles, took it back and got a Fender Champion 20. Love it!

[greggpangle]

Amen, all you said! I've been playing since I was 5, and I'm now 51. I had the bad luck to have lost everything I owned about 7 years ago (5 vintage guitars, two vintage amps, and all of my effects, and not due to a divorce or jail! Lol) I've been starting over, and though I was never big on complicated equipment, I did have a Digitech RP2000, which had all the bells and whistles. I used about 10% of what it was capable of.
Currently, I have a Marshall Code50, it has a lot of options, but I got it mainly for the reason that I can program it to several different amp settings that I like, and I don't use the effects. I buy pedals. I'm planning on buying a simple tube amplifier combo, and using the Code50 as a recording tool.
Love your channel, Robert!
(I too am a Page man!😄)

[gavinm]

The search for that tone starts with shitty amps, evolves to lots of pedals, effects boards, pick ups, guitars, until that moment you are older and go back to a single amp and delay

[alabamahebrew]

When I began to take my guitar playing more seriously, at age 48/49 (I'm now 54), I had NO clue about the variety of amps and pedals and FX's and all that stuff. So when it came time for me to purchase a new amp I came across the Mustang 3 modeling amp with 100 presets onboard. I was so naive I had no idea what "modeling" or "presets" meant lol. As a matter of fact, I always thought all those weird sounds you can make on a guitar, Wah, phaser etc, were just done by adjusting the knobs on any style amp lolol. So after some research I decided to go with the Mustang 3 because I did not want to have to invest in all those pedals and cables, plus I was taking the amp on the road with me in my semi and I certainly did not have room for all that garbage! I now use the Mustang GT 200 amp and I have a Marshall Code 50 as well. I do plan on buying a tube (valve) amp one day but for now this set up works just fine for me.
I somewhat disagree just a tad with you Robert, I think a beginner should get something like the Mustang GT 100 or 200 and use it to learn on. There are 100 presets already set up and ready to play so there is no need to have to fumble around and try to figure out what does what. Now also here is where I think such an amp is a great learning tool - you simply download the PDF manual that is online and within a few minutes even the most computer illiterate can figure out how to make changes on these amps, lol I know cause I am one of those illiterates lololol. But what I really like is this - let's say a beginner finds a preset that they really really like, you can open up the menu for that setting right there on your cell phone or tablet or PC and then you get to see everything that is used and the levels used to create that preset! You can click on "bypass" and shut off this or that preset and this will teach you what exactly that FX does. This is how I have learned what FX to add to get that sound I want and I think it is very beneficial to have such an amp. You can go online right through the amp, download " Jimmy Page Kashmir" preset, hit save and poof! It's on your amp and then you simply scroll through everything that setting uses and then you can go to an empty preset slot and create your very own Page sound by tweaking those FX's. The new GT series is much better than the Mustang series because you can just use your phone, but the original Mustang's actual had an onscreen amp that you could actually turn all the knobs and scroll through the list of added pedals and such. You can move them from post to pre or vice versa and see what that does. This is all so much easier than fumbling around with pedals on the floor. Can it be maybe a little confusing for a beginner? Sure it can, then again how confusing is learning scales and such for a beginner? If an amateur boomer like myself can figure out one of these things, a 20 year sure as heck can! lol. Plus once you buy say the GT 200 model, there is nothing more you need to buy! No more pedals or cables or batteries - plug it in, sync it with your phone and you are off to the races! Well, they do have a pedal you can buy specially designed for these amps to control things like your wah effect but it's not a necessary item to buy.

[sn_mustang_garage]

So many people go down the gear rabbit hole and have a room full of gear but don’t play so well. Lots of YouTube Channels I could name but won’t. I took a year off from buying any gear and just focused on learning. It was a huge break through.

[nmysights]

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t: you’re right.”

I really messed up with my starter gear. I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Special II “AFD” and a 65-watt Kustom amp used at a pawn shop for $200 (I had no idea just how big 65 watts was, or I would’ve looked at a different amp). I wasn’t even gonna buy it, but my dad was buddies with the shop owner and pretty much spent my money for me, which isn’t exactly uncommon. Anyway, I bought the better of the 2 Les Pauls they had, which is really saying something considering this thing has a crack between the fretboard and neck, the fretboard doesn’t even line up on the neck properly, the neck isn’t seated properly, etc. Of course, I noticed none of these things in the shop because I had absolutely no idea what to look for. I picked up on the issues over the first week or so of playing. While I love the guitar and have had a lot of fun learning on it, the longer I play, the more I realize just how much of a POS it is. I’m looking into getting a new guitar soon, probably a Squier Strat. My advice to anyone wanting to get a first guitar: if you’re gonna buy used, try and shop with someone who plays and knows what to look for. And don’t buy something because your friend is selling it.

[OleZ-BGuitar]

I would recommend to buy a decent guitar and amp from the get-go.
I started on a kit.
The guitar was ok, but needed a setup and the frets weren't that good.. It plays ok now, but the frets are still bugging me a bit.
Upgraded to the Katana 50Mk2 which is a great amp. The panel gets you a long way, but if you connect it to your computer it can get a bit confusing, BUT there is a lot of decent precets for different styles if you want that, but to do it manually is a bit weird. - You can also set it to 0, 5Watt and 25Watt, your neighbors will thank you, and you will still have a good quality sound!
Upgraded to a better guitar recently as well, and I regret not buying this earlier / from the beginning.
It's so much easier and nicer to play with a proper guitar and no swarm of bees coming out of the amp.
Also, don't sell your first gear. It's kind of fun to look back at what you started on. It's gotten some sentimental value now.