Lords of Death Forums Lords of Death Forums LoD General Discussion Nothing Else Matters Solo

Those Shechter guitars seem to be a great buy for the money. Someone I know who has been playing metal for 20 years swears by them and damn he has a couple really nice ones.

Yeah I only paid $750 for it initially, then a month later Guitar Center had one of their "OMG SUPER MEGA SALE ONLY TILL SUNDAY" sales that they have every month. They put it on sale for 599, so I went back and bitched and they gave me back the difference. I really like it a lot. The only other guitar I've played so far that I like as well or better is the one you have, the Les Paul.

i have a vox AC 15 amp too. Those are badass amps for the price and REALLY loud for only 15 watts.


Also just bought a Gibson SG Classic with p-90 pick-ups. Def. my dream guitar.

My buddy used to work at Schecter in LA for a few years. Moved back up to norcal and I have him professionally set up my electric and acoustic for $20 each. Doesn't get much better than that.

I wouldn't waste the money on lessons dude, download guitar pro and learn from tabs it'll keep you interested in playing because you'll be learning shit you want to learn instead of pentatonics/phrygian/mixalodian/aeolian scales and so forth. Scales are important later down the road, but if you're just starting, do the tabs. If you're interested in learning wicked solo shit Mark Tremonti did a dvd that I would suggest picking up. Ya he was in "creed" which is a gay ass band but he's one of the best guitar players in the world easily. The majority of good players these days never took lessons anyway, way overrated.

I would agree that guitar pro is a great way to keep you going, but I think lessons are a valuable aspect of learning. Just like anything, having 1 on 1 help, if good, can be a great way to continue to expand.

Lots of the best guitarists do take lessons. In fact before the black album came out for Metallica, Kirk went to the SF community college to study music, let alone his work with Satch. Randy Rhoades also took lessons while on tour. While many of these guys may not have started by taking lessons I think a good teacher can filter out the crap and focus you on the shit you need to learn. Also, lessons, at least for me, were not just scales. I was taught technique, rhythm, and different little tricks or accents that many of the old blues guys used a 100 years ago. But at the same time, with Youtube and all the free lesson sites online they can act as a great teacher if you're disciplined enough to work independently.

I took lessons for 2 months when I first started. They are expensive, but I think it was well worth my time since it helped me focus on base guitar skills so I could learn everything else more easily.

I actually agree with both of you to some extent. I only started playing in like September or October of last year, and I think I'm making decent progress for such a short time. Part of that I attribute to my being a crackhead and taking advantage of online lessons (guitartricks.com I like a lot), youtube, Guitar Pro and the Amazing Slowdowner when I'm by myself.

The other part I attribute to starting lessons after only one month of flailing away at the strings alone. My teacher doesn't overly bog me down with scales and music-reading lessons. He basically lets me lead the sessions and he helps me get where I want to go. I bring a piece of music I'm interested in, I show him what I've been doing with it, and he shows me better, faster, more efficient ways to play it. He has taught me things that may have taken me many weeks or months to figure out on my own. To me, that's what makes lessons valuable. He takes the learning curve and makes it much less steep, and since I took guitar up in my mid-30's, I want the fastest possible route to competence!

TV.
Or drugs.