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expired Posted by iconian | Staff • Aug 3, 2022
expired Posted by iconian | Staff • Aug 3, 2022

Boroughs Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar (Various Finishes)

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$75

$130

42% off
Adorama
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Deal Details
Adorama has Boroughs Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar for $74.99. Shipping is free.

Thanks to Deal Editor iconian for finding this deal.

Available Finishes:Includes:
  • Boroughs Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar
  • Truss Rod Adjustment Wrench
Features:
  • Traditional Dreadnought body style
  • 15:1 sealed gear tuners
  • Traditional X-bracing
  • Spruce top and Mahogany back and sides
  • Comfortable C-shape neck
  • Techwood fretboard
  • Modern headstock with a straighter string pull

Editor's Notes

Written by StrawMan86 | Staff
  • About this deal:
    • This price is $54.96 lower (42% savings) than the list price of $129.95.
  • About this product:
    • Boroughs Lifetime Limited Warranty
  • About this store:
    • Information about Adorama's return policy here.
  • Please read the Forum Thread for more deal discussion.

Original Post

Written by iconian | Staff
Product Info
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Product Info
Community Notes
About the Poster
Adorama has Boroughs Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar for $74.99. Shipping is free.

Thanks to Deal Editor iconian for finding this deal.

Available Finishes:Includes:
  • Boroughs Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar
  • Truss Rod Adjustment Wrench
Features:
  • Traditional Dreadnought body style
  • 15:1 sealed gear tuners
  • Traditional X-bracing
  • Spruce top and Mahogany back and sides
  • Comfortable C-shape neck
  • Techwood fretboard
  • Modern headstock with a straighter string pull

Editor's Notes

Written by StrawMan86 | Staff
  • About this deal:
    • This price is $54.96 lower (42% savings) than the list price of $129.95.
  • About this product:
    • Boroughs Lifetime Limited Warranty
  • About this store:
    • Information about Adorama's return policy here.
  • Please read the Forum Thread for more deal discussion.

Original Post

Written by iconian | Staff

Community Voting

Deal Score
+27
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Top Comments

JawBreaker44
84 Posts
66 Reputation
..

For those thinking of .. possibly maybe .. would like to .. thought maybe they'd try someday .. picking up a guitar and see if it takes .. take a second and read through this.

Money. Straight Up Flat Bank. I first got on a stage playing guitar for money when I was in the 8th grade. 47 years later, I played lead on two internationally released albums and they send me residuals every month in the mail. If I want some new golf clubs or to buy an engagement ring, I can find a local band and play out for a summer. It's tough working conditions to get that money, though. I mean, you can drink on the job, there's gorgeous chicks everywhere, most everybody is cool you work with and .. you know .. people applaud. You could TRY the local convenience store and there certainly is a plus side to that as your condom purchase amounts would add up to a tidy savings versus taking up the guitar.

Joy. The joy when you figure out a song that is important to *YOU*, personally, is satisfaction on an extraordinary level. Then you have the joy of the orgasm, that's always fairly high on Ye Olde Life Meter. Because you figured out your girlfriend's favorite song and, you know, at that point you get The P Pass. (That's a musician's inside joke. Watch the movie "Rock Star" where every member of the cast there lost their guy card for letting out this secret. The first rule about Fight Club is .. ). Then there's the joy of your child being born. If you decide to take up the guitar .. and you happen to WRITE a song about your girlfriend, she's gonna get pregnant. Nah, nah .. they fool you. They tell you that but they didn't take their pill that entire week. Or they go have their contraception device removed. One way or the other, you write a song FOR a girl .. HEY, YOU'RE A DADDY. Congrats.

Lifelong. This never goes away .. this .. COMPULSION .. to pick up a guitar. Because, oddly, the more you play, the better you get. The better you get, the more you play. Then, you get asked to play by friends, family members .. and hopefully .. a paying audience. For me, it's been just a few years shy of HALF .... A .... CENTURY .. that I cannot sit in a room with a guitar anywhere I can see it .. cannot sit there and have a conversation for more than 30 seconds before I have to get up, go get it and play it. It's a psycho, banzai-nut-job complex ... this "thing" that happens to you .. because that thing has given you so very much in your life. It just granted it to you. Gifted it to you. Because you played it. So, this isn't like taking up basketball or Dungeons & Dragons. You grow out of those things. Or my Lord I hope you do, at least. You don't grow out of playing the guitar. You just get wiser and your lyrics get better.

So, how do you get started?

Well, here's an option on Slickdeals. However, I will tell you that when you purchase a guitar at this price point, you're probably not going to play guitar to the levels I spoke about before. AND MOST CERTAINLY NOT if it is an acoustic guitar. Why? Well, first off is shame. An acoustic guitar is louder, straight away, than an electric. So, you learn in front of a listening audience .. whether they want to be listening or not. That's embarrassing and you'll eventually put it down. In addition, an acoustic guitar .. because it's louder .. makes it HARDER for you to push the strings down with your fingers. And electric guitar can make the strings much closer to the neck because it has a thing called a "pickup" on it that is plugged in to an "amplifier" which then has a "microphone" placed in front of it when you are making millions on that stadium tour in your mind. What's the net result of the strings being hard to push down? Your fingers hurt. Like, a lot. And that's really MOST of the reason people quit guitar. It's too hard on their fingers. Nobody SEEKS out things that hurt them .. OK, there are some very odd individuals that do but it's usually sexual but .. in actual life, you'll not experience the "compulsion" I spoke of earlier when pursuing that compulsion equals pain in the equation of your mind that decides a hobby. Now, uniquely, I happened to live next to a graveyard. And there was this really cool dude who died in like 1937 or something. And his headstone was a BENCH .. which I thought was the coolest thing ever .. so .. I would go and play for Mr. Swanson .. whoever that was .. but the point being .. the complaints when I was learning were at a minimal level when practicing in a graveyard. There was some rolling over but you can just feel it with your feet because it's way underground. Because, make no mistake .. when you START playing guitar .. you're AWFUL. You don't know what you're doing. So, with an acoustic guitar .. you are BROADCASTING at a louder volume that you have absolutely no clue what you are doing .. meanwhile .. making your fingers very sore while doing so. Just a thought you might consider.


YAMAHA PACIFICA.. that's what I tell people on what guitar to start on. Take it to a luthier ("A WHAT?" .. a guitar doctor .. easy to find .. every town has nine, it's state law. They vary in quality.) Tell the luthier you want *THESE* strings put on your guitar. *THOSE* strings will be:


GHS BOOMER ULTRA LIGHT
... or "eights" (don't ask. You'll learn later)

Yes, you are going to bust them. Don't worry about it. Your local music store sells individual strings for like a dollar. If not, they have them on Amazon where you purchase .. I dunno .. 128,977 random replacement strings for $8 .... so don't panic when you bust one tuning it. Bunches of people will come on here and tell you "Don't buy those ..buy this." "You don't want that because.." whatever. They are 48 years old and still play Dungeons & Dragons. Buy Boomer Ultra Lights. Because the PAIN you will experience will be IMMENSELY less than a cheap acoustic guitar .. with neck action so bad it takes a C-Clamp to hold down a note ... strung with some ropes on there from the local yacht club.

Tell the luthier, after handing him the Boomer Eights, you want the action set "under the subway". That's guitar talk for action so doggone low there is gonna be some fret buzz. That's OK .. the buzz is minor, you can still hear the note, and it only happens on the thicker strings. In addition, when you plug it in to your Marshall JCM 800 with 4x12s that sits on top of a slanted 4x12 (stuffed with all Greenbacks, of course) and then run the plug from your guitar through a Revv purple distortion pedal a Lexicon MPX 100 Echo/Reverb and a MXR Phase 90 .. ain't nobody gonna hear no buzz. Mostly because they have no ears .. BECAUSE YOU JUST BLEW THEM OFF THE SIDE OF THEIR HEAD.

So, take Double D's advice ... start with an electric (less shame, less pain), take it to a luthier after buying a set of strings that are roughly 1/8th the width of a human hair and get the neck action set under the subway, practice so long and so hard that your upper back grows in to a slumped over hump .. if you need to free-up the time to practice .. just tell 'em you got COVID and figure out the rest of the solo from "Mr. Crowley" ... then, you know .. buy condoms. By the crate.

Because the chicks .... they just dig it.

If you're gonna make the commitment to play the guitar, that's how ya do it.

And congrats. You've joined a brotherhood. Not one of us exists that won't help you out or have something for you to learn from.

Note: We help each other. Until you get really good and start playing out.

Then the competition starts.

And that's when things get REALLY fun.

DD

..
brettleverett
55 Posts
18 Reputation
Started cheap here (a freebie, then a garage sale pickup). My fingers hated me. A cheap guitar is harder to play, sounds worse, and goes out of tune after 1 session. A nice set of strings will help, but they only go so far.

Unfortunately to learn the guitar you need to put in the time. I could barely tell the difference in quality early on. If you can't play it well, it makes little difference.

10 years later I have 5 guitars hanging on the wall and the cheap acoustics were given away. I didn't even have the heart to sell them at that quality. My fender acoustic I got through here at $350 is a great instrument.

Just don't go buying something you won't appreciate yet. It takes a bit and you can tweak the cheap ones enough to have fun learning on. This is decent starter. Best of luck!

17 Comments

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Aug 3, 2022
249 Posts
Joined Sep 2016
Aug 3, 2022
rtraverse
Aug 3, 2022
249 Posts
Damn. Can it get cheaper? NM. thought it was the same one as the acoustic electric that was 89
3
Aug 3, 2022
314 Posts
Joined Apr 2006
Aug 3, 2022
cmhrva
Aug 3, 2022
314 Posts
Can't go wrong to have an extra guitar around mi casa!
Aug 3, 2022
1,153 Posts
Joined Oct 2012
Aug 3, 2022
jetcityjef
Aug 3, 2022
1,153 Posts
Is this worth going cheap? I see YouTube has videos on how to set up a guitar, but that seems like it's only going to work if it starts out decent.

This or the Mitchell D120 for $70?

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Mitc...hpEALw_wcB
Last edited by jetcityjef August 3, 2022 at 01:09 PM.
Aug 3, 2022
55 Posts
Joined Nov 2014
Aug 3, 2022
brettleverett
Aug 3, 2022
55 Posts
Quote from jetcityjef :
Is this worth going cheap? I see YouTube has videos on how to set up a guitar, but that seems like it's only going to work if it starts out decent.

This or the Mitchell D120 for $70?

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Mitc...hpEALw_wcB
Started cheap here (a freebie, then a garage sale pickup). My fingers hated me. A cheap guitar is harder to play, sounds worse, and goes out of tune after 1 session. A nice set of strings will help, but they only go so far.

Unfortunately to learn the guitar you need to put in the time. I could barely tell the difference in quality early on. If you can't play it well, it makes little difference.

10 years later I have 5 guitars hanging on the wall and the cheap acoustics were given away. I didn't even have the heart to sell them at that quality. My fender acoustic I got through here at $350 is a great instrument.

Just don't go buying something you won't appreciate yet. It takes a bit and you can tweak the cheap ones enough to have fun learning on. This is decent starter. Best of luck!
Last edited by brettleverett August 3, 2022 at 04:01 PM.
Aug 4, 2022
57 Posts
Joined Jan 2019
Aug 4, 2022
euuser19291870
Aug 4, 2022
57 Posts
Quote from rtraverse :
Damn. Can it get cheaper? NM. thought it was the same one as the acoustic electric that was 89
I just got the $89 one.
Aug 5, 2022
137 Posts
Joined Mar 2005
Aug 5, 2022
need
Aug 5, 2022
137 Posts
Quote from Francoy209 :
I just got the $89 one.
I think you'll be quite happy, just from the reviews and the description - so many very playable and astounding values nowadays!
Aug 5, 2022
478 Posts
Joined Jan 2019
Aug 5, 2022
Otis23
Aug 5, 2022
478 Posts
Quote from brettleverett :
Started cheap here (a freebie, then a garage sale pickup). My fingers hated me. A cheap guitar is harder to play, sounds worse, and goes out of tune after 1 session. A nice set of strings will help, but they only go so far.

Unfortunately to learn the guitar you need to put in the time. I could barely tell the difference in quality early on. If you can't play it well, it makes little difference.

10 years later I have 5 guitars hanging on the wall and the cheap acoustics were given away. I didn't even have the heart to sell them at that quality. My fender acoustic I got through here at $350 is a great instrument.

Just don't go buying something you won't appreciate yet. It takes a bit and you can tweak the cheap ones enough to have fun learning on. This is decent starter. Best of luck!
I think this is great advice. Very few truly cheap guitars (or any other stringed instruments) are well-made enough to play like midrange models. Wood and components will have to be cheap, and cheap tuners are simply terrible to deal with. Yes, you can do a setup on any guitar. But there are limits as to playability and sound. I'd recommend either buying something used or spending a bit more (maybe $150 minimum) on a new one. Also, nylon strings are far easier for a beginner's fingers to deal with than steel.

Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.

Aug 5, 2022
1,354 Posts
Joined Mar 2004
Aug 5, 2022
waltsnider
Aug 5, 2022
1,354 Posts
Quote from brettleverett :
Just don't go buying something you won't appreciate yet. It takes a bit and you can tweak the cheap ones enough to have fun learning on. This is decent starter. Best of luck!
I have had some interest for a while to learn to play. I don't need top quality, but I want something that's reasonable to learn on. Can you please recommend something for me that would be something you'd wish you started with?
Aug 5, 2022
4,489 Posts
Joined Dec 2006
Aug 5, 2022
Thelnel52
Aug 5, 2022
4,489 Posts
Quote from brettleverett :
Started cheap here (a freebie, then a garage sale pickup). My fingers hated me. A cheap guitar is harder to play, sounds worse, and goes out of tune after 1 session. A nice set of strings will help, but they only go so far.

Unfortunately to learn the guitar you need to put in the time. I could barely tell the difference in quality early on. If you can't play it well, it makes little difference.

10 years later I have 5 guitars hanging on the wall and the cheap acoustics were given away. I didn't even have the heart to sell them at that quality. My fender acoustic I got through here at $350 is a great instrument.

Just don't go buying something you won't appreciate yet. It takes a bit and you can tweak the cheap ones enough to have fun learning on. This is decent starter. Best of luck!
This is such good advice.
Aug 6, 2022
5,145 Posts
Joined May 2020
Aug 6, 2022
Shake-N-Bake
Aug 6, 2022
5,145 Posts
I don't have this one, but I bought the B30 that was on sale for $89 last week, and it actually sounds really good for such a cheap guitar. It's super loud and bright sounding. So, there's a decent chance this will actually sound a lot better than you might think.

While I'm not some authority on guitars, I have been playing for 25 years and played tons of different guitars, from so many brands. I have several guitars in the $900+ range, but I thought I'd give this brand a shot, just to have a cheap "throw around" guitar that I'm not afraid to let friends borrow, and it honestly holds its own against the expensive ones.

So, while I can't tell you anything about this specific guitar, I do actually have a pretty high opinion of this brand now (take that how you will since I'm just a random stranger and you have no idea if I have crappy taste), as far as super cheap budget brands go. You really can't beat this price.
Last edited by Shake-N-Bake August 6, 2022 at 04:30 AM.
Aug 6, 2022
84 Posts
Joined Sep 2021
Aug 6, 2022
JawBreaker44
Aug 6, 2022
84 Posts

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank JawBreaker44

..

For those thinking of .. possibly maybe .. would like to .. thought maybe they'd try someday .. picking up a guitar and see if it takes .. take a second and read through this.

Money. Straight Up Flat Bank. I first got on a stage playing guitar for money when I was in the 8th grade. 47 years later, I played lead on two internationally released albums and they send me residuals every month in the mail. If I want some new golf clubs or to buy an engagement ring, I can find a local band and play out for a summer. It's tough working conditions to get that money, though. I mean, you can drink on the job, there's gorgeous chicks everywhere, most everybody is cool you work with and .. you know .. people applaud. You could TRY the local convenience store and there certainly is a plus side to that as your condom purchase amounts would add up to a tidy savings versus taking up the guitar.

Joy. The joy when you figure out a song that is important to *YOU*, personally, is satisfaction on an extraordinary level. Then you have the joy of the orgasm, that's always fairly high on Ye Olde Life Meter. Because you figured out your girlfriend's favorite song and, you know, at that point you get The P Pass. (That's a musician's inside joke. Watch the movie "Rock Star" where every member of the cast there lost their guy card for letting out this secret. The first rule about Fight Club is .. ). Then there's the joy of your child being born. If you decide to take up the guitar .. and you happen to WRITE a song about your girlfriend, she's gonna get pregnant. Nah, nah .. they fool you. They tell you that but they didn't take their pill that entire week. Or they go have their contraception device removed. One way or the other, you write a song FOR a girl .. HEY, YOU'RE A DADDY. Congrats.

Lifelong. This never goes away .. this .. COMPULSION .. to pick up a guitar. Because, oddly, the more you play, the better you get. The better you get, the more you play. Then, you get asked to play by friends, family members .. and hopefully .. a paying audience. For me, it's been just a few years shy of HALF .... A .... CENTURY .. that I cannot sit in a room with a guitar anywhere I can see it .. cannot sit there and have a conversation for more than 30 seconds before I have to get up, go get it and play it. It's a psycho, banzai-nut-job complex ... this "thing" that happens to you .. because that thing has given you so very much in your life. It just granted it to you. Gifted it to you. Because you played it. So, this isn't like taking up basketball or Dungeons & Dragons. You grow out of those things. Or my Lord I hope you do, at least. You don't grow out of playing the guitar. You just get wiser and your lyrics get better.

So, how do you get started?

Well, here's an option on Slickdeals. However, I will tell you that when you purchase a guitar at this price point, you're probably not going to play guitar to the levels I spoke about before. AND MOST CERTAINLY NOT if it is an acoustic guitar. Why? Well, first off is shame. An acoustic guitar is louder, straight away, than an electric. So, you learn in front of a listening audience .. whether they want to be listening or not. That's embarrassing and you'll eventually put it down. In addition, an acoustic guitar .. because it's louder .. makes it HARDER for you to push the strings down with your fingers. And electric guitar can make the strings much closer to the neck because it has a thing called a "pickup" on it that is plugged in to an "amplifier" which then has a "microphone" placed in front of it when you are making millions on that stadium tour in your mind. What's the net result of the strings being hard to push down? Your fingers hurt. Like, a lot. And that's really MOST of the reason people quit guitar. It's too hard on their fingers. Nobody SEEKS out things that hurt them .. OK, there are some very odd individuals that do but it's usually sexual but .. in actual life, you'll not experience the "compulsion" I spoke of earlier when pursuing that compulsion equals pain in the equation of your mind that decides a hobby. Now, uniquely, I happened to live next to a graveyard. And there was this really cool dude who died in like 1937 or something. And his headstone was a BENCH .. which I thought was the coolest thing ever .. so .. I would go and play for Mr. Swanson .. whoever that was .. but the point being .. the complaints when I was learning were at a minimal level when practicing in a graveyard. There was some rolling over but you can just feel it with your feet because it's way underground. Because, make no mistake .. when you START playing guitar .. you're AWFUL. You don't know what you're doing. So, with an acoustic guitar .. you are BROADCASTING at a louder volume that you have absolutely no clue what you are doing .. meanwhile .. making your fingers very sore while doing so. Just a thought you might consider.

YAMAHA PACIFICA.. that's what I tell people on what guitar to start on. Take it to a luthier ("A WHAT?" .. a guitar doctor .. easy to find .. every town has nine, it's state law. They vary in quality.) Tell the luthier you want *THESE* strings put on your guitar. *THOSE* strings will be:

  • GHS BOOMER ULTRA LIGHT
... or "eights" (don't ask. You'll learn later)

Yes, you are going to bust them. Don't worry about it. Your local music store sells individual strings for like a dollar. If not, they have them on Amazon where you purchase .. I dunno .. 128,977 random replacement strings for $8 .... so don't panic when you bust one tuning it. Bunches of people will come on here and tell you "Don't buy those ..buy this." "You don't want that because.." whatever. They are 48 years old and still play Dungeons & Dragons. Buy Boomer Ultra Lights. Because the PAIN you will experience will be IMMENSELY less than a cheap acoustic guitar .. with neck action so bad it takes a C-Clamp to hold down a note ... strung with some ropes on there from the local yacht club.

Tell the luthier, after handing him the Boomer Eights, you want the action set "under the subway". That's guitar talk for action so doggone low there is gonna be some fret buzz. That's OK .. the buzz is minor, you can still hear the note, and it only happens on the thicker strings. In addition, when you plug it in to your Marshall JCM 800 with 4x12s that sits on top of a slanted 4x12 (stuffed with all Greenbacks, of course) and then run the plug from your guitar through a Revv purple distortion pedal a Lexicon MPX 100 Echo/Reverb and a MXR Phase 90 .. ain't nobody gonna hear no buzz. Mostly because they have no ears .. BECAUSE YOU JUST BLEW THEM OFF THE SIDE OF THEIR HEAD.

So, take Double D's advice ... start with an electric (less shame, less pain), take it to a luthier after buying a set of strings that are roughly 1/8th the width of a human hair and get the neck action set under the subway, practice so long and so hard that your upper back grows in to a slumped over hump .. if you need to free-up the time to practice .. just tell 'em you got COVID and figure out the rest of the solo from "Mr. Crowley" ... then, you know .. buy condoms. By the crate.

Because the chicks .... they just dig it.

If you're gonna make the commitment to play the guitar, that's how ya do it.

And congrats. You've joined a brotherhood. Not one of us exists that won't help you out or have something for you to learn from.

Note: We help each other. Until you get really good and start playing out.

Then the competition starts.

And that's when things get REALLY fun.

DD

..
Last edited by JawBreaker44 August 6, 2022 at 06:28 AM.
1
1
Aug 6, 2022
752 Posts
Joined Jan 2008
Aug 6, 2022
shifter25
Aug 6, 2022
752 Posts
Quote from JawBreaker44 :
..

For those thinking of .. possibly maybe .. would like to .. thought maybe they'd try someday .. picking up a guitar and see if it takes .. take a second and read through this.

Money. Straight Up Flat Bank. I first got on a stage playing guitar for money when I was in the 8th grade. 47 years later, I played lead on two internationally released albums and they send me residuals every month in the mail. If I want some new golf clubs or to buy an engagement ring, I can find a local band and play out for a summer. It's tough working conditions to get that money, though. I mean, you can drink on the job, there's gorgeous chicks everywhere, most everybody is cool you work with and .. you know .. people applaud. You could TRY the local convenience store and there certainly is a plus side to that as your condom purchase amounts would add up to a tidy savings versus taking up the guitar.

Joy. The joy when you figure out a song that is important to *YOU*, personally, is satisfaction on an extraordinary level. Then you have the joy of the orgasm, that's always fairly high on Ye Olde Life Meter. Because you figured out your girlfriend's favorite song and, you know, at that point you get The P Pass. (That's a musician's inside joke. Watch the movie "Rock Star" where every member of the cast there lost their guy card for letting out this secret. The first rule about Fight Club is .. ). Then there's the joy of your child being born. If you decide to take up the guitar .. and you happen to WRITE a song about your girlfriend, she's gonna get pregnant. Nah, nah .. they fool you. They tell you that but they didn't take their pill that entire week. Or they go have their contraception device removed. One way or the other, you write a song FOR a girl .. HEY, YOU'RE A DADDY. Congrats.

Lifelong. This never goes away .. this .. COMPULSION .. to pick up a guitar. Because, oddly, the more you play, the better you get. The better you get, the more you play. Then, you get asked to play by friends, family members .. and hopefully .. a paying audience. For me, it's been just a few years shy of HALF .... A .... CENTURY .. that I cannot sit in a room with a guitar anywhere I can see it .. cannot sit there and have a conversation for more than 30 seconds before I have to get up, go get it and play it. It's a psycho, banzai-nut-job complex ... this "thing" that happens to you .. because that thing has given you so very much in your life. It just granted it to you. Gifted it to you. Because you played it. So, this isn't like taking up basketball or Dungeons & Dragons. You grow out of those things. Or my Lord I hope you do, at least. You don't grow out of playing the guitar. You just get wiser and your lyrics get better.

So, how do you get started?

Well, here's an option on Slickdeals. However, I will tell you that when you purchase a guitar at this price point, you're probably not going to play guitar to the levels I spoke about before. AND MOST CERTAINLY NOT if it is an acoustic guitar. Why? Well, first off is shame. An acoustic guitar is louder, straight away, than an electric. So, you learn in front of a listening audience .. whether they want to be listening or not. That's embarrassing and you'll eventually put it down. In addition, an acoustic guitar .. because it's louder .. makes it HARDER for you to push the strings down with your fingers. And electric guitar can make the strings much closer to the neck because it has a thing called a "pickup" on it that is plugged in to an "amplifier" which then has a "microphone" placed in front of it when you are making millions on that stadium tour in your mind. What's the net result of the strings being hard to push down? Your fingers hurt. Like, a lot. And that's really MOST of the reason people quit guitar. It's too hard on their fingers. Nobody SEEKS out things that hurt them .. OK, there are some very odd individuals that do but it's usually sexual but .. in actual life, you'll not experience the "compulsion" I spoke of earlier when pursuing that compulsion equals pain in the equation of your mind that decides a hobby. Now, uniquely, I happened to live next to a graveyard. And there was this really cool dude who died in like 1937 or something. And his headstone was a BENCH .. which I thought was the coolest thing ever .. so .. I would go and play for Mr. Swanson .. whoever that was .. but the point being .. the complaints when I was learning were at a minimal level when practicing in a graveyard. There was some rolling over but you can just feel it with your feet because it's way underground. Because, make no mistake .. when you START playing guitar .. you're AWFUL. You don't know what you're doing. So, with an acoustic guitar .. you are BROADCASTING at a louder volume that you have absolutely no clue what you are doing .. meanwhile .. making your fingers very sore while doing so. Just a thought you might consider.

YAMAHA PACIFICA.. that's what I tell people on what guitar to start on. Take it to a luthier ("A WHAT?" .. a guitar doctor .. easy to find .. every town has nine, it's state law. They vary in quality.) Tell the luthier you want *THESE* strings put on your guitar. *THOSE* strings will be:

  • GHS BOOMER ULTRA LIGHT
... or "eights" (don't ask. You'll learn later)

Yes, you are going to bust them. Don't worry about it. Your local music store sells individual strings for like a dollar. If not, they have them on Amazon where you purchase .. I dunno .. 128,977 random replacement strings for $8 .... so don't panic when you bust one tuning it. Bunches of people will come on here and tell you "Don't buy those ..buy this." "You don't want that because.." whatever. They are 48 years old and still play Dungeons & Dragons. Buy Boomer Ultra Lights. Because the PAIN you will experience will be IMMENSELY less than a cheap acoustic guitar .. with neck action so bad it takes a C-Clamp to hold down a note ... strung with some ropes on there from the local yacht club.

Tell the luthier, after handing him the Boomer Eights, you want the action set "under the subway". That's guitar talk for action so doggone low there is gonna be some fret buzz. That's OK .. the buzz is minor, you can still hear the note, and it only happens on the thicker strings. In addition, when you plug it in to your Marshall JCM 800 with 4x12s that sits on top of a slanted 4x12 (stuffed with all Greenbacks, of course) and then run the plug from your guitar through a Revv purple distortion pedal a Lexicon MPX 100 Echo/Reverb and a MXR Phase 90 .. ain't nobody gonna hear no buzz. Mostly because they have no ears .. BECAUSE YOU JUST BLEW THEM OFF THE SIDE OF THEIR HEAD.

So, take Double D's advice ... start with an electric (less shame, less pain), take it to a luthier after buying a set of strings that are roughly 1/8th the width of a human hair and get the neck action set under the subway, practice so long and so hard that your upper back grows in to a slumped over hump .. if you need to free-up the time to practice .. just tell 'em you got COVID and figure out the rest of the solo from "Mr. Crowley" ... then, you know .. buy condoms. By the crate.

Because the chicks .... they just dig it.

If you're gonna make the commitment to play the guitar, that's how ya do it.

And congrats. You've joined a brotherhood. Not one of us exists that won't help you out or have something for you to learn from.

Note: We help each other. Until you get really good and start playing out.

Then the competition starts.

And that's when things get REALLY fun.

DD

..
You, sir, are a legend.

Got any links to your guitar skills?
Aug 6, 2022
7,908 Posts
Joined Jun 2007
Aug 6, 2022
Dyscalculic
Aug 6, 2022
7,908 Posts
Quote from JawBreaker44 :
..

For those thinking of .. possibly maybe .. would like to .. thought maybe they'd try someday .. picking up a guitar and see if it takes .. take a second and read through this.

Money. Straight Up Flat Bank. I first got on a stage playing guitar for money when I was in the 8th grade. 47 years later, I played lead on two internationally released albums and they send me residuals every month in the mail. If I want some new golf clubs or to buy an engagement ring, I can find a local band and play out for a summer. It's tough working conditions to get that money, though. I mean, you can drink on the job, there's gorgeous chicks everywhere, most everybody is cool you work with and .. you know .. people applaud. You could TRY the local convenience store and there certainly is a plus side to that as your condom purchase amounts would add up to a tidy savings versus taking up the guitar.

Joy. The joy when you figure out a song that is important to *YOU*, personally, is satisfaction on an extraordinary level. Then you have the joy of the orgasm, that's always fairly high on Ye Olde Life Meter. Because you figured out your girlfriend's favorite song and, you know, at that point you get The P Pass. (That's a musician's inside joke. Watch the movie "Rock Star" where every member of the cast there lost their guy card for letting out this secret. The first rule about Fight Club is .. ). Then there's the joy of your child being born. If you decide to take up the guitar .. and you happen to WRITE a song about your girlfriend, she's gonna get pregnant. Nah, nah .. they fool you. They tell you that but they didn't take their pill that entire week. Or they go have their contraception device removed. One way or the other, you write a song FOR a girl .. HEY, YOU'RE A DADDY. Congrats.

Lifelong. This never goes away .. this .. COMPULSION .. to pick up a guitar. Because, oddly, the more you play, the better you get. The better you get, the more you play. Then, you get asked to play by friends, family members .. and hopefully .. a paying audience. For me, it's been just a few years shy of HALF .... A .... CENTURY .. that I cannot sit in a room with a guitar anywhere I can see it .. cannot sit there and have a conversation for more than 30 seconds before I have to get up, go get it and play it. It's a psycho, banzai-nut-job complex ... this "thing" that happens to you .. because that thing has given you so very much in your life. It just granted it to you. Gifted it to you. Because you played it. So, this isn't like taking up basketball or Dungeons & Dragons. You grow out of those things. Or my Lord I hope you do, at least. You don't grow out of playing the guitar. You just get wiser and your lyrics get better.

So, how do you get started?

Well, here's an option on Slickdeals. However, I will tell you that when you purchase a guitar at this price point, you're probably not going to play guitar to the levels I spoke about before. AND MOST CERTAINLY NOT if it is an acoustic guitar. Why? Well, first off is shame. An acoustic guitar is louder, straight away, than an electric. So, you learn in front of a listening audience .. whether they want to be listening or not. That's embarrassing and you'll eventually put it down. In addition, an acoustic guitar .. because it's louder .. makes it HARDER for you to push the strings down with your fingers. And electric guitar can make the strings much closer to the neck because it has a thing called a "pickup" on it that is plugged in to an "amplifier" which then has a "microphone" placed in front of it when you are making millions on that stadium tour in your mind. What's the net result of the strings being hard to push down? Your fingers hurt. Like, a lot. And that's really MOST of the reason people quit guitar. It's too hard on their fingers. Nobody SEEKS out things that hurt them .. OK, there are some very odd individuals that do but it's usually sexual but .. in actual life, you'll not experience the "compulsion" I spoke of earlier when pursuing that compulsion equals pain in the equation of your mind that decides a hobby. Now, uniquely, I happened to live next to a graveyard. And there was this really cool dude who died in like 1937 or something. And his headstone was a BENCH .. which I thought was the coolest thing ever .. so .. I would go and play for Mr. Swanson .. whoever that was .. but the point being .. the complaints when I was learning were at a minimal level when practicing in a graveyard. There was some rolling over but you can just feel it with your feet because it's way underground. Because, make no mistake .. when you START playing guitar .. you're AWFUL. You don't know what you're doing. So, with an acoustic guitar .. you are BROADCASTING at a louder volume that you have absolutely no clue what you are doing .. meanwhile .. making your fingers very sore while doing so. Just a thought you might consider.

YAMAHA PACIFICA.. that's what I tell people on what guitar to start on. Take it to a luthier ("A WHAT?" .. a guitar doctor .. easy to find .. every town has nine, it's state law. They vary in quality.) Tell the luthier you want *THESE* strings put on your guitar. *THOSE* strings will be:

  • GHS BOOMER ULTRA LIGHT
... or "eights" (don't ask. You'll learn later)

Yes, you are going to bust them. Don't worry about it. Your local music store sells individual strings for like a dollar. If not, they have them on Amazon where you purchase .. I dunno .. 128,977 random replacement strings for $8 .... so don't panic when you bust one tuning it. Bunches of people will come on here and tell you "Don't buy those ..buy this." "You don't want that because.." whatever. They are 48 years old and still play Dungeons & Dragons. Buy Boomer Ultra Lights. Because the PAIN you will experience will be IMMENSELY less than a cheap acoustic guitar .. with neck action so bad it takes a C-Clamp to hold down a note ... strung with some ropes on there from the local yacht club.

Tell the luthier, after handing him the Boomer Eights, you want the action set "under the subway". That's guitar talk for action so doggone low there is gonna be some fret buzz. That's OK .. the buzz is minor, you can still hear the note, and it only happens on the thicker strings. In addition, when you plug it in to your Marshall JCM 800 with 4x12s that sits on top of a slanted 4x12 (stuffed with all Greenbacks, of course) and then run the plug from your guitar through a Revv purple distortion pedal a Lexicon MPX 100 Echo/Reverb and a MXR Phase 90 .. ain't nobody gonna hear no buzz. Mostly because they have no ears .. BECAUSE YOU JUST BLEW THEM OFF THE SIDE OF THEIR HEAD.

So, take Double D's advice ... start with an electric (less shame, less pain), take it to a luthier after buying a set of strings that are roughly 1/8th the width of a human hair and get the neck action set under the subway, practice so long and so hard that your upper back grows in to a slumped over hump .. if you need to free-up the time to practice .. just tell 'em you got COVID and figure out the rest of the solo from "Mr. Crowley" ... then, you know .. buy condoms. By the crate.

Because the chicks .... they just dig it.

If you're gonna make the commitment to play the guitar, that's how ya do it.

And congrats. You've joined a brotherhood. Not one of us exists that won't help you out or have something for you to learn from.

Note: We help each other. Until you get really good and start playing out.

Then the competition starts.

And that's when things get REALLY fun.

DD

..
You wrote that thesis for Slickdeals?

Bravo. This should be auto-stickied in every guitar thread.
Aug 6, 2022
476 Posts
Joined Jul 2004
Aug 6, 2022
jedec
Aug 6, 2022
476 Posts
Quote from jetcityjef :
Is this worth going cheap?
This or the Mitchell D120 for $70?
This $75 and your $70 Mitchell, is arguably better deal than this:

https://slickdeals.net/f/15934564-boroughs-b30acesb-auditorium-acoustic-electric-guitar-89-free-s-h

because it doesn't waste money on electronics. Cheap electronics are useless to anyone, and beginners just don't need electronics.

BTW, that thread has a poster offering free 1:1 lessons. I'd take that offer up because the initial lesson is very important in preventing injuries.
1

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Aug 6, 2022
86 Posts
Joined May 2014
Aug 6, 2022
KrackZero
Aug 6, 2022
86 Posts
u can usually relatively easily modify most super cheap instruments to play about mid level, which is what I normally do for my first instruments.
it helps if you are skilled with ur hands and brain... which is what I expect from someone playing instruments.....
a little sanding here, glue there, with good strings can easily double the value in terms of playing quality.

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