I picked these up for my son...

[gasman]

...for Christmas:



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The Strat is an older Squier and the acoustic is a no-name that was thrown in with the deal.

They are both pretty sweet guitars considering they were a bargain! The Strat needed a trem. adjustment (it was too high off of the body). I adjusted it and put on some new strings, and that was it. It plays great and sounds great too! The acoustic had some fret buzz on the 'A' string at the second fret, but some tiny pieces of cardboard between the string and the bridge did the trick. It also plays and sounds great for a no-name! I think it's a pretty good start for a six year old (he loves using the whammy bar to make the strings sound different!). ;D

[pwfirst]

HO HO HO Mery Chriatmas. I see years of fun for both of you. No better starter than the Squire Strat. Sorry all you Teliholics.

[lesblues]

Your son is a lucky boy, Gman. I wish someone had started me out at that age!

[469roadking]

Good Santa Claus job Gman!!!!

[469roadking]

Dec 27, 2010 7:57:28 GMT -5 pwfirst said:

HO HO HO Mery Chriatmas. I see years of fun for both of you. No better starter than the Squire Strat. Sorry all you Teliholics.

LOL!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Now Phil....how could you with good conscience call this group Teleholic's!! ;D ;D ;D

[gasman]

Thanks guys! I hope he takes to the guitars. Last year I got him a ukulele, but he hasn't used it much.

[Mojo]

Sweet !

[gasman]

Thanks, Mojo!

[rayden44]

Hrm, a uke I don't think you'd 'get' when you're younger tho. It is nice and small, but doesn't really have any wow factor for a kid. I found acoustic guitar pretty dull when I started. These days I muck around with other sounds (love my resonator if you hadn't guessed from almost all my clips!) and would be keen to try anything - I'll probably buy a damn banjo or mandolin at some point. So yeah I think this is a win!

Remember for a kid it has to stay fun or they get bored or give up - heck I get bored if it doesn't stay fun! As much as I love Teles, yes kudos must be given to flexibility of the Strat tone!

[gasman]

Thanks for the input Rayden. I got my first acoustic when I was about six, and then my dad gave me his banjo when I was about eight. Having different instruments that produce different sounds is indeed fun. BTW, I still have both the acoustic and the banjo. The acoustic can really only be played on the first five frets right now, but I still have it here on a guitar stand for easy access, and my son picks it up sometimes. The banjo is stored away and I take it out once in a while and play the few tunes I know on it. It's more of a sentimental piece for me.

[rayden44]

Maybe it depends on the kid but there wasn't anybody in my family with any interest in blues music - I just discovered it on my own, far too much later than I'd like, and went "yeah this is me". Was then I started really concentrating on music.

Thing was I started on piano but got bored of playing all the "teaching" tunes all the time. If I'd been more of a 'speak up' kinda kid (I'm not really different now!) I probably would have said 'can I learn something I know?'.

I like Mojo's approach of trying to look at different music over a decade at a time tho. Good idea

[gasman]

I got into Blues as an adult by listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan. I grew up listening to Country music and to the New Mexico version of Mexican 'Corridos' and 'Rancheras', not even Rock (some fifties rock n roll, though). Stevie's music really got into me, and from there, I got into Blues in general.

I have to agree, Mojo is the best! I find myself using more of his stuff than anybody else's, then I just improvise from there.

[lessonsthatrock]

That's awesome. You really don't need anything fantastic to learn how to play an E major chord or Smoke On The Water. Good start!

[gasman]

Thanks, Micah!