K-On! - Musical Instruments Discussion

[rockmanxpr]

Originally Posted by Justin Kim

OMG, You are so lucky you own one. They are so hard to find, and I cannot find anyone who will sell me one at the most. I looked for at least 34 hours of my life just finding that Triton Extreme keyboard. T_T, so lucky you.

Actually it's not mine, it belongs to a friend and for a few months he was away he let me borrow it, unfortunetly I only used it as a MIDI controller because it was pretty complicated for me to operate, like the first setting is Piano and the 2nd is Film Score! albeit it was fun...

[kyosak]

I've always been interested in learning guitar and I might finally get the chance this summer... Can you guys please suggest some good beginner electric guitars for a complete noob such as myself? I'm just completely in the dark about anything to do with instruments in general and I don't even know where to start, lol.

I've been reading that those beginner kits that include amp are to be avoided? If I had to set a budget for guitar + amp + anything else, it would be somewhere around $300...

Also, are lessons worthwhile? I keep hearing people talking about how they learned to play on their own... Thanks in advance!

[Justin Kim]

Originally Posted by rockmanxpr

Actually it's not mine, it belongs to a friend and for a few months he was away he let me borrow it, unfortunetly I only used it as a MIDI controller because it was pretty complicated for me to operate, like the first setting is Piano and the 2nd is Film Score! albeit it was fun...

T_T, I bought the M-50 keyboard 4 months back and had enough for the extreme since I grew tiresome of the M-50. So lucky, and yes I did heard that operating functions were confusing on the extreme, but other than that, I found all the specifications for the extreme to be undescribable in comparison to the M-50.

[Hari Michiru]

Originally Posted by kyosak

I've always been interested in learning guitar and I might finally get the chance this summer... Can you guys please suggest some good beginner electric guitars for a complete noob such as myself? I'm just completely in the dark about anything to do with instruments in general and I don't even know where to start, lol.

I've been reading that those beginner kits that include amp are to be avoided? If I had to set a budget for guitar + amp + anything else, it would be somewhere around $300...

Also, are lessons worthwhile? I keep hearing people talking about how they learned to play on their own... Thanks in advance!

You could just get an acoustic, then you don't need to waste money on the amps. Plus, acoustic sounds better (IMO). If you aren't taking classical guitar (which I'm assuming you're not), you can probably teach yourself to play. Just don't learn the basics wrong, and you're fine.

[EDIT] Does anyone have a recommendation for a good synthesizer? I've been meaning to get one..and attempting to save money. The acoustic piano just doesn't do other kinds of sounds (lol).

[SleeplessHeart]

Originally Posted by kyosak

I've always been interested in learning guitar and I might finally get the chance this summer... Can you guys please suggest some good beginner electric guitars for a complete noob such as myself? I'm just completely in the dark about anything to do with instruments in general and I don't even know where to start, lol.

I've been reading that those beginner kits that include amp are to be avoided? If I had to set a budget for guitar + amp + anything else, it would be somewhere around $300...

Also, are lessons worthwhile? I keep hearing people talking about how they learned to play on their own... Thanks in advance!

I am a classical guitar player. Here is my recommendation for you:
Number one: make sure that you really like guitar. You like its sound and you like to play it. If you don't, you will lose your motivation and along with that, your time and investment on the equipments.

Number two: Decide whether you like acoustic guitar or electric guitar. There is no point spending a lot of money on acoustic guitar and turns out that you don't like it because it doesn't produce the sound that you know.

Number three: Playing guitar not hard nor easy, but surely it is hard if this is your very first string-type musical instrument. You need to know how to hold your guitar, left hand fingering, right hand pickings, etc. If you have friends who know how to play guitars, you may be able to learn guitar from them. If you don't have a guitar community arounds you, self-learning from DVD is hard. You need to consider to take lesson for your first year learning.

Number four: Equipment is surprisingly an easy matter. You need to consider your budget. Do visit your musical store to try the equipment yourself (may be an impossible task, since you can't play guitar yet. Perhaps bring along an expert with you). For electrical guitar, people sometimes avoid buying a beginner set, because the guitar or amp are usually lower in quality. I think many people here recommend www.rondomusic.com for the SX guitar. It is not a bad guitar at all and you can purchase a 15 or 20 Watt amplifier separately for less than 50$. So your 300$ budget is more than enough. Oh don't forget the guitar tuner. I recommend Korg AW-1 or AW-2 without any hesitations.

[jawang]

Originally Posted by kyosak

I've always been interested in learning guitar and I might finally get the chance this summer... Can you guys please suggest some good beginner electric guitars for a complete noob such as myself? I'm just completely in the dark about anything to do with instruments in general and I don't even know where to start, lol.

I've been reading that those beginner kits that include amp are to be avoided? If I had to set a budget for guitar + amp + anything else, it would be somewhere around $300...

Also, are lessons worthwhile? I keep hearing people talking about how they learned to play on their own... Thanks in advance!

I would highly recommend that you extend your budget up to 350 dollars if you are considering electric guitar

you can get a used Fender MIM Stratocaster and Roland Cube 15x, or 20x used, for that price range. both the guitar and amp are known for being able to produce a wide range of sounds. with both of them together, you can play basically any kind of music, from jazz to classical to acoustic (simulated) to death metal.

Also, AFAIK, this is exactly the guitar that Azusa uses (she might have the more expensive MIA version, which sounds extremely similar) and the amplifier is capable of producing EXACTLY the same sound as the guitars in K-On!. These are extremely nice pieces of equipment that are widely known for quality/value, and personally I believe its the best you will get for under 1000 dollars. no joke, this is a setup that a professional musician wouldn't mind using.



for acoustic, 300 dollars will get you a great acoustic. make sure you get one WITHOUT electronics on it, because acoustic-electric guitars under 300 dollars are terrible, but pure acoustics can be great in that range. I recommend the Takamine G series (low action, light, thin neck, bass-heavy sound, great for strumming chords) or any 200-300 dollar yamaha (for brighter sound, better for fingerpicking songs)



as for acoustic vs electric. the biggest concern is how serious you are about music.

electric guitar takes a LOT of time to learn, because you need to learn triads all over the guitar neck, as well as scales and advanced left/right hand technique. Honestly, you won't sound good until at least 2-3 years of playing

acoustic guitar, can be just as difficult, but it CAN be really easy if you want it to be. You can just learn open chords (takes like 1-2 months of playing) and youll be able to play any song, if you buy a capo. if you dedicate yourself for a few months, you can sound VERY good by simply strumming chords

[SleeplessHeart]

I am surprised that until now, no otakus have pointed the inaccuracy in the episode 10 of K-ON.


No, Kyoani. The correct brand is KORG and I am using it.

Spoiler:

KORG AW-1 Micro Tuner
Scale: 12-note equal Temprament
Range: A0 (27.5Hz) - C8 (4186 Hz)
Reference Pitch: 410 - 480 Hz
Accuracy: +- 1%
Weight: 10 gram
Recommended instruments: Trumpet, Trombone, Horn, Euphonium, Tube, Clarinet, Saxophone, Oboe, Basson, Flute, Violin, Viola, Cello, Contrabass, Guitar, Mandolin, Shamisen

My Review:
Advantages: Piezo-based tuner, compact and very accurate
Disadvantages: No backlight LCD, Non standard battery (CR1220)

The disadvantages are corrected in the new released KORG AW-2

[Jimmy C]

They might fix it in the widescreen like they did the Gibson gaff in ep2.

[Sides]

Originally Posted by kyosak

I've always been interested in learning guitar and I might finally get the chance this summer... Can you guys please suggest some good beginner electric guitars for a complete noob such as myself? I'm just completely in the dark about anything to do with instruments in general and I don't even know where to start, lol.

I've been reading that those beginner kits that include amp are to be avoided? If I had to set a budget for guitar + amp + anything else, it would be somewhere around $300...

Also, are lessons worthwhile? I keep hearing people talking about how they learned to play on their own... Thanks in advance!

You get what you pay for. With $300 i don't think you can get a decent rig, unless a friend needs to clear out some of his equipment and is willing to part with it at a big loss, or something is serious wrong with the guitar or amp. For $300 you might get a decent guitar, but it won't cover the cost for futher gear taht you'll need for an electric guitar setup. You might just get a used MIM fender, which i really doubt. But you could get decent new squier, look fot the classic vibe series, or an epiphone guitar with that budget. If you can find it used even better. And consider to get a metronome as well.

[kyosak]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I do like the sound of electric more than acoustic so that's the direction I was planning on heading. I understand that my budget is way too low to get any respectable set but I've yet to even lay a hand on a guitar so I'm not willing to invest in such an expensive set just yet.

I was looking at the Squier Affinity series Strat. guitars because of the low price/mix of good reviews. How is that? I understand that there's the option for used guitars but I don't know the standards for rating a certain guitar good or bad (lol Yui). This would bring me to spending around $200 on the guitar and $100 on the amp. I wonder if I got my priorities correct, lol.

I do happen to have a couple of close people with guitar backgrounds. Would it mean lessons will be unnecessary? Thanks!

[Willow]

I'm extremely confused as to how many keys Mugi's keyboard has. According to Wikipedia, Mugi has a Korg Triton Extreme 76-key keyboard. Yet, in other sites, (and a user in this thread) have said that she's using an 88-key keyboard. And true, indeed, the clips of Mugi's keyboard (on K-On) seem to be small for an 88-key keyboard.

[jawang]

Originally Posted by kyosak

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I do like the sound of electric more than acoustic so that's the direction I was planning on heading. I understand that my budget is way too low to get any respectable set but I've yet to even lay a hand on a guitar so I'm not willing to invest in such an expensive set just yet.

I was looking at the Squier Affinity series Strat. guitars because of the low price/mix of good reviews. How is that? I understand that there's the option for used guitars but I don't know the standards for rating a certain guitar good or bad (lol Yui). This would bring me to spending around $200 on the guitar and $100 on the amp. I wonder if I got my priorities correct, lol.

I do happen to have a couple of close people with guitar backgrounds. Would it mean lessons will be unnecessary? Thanks!

I had a squier when I first started out. If you are going to go that route, there is a starter pack that comes with the squire affinity strat, a fender frontman 15w amp, and a bag/tuner/picks/instructionalDVD/etc. the fender frontman amp is very reasonable for K-On! music and can produce good distortion on its dirty channel. It's also able to play very loud.

afaik, its the ONLY starter pack that is remotely decent in quality, and its like 200-300 bucks brand new, so consider it.


I highly, highly recommend the used guitar route. Instruments are things that generally play BETTER as they get older, and musicians aren't exactly known for trashing their guitars. I bought my squire brand new but I've gone for used equipment ever since then. Just bring a knowledgable friend, and check that the guitar is in good shape. Also use your judgement, does the seller seem like a legit and reasonable person who would take care of a guitar?

The main reason I suggest you go used, is because if you are lucky, a MIM Stratocaster can be purchased for as little as 250 dollars used (look for good deals on craigslist/etc.). A used 50 dollar amp with at least 10-15 watts of power (and no more than 30-50) will more than suffice for your practice needs. However, used amps are not as reliable as used guitars, so IMO, you should go and buy a brand new roland microcube or fender frontman, which are not expensive anyway. You just need to extend you budget to 350-400 dollars (if you find good deals, 350 dollars is possible)

To repeat myself, the MIM strat is a very nice guitar (way better than the squires, which are only okay). The MIM strat is a guitar that can possibly satisfy you for the rest of your life, even if you do gigs and performances.

[Justin Kim]

Originally Posted by Willow

I'm extremely confused as to how many keys Mugi's keyboard has. According to Wikipedia, Mugi has a Korg Triton Extreme 76-key keyboard. Yet, in other sites, (and a user in this thread) have said that she's using an 88-key keyboard. And true, indeed, the clips of Mugi's keyboard (on K-On) seem to be small for an 88-key keyboard.

I said that the keyboard was actually not the 88-version, and the user who posted all the instruments detailed possibly mistakened the 66/76 key version for the 880key one. In the opening when Mugi is using the Korg Triton Extreme, the keys do not look they have graduated hammers at all, only semi-graduated hammers. 66 keys/76 keys version have semi-graduated hammers and seem alot smaller than the 88-key version. A previous user posted up a picture of his friend's 88-key version a couple of pages back, and it does indeed take up the whole entire table. The 88-key version seems to be bigger than the one Mugi uses. (Still this 88-key version is extremely hard to find, and your lucky if someone is able to sell you one, since these things pack a punch when it comes to multimedia keyboarding).

[Willow]

Ah I see, thanks for clearing this up. And yes, indeed its hard to find the 88-key Korg Triton Extreme. I've been looking for one for over 2 weeks now and still to no avail.

[Justin Kim]

Originally Posted by Willow

Ah I see, thanks for clearing this up. And yes, indeed its hard to find the 88-key Korg Triton Extreme. I've been looking for one for over 2 weeks now and still to no avail.

I spent more than 56 hours looking for this, and even searched up on Craigslist, went to various stores such as: Sam Ash, Guitar Center, and Keyboard Essentials and found nothing. The reason why it is so hard to find? Korg discontinued the triton extreme series, like they did with the Oasys.

[Willow]

Yeah, its a pity. I've searched Craigslist as well (I'd be willing to drive cross country to buy one of these). But since almost every keyboardist wants one of these, I doubt anyone would sell it to me =.=

[Beatus]

Originally Posted by kyosak

I've always been interested in learning guitar and I might finally get the chance this summer... Can you guys please suggest some good beginner electric guitars for a complete noob such as myself? I'm just completely in the dark about anything to do with instruments in general and I don't even know where to start, lol.

I've been reading that those beginner kits that include amp are to be avoided? If I had to set a budget for guitar + amp + anything else, it would be somewhere around $300...

Also, are lessons worthwhile? I keep hearing people talking about how they learned to play on their own... Thanks in advance!

For me, I started with a strat copy and now, I play SG special.
I would go with an Ibanez or SG/Les Paul copy. Strat copies tend to sound "whiny" and hum a lot when you put it through any heavy distortion because of their cheap single coil pickups (cheap humbuckers handle better IMO) and lightweight wood.

[Fome]

Originally Posted by jawang

I had a squier when I first started out. If you are going to go that route, there is a starter pack that comes with the squire affinity strat, a fender frontman 15w amp, and a bag/tuner/picks/instructionalDVD/etc. the fender frontman amp is very reasonable for K-On! music and can produce good distortion on its dirty channel. It's also able to play very loud.

afaik, its the ONLY starter pack that is remotely decent in quality, and its like 200-300 bucks brand new, so consider it.


I highly, highly recommend the used guitar route. Instruments are things that generally play BETTER as they get older, and musicians aren't exactly known for trashing their guitars. I bought my squire brand new but I've gone for used equipment ever since then. Just bring a knowledgable friend, and check that the guitar is in good shape. Also use your judgement, does the seller seem like a legit and reasonable person who would take care of a guitar?

The main reason I suggest you go used, is because if you are lucky, a MIM Stratocaster can be purchased for as little as 250 dollars used (look for good deals on craigslist/etc.). A used 50 dollar amp with at least 10-15 watts of power (and no more than 30-50) will more than suffice for your practice needs. However, used amps are not as reliable as used guitars, so IMO, you should go and buy a brand new roland microcube or fender frontman, which are not expensive anyway. You just need to extend you budget to 350-400 dollars (if you find good deals, 350 dollars is possible)

To repeat myself, the MIM strat is a very nice guitar (way better than the squires, which are only okay). The MIM strat is a guitar that can possibly satisfy you for the rest of your life, even if you do gigs and performances.

I personally hate the MIM strat. They intentionally gimp it with 21 frets when 22 frets is practically the standard, and the trem is prone to going out of tune. For under $400, you can get a gorgeous Les Paul-styled AL-3000 by Agile from rondomusic.com, that plays and looks better than Epiphone Les Pauls. Visit any guitar forum and ask about Agile, and everyone will tell you they are the best bang for buck when it comes to budget guitars. When you buy Fender, you pay for the name.

However, I will second the suggestion for the roland microcrube and fender frontman. I was quite blown away by the little frontman's cleans and smooth lead channel.

[koohyuko]

Originally Posted by willow

I'm extremely confused as to how many keys Mugi's keyboard has. According to Wikipedia, Mugi has a Korg Triton Extreme 76-key keyboard. Yet, in other sites, (and a user in this thread) have said that she's using an 88-key keyboard. And true, indeed, the clips of Mugi's keyboard (on K-On) seem to be small for an 88-key keyboard.

Yeah, that was me. I definitely counted 88 keys, but like Justin said, its too small to be one, and doesn't have the graduated hammers. I think the animators might be a bit inconsistent here. Or I could be wrong. I'll accept either! They did mess up the tuner though. They are just people after all.

And yeah, good luck finding the 88 key. They discontinued it, so I imagine most people will want to hold onto their's. I'm a bit more strapped for cash, I'm gonna be acquiring the Korg X50. Only 61 keys, but still good. I'd love a Triton though.

[Willen]

At one point, Yamaha was a significant part owner of Korg (51%) in the early 90's until Korg bought back most of the shares. But they still have some ties today with Yamaha supplying parts and components for Korg products. Although it's a stretch to see a Yamaha logo on a Korg product (maybe on the inside on one of the microchips, but not on the outside).