I am starting to want a guitar. I was thinking about getting either an acoustic or a bass. The acoustic would be nice for the obvious reason that you can play where ever you want without the need of an amp. The downfall is that everyone around these parts has an acoustic or an electric. That's the reason I want a bass over the acoustic. This would be my first guitar. Does anyone out there have any suggestions on what I should do? Which would be better for someone just starting out? I don't really want to spend a fortune either. At the most, $300. TIA

 

The only kind of cuitar i play is the air guitar. But i think you would be good going with a bass with a cheap amp and see if u like it first.

 

i play

 

I have an old Yamaha with a decent but old amp. (has the glass tubes in the amp)
I wouldn't go for bass simply because everyone else plays guitar. The bass is a specialty instrument. The guitar is better for playing by yourself. You can learn and play the bass lines with a guitar.
I would suggest buying a used electric guitar, and a small used $50 amp to get started. If you treat them good you can get all your money back in a year or so if you decide to upgrade. I bought mine over 12 years ago and never got into it enough to upgrade, but I keep it and play it as a hobby and to relax.

 

I play drums.

 

I've played guitar for over ten years.

And to me it sounds like the first thing you need to do is find out if you are a guitar player, or a bass player. While I know a lot of guitar players who have switched to bass, I don't know too many who go the other way.

I don't really play bass, so I can't help you there.

But, on the topic of acoustic versus electric I will say this. Having BOTH is really the only way to fly, but if you can only have one, get the electric if you are really dedicated, and the acoustic if you are just going to fool around here and there.

There are benefits to both, the acoustic is easy to grab and strum with no set-up time or anything needed. But some people get bored when they don't have distortion or noise to play with.

Electric confines you to a socket, but you can get small battery powered amps that can go with you anywhere. But the fun-factor is higher on the electric, and they are easier to learn on because of lighter strings, floating rig systems, and smaller fret boards. The heavier strings on the acoustics are tougher to learn on, and the larger bodies are often tougher for beginners to handle.

As far as money goes, you can get a pretty decent guitar/amp combo for around $300. Make sure you get something with a brand name from a music store though, since it's also been my experience that junky combos are not worth it. They are often made like crap and thus they sound like crap and are likely to be cast aside. You can even pick up a nice used combo, but again go to a well known music store in your area.

My first combo was a Charvel "strat" copy with a Gorilla amp. I've owned Washburn, Hamer, Jackson, Fender, ESP, Kramer, Ibanez, and others. Right now I currently play a Hamer electric through a Crate amp, and I have two acoustics, a Washburn and an Alvarez. All these brands have been pretty good to me over the years. But chances are you local music store will have it's favorite brand fully stocked.

Most likely a Fender "Jap strat" which is an imported version of the Stratocaster USA, will be on the wall for around $215-$250, and a small Gorilla amp for about $50-60. They might even have a combo package but either way you might find a good deal.