r/guitars

Hi all,

My daughter is learning guitar (and quickly outpacing me!) and she's been asking me for recommendations for "important" songs for guitar players. I've already introduced her to a ton of stuff but I'm having fun making playlists and right now I'm working on one for just guitar instrumentals.

We both have a pretty wide variety of music tastes, so the list I've got so far has everyone from Chuck Schuldiner to Andres Segovia on it, but I've been going from memory and I know there's stuff I'm forgetting as well as stuff I didn't know I needed to include.

I'm trying not to include more than two pieces from each artist, and then only if they showcase different sides of that musician or group. I'm also trying not to fill it up with million different ideas about what to play over a "blues riff in b" or whatever, BB is already on the list and he does that more than well enough to get the point across.

It doesn't have to shred, but it should showcase something about the guitar or guitar playing.

Here's what I've got so far, but I'd love to see what you all think we should listen to!

Jeff Beck - Cause We've Ended as Lovers

Buckethead - Soothsayer

Guthrie Govan - Waves

Mood for a Day - Yes

Closing In - The Living End

Altitudes and Blue - Jason Becker

Tamacún - Rodrigo y Gabriela

Jessica - The Allman Brothers

Eruption - Van Halen

Cliffs of Dover - Eric Johnson

Orion - Metallica

Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix

The Brain Dance - Animals as Leaders

No Boundaries - Michael Angelo Batio

Recuerdos de la Alhambra - performed by Andres Segovia

Falling Down - Andy Timmons

Tender Surrender - Steve Vai

Blues We Like - BB King

Always with Me, Always with You - Joe Satriani

Hell's Kitchen - Dream Theater

Voice of the Soul - Death

Dialogue with the Stars - In Flames

After 3 months of learning to play, I decided to take a stab at changing my own strings today on my Squier Strat. Swapping from factory strings to GHS Boomers. I followed JustinGuitar's video, but string wrapping with the slotted posts on the Strat just isn't for me.

I successfully got 4 of 6 on, but strings 1 & 2 were just too thin for me and I broke one, ruined another by bending it too harshly.

Needless to say, I ordered some locking tuners and will be giving it another go once they arrive and I install them.

I felt bummed that I couldn't do something as simple as change my own strings, but it's a learning process, and strings are cheap. I'll get it soon!

If you're new to guitar or considering learning, it's definitely worth the effort!

For context, I've been playing guitar for 4 years now, currently on the medium high skill ceiling, and all this time I've been playing the same Player Mustang Fender guitar. I chose it cause of Kurt Cobain (how original, I know), and fell in love with the rather jangly single coils rather than the hot humbuckers I expected, since I didn't know anything about electronics back then. It's been the only thing I've used for playing and gigging. It has served me plenty for cleans and distorted tones. It has been everywhere and seen everything. But I now have this problem where I can't get the sounds I want out of this thing. Despite it being able to handle distortion very well, I can't seem to get an overdriven sound I like without it being too muddy or too trebly. It also seems to have a lower input than other guitars, and that's a problem when you're interacting with other guitars live. Plenty of people have told me to switch the pickups to humbuckers or hot rails, but I really don't want to touch anything about it, since I've grown quite attached to its classic strat adjacent but not really sound. So I've been thinking on buying a new guitar that fits more with what I want. Despite what that Cobain statement might tell you, I've grown to play more than just grunge (of anything, I barely play grunge anymore lol), currently in a wedding band where we play more cumbias and classic hispanic rock. Buy the main sounds I like are things on the alt side of things, the strokes, queens of the stone age, Franz Ferdinand, Paramore, such and such. I've noticed that some of these guys use semi hollow humbucker guitars, and they sound great. I've tried les pauls before, and for some reason, I dislike them, they feel heavy and the body shape doesn't really feel ergonomic for me. But I played through a friend's ES-355 (Or 335? I can't say) and remember really liking how it broke up with the amp. So I've been browsing different options of the same type of guitar, and come to the options I have liked the most. Epiphone ES-355, Gretsch G2622 Streamliner, Fender Squier Starcaster. Would appreciate a second opinion.

I know there aren't that many guitars under 1000 with stainless steel frets. But does anyone else feel like you shouldn't be buying a guitar under $1000 without stainless steel frets? I love prs se guitars, how they feel and sound. But I just saw a prs se silver sky on fb marketplace and the frets are completely shot. And replacing them would take the cost of the guitar. So what do you do? Sell to someone who doesn't know better? Sell to someone who wants yo learn? Relevel it just to kick the can down the road? I have been playing on stainless steel frets and they feel amazing and they are holding the setups extremely well. Idk what are people's thoughts on guitars under 1000 with nickel frets? Is your plan just to just keep raising the action?