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 Just Tony wrote:

nfe wrote:

 Freakazoitt wrote:

 usernamesareannoying wrote:

on a side note, he mentioned the wammy bar and the fact that the guitar hes looking at doesnt have one.

A lot of requerements for whammy:
- A good expencive guitar. Starter kit guitars have to be tuned every time after using whammy bar
- Need special effect processors or pedal systems
- Need better quality amps
- Skills
- Finally, beginners guitar musics don't use that

None of these things are true. The archetypal beginners lead guitar tune, Apache by The Shadows, needs none of these things bar a little technique practice and revolves totally around vibrato bar use. Using a vibrato bridge isn't just divebombs and peaking out pinch harmonics. That said, when Van Halen coined 'whammy bar' he was doing those things with a cheap two point strat bridge.

Yes, and he also had a guitar tech to run him a new guitar every time he reamed his gak out of tune. Randy Rhoads also is a player who had the occasional reaming of the tremolo, but he also had several guitars not equipped with it in the first place that were his mainstays.

Err, yes?

Interesting tack this thread is taking.

OP, this Ibanez isn't bad but it's unlikely to be up to the standard of the Squier: essentially, it's much more complex so you're unlikely to get the quality or reliability. In theory you might be able to abuse that tremolo more - but in practice it probably won't work that well and is a pain to set up. All that said, these days beginners' guitars are rarely junk (as opposed to the rubbish we bought as kids).

If he wants a heavier, metal tone, there are Squiers aimed at that.

BTW, it's worth looking for a natural finish guitar if possible - they tend to be made from larger pieces of wood, which sound better and are more stable. (Not all of them, as some have a veneer, which you can spot by looking at the cutout section at the back).

THis one here, for example, looks to be made of decent quality wood. If it's cheaper pieces of wood, the dark bit of the sunburst covers the whole scooped away section.

https://www.amazon.com/Squier-Fender-Bullet-Stratocaster-Electric/dp/B06Y27DFXQ/ref=pd_sbs_267_6?_encoding=UTF8&refRID=640Z2VN5DC74MKW29MFF&th=1

That Squire seems to be great.

I recommend the Fender RG/ Statocaster SHAPE guitars for beginners. They do vary in weight though. I've had a smaller female friend get a Gibson and then hate it as it was too large and too heavy for her to play on stage, so eventually she got a Gibson Les Paul STUDIO guitar which was smaller and easier to handle. The also can be top heavy and have weird balance too. Try them out!

Whammy bars, for a beginner, IMHO, are superfluous. At the very most make sure it's not a "floating" tremolo. I have an Ibanez RG style guitar with a Floyd rose and even now, when I change the tuning or change the strings it can be frustrating. Ibanez tend to have more settings... knobs, switches and pickups... but more pickups doesn't make it sound better... just gives more options.

I worked a summer in a friendly local music shop so I've had a chance to play quite a few guitars. I found, generally, cheap Ibanez were ok, but were only better than rivals when you spent a little more. Otherwise, squires, epiphones, etc all are standard qualities for beginners.
I even found that a smaller no-brand flower shaped no-brand had an awesome sound (but it's heart shaped variant sounded terrible).
I have a Yamaha, Ibanez and an dirt cheap epiphone. To be honest I play the epiphone most, because it's nice and light.

Been playing guitar since I was 12, so some 25 years now. I currently own:

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Gibson SG
Fender Strat
Fender Telecaster
Martin D28
Martin 00015M

Out of all of them, the D28 is my favourite. If I were a beginner all over again and knowing what I know now, I would actually get a decent acoustic to learn on as the skills are transferable to an electric and you aren't dependent on having to be plugged in and making a racket all the time. Having said that, for teenagers, it is as much about image as anything else so an acoustic might not cut the mustard.

IMO, choosing a guitar on the basis of a whammy bar is not a good idea. You probably won't use it that much, it certainly isn't particularly useful for a beginner and it is pretty situational, at least, it is for my playing style. I actually took the bar off my strat and locked the bridge. The HSS strat is a decent choice - I personally find Strats a little weedy so the humbucker pickup in the HSS model helps beef up the sound.

Again, if I were a beginner all over again, I would choose a Telecaster - but either a Mexican one or a Squier one to keep the costs down. I find the Tele tone much more versatile than the Strat.

I get the merit in learning on an acoustic, but many of the skills really are different and if you primarily want to play electric you might as well learn on one.

Additionally, since it's so much easier to make electrics than acoustics, you get way more value in beginner electrics than similarly-priced acoustics. Same story with varieties of electric - value for money is much better in entry level bolt-ons than set necks.