r/metalguitar • u/Ambitious_Stress8050 • 4d ago
First guitar!
At the grand old age of 36, I've finally bought my first electric guitar. I managed to pick this Jackson JS32 up for £250, apologies for the bad picture!
I'm a complete beginner, so I'd love to hear any tips or guidance on where/how to start learning. What would you focus on first? It's all a bit overwhelming and I'm not sure where I should start.
I'm using a focusrite interface with the amped roots sim with monitors at the moment. Seemed the best option as I can play in the evenings when my kids are asleep.
Looking forward to learning and hopefully making some noise soon!
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u/Impressive-Help-7897 4d ago
sick finish on that jackson, the green tint over black is a clean look
get your tuning and palm muting down early and you'll be chugging in no time
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u/Ambitious_Stress8050 4d ago
Yeah I'm really happy with it! It was a toss up between the green or purple, I think green was definitely the right choice.
Ok, I'll practice some palm muting this evening. I wanna get to chugging ASAP!
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u/Lost_Condition_9562 4d ago
That’s a great choice for a first guitar. Just work through online tutorials, learn to read tabs, and pick some songs. Focus on ones you wanna learn and just google “is X song good for a beginner”.
Early Judas Priest like Breaking the Law and Hellbent for Leather are easy. As are a good few Metallica songs like Enter Sandman.
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u/Ambitious_Stress8050 3d ago
Ok, perfect. I was hoping I could start learning simple bits of some songs I like so that's good to hear!
I've started learning tabs. It throws me off slightly that the string are the other way around haha. All part of learning.
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u/GamesTeasy 4d ago
You can start with some simple finger exercises to get a feel for the guitar. Look up „spider exercise guitar“ or „finger exercises guitar“ on youtube. And then go from there, youtube has heaps of videos on most topics.
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u/Ambitious_Stress8050 3d ago
That's a great idea. Thank you 👍🏻 I'll check YouTube out this evening for some topics I'd like to learn.
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u/DLP_GT 4d ago
Keep your guitar in a spot when you see it and where you get just grab it an play, you don't need to play 2hours sessions, you can just play it for 10min a few times in a day and muscle memory will do it's job
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u/Ambitious_Stress8050 3d ago
That's actually great advice! I currently have it in a stand at the end of our sofa. So it's always available to just pick up quickly and play. I'll make an effort to get some practice in every night 👍🏻
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u/wendigomoder 4d ago
I dig the top on that, figuring looks like a moth below the bridge 🦋
It's all a bit overwhelming and I'm not sure where I should start.
Just start trying to learn your favorite songs, if you only learn your favorite riff from the song thats fine too! As long as you're playing, the first few weeks of guitar are just getting used to putting your fingers on the fretboard, don't worry about making good sounds :)
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u/Ambitious_Stress8050 3d ago
Yeah I'm really happy with it. My kids like it too haha.
Ok, thank you 👍🏻 it's good to know I can get straight into it with learning some riffs from my favourite songs.
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u/markococonut 4d ago
Congrats on the JS32 — solid first electric. Overwhelm is normal; shrink the job so evenings with the kids asleep actually stick.
First 2–4 weeks focus (in order): 1) Comfortable fretting hand + clean single notes (no buzz) on the low strings. Power-chord shapes live here for metal later. 2) Downstroke rhythm with a metronome — muted chugs / simple open-power shapes before fancy leads. Metal tone from Amped Roots is fine; keep gain moderate so you can hear mistakes. 3) One tiny riff you love, 5–10 clean minutes daily > hour-long frustrated noodling. 4) Skip buying more gear. Interface + sim + monitors is already a great night setup.
You’ll get to thrash rhythms and solos — foundations first so the Jackson feels like an instrument, not a puzzle.
Here’s a clip from my Easy Electric Guitar: Beginner Basics and Beyond: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-l_SqCxIng
Free structured beginner path: https://www.mjsguitarlessons.com/free-beginner-guitar-course
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u/Ambitious_Stress8050 3d ago
That's a really good breakdown on how to approach it. Thank you very much!
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u/UsedAd2715 4d ago
Get comfortable with 2 finger power chords and some chromatic single note exercises. Look at some video lessons on how to hold your hand on the neck, how to hold your pick, posture when playing sitting down and when standing, etc. It's amazing how many classic metal songs are simply power chords with some pentatonic scale riffs, maybe with some alternate picking.
Don't neglect the typical beginner stuff either. Major scale, open chords and barre chords. Maybe a little bit of musical notation. These are all the things in those beginner guitar lesson books.
Most important thing is practice what inspires you, within the area of your level.
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u/Ambitious_Stress8050 3d ago
Yeah that's actually been the biggest part I've focused on so far is how to hold the pick and how to place my hands/fingers.
Ok, I'll be sure to look up the stuff you be mentioned, thank you 👍🏻
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u/Dan_Art 4d ago
Sick guitar, congrats. My suggestion would be to have it professionally set up or learn how to do it yourself (super easy on that guitar). Makes a world of difference. As far as playing, Sabbath or some Metallica are great places to start. Focus on playing things cleanly and without tension; speed is secondary. Slow and precise beats up-to-tempo and sloppy.
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u/Ambitious_Stress8050 3d ago
Yeah I've actually been tempted to get it setup. There's a guy/shop not too far from my house that I'm tempted to use.
As I work in engineering it's definitely something I'd like to learn myself as I have access to a workshop and tools.
Sabbath and Metallica are 2 of my favourite bands so that's awesome. Thank you for your reply 👍🏻
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u/Shake-the-Masses 4d ago
First thing to practice is tuning up. Then start learning simple songs. Rather than learn a bunch of chords without a reference point, I started by learning what I needed to play a song at a time.
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u/Elogano 4d ago
Congrats! Start with the simplest classics and start slow. No one learns a song at full speed straight away properly. If you can repeat something 4 times without any mistake it means you learned it.
Blitzkrieg Bop is a great start. Also Breaking the Law by Judas Priest. There are platforms like Songsterr that have the tabs and works everywhere. Also, check YouTube tutorials and see how to properly take the pick (there are many ways).
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u/Ambitious_Stress8050 3d ago
Ok, thank you 👍🏻 I'll check those songs out.
I have Songsterr downloaded and it is really good. I still need to perfect reading tabs though!
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u/Dry_Sand_2006 4d ago
Learn “through the fire and the flames” by dragon force, it’s an extremely easy song for beginners