Originally Posted by: BeenAWhile
Here's my question, do I get a nice can't-go-wrong guitar, say an American Strat and suitable amp,

I'd say yes. From the sounds if it, you'll be really happy with a Strat anyways. Its always good to try before you buy... go to a store with a good selection, ask for a tuner, (those clamp on ones are great) and then try out a bunch of guitars to get an idea of what they are like. A fairly major distinction is whether the guitar uses single coil pickups, (like a standard Strat) or "humbuckers" (like a Gibson Les Paul).

I was listening to a TED Talks episode a while back, and they were talking about how too much selection these days can actually make us feel less happy with our purchases. There's always something "better" that you could have bought. I think this can be true with guitars too.... imagine yourself back in time, in a small town with a little music store. You tell the shop owner you want an electric guitar, and he opens up a catalog with a black & white advertisement for the new Fender Stratocaster with "Tremelo Action"... you slap down your deposit, wait 3 weeks for the big day, it arrives, and you fall in love! Fast forward to today, where you have 100's of guitars to choose from and supposedly one of those is the "perfect" choice just for you... but which one? The sheer number of choices can be over-whelming and leave you with a feeling that you could have done better...

So don't worry too much about which electric you end up with. Try a bunch out... see what grabs your fancy. One thing to watch for, especially in cheaper instruments, is the quality of hardware. Really cheap machine heads (tuners) can make it almost impossible for the guitar to stay in tune. Also, really high action can make the guitar quite difficult to play. If something on the guitar doesn't feel right, ask & clarify before purchase.

With the amp, its the same thing... tons of options, but I'd just start with a small, affordable practice amp for now. You may also want to look into having some sort of system that can play jam tracks that you can practice along with. Another option is connecting your guitar directly into your computer. There are some good systems out there that will offer you a lot variety and flexibility in effects & tones, and will allow you jam along with backing tracks, which is a ton of fun!