Help! Which one is best for me?

I cannot decide which of these guitars is best for me. I have never owned an axe or played one. I am still a beginner even with an acoustic, but I need a guitar that will take me all the way as my skills grow. I cannot afford to have more than one. I have a tight budget. I know I want at least one humbucker pup. I want a locking tremolo bar, but I do not know if I can or should do without a locking one. I wanna be able to play any genre, but mostly rock and blues. I love all kinds of music, so the guitar has to be versatile. It has to be easy to play and maintain.

http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-FEN-1144710-552
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-FEN-1144700-580
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-FEN-0148900-506

If you like blues/blues rock, you want that classic fender single coil neck pick up sound (my opinion offcourse). So i would not go for the blacktop. That fender plus is probably more expensive just because it has a flame top. So on a budget, I would go with the "normal" fender standard hss.

Having gone thru many, many guitars I would advise anyone just starting out to stay away from the Floyd(s). Just too much hassle, every string change becomes a pain in the ash. You'll find yourself not changing strings as often as you ought to. Also, I don't think $750 is a "tight" budget. You could get a number of guitars that would take you nicely thru 2 or 3 more years of your growth for HALF of that. If you're hell bent on getting a Fender ... I get that, I'd say go with the Blacktop. Maybe look at the Blacktop JAGUAR which has a 24" scale that makes it easier to play because the frets are closer to each other and strings bend real easy- perfect for a beginner. Use the $250 you saved to go towards a premium amp. There's not a whole lot of difference between a $500 guitar vs. $750 guitar but there's quite a bit to gain from a $500 amp vs. $250 amp. ? Good Luck

Okay, SebastBerg. That's good to know for genre playing. Good point about the amp, fretsmith. I will take both comments into consideration and take another look at my choices. I may post a new list of guitars to choose from. Thanks again. :)

The old sayin,you will know when you find that special guitar ,it will just feel so good to hold you won't want to put it Down...only u can answer ur own question.do u have big hands,small hand,long fingers,short fingers,this all comes to play.good luck on ur journey.and welcome to the world of guitar.

Good point,don't get a Floyd rose,u will regret it.wait till u have years under ur belt.

Thank you, Axe2. I didn't think about my fingers or hands sizes. I will have to take that into consideration. I will be buying on line, but I have a guitar that I find comfortable, so I will use those dimensions. I hadn't thought of that aspect before, so thanks for mentioning it. As for the Floyd Rose, it's off the list. Thanks again. I will be putting up some new choices later, using all of the hints you guys are giving me. This is as big help to me. :)

If you have the chance to go to a large guitar store, take a look at the Fender Strat, and the Gibson Les Paul. These two guitar models were basically the solid body models that started it all... (there were other guitars of course, but these two became almost the icons for rock 'n roll). While there have been many technical improvements and updates through the years, the Fender Strat and Gibson Les Paul are still very similar to what they were 50 years ago.

Try playing some "Squire" Strats, and Epiphone Les Pauls. These are their more affordable brands and versions of the higher priced Strat and Les Paul.

Most of the other solid body guitars out there leaning towards the style of the Strat or the Les Paul... so if you try both styles, and find you prefer one over the other, that will help you a bit.

In purely subjective (as in, it can be argued over easily) and laymans terms, my opinion is:

Strat: a bit harder to play, though reaching higher notes is easier due to the double cutaway. Bright... can be made to sound harsh but also easy to articulate each note.

Les Paul: a bit easier to play (the stretch for your fingers is not as much as the Strat). Versatile... can sound like a lot of guitars (just not a Strat, ha ha!). Can sound muddy, particularly on the "neck" pickup. Otherwise, rich, full tone.

Think about those things a bit when you try out a guitar... move the pickup selector around, and try the different sounds to get a feel for them.

For your amp... DO NOT buy a "nice, sweet sounding tube amp" as the sale guy puts it, for $1000 or more... instead, check out modeling amps like the Peavey Viper series. You can get a small practice amp super cheap. When you've cultivated your sound a bit more, then you can start looking at tube amps. For your church talent show gig, maybe look into renting or borrowing an amp for the evening... just make sure you understand how to use it and get the sound you want. You may also be able to patch your practice amp into the PA system, but again, a test and sound-check is essential.

For your practice amp, make sure it has this:

-a headphone input
-a "CD" or other audio input.

These two features will allow you to go online, download a bunch of jamtracks (there are tons of free ones out there) and then play them on your computer, with your computer plugged into your amp. You'll love it. It will feel like your guitar is right in the mix with the band, and is so much better than cranking it on a stereo then trying to jam along with an amp.

Originally Posted by: Slipin LizardStrat: a bit harder to play, though reaching higher notes is easier due to the double cutaway. Bright... can be made to sound harsh but also easy to articulate each note.

Les Paul: a bit easier to play (the stretch for your fingers is not as much as the Strat). Versatile... can sound like a lot of guitars (just not a Strat, ha ha!). Can sound muddy, particularly on the "neck" pickup. Otherwise, rich, full tone.

Think about those things a bit when you try out a guitar... move the pickup selector around, and try the different sounds to get a feel for them.

Exactly!! As an owner of each style of guitar, I can say this advice is spot on. The only thing I'll add is that the Strat is more verstatile than the Les Paul as far as sound/tone goes. With humbuckers at least (which is the most common LP configuration - you can get one with P90 single coils), the LP cannot attain the same trebbly cutting tone you can get from a strat set for the bridge pickup. However, with the neck pickup set on the strat, you can get some really smooth and buttery LP-like tones. Each guitar still has its signature tone quality, but the range of possibilities with the strat are more. You don't see too many jazz players play strats, but you can get a jazzy tone out of it for sure.

Slipin - regarding jam tracks to be found online, where do you find these? Where is your favorite place to find these?

Hey, thanks Maggior! I agree with you additional input too! The main place I go for backing tracks is right here. I'll also do searches for specific backing tracks on Google. For example, I just recently searched and found a backing track for the song "Cry" (aka "Cry for You) by September... kind of a weird one, but found it no problem.

hey lets not forget about prs SE models right on budget.my favorite is the dave navarro prs,5 way swicthable blade,push pull knob and that equals plenty of different tones to choose from.solid body 25 inc scale.its the same as the prs custom 24.only down side is that it only comes in jet white color.for me i love white guitars,others may not.but i can say it plays very well stays in tune very well which is a big plus and sounds great.unfortunately the usa models are very Expensive,so do consider a prs SE there are plenty to choose from.good luck.and like i had said no one can really tell you what kind of guitar to buy,hints and ideas yes but you will know that guitar when u pick it up and you find your haveing alot of trouble putting it down.it will be a macth from heaven.