Do you find your taste in guitars has changed since you started playing?

[Marshall & Moonshine]

Nope. Strat, LP and Gibby acoustic. I'm never selling them and I don't need another.

 

[e44crowe]

I started with Fender style guitars then moved to Gibsons when I was able afford my LP. Now I'm curious about SGs for the light weight. Can't get used to the SG necks though.

 

[VerbalPuke]

Kind of but not really. It's only been a bit over two years, and when I started I thought Fender would be my go to. I for some reason had a notion they were easier to play, and then my dad convinced me to get a Les Paul instead of a Fender Mustang. His rationale was that I already had an offset Fender and for my second I should get a Les Paul, so I did.

And now I'm a Les Paul guy, totally. The sound is great, and the guitar itself feels the best to me of all the guitars I've played (so various Fenders, an SG, some acoustics, a Gretsch...).

 

[MikeyTheCat]

I can say that my taste in guitars hasn't changed, I still have the ones that I gigged with over the years which tend to be workhorses rather than show horses. What has changed is what feels good to me, but I still like my old work horses.

 

[SixAngryStrings]

Nope, I'm a LP and Tele guy for life. Although, I kind of really, really, REALLY want a big ol', bad ass Gretsch someday.

 

[THDNUT]

Yes. I started with a Teisco, and moved to Ibanez, PRS, Gibson, Martins and Fenders.

 

[LtDave32]

Just wondering if people have found their taste changing since they first started playing and if so, how? I've been playing probably ten years now, not long by most standards but still a fair amount of time and I have found my taste in guitars and sound change tonnes. I always had Gibson style guitars and loved the sound of a humbucker and went that way for ages. Had SGs, and explorer, a 335 and my trusty Les Paul that I have had for about five years, all humbuckers. Now I really seem to fancying single coils. Now I have one HB guitar and two vintage juniors that I can't put down. And more recently I've really been after a telecaster. I used to hate fenders, couldn't get on with them right from the start, couple of stratocasters, and a HB jaguar but nope.

What is happening to me?

Oh, definitely. When young, it was all about what struck me visually. The typical syndrome of "heroes" guitars, but what I chose for guitar heroes and consequently, choice of guitars varied from my peers.

I never got into the "pointy headstock" or "hockey stick" shred machines of the late '80's and '90's. I understand they were built to facilitate pure technique and a whole bag of player's tricks, but that never appealed to me.

Steinbergers with their headless designs? Something quite incomplete and aesthetically "wrong" that I cannot get past.

As I grew older, and to this day I prefer simple, classic and clean designs, with a nod toward the old school. But then, they were what I've really dug all along.

Ask yourself "what's the first thing you head for" at Guitar Center when you walk in. Is it the same stuff you've headed for first, all along?

 

[Nard]

Never tired of Gibson guitars. They look great, feel great and most of the time they sound great. I've used others but always come back to Gibson.

 

[Quill]

I still love all the same guitars and the sounds of those guitars that had me asking anyone, just anyone who might know, about, on all those great records, "what's that sound?" when I was just barely big enough to hold a whole record in both hands by myself. And sometimes get it all the way onto the turntable.

What's changed is that I don't have to have, and should NOT have, all those guitars, and all those sounds, anymore. There is a certain focus that I am starting to understand, that is important to me, and it's hard. I gotta go after that one. The rest of those sounds, and all those other guitars? You guys can have those guitars and play with those sounds, and I'll just listen and enjoy!

If I ever get it down to only one electric - it might be nice if it's a Tele.

 

[StonedCrow]

In cosmetics yes, when I was young, my guitars had to all be black, well the electrics once I started playing electric guitars, I've always prefered maple fretboards since the very first electric I was bought that came with one, still to this day I will snap up a maple fretboard, and would be willing to make quite a lot of sacrifices for one, things like weight, colour, pickups, and finish. I still love heavy guitars, the heavier the better. Thick wide necks, I started on a classical and had years of classical guitar lesssons before I got my first electric guitar, so the closer to a clasical neck I can get on an electric, the happier I am. I still love Les pauls and hate SG's well hate might be too strong a word, perhaps strongly dislike is a better way to put it after all I do own quite a few of them, the only guitar I like less than an SG is a Telecaster, I will actually play an SG reluctantly, I won't touch a Telecaster. I still prefer chrome or nickel hardware to gold plated hardware.

But other than the fact that I like more colours than black when it comes to guitars, the black was probably a phase and age thing the every kid goes through, I have really expended my colection and varieties of cosmetics and finishes even to include silver and gold sparkle fineshes - Gretsches, in my collection, my tastes have pretty much been consistent. Well structuraly anyway.

When it comes to classical guiars, my tastes are identical to what they where when I learnt enought to know what I liked and didn't like, the same goes for steel string acoustics.

One thing that has really changed is my pickups, I used to be all about the high output humbuckers, nowadays I find I like more pickups, P90's, single coils, mini humbuckets, filtertrons... maybe it's because I've learnt how to use them over the years that I now like and appreciate them, but I find nowadays I'm more open to using different pickups, when I got my first electric guitar, the first after market pickups I bought where super distortions, when I got my first custom hand made to my spec guitar, it was made with super distortions in it, it still has these pickups in it and I never play this guitar anymore it was a teenagers wet dream, a cross between a Warlock and Les Paul, I haven't touched it in over ten years other than to dust it off and polish it every so often.

I had to reaaly think about this, look over every guitar I have owned and used consistantly, not just professionally for gigging and teaching, but also the guitars I used for learning on, which ones I used the most, which ones I stopped using and never picked up again, what guitars I use nowadays to teach with, this was actually a surprisingly complicated question for me that in the end had a simple answer.

 

[Donal]

Just wondering if people have found their taste changing since they first started playing and if so, how? I've been playing probably ten years now, not long by most standards but still a fair amount of time and I have found my taste in guitars and sound change tonnes. I always had Gibson style guitars and loved the sound of a humbucker and went that way for ages. Had SGs, and explorer, a 335 and my trusty Les Paul that I have had for about five years, all humbuckers. Now I really seem to fancying single coils. Now I have one HB guitar and two vintage juniors that I can't put down. And more recently I've really been after a telecaster. I used to hate fenders, couldn't get on with them right from the start, couple of stratocasters, and a HB jaguar but nope.

What is happening to me?

I started on an Epi SG after which I bought my first Gibson Les Paul, after that I have has a Strat (which I gave away in the same week to a Kid I know well who wanted to start learning guitar), an ES335, a U2 ... all of which I don't play.

I have constantly GAS for all kinds of guitars, expecially Gibsons, but the only ones I play are my Les Pauls

 

[danohat]

Not in the least bit.

 

[HeartString]

I still love all the same guitars and the sounds of those guitars that had me asking anyone, just anyone who might know, about, on all those great records, "what's that sound?" when I was just barely big enough to hold a whole record in both hands by myself. And sometimes get it all the way onto the turntable.

What's changed is that I don't have to have, and should NOT have, all those guitars, and all those sounds, anymore. There is a certain focus that I am starting to understand, that is important to me, and it's hard. I gotta go after that one. The rest of those sounds, and all those other guitars? You guys can have those guitars and play with those sounds, and I'll just listen and enjoy!

If I ever get it down to only one electric - it might be nice if it's a Tele.

If you do go that route, I highly recommend you have LTDave32 make you the Tele to the spec's you want. I did and it's amazing.

I've always loved Teles but could never find the combination of things I wanted. Have him quote you. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[SJJMcGhee]

If I had the money I'd likely try out p-90s as I suspect it'd be love at first sound, but other than that I've stuck with the LP and shifted up to 12s as they're dense as f**k sounding.

 

[Tone deaf]

I've been playing for a while, now (about 38 years). When I first started, I wanted Les Pauls. Strats, Teles and SGs. I still GAS for the same.

 

[Frogfur]

Concerning guitars..Not really. I never even dreamed of a Les Paul in the formative years. They simply were not available back then. Although i have added a couple of Fenders. A tel and a start, which i never cared for personally but admired what others did with them. So that has changed very little. But musical style has!

You will almost certainly find that it does over time. That can effect what type of instrument you will use at any given time.
What once was your favorite type of music, be it Zep, hard rock, etc. as you get older you'll find that doesn't really appeal as much as it did in times past. Here comes the new guitar into the picture now.

I was like many here in my younger day. And, i still revert back to the basics of rock and roll at times. But now, i want to play other things with my base. I am interested in Jazz to a degree, western swing, big band, classic rock'n roll, do-wop, and so much more. I am a combination of all these things. The older i get, the further back i start to regress to what i grew up on, which is really pre-Beatles. This frequently requires a change in what one is using to get to that point.

What i no longer need is power chords, loud music pounding in my ear, and great big amps(and still love'em, just don't use'em. Between 18, and 22 watts is more than enough if the other group members have any control over volume whatsoever.

I have zero desire to gig, but my 50 year recording partner does still like to gig out there in Colorado. He plays in a cover band, and constantly bitches about it. He plays out with a Tel but hardly ever uses anything else as far as live goes.

If i were to gig again,(that won't happen,)i want more than the run of the mill. I don't do, nor would do a bar thing for beer or whatever. That is out. I want a drummer who can technically play what is needed and knows how to control volume. NO bang band guys. I also want a 1st, or second guitarist that can play twin guitars, know more than just basic chords. NO singers! and a bass player that can do everything from dog house bass, to modern stuff. And the first time they show up and have to be shown what to do...that's the last time they show up.

But to the point, you may, or may not think so now, but your tastes will change, and if you see yourself reaching what you feel is your limitations, that is when change will come into effect.

 

[PeteK]

My taste in guitars hasn't changed at all. My first guitar was an Ibanez RX something or other. A strat copy, basically. I played the crap out of it since it was my first guitar and I enjoyed learning, but I never felt that comfortable with it. I eventually traded that and some cash for a Cort Les Paul copy. Loved it. It was equally as crappy as the Ibanez, but the Les Paul body felt way more comfortable for me and I liked the heavier weight. It felt more substantial.

Over the years, I traded, bought and sold many a guitars. But once I got to a place in life where I had enough money to buy what I really wanted all along, I bought a Gibson Custom R8.

 

[MooCheng]

Nothings changed much, the guitars I liked years ago are still pretty much my favourite. Looking at what I have now its essentially the same as back in the day

I'm very conservative in tastes, the first time I saw a Ibanez with a monkey grip, I burst out laughing thinking WTF's that, now I think its cool, so perhaps tastes do change

 

[roeg]

Not so much changed...as expanded!

 

[nitrodave08]

Started off on Hondo II to an Electra(remember those) to a MIJ Fender to MIA Fender to PRS & Gibson Explorer then slide back down to Hammer XT & Schrecter PT and finally back up to the Gibbys I have now. I only wish I had the PRS & Explorer still. I like the Strat, but I just realized that the players that I like with Strats are mostly HSS. So humbuckers for me. So other than choice (some voluntary) quality of instruments, my taste hasn't changed.