I bought my 17 year old a Jackson JS22 Dinky, and it plays AMAZINGLY well.

Yeah, it’s lower quality, but when you’re a beginner, what matters MOST is that you LIKE to play the guitar, and it doesn’t fight you.

I am 65 and nowadays it usually takes about 30 minutes after I buy something for the guitar usually a pedal that buyers remorse sets in.  But the memory of how that new gear stuff felt  in the 70's the adrenaline rush of that is a habit worse than cocaine.  I have setbacks from time to time.

I think it's a wise choice to give a beginner / child an electric guitar first. Acoustic guitars are usually harder to play physically, and if there's something that makes people give up playing the guitars it is that their fingers hurt. And evern worse, if you give them a cheap or bad acoustic with bad fretwork, fret sprouts, unreasonably high action and no intonation possibilities, then you have a recipe for disaster. Give them an electric guitar. Set it up like you would have your own guitar set up. And toss in a (fairly) good amp with some modelling options so they can play both Metallica riffs and "Old McDonald had a farm" at their own choosing. It doesn't have to be expensive. But it HAS to be comfortable. And for goodness sake, don't buy an expensive rig for a child. Children are tough customers. They might strum the guitar a few times, throw it away and want to start playing tennis instead, just because they "saw a cool thing on TikTok". So keep it real.

- She is playing tiktok music.
- I don't know what it is?
- Metallica.
- Oh, ok xd

My first brand new guitar is a Jackson JS11 Dinky for $199.99 retail - bought directly from the Jackson website. Very lucky that QC was applied to my guitar - No problemo not even the  typical QC issue like fret sprouts prevalent with low budget guitars. Well a little neck pocket gap. Barely noticeable to me. Its a keeper for sure.

I just had to tune it from the shipping box and started learning. Installed Gotoh lock tuners and fixed the tremolo bridge to be a hardtail with a bunch of quarters. Very happy with it. Of course typical of guitar players  - bought another brand new guitar that was on sale. A PRS SE DGT which spoiled me with its excellent out of the box quality. Yeah, I started a guitar collection. LOL.

As someone who has purchased several 6k guitars- I find infinitely more fun finding that sub 1k guitar that has a little room for mods and has some premium specs far more enjoyable. I have a couple PRS SEs and just recently a couple Harley Benton’s that I enjoy playing FAR more. Kinda like how Winos enjoy finding a sub $10 bottle of wine to enjoy.

I got bit by FOMO in 1986...
I was a sophomore in high-school and one of the guys in class said "you haven't arrived until you get a Charvel" and Ive been buying them ever since

I think it’s because we’re old enough that we have the money but have learned you don’t need to spend a lot to get a great guitar. The younger generation are still learning that and hasn’t realize yet that saving for retirement is something they actually need to do.

Isn’t it funny how kids only learn off tik tok?

A 16yo recently told me they love the simpsons. I asked what episode is their favorite. He looked at me kinda crazy and said “idk, I’ve only seen clips on tik tok” lol times have changed and I’m 34

tiktok music is indeed a lot of old hits used for short videos and then they go viral again and you get a reunion tour, the usual.

That's not surprising to me at all. I just turned 30, so I've seen both sides of the age split. Younger people are just more willing to spend on non-necessities point blank. I don't mean this as a negative judgement. I mean it as a factual statement. The age range of people who use Buy Now, Pay Later is relatively young. The average age of Uber/DoorDash customers is relatively young. Young men are getting really into watches and fragrances. The going theory is that there's a subset of young people who don't have enough income to realistically start a family or buy a house somewhere that works for them, but they have more earnings than is needed to live in their typical apartment situation, so that delta goes toward non-necessary spending. As that set of people grows, it makes sense for companies to market their higher end goods to younger people.

That entry level Jackson is great for a beginner 😅 I wish they had guitars like that when I was starting out 😆

There are way too many guitar clown channels on YooToob.
But this channel is the "no nonsense guitar channel".  Just straight facts and good advice.

I recently sorted out an acoustic for my niece and a Tele for my brother's partner.
I agree with everything you're saying about helping beginners.

Both guitars I got were 2nd hand. I found good deals on good guitars within their budgets. I bought them in person after checking them over thoroughly. I took them home, deep cleaned them, set them up properly with 10s, and sorted out suitable ABS hard cases. I gave each of them some picks with a little case to keep them in, a string winder, the packet of strings so they know what the guitar is set up with for when they need it re-stung, a little bottle of guitar polish with a cloth, and a decent guitar cable and strap. I made sure they had a tuner and got them off to my family interstate.

A seriously underrated guitar is Yamaha Revstar. Maybe for some Yamaha not cool enough but they really well made, sound great, smooth satin neck and I think mine looks great. It surprises many people. Plus I only paid $569 Australian

Disclaimer: I can setup a guitar or build a partscaster or kit... but I play a $124 Indio Cali Classic stock and i love it. But I have tweaked and adjusted and dialed in. I quacks, it has harmonics... would I like a real Fender Strat? Sure! But I am broke as a joke and I would rather have a good player no one is gonna steal. 😂

"Out of tune stick" is my new favorite expression.  Boomer bends is a close second.  I do Blues bends on my Pac612 with 9s, but it's the same basic principle (except blues bends don'tpay as well lol)

I found one of those JS32 Dinky's at Music Go Round for something stupid cheap like $130 a couple of months ago. I threw on a set of Guyker locking tuners and it's a beast for something I got for less than $200.

As a guitar player that hardly bends notes, anything thinner than a .010 feels like it’s trying to run away from me. GET BACK HERE

My son used acoustics for almost 4 years until I got him a Gibson SG special used for half of its originalprice with case. It has been an incredible guitar for him to learn on.