Getting started

[nemiS]

Greetings all! I recently stumbled over the forum as I'm hoping to pick up some skillz. I'm a hobbyist who's been playing mostly acoustic guitars since I was a kid, and have been a Linux user for a bit more than 20 years. For my birthday this year a whole bunch of people went together and gave me funds to go buy an electric guitar. Ended up with a Squier Strat, and a little cash to spare, that I might put down on a small amp, a budget sound card, or something fun like a used bass or banjo.

At the moment, I'll just be plugging the guitar into my laptop with a class compliant jack-to-usb cable (I'm waiting for this to arrive in the mail), which I'm sure won't give a great sound, but I guess enough to get started, playing around with some applications and getting a general idea of how to move forward. On the software side, my brother who works with music advised me to check out Reaper, at least, and I guess I'll just shop around with apt-get for what else to try out I'm pretty much a complete ignoramus with regards to both hardware and software, so I may show my face in the newbies section to get some general or specific advise. I'm still not quite sure what my exact plans are – I like Schubert as much as Melt Banana, so probably something within that spectrum.

[milo]

Welcome to the forum! Squier Strats are decent axes, and you can't go wrong starting there. A little amp is a good idea, so that you don't have to fire up your computer and get it all working just to mess around on the guitar.

Some people have had trouble with the Jack to USB cables. Hopefully you can get yours working without too much trouble, but give us a shout out if you have trouble with it. There was a recent thread here that may be of interest to you: viewtopic.php?p=118155

As for software, I have never used Reaper. Audacity is usually a good place to cut your teeth in Linux audio. After getting frustrated with Audacity's limitations I moved on to Ardour, which I'm quite happy with.

Anyway, we're glad you joined us!

[nemiS]

Thanks for the friendly welcome, guys. @milo, I'll check out that thread you linked, and take a look at Ardour as well. But as you imply I may be just as well suited with something basic like Audacity to get started. @bitsnpcs, I hope that strat will bring you a lot of good times!

[tavasti]

At the moment, I'll just be plugging the guitar into my laptop with a class compliant jack-to-usb cable (I'm waiting for this to arrive in the mail), which I'm sure won't give a great sound, but I guess enough to get started, playing around with some applications and getting a general idea of how to move forward. On the software side, my brother who works with music advised me to check out Reaper, at least, and I guess I'll just shop around with apt-get for what else to try out I'm pretty much a complete ignoramus with regards to both hardware and software, so I may show my face in the newbies section to get some general or specific advise. I'm still not quite sure what my exact plans are – I like Schubert as much as Melt Banana, so probably something within that spectrum.

In case you won't be able/willing to play with high volumes, guitar multi effect might be better option than amp. At least personally I love different sounds I am getting from my Digitech and Line6 units. Those units include amp & cabinet modelling, and bunch of different effects. I mostly play with headphones.

Another great option is to get some decent audio interface (behringers are ok and cheap, or get some second hand), and use software amp like guitarix. Sure that way you need your computer for playing guitar, but in case you have computer on all the time (like me), and next to guitar, that is definitely not a problem.

[nemiS]

Squier Strats are decent axes, and you can't go wrong starting there.

Ironically, I experienced some buyer's regret, even though the guitar itself was nice and all. I just realized that I actually wanted a Les Paul much more, but my local guitar dealer was of the opinion that Epiphones are crap, far beneath his dignity to take into the shop, lol. I'm happy with the end result, though, as I got this Ibanez LP, which has a bunch of personality and feels nice to play. The USB thingie I got gives a signal out of the box, so now I'll be looking at how to set up JACK with a software preamp and some virtual pedals and stuff.

[milo]

Oooo, yeah. That's definitely an upgrade. I've been happy with every Ibanez I have played.

[nemiS]

So, I'm pretty much a happy puppy at this point. I got JACK running by executing "pasuspender qjackctl", choosing my input device from the dropdown menu in the Settings/Advanced tab, and using QjackCtl's graph display to channel input/output through Guitarix or Rakarrack. At first, I didn't get any sound at all, but it turned out my problem was that the alsa sound server was set to mute I solved this monumental head scratcher with alsamixer, comforting myself that making truly inept mistakes is probably a sign of great intelligence.

@tavasti, thanks for the tips. I've taken a note of Behringer for future reference (Focusrite is another brand I've seen mentioned a lot, although those seem to come bundled with a load of proprietary software). Multi effects and pedals are also definitely on the list of stuff to learn more about. For the time being I'm having a lot of fun just playing around with my el cheapo soundcard-in-a-usb-plug and assorted software. My next purchase will probably be a used bass or (may God forgive me) a 5-string banjo. One of my kids plays the piano, so I have access to a keyboard and a very funky electric organ, as well as a few old mics.