NeverTooLate
Tele-Meister
This post is meant to help others in my shoes and perhaps entertain some of those who had the good sense of starting at less than 47 yo 
Since one of my kids is studying for a math midterm, I cannot practice right now, hence the long impressions post
What I mean by novice: started June 15, practiced daily since (missed 5 days), so that's just over 130 days of practicing following the Justin Guitar course where I hope to finish Beginner 2 by Christmas: but note that I do a lot more than needed to "pass" each module. I am also taking his theory course where I am in module 4. I don't care for basic songs where you simply change open cord patterns in the earlier modules (except for Hey Joe) so I am still to finish learning my first full song which happens to be Enter Sandman. Never really a Metallica fan (my wife was a huge one in the 90s) but always loved this song and it came early in Justin's course.
The first riff I learned, thanks to Doug ALdrich's showing it on youtube, was Holy Diver (I am a huge fan of Dio's time in Rainbow and Holy Diver and Last in Line). It took me like 2 weeks and then I realized I had to also mute the strings not used in the power cord (C-D-E-F-C-D-E-F-C-F). LOL. I learned to use the thumb to mute the low E. The only other proper riff I learned is the opening of Wish You Were Here, which also took some time. All the other riffs I have learned so far are simplified versions, working on Seven Nation Army with a 3-note power cord for the sake of exercise. My 11 yo does it with 1-note, 1-finger.
Daily, I practice G major scale at G2 and at G3 off the E2 string, as well as C major as well as E and A minor pentatonic scales to a metronome between 100 and 180 bpm (160 and 180 being mostly aspirational at this time LOL) and go over the riffs and practice getting into F bar cord from C and G cords. Once a week, I go over 25 open cord change pairs at 15 times each. These I do at 80 bpm.
So, I am an enthusiastic first-semester freshman. With that in mind, this may help other novices:
Back in June, I was looking for a sub-500 dollar guitar that my 11 yo and I can share for a while, taking baby steps. I had no idea I would be practicing daily. I had no idea we would stick with it at all. So after a CV Strat being the leader for a while, I eventually chose a Shecter Omen 6 which I got discounted for 375 from 500. I reviewed it elsewhere: in short, gorgeous looks, wonderfully satin neck, but mis-produced two-piece neck with varying radius, (12 than 10, both of which off spec), sub-standard string spacing, and wrong fret spacing (24.75 spacing on 25.5 scale). Of course, I knew nothing so it took me two and a half months to figure all this out, thanks Cort, I get it not every guitar is like this, but I think one and done sounds right for me. That the pickups suck is common opinion on the internet so I should have paid more attention to that.
Playing other guitars in various stores, I was shocked to find the Telecaster comfy. It just spoke to me. I played a dozen different Player ones. One had frets that were a little protruding but all the others were fine. I also like how my hand sits on the body when seated and how easy it is to palm mute. Having realized that pickups are like 4x4 suspension I did not worry about them at all, but focused on comfort.
Finally, the Player Plus:
Eventually, I tried a Plus and I was hooked. The next step was to find the best deal available which sure enough came courtesy of Cream City Music. I bought an aged candy apple red that was their store demo. They said mint and boy were they right! Truly great condition, like barely ever touched. Setup, too. All in all, I got it for 2/3 of what a brand new one would have cost me with tax and setup. I did not hope for a deal this good and was ready to pay more.
The Player Plus I got:
--Has all the measurements exactly as they are supposed to be.
--Every detail is flawless, I understand that some have minor issues but not this one, every bolt is perfect, etc.
--Has wonderfully rolled neck edges and perfect fret edges (no knowledge to tell about frets beyond this).
--Has a neck that looks stunning, like it is roasted,
--I love all the sounds from the 4 positions via my Blackstar HT5 Mk II.
--The neck pickup is exactly the warm, jazzy pickup that I wanted as my main practice pickup.
--I am a rock guy, but I am fine with the bridge pickup.
--The series setting gives me all the thickness I need fooling around at home.
Whether I do a clean Wish You Were Here riff or work on the full-version Enter Sandman on the dirty channel or practice licks off the A minor pentatonic scale with the volume at max on the clean channel at the 0.5W setting, I just love the sound. Neck comfort is fantastic. This is exactly what I was thinking of when I first considered getting a guitar back in June. My 11 yo benefits greatly from the smallish Shecter neck, so we will keep that for now.
Conclusion: if you are new and you don't want to upgrade a cheaper guitar but would rather have a stock setup that is simply great, consider a Player Plus. Even with a marginal discount (just enough to offset the tax), it would be a great deal. It has it all.
Since one of my kids is studying for a math midterm, I cannot practice right now, hence the long impressions post
What I mean by novice: started June 15, practiced daily since (missed 5 days), so that's just over 130 days of practicing following the Justin Guitar course where I hope to finish Beginner 2 by Christmas: but note that I do a lot more than needed to "pass" each module. I am also taking his theory course where I am in module 4. I don't care for basic songs where you simply change open cord patterns in the earlier modules (except for Hey Joe) so I am still to finish learning my first full song which happens to be Enter Sandman. Never really a Metallica fan (my wife was a huge one in the 90s) but always loved this song and it came early in Justin's course.
The first riff I learned, thanks to Doug ALdrich's showing it on youtube, was Holy Diver (I am a huge fan of Dio's time in Rainbow and Holy Diver and Last in Line). It took me like 2 weeks and then I realized I had to also mute the strings not used in the power cord (C-D-E-F-C-D-E-F-C-F). LOL. I learned to use the thumb to mute the low E. The only other proper riff I learned is the opening of Wish You Were Here, which also took some time. All the other riffs I have learned so far are simplified versions, working on Seven Nation Army with a 3-note power cord for the sake of exercise. My 11 yo does it with 1-note, 1-finger.
Daily, I practice G major scale at G2 and at G3 off the E2 string, as well as C major as well as E and A minor pentatonic scales to a metronome between 100 and 180 bpm (160 and 180 being mostly aspirational at this time LOL) and go over the riffs and practice getting into F bar cord from C and G cords. Once a week, I go over 25 open cord change pairs at 15 times each. These I do at 80 bpm.
So, I am an enthusiastic first-semester freshman. With that in mind, this may help other novices:
Back in June, I was looking for a sub-500 dollar guitar that my 11 yo and I can share for a while, taking baby steps. I had no idea I would be practicing daily. I had no idea we would stick with it at all. So after a CV Strat being the leader for a while, I eventually chose a Shecter Omen 6 which I got discounted for 375 from 500. I reviewed it elsewhere: in short, gorgeous looks, wonderfully satin neck, but mis-produced two-piece neck with varying radius, (12 than 10, both of which off spec), sub-standard string spacing, and wrong fret spacing (24.75 spacing on 25.5 scale). Of course, I knew nothing so it took me two and a half months to figure all this out, thanks Cort, I get it not every guitar is like this, but I think one and done sounds right for me. That the pickups suck is common opinion on the internet so I should have paid more attention to that.
Playing other guitars in various stores, I was shocked to find the Telecaster comfy. It just spoke to me. I played a dozen different Player ones. One had frets that were a little protruding but all the others were fine. I also like how my hand sits on the body when seated and how easy it is to palm mute. Having realized that pickups are like 4x4 suspension
I did not worry about them at all, but focused on comfort.Finally, the Player Plus:
Eventually, I tried a Plus and I was hooked. The next step was to find the best deal available which sure enough came courtesy of Cream City Music. I bought an aged candy apple red that was their store demo. They said mint and boy were they right! Truly great condition, like barely ever touched. Setup, too. All in all, I got it for 2/3 of what a brand new one would have cost me with tax and setup. I did not hope for a deal this good and was ready to pay more.
The Player Plus I got:
--Has all the measurements exactly as they are supposed to be.
--Every detail is flawless, I understand that some have minor issues but not this one, every bolt is perfect, etc.
--Has wonderfully rolled neck edges and perfect fret edges (no knowledge to tell about frets beyond this).
--Has a neck that looks stunning, like it is roasted,
--I love all the sounds from the 4 positions via my Blackstar HT5 Mk II.
--The neck pickup is exactly the warm, jazzy pickup that I wanted as my main practice pickup.
--I am a rock guy, but I am fine with the bridge pickup.
--The series setting gives me all the thickness I need fooling around at home.
Whether I do a clean Wish You Were Here riff or work on the full-version Enter Sandman on the dirty channel or practice licks off the A minor pentatonic scale with the volume at max on the clean channel at the 0.5W setting, I just love the sound. Neck comfort is fantastic. This is exactly what I was thinking of when I first considered getting a guitar back in June. My 11 yo benefits greatly from the smallish Shecter neck, so we will keep that for now.
Conclusion: if you are new and you don't want to upgrade a cheaper guitar but would rather have a stock setup that is simply great, consider a Player Plus. Even with a marginal discount (just enough to offset the tax), it would be a great deal. It has it all.
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