Hi guys!
I'm thinking of buying my first 6 string electric guitar (not bass), and I have some questions.
The first: does an electric guitar need a special amplifier or a standard hifi amplifier (Sony STR-7055, you can see an image here) with speakers is enough?
Do I connect the guitar into a standard input (AUX for example)?
Which brand is the best for about 200 Euros?
What to watch for when buying?
I'm asking these questions here, because LQ is the only forum where I write, and I think, you people will know how to give me good answers, nevertheless this forum is not meant for these kind of questions.
Thanks.

Most HiFi amps made these days don't have an input jack for a guitar. I have no idea if the one you link does or not. Years ago I used to play mine through an old Marantz amp and it worked ok. I think you'd be better off with an actual guitar amp. Crate makes a decent one that isn't too expensive.

Gee - You're right. This isn't the forum.

If your Sony has standard "telephone" size jacks, then yes, it would work. There's almost no amperage going through the guitar cord (except for the tiny current induced by the vibration of the metal strings in the magnetic field made by the coils in your pickups), so there's no danger of blowing up your stereo.
And since it isn't a base guitar, there's not much chance of blowing out your speakers either.

To be honest, it's been years (um, decades?) since I've seen those size input jacks on a stereo. Once I had a separate cassette tape player connected to my stereo hi-fi, and it had standard telephone input jacks for taping things. I would run my guitar through them on occasion. Of course, I'd be using only one channel so the sound came out of only one speaker.

It's not the best way to know what your guitar (and playing) would sound like with a real amplifier. Better to get a small practice amp. I'm not sure what they cost in Euros or in Hungary, but a very adequate one (a Fender Bronco, perhaps) can be had for under $100 US. I'd try ebay for bargins.

I second getting a practise amp. Buy the best you can afford - Marshall and Fender are fine. You can get cheap ones but you will appreciate the guitar more with a good one.

Thanks for the quick replies!
Well guys, the good news are, that this amplifier is from the '70s, so I have a phone input jack (6.35mm or 1/4" and not the 3.5mm) on the front side of it, and it has an "AUX" sign above. I think this is what I need. I forget to mention, that I have a pair of 120W speakers hooked to this Sony 2x80W amp; so no "craft" problems shoud occure.

You all advise to buy a separate guitar amp for this purpose. With that, will it sound better/different? Are these amps different from stereo amps? Sorry for asking these, but I really don't now much about electric guitars yet.
Thanks.

It depends a bit what kind of music you want to play too. You definitely want to have an amplifier that has distortion. You can get by without many things at first (like double-coils), but distortion will be necessary to get some songs "right" when you start to learn a few chords.

Fender has released in some countries an "Electric Pack". It should be within your price range and you will get a Fender Squier, picks/plectrums, a book, an 10W Amplifier with distortion, a bag to carry the guitar, strap, cable and an electronic tuner (which you will need to tune your guitar, in the case you can't do manually). This pack has a great price and seriously, that is all you will need to start with and save cash. Here is the link for that pack:

http://www.instrumentpro.com/P-FEN0280800.html

Don't be afraid of getting a "copy" or less "known" marks either. Cort for example, make excelents guitars. In fact, I even heard that other companies, such as Ibanez actually hire Cort to build them guitars. But just in case, read some reviews online or ask in the music store.

One thing is for certain: there is no need in spending a lot of money in a Fender Mexico Stratocaster or a Les Paul Standard right when you start, because maybe playing guitar is not your thing.

If buying a pack is not an option for you, get either a Epiphone SG Special or Fender Squier Affinity Telecaster. They should cost less than 200 Euros and are pretty solid. Don't forget the rest you will need as well: Picks, cable, amp... etc. Go to a local store and do a quick "test drive" there. Buying a second hand guitar is also a good idea, but I doubt it will be so much cheaper than, for example, a new Squier Affinity, which gives you one year warranty as well.

Personally, I've been playing guitar for a while now and I am sooooo happy that I actually have another hobby instead of playing videogames. In fact, if I can effectively stop playing PC games, I might try going back to Linux (exclusively that is).

Well, good luck

Dear Mega Man X!
Thanks for your extensive reply. It is very helpful.
You know, I'm already playing the guitar, but the acoustic version of it (its in my public profile). I play latin music on it (Soleares, Fandango, Rumba, Manuelita, etc...), but not for long now. I had a good teacher, but he died this summer, so I don't have much new notes to learn. My original plan was to learn to play on an acoustic guitar first, and when I'm pretty good on it, I switch to the electric guitar. It wasn't in my plans, that I will be left without a teacher this soon. So, knowing this I'm switching to electric guitar earlier than I expected. I don't have any other options. I need to play the music I love (rock) to be better. You can say to search for another teacher, but thing is, that he was the only one in a 200km circle who thought latin music. I will not play classic music, since that is a weak school. I learnt 3 times faster with latin than those who learnt with classic. I think I already have all the basic I need to play the electo guitar, so my only job now, is to play. Practise what makes you better, and nothing else, and the practise is the most effective, when you play what you like.
Thanks again for all your suggestions.

Been playing acoustic & electric guitars for a few decades, I own several, so here's some opinions. Choose a guitar by:
1- what you can afford.
2- how it plays/feels in your hands.
3- what it sounds like.
4- how cool you think it is.

Get a guitar amp, whatever you can afford. Ordinary stereo speakers generally don't handle the load well.

Hope that helps, regards, netcrawl.

Hi again pusrob!

First of all, I am sorry for your lost. By the way you talk about your teacher, it feels like he was also a good friend of yours. Even if he wasn't, the death of a human being always saddens me...

Well, I am actually going the opposite way than you. I might be getting an acoustic guitar any time soon. I got an electric first because, well, it is just too cool . Playing with distortion gives a pretty neat effect (and that is because you will want an amp with distortion). Nirvana with distortion is just great. Ah.. "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the first song I started playing .

I must say, don't take all my advices as the only advice. I am very new to all this and so far, I suck really hard. I did a huge research on the net, with friends and I even made some youtube friends who helped me before buying a guitar. I thought the worst thing I could do in life was cooking, but playing guitar is just as bad so far. But unlike cooking, I actually enjoy it a lot and want to learn, haha .

So, if you already are familiar with acoustic, you should have no problems with an electric. I have only one complain about my Fender though: The neck is a bit too thin, so some chords, like A can be hard for me, thanks to my big Shrek-like hands. I play that note better with 1 finger, but it feels awkward. I am not sure if that "problem" is the same for the other guitar models. I really think the best you can do is to go to a store and try out a few. Electric guitars can change considerably in size, weight and especially tune

Best of luck mate. I hope you find some guitar you like. If you have any questions, just post here and I can help, read some reviews or ask my friends about it.

Cheers!

I'll answer you one question in particular in this hurry:
NONE!
Guitars under 400€ are utter garbage and make your start a pain. They have poor sound quality and poor parts. They are not made for playing. You will lose interest.
After 400€ you will get semi-quality guitars like LTD (ESP licence guitars with cheaper parts, I have one and love it [had to change mics tho, shitty sound]).
Make sure your guitar has at least a licence Floyd Rose & locable strings if you are into metal, otherwise look for some decent Stratocaster copy which tend to be cheaper due lacking functionality.

Amps play a big role too, I highly recommend Roland MicroCube. Those are amazing little gadgets for their price, way better than my bigger Kustom amp. I use those (have two, tehy are cute ^-^ ) for home sessions.

Don't order from the internet, always try a guitar first and then buy it. I spent a month to find a second recording guitar (LTD MH-50) and that effort paid off.

Found a review of another pack from Fender. It is a slightly better pack than the one I linked before. Here you will see what you get and hear a little bit how the guitar sounds like:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FlKLCQOVFbw

WorldMusicSupply, the one posting these videos on you tube, has over 100 videos with reviews and what not. You might want to check some

I agree and at the same time disagree with Grife. I mean, you don't want to go too low on price, because you'd be getting a toy. At the same time, you most likely don't want to cash out a heck of money on your first guitar. It is just like saying "I will get myself a BFG GeForce 8800 Ultra 768MB", even though I might be playing Quake 3 for the next 3 years.

If your budget is 200 Euros, you will want to spend as close to 200 as possible and perhaps go a bit over it if you can/find a good deal.

in general connecting an electric guitar to a hifi amp (if the amp can take it) will work fine but you will only be able to get it to sound like an acoustic guitar.

a purpose built guitar amp will have distortion controls to give you the various electric guitar noises as used by most rock bands

Darn. I was hoping this was one of those fun threads like "How to install Linux on my electric guitar". No luck. :-D

Well, I use 64Studio to record my guitar hacks, so I guess it sorta could be about Linux, kinda...

LOL, thanks for the laugh. I needed it . Wasn't there a Linux-on-a-toaster project a while ago