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<b></b><font size="3"><font color="blue"><font face="Century">Hard case offers more protection, is lockable and reasonably<font color="blue"></font><font face="Century"></font><font size="2"></font> weatherproof. It's also heavy, bulky, and a real hassle to carry around. A gig back will be easier to carry, offers limited protection but if you drop your acoustic in a gig bag it will still have a high probability of damage. I have both...most pawn shops will have a stack of gig bags in the back and you can usually buy one for $10 or even less if they know you. I also put stickers and stuff on my hard cases to make them stand out...people sometimes have a tendancy to walk off with them and I want to be able to easily spot mine...</font></font></font>

<font color="blue">I agree with satman and bootleger...spend 35-100 dollars and have a tech do it for you the first time. Make sure he explains what he's done and that it works for you. ie: a slide player might want a higher action than a metal shredder. Then you'll have a reference point from now on. You can go the to the Fender website (www.fender.com)follow the support links and find some excellent info on how to do it yourself...Most guitars are a variation of Strats/Tellys/and Les Pauls...and the set up technique is similar. I still think that a tech is the best route for first time...he or she can determine if set up is all the guitar needs, or possibly a repair problem too! Also the different neck radius,Fret wire, bridge types, nuts, string gauges, all become factors...</font>

<font color="blue"></font>I've got a Carvin (www.carvin.com)  PA 620 portable sound system that I've used for about 10 years now...it's light, easy to set up, powerful, and sounds great...we've never had any problems with it. We were doing mostly praise and worship stuff in churches with two guitars, mandolin, and vocalists. If you have vocalists then might look at the 8 or 12 channel versions...seems that you can always find use for and extral channel.  We could argue pros and cons but it always worked for us because once we got everything figured out, we could pretty much use the same settings and could set up in just a few minutes...  200 watts is plenty for what we've done...both indoors and outdoors...Carvin has several models and ready to use kits. Crate and Peavey also make good PA/Sound systems...Hope this helps...jg

<font color="blue"></font>Which is correct? I think which ever method works best for you...Willie Nelson has worn a hole in his guitar, Sam Bush has worn the finish off of several Mandolins! Others are able to play without ever touching the top of the instrument. I do both...when playing finger style (thumbpick and three fingers) I usually rest my little finger for support. When playing with a flatpick and strumming then I don't... One thing about guitar players is that they certainly have opinions about stuff...I've quit worrying about being technical and just try to find whatever works best for me. Watch video/DVDs of players that you like and then see if their methods are something that you can copy or adapt...

<font color="blue">I've got a Peavey Nitro from the 80's and a Regal Acoustic Resonator out in my shop...some day I'm going to do something with them...</font>

<font color="blue"></font>I really get frustrated at the collecting craze. Recent guitar show in Dallas Tx had beat up old 70-80s Fender Strats and Gibson Les Pauls for 10-15-20 thousand dollars! It was ridiculas! Some of the older ones were listed for over 50 thousand. They looked like someone had thrown them in the back of a pickup truck for several years...! They said "It's the sound"...only a vintage has "That sound". I think it's crazy to spend that much money for junk!

Hi...I would suggest finding someone to help you make sure that your new guitar is properly tuned and set up right...that can save you lots of headaches! Then learn some basic chords and scales and practice as often as you can. It will take a few days for your fingers to build callouses to prevent soreness from the strings. If you can afford to take some lessons then find someone who shares your musical interests to help you.

<font color="blue">Too many to list! A few would be Chet Atkins: Don Rich (Buck Owens) Redd Volgart: Danny Gatton: James Burton: Eric Clapton: Stevie Ray Vaughn: Many who would not be guitarists without Chuck Berry: Lightning Hopkins: Robert Johnson: Wow...just too many...</font> <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_cool.gif" border=0 alt="Cool">

<font color="blue"></font>I agree with you Bootleger...Over the years I've been able to purchase and sorta of collect some really nice guitars...My weapon of choice is an American made Fender Telecaster for most of my music. The Mexican made strat was bought at a guitar show pretty cheap because the owner didn't like the sound of it...I decided to use it for my project guitar. I've also e-bayed several imports and had fun working on them and modifying. Some day I'm going to build a Strat type out of aftermarket parts...body, neck, etc... there are some really nice Chinese imports showing up on ebay these days...some are really nice quality...especially after a little set up and fret work...

<font face="Courier"><font color="darkblue">If you can get a chance...go to a guitar show...then you get to see thousands of guitars, the dealers, experts, performers, and also the manufactorers. Ask lots of questions, play stuff, get opinions, and try different things...I've found that most modern electric guitars are reasonably well made and are plenty durable...I like heavy gauges strings because of the sound and I play lots of fingerstyle. The neck shape and size can depend a lot on your hand size...I have big hands so a big chunky "C" shaped neck works great for me...I've been blessed over the years to be able to start a pretty good collection of "user" guitars and it's fun when people come over and try out the different ones. </font></font> <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_smile.gif" border=0 alt="Smile">

This is great advice...only thing I can think to add is to practice doing this exercise using only single downstrokes...over and over and over...then try a downstroke and upstroke on each one...then maybe two down, one up...until it becomes second nature...start slow! Work on accuracy first and you'll be surprised how the speed will start creeping in...then learns some scales and practice, practice, practice...yes, it can get boring but you'll progress much faster!<font color="blue"></font> <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_cool.gif" border=0 alt="Cool">