Fender Starcaster Strat Pack Electric Guitar with Amp and Accessories - Black

This is Not the beginner guitar you want Ok, first off, even if you are a beginner, I do not recommend this guitar. Why? One, this guitar has highly incremental buzz. Most people will tell you when you ask, that this is because of the amp, but this is because this is essentially quite cheaply constructed, and the parts aren't as good as a lot of others. The strings are too close to the fret, and this is one of the reasons. Two, cheap materials, as I stated, are troublesome. After owning the guitar for one week, and having to take out and screw in the whammy bar, the screw part of it got stuck in the hole. Not shortly after that, we returned the guitar. Three, the frets. Many people stated this, and this is a very big problem for anyone. The frets are NOT smooth at ALL and after just one week of use I had scars and a ripped up palm on my hand. But if you want a good guitar in this price range, for beginners, here's what I recommend. Get a Fender Squier. At most sites, the base Fender Squier costs $119. About $90 less than this does here, and it has much smoother fret board, but it still has some of the buzz found in this guitar. I also recommend a beginner Epiphone Les Paul or SG. Rating: 2 (A. Mathew, 2010-03-16) Fender Starcaster Strat Pack Electric Guitar with Amp and Accessories - Black customer review

STARCASTER Received the guitar in good condition approx six weeks ago. The strings constantly get out of tune. It is extremely frustrating. I plan to replace the strings. Maybe that will help. The guitar just recently began making a static kind of sound when plugged in to the amp that came with the package. My other electric guitar worked find with the amp. Overall; not happy with the purchase. Rating: 1 (J. Webb, 2010-03-12) Fender Starcaster Strat Pack Electric Guitar with Amp and Accessories - Black customer review

So far so good I've had this guitar for a month now and have no complaints. It came well packaged. Rating: 5 (Esteban Castro Garcia, 2010-02-21) Fender Starcaster Strat Pack Electric Guitar with Amp and Accessories - Black customer review

Good entry level product This appears to be a good entry level product, although I'm no expert so take my advice with a grain of salt. Based on my limited experience, I'm satisfied with my experience up to this point. Rating: 4 (Patrick Lechtenberger, 2010-01-25) Fender Starcaster Strat Pack Electric Guitar with Amp and Accessories - Black customer review

Perfect for a first guitar! I got this for my fifteen yo son (aka "Even After Dinner, Giant Boys Eat"). (Okay, not because I was clever enough to think of it ahead of time, but because I stumbled onto one of Amazon's "lightning deals" at holiday time.) Perfect. As you suspect from reading the description, this package has everything you need, which was really a blessing from my perspective. As others have suggested, we'll gradually replace things as he wants... strings, of course, the strap, maybe some new picks. I didn't realize there was even a tuner in the set, which is great. One thing extra I feel we immediately need is a stand for the guitar. This is partly because things can get a little rambunctious in our house (e.g., the dog and the boy chasing each other around) and I want the guitar to be safe. I also don't really want him to put it away; I'd like to leave it out in the living room so that he's more inclined to pick it up and play. I like the DVD, though I'm writing this just as soon as the gift has been opened, so we've only just started. To me, the lessons seem good, though my son is a trumpet player and played piano when young (so he knows musical things) and I've also played instruments (including acoustic guitar) before. We are far from being musicians, but it's not totally new to us, either. You're going to have to replay them a few times to get it; that's part of the learning. Tips for beginners: 1. Tune your guitar to the DVD initially and don't mess with the electronic tuner. Everything will sound wrong if you're not tuned the same as the DVD guy, but trying to play along with him. Also, you should learn to tune your guitar to the low E string anyway (as he teaches on the DVD). 2. Make sure your low E and high E are actually the same note after you think you're done tuning (but yeah, in different octaves). My son thought he was tuned, but this test didn't pass so we adjusted. 3. Like everything else, you're learning to tune. But if you don't get this reasonably right, when you go on to chords, they'll sound like cr*p. 4. The first chord you're shown is a minor chord. (I question this choice, but there you have it.) This chord might not sound right to you anyway. 5. I think one strategy is to plow ahead till you get to an easier chord to listen to, maybe the regular E or the A. And then you might want to fiddle around a little bit between adjusting the tuning and trying the chord till the chord sounds right. 6. Note that you can find chord charts online for the "open chords", such as the one at Guitar for Beginners that I just found. Those first five chords should sound right if you're properly tuned (remember not to play all the strings for some of the chords). 7. You should maybe do just a little bit each day at the start (15 minutes or so) till your fingers build up calluses. This can also help pace the frustration factor of getting to the point of those first few chords. 8. Once you get those first few chords, you're on your way! Then it's just practice, practice, practice. p.s. Some musical friends have confirmed that this is an excellent guitar for a beginner. One points out that what you lose in this line (as compared to other Fenders) is the quality control. This was an interesting observation for me -- it's true of so many products, but I didn't apply it here. I think this might explain some of the variation in the reviews. Remember that you're buying from Amazon, and if you notice anything wrong, just Send It Back. Rating: 5 (Mainiac, 2009-12-22) Fender Starcaster Strat Pack Electric Guitar with Amp and Accessories - Black customer review