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Hybrids are quite the happening thing this century, Taylor have their T5 and Ovation have the VXT. Guitarist magazine wants to call them superguitars and adds in things like the VG strat that do acoustic emulation.

Is that particular solos you are after playing Iceman? Or are you just trying to get good at soloing? If you just want to solo then sustain and frets aren't everything, however if it's a particular solo check out the instrument used originally.

The problem with distortion pedals is there are very many ways of achieving the effect and how extreme you want it to be. Today's pedal market roughly divides into metal pedals and blues pedals. Metal players want that big, screaming sound, usually they palm mute to cut out mudiness. Blues players want a cleaner 'just breaking up' sound.

You can get distortion on most amps. Original amps you just turned up full and dropped your guitar volume. These days there's usually a gain or overdrive switch that introduces distortion as you turn it up. With enough fiddling you can get decent distortion with a basic amp and any electric guitar. What pedals do is introduce distortion at the touch of a button (also when you have your guitar volume wound down to a nice 'bite' point it's easy to catch it mid lick and knock it to zero, doesn't stop me doing it though, might use 3M tape over the knob when live).

So if you have an ultra-clean amp like the Roland Jazz Chorus (transistors and rock solid ones too) then a pedal is the only way to introduce distortion. With this kind of amp you are seeing the soft or hard clipping of the pedal only. On the other hand something like a tubescreamer or the BlackStar or TubeKing pedals dynamicly work with the amp introducing their own tube distortion and/or pushing a tube amp to distort in a musical way. The extreme end of this sort of pedal is ZVex's 'Super Hard On' which has little immediate effect but is felt at the amp (adjust a 'Crackle Okay' knob!).

Got a bit lost there because blues tube pedals use a range of techniques to introduce a good tone and musical breakup. Odd concepts both but you do start to hear what they mean after a while...

There's no danger to playing electric MHD, the instrument can be as laid back and relaxed as you want it. Think of Mike Oldfield, king of the ambient vibe, his Gibson SG soars to the sky. Yet in Angus Young's hands that same Gibson SG is the hardest rocking axe.

Let the music take you where _you_ want to go.

Hi Phil, I admire street musicians as well, they've got the ultimate unfriendly audience. There's also a spectrum between busking and begging, so some buskers can't play but get sympathy for looking so beatendown. Alot of towns have local laws on busking, sometimes even issue permits, same applies on transit systems. If a busker gets a good pitch on a busy street on a nice day it can be lucrative, but competition can be fierce. An old tramp puffing a mouth-organ doesn't always appreciate it when students from the conservatoire pitch up next door playing mozart!

Adding to what I was saying, this luthier goes even further...

http://www.kevinchilcott-luthier.co.uk/ … mazing.htm

Nice site, good beginner level stuff, alot of sites don't start basic enough, yours does this well.

As regards minor chords although a beginner shouldn't be bothered with the technicalities you should emphasise that minor chords sound softer, more mournful than major chords. Play E A D it's upfront, it's ballsy, it's confident. Play Em Am Dm and you have a ballad, a love song, a song of regret... (actually there are in-yer-face songs in minors and sad songs in majors but the rule of thumb is a good one).

Next stop should be sevenths. Sevenths are emphatic, they are like majors but with edge, more sportscar than family saloon. Sevenths are very jazz (minor sevenths even more so). The G to G7 transition is well worth getting as it's used in so many songs to perk up a verse that ends on G. The D > D7 change a common emphasis too but harder to switch as a beginner.

"check to see if the music store pay's commissions on the salesman's sales. If they do find out when these commissions are paid and buy just before that period ends"

Wow, now that is what I call organised!

I was being a bit naughty with the screwdriver, might be a better idea ask shop if they can set intonation and then return, however alot of them do try it on with 'every guitar we sell gets a setup'. Grrr, I want the guitar to be setup right when I pick it up ;-)

Just bumped into this one by RKS (never heard of them till now), the Green Manalishi, check out the quirky 3 part body.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/prod_bdb_AR_19 … 47b22cd298

Just wait till you try bass, you get extra calluses on your two right hand plucking fingers...

Brown Eyed Girl - Van Morrison

Return To Sender - Elvis

Young Ones - Cliff Richard

Leaving On A Jet Plane - John Denver