Find the thing he/she wants to play and teach them that, even if it’s metal riffs. If they are doing what they want to do, they will continue to do it! It’s surprising to me how often this idea is forgotten. Also find a way to simplify so they can make progress quickly at first. Climbing a mountain is incredibly daunting, but if you can focus on one step at a time, the next time you look up the peak will be much closer.

lol I need one of those in my life

I was a straight Ernie ball guy, cuz I broke strings so often that it didn’t make sense to buy more expensive ones. Recently though I tried a set of the Ernie Ball Cobalts and really like them! Seem to have a little more articulation to them, so now I use those. Gauge: skinny top heavy bottom set, don’t remember the specific numbers off the top of my head. I like that gauge set cuz it thickens the low end while still giving me the light strings at the top for soloing and bends.

A little hard to see, but it’s all in there!

I am usually “over my dead body” about stickers. I want to see the grain! Though, I bought a used Jackson that clearly had stickers on it (there were silhouettes of the stickers left…) so I decided “if I’m ever going to do it, this will be the one”. So I do actually own a guitar upon which I put stickers. But generally no, no stickers.