Let me jump in here, and give some advice. It depends on why you want to play, and what level you want to play on. If I could go back and do it again, this is what I would do.
Buy a cheap guitar, and a small cheap tube amp. They make a small Fender tube amp for like 200 bucks. Reason being, if you don't like it, then you didn't invest too much. And despite a lot of people's opinion, you can get plenty of good sounds out of it. Plus, it will help promote you to learn the right way. It's too, too easy to start with tons of distortion and effects and crap you don't need as a beginner, which ultimately lead to sloppy technique, and crappy tone. Randy Rhoads, in interviews always said to practice every thing on the clean channel so you can't cheat. The reason I say a tube amp, is because the signal goes through a much different circuit than a solid state, and basically amplifies all your mistakes times ten. String noise is much more prominent, and it teaches you to control it making you a much more accurate and clean player all around.
It's easy to get caught up in the effects game, and using effects is a talent all it's own, but your tone comes mostly from your hands. Strong hands=strong tone. Distortion and Reverb heavy signals while learning to play lead to you realizing you don't have to push as hard on the strings to get things to come out, and ultimately to weak hands and inconsistent fretwork. A very common sign of an amatuer player is one with too much distortion. Not only is their tone muddy and weak, but often their scales, timing, and even picking are incredibly sloppy.
Second of all, make sure, sure, you get a good instructor. Don't just go to the classifieds. Ask around. Proper instuction is essential. I used tabs and books extensively for a while, and they are good teaching tools, but ultimately musis is in your ears. Too many guitarists lean on tabs, and have little to no ears for music. There is something to be said for intense scale practicing, but ear training, is essential. In a year or so, you should be able to listen to a simple song and know the chord progression without a guitar in your hand. Eventually, you should be able to progress to hearing scale and licks and knowing them as well. You can get tons of amateur opinions on this, but the elite players are elite because they can hear music in their head and play it. The only way to achieve this connection with your instrument is through ear training. If your instructor doesn't know what ear training is, or doesn't want to teach it to you, screw them, and find someone who will.
Of course this is only if you want to go hardcore with it. If you just want to have some fun, get the Line 6 POD, and an Ibanez or whatever, and just memorize the tabs to your favorite songs. There is nothing wrong with doing music for fun.
how does a telecaster force you to learn technique? This makes no sense
It doesn't help your technique, but I understand what he is talking about. Most Ibanez, and other metal head guitars have a smaller scale fretboard usually due to the fact that they sport 24 frets instead of the traditional 21 or 22 fret guitars. But not always. Anyways, this smaller scale means the lower frets are smaller and closer together. So if you switch to any other guitar, acoustic, classical, or "standard scale" electric, you'll find your fingers don't quite stretch far enough on certain scale patterns such as an F major scale starting on the bottom string, bottom fret.
Also most Ibanez, ESP, Schecter, guitars use a thinner style of neck and a flat fretboard radius. After playing a guitar like that, and then switching to telecaster, especially one with vintage neck specifications, will leave you slightly off because the increased girth and radius of the fretboard won't allow your fingers to as easily curve around the neck and get on top of the strings.
Really the longer you play, and get a feel for the instrument itself, the more you learn to deal with the subtle differences in different guitars. It's nothing a beginner should be concerned with.
