Let me say this up front. I am a novice. A n00b. I have very bares bones guitar playing skills and have only till now played an Acoustic. Recently, my interest in guitars was redoubled and I punched through learning a lot of Metal songs (obviously from YouTube and the Internet). And the obvious realisation was that I needed a electric guitar to proceed any further. I started researching for buying an electric on the Internet. As expected, the Internet is bloated sick with too much Information. Unfortunately much of the information was either too basic like "What a guitar looked like" or too complicated (or elitist if I may) like "how to upgrade stock pickups to Duncan Humbuckers." If the last few words made no sense to you but the earlier query seemed silly, please read further.
As you know, electric guitars have spawned the rock and roll genre including Heavy Metal, thrash, Death, Black, nu, Alternative, psychedelic etc etc ... An important feature of Heavier forms of Rock is that it features really fast riffs /interludes. Humans, although legends have proven to be an exception, are limited by physical ability to play so fast.
Now the things to notice is that it should be low enough that you need minimal effort to play the note. But at the same time not too low to cause the string to simply hug the fret board causing a muted noise, like a dying fly, called the Buzz.
These are a more complex form of pickups and are much suited for generating that metal sound which pumps adrenalin into our body. Please note while these help in generating that metal sound, they can also used for playing clean tones. But will not sound as clean and soft.
I had not seen a Whammy bar\ Tremolo bar \ vibrato Arm until much later. if you are still wondering what it is , its that long metal arm you see attached to bridge of the guitar in the pic.
Tuning Nuts: Are you nuts over nuts?
The Tuners are turn knobs at the far end of the fret board that let you tune the strings.
Some Sample Entry Level Guitars :
Please note the lowest priced good brand (meaning not a nameless Chinese make) guitar
start upwards 8K and Entry level stops at 15K for me. But you are master of your moolah. So splurge.
These Guitars have been picked with an idea of playing Metal Music an with ability to play other styles decently.
This Guitar is the cheapest entry level guitar and packs a punch at the price range.
This is HSS config, with a tremolo arm. It modelled after the famous Fender stratocaster (looks exactly like a strat), manufactured by squier, the cheaper cousin of fender. Good Starter. This is good for people wish to not invest much, who want to play a wide variety. Due to low price, no guarantee if each guitar has same level of quality. Hence TEST and BUY.
Just like the Squier, the Epiphone too is a cheaper cousin of the Iconic gibson guitars that have been immortalized by many of your rock idols. Now this is a true heavy rock guitar as has a HH config.
The price, though, cheap might still be steep for a beginner and is actually out of the range I mention, but its a worthy mention.
The Ibanez is a comparatively newer company but is as reputed as the former companies. This particular has come highly recommended for Metal and is said to produce really good thrash sounds. Its a HSS config again, which means it is all round performer. Also its price hits the sweet spot between the Bullet Strat and the Epiphone SG special.
4. ESP LTD F -series F- 10 Black.
http://www.furtadosonline.com/product/Esp-electric-guitar-ltd-f-series-f-10-black-lf10blk-202744.html
I have rambled on for too long now to cover Amps and other stuff. Watch out for my next post.
Hope you found it useful.
NOTE: What I intend to do here is to vomit all the information I have assimilated from the Internet with respect to understanding and buying a Electric Guitar that Metal style of rock in a concise one- stop way. I have not, at the time of writing, tried or actually bought and \or played a Electric guitar. Yes I may be moron, but I feel a similar blog would have helped in my search. So just filling the gap. Hope it helps someone.
1. Understanding a Electric Guitar.
All images are owned by the people who own it. I don't. I just link to it.
What you see here is a typical guitar. Let the shape not throw you off. Its just styling, nothing to do with sound.
Now most (solid bodied) Electric Guitars by definition do not have sound of their own, or not a loud enough sound. Because it has no hollow resonating box to amplify the sound made by the vibrating strings. What it does instead is capture the vibration and convert into electric signals and then amplify that sound outside the guitar. hence an electric guitar.
1. The device which captures vibrations are called Pickups (see fig). They are basically coils of wire with magnetic field around them, the vibration of strings over them causes changes in this field creating tiny electric signals.
2. The Device which takes these signals and converts them into a loud sound is called an Amplifier or in short an AMP.
2. The Device which takes these signals and converts them into a loud sound is called an Amplifier or in short an AMP.
Phew, that was almost back to school, but its over.
This can be alleviated by
1. A Thin Neck. So don't need long big fingers. Like half of you are already not bothered about having bigger, longer organs.
2. A Low Action: Action is basically distance between strings and the base of the fret Board. A lower action means you don't have to press with all your might to get the right tone, while risking Carpal Tunnel's. This helps when you are playing very fast.
Now the things to notice is that it should be low enough that you need minimal effort to play the note. But at the same time not too low to cause the string to simply hug the fret board causing a muted noise, like a dying fly, called the Buzz.
The Point to note here is that buzzing is dependent on the build quality and finish. Hence you must try to play every note to ensure there are no stray buzzing instances. Else your favourite solo will end up sounding choked at that note. Hence, at the store, check. But if it does, don't "fret" too much. Ask the shop keeper if he can adjust it. No biggie, but you should check it.
Now that we are talking about fret board, check if the neck has a smooth finish. The upper half esp. where your thumb and inner hand slides .. should be smooth. Else, the frets are ruthless and won't mind leaving a cut or a gash.
Hah, Drama queen!!! :P
Back to pick ups:
1. Single Coils : 
These are the very first kind of pick ups. Lets forget the actual technical mumbo jumbo. These type of picks up produce a softer tone and are much useful for cleaner, crisper music styles. Which are those? Blues, jazz etc etc. That doesn't mean you can't rock with a guitar with Single Coil. You can, you 'll know why soon. But the awesome sounds we have grown head banging too, that head rush will be missing. They are not useful for playing heavy sounds.
These are the very first kind of pick ups. Lets forget the actual technical mumbo jumbo. These type of picks up produce a softer tone and are much useful for cleaner, crisper music styles. Which are those? Blues, jazz etc etc. That doesn't mean you can't rock with a guitar with Single Coil. You can, you 'll know why soon. But the awesome sounds we have grown head banging too, that head rush will be missing. They are not useful for playing heavy sounds.
2. Humbucker Pickups.
These are a more complex form of pickups and are much suited for generating that metal sound which pumps adrenalin into our body. Please note while these help in generating that metal sound, they can also used for playing clean tones. But will not sound as clean and soft.
All pick-ups come in various price range and quality. As you enhance your skills you may want to upgrade these to get better sounds you are looking for.
What are the other knobs there for ?
Well you should probably know this, but if you don't they are self explanatory. One is Volume, duh. The other is tone. Tone is variation of notes, whether sharp or dull. You will understand better when you actually try it at a shop.
Pick up selector switch: Well electric guitars don't have just one pick up. They have either 2 or many times 3 pick ups. One is always near the bridge (start of strings) and one at neck. The third one is in the middle, if there is.
Nomenclature:
Neck pickup: This ones closer to the neck. This produces a warm tone. Warm = bassy. Like basking in a sunny morning, butterflies fluttering, breeze combing your hair....
Neck pickup: This ones closer to the neck. This produces a warm tone. Warm = bassy. Like basking in a sunny morning, butterflies fluttering, breeze combing your hair....
Sorry, but you get the point. Due to its nature is mostly almost always used for rhythm style guitar playing. Hence is also called as the Rhythm pickup.
Bridge Pickup: This Pick up creates a more sharper tone. This is usually useful when you want to play solos and lead guitar and have that crispy sharp sounds. Hence, is also called a lead pickup sometimes.
The In-Between pickup is an in-between and generates an in-between sound, useful for when you are trying to find that in-between sound you heard in between your favorite track.
The Pick up selector is (oh you know!.. so smart already!!) a switch to help you select a pickup or switch to the other (duh). A 2 pickup guitar, has 3 switch positions.
Neck: Neck pickup active, others off. Rhythm play.
Bridge: Bridge pickup active, others off. Lead play
In-between: Both Active. Dunno what. Both.
With 3 pickups, it has 5 positions. You are smart , do the math.
More on pickups:
Many entry and intermediate level guitars come with a combination of pickups where the neck pickup (warm sound)is Single coil (clean sound) and the bridge(crisp sound)is a Humbucking (heavier tone)one. Collectively called HS configuration. This lets players to play a range of guitar styles from blues , jazz to Death and Nu-metal. If you are unsure of the style, make sure you get some similar combos. The 3 pickup has 2 SS (Single Coil) and 1 H (humbucking), and hence a HSS configuration. A H-S Config too is possible and common among entry guitars.
Whammy Bar\ tremolo bar.
I had not seen a Whammy bar\ Tremolo bar \ vibrato Arm until much later. if you are still wondering what it is , its that long metal arm you see attached to bridge of the guitar in the pic.
This Whammy bar , when pulled stretches the strings, thus changing their notes, creating the bleeding, sliding notes we are so used to hear in Metal solos. They say that similar effects are possible by just bending the strings. I dunno. I'm a noob.
What I do know is that in cheap entry level guitars where parts are not top-notch, the whammy tends to put the guitar out of tune and too often at that. As someone who is just learning, this can be frustrating. Some argue you learn more and will be much accomplished player in the end, will only need more patience. So look at yourself in the mirror and ask am I that person. The answer you get is the answer to whether you get a guitar with a tremolo bar.
The presence and absence of a tremo arm also affects whether the Bridge is fixed or floating. Again on a similar analogy, floating bridges difficult, expert level stuff, fixed, good entry-level stuff.
The Tuners are turn knobs at the far end of the fret board that let you tune the strings.
You have to check if the tuners are precise and give you a good feedback. A locking nut is available here, which lets to lock your tuning position. Lesser re-tuning breaks. Its minor, just Tune your guitar once and then play something. (Yes, random striking with pick permitted), Check if you don't loose tuning too easily. Why? read above.
Please note the lowest priced good brand (meaning not a nameless Chinese make) guitar
start upwards 8K and Entry level stops at 15K for me. But you are master of your moolah. So splurge.
These Guitars have been picked with an idea of playing Metal Music an with ability to play other styles decently.
Bullet Strat:
http://www.fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0310005580This is HSS config, with a tremolo arm. It modelled after the famous Fender stratocaster (looks exactly like a strat), manufactured by squier, the cheaper cousin of fender. Good Starter. This is good for people wish to not invest much, who want to play a wide variety. Due to low price, no guarantee if each guitar has same level of quality. Hence TEST and BUY.
2 . Epiphone Special SG
http://www.epiphone.com/Products/SG/SG-Special.aspxThe price, though, cheap might still be steep for a beginner and is actually out of the range I mention, but its a worthy mention.
3. Ibanez GRX40
http://www.furtadosonline.com/product/Esp-electric-guitar-ltd-f-series-f-10-black-lf10blk-202744.html
Another Cheap remake of the Legendary ESP guitars which are used by the Masters themselves. These are the raw deal and will give you the sound you grew up listening. The Quality is though I have heard, questionable. But give it a try, if you don't find any complaints go for it. Awesome Design and price range..
Hope you found it useful.
\m/
