Pick-ups will be placed under the strings near when the guitar is plucked. There may be as few as one pick-up and as many as three or four, depending on the guitar. These are used to pick up the sound of the guitar, which vibrates an internal magnetic coil, producing an electric signal that travels through the amplifier. Volume knobs will be included, sometimes as many as three. These allow you to adjust the output volume of the guitar. Tone knobs are used to toggle between the high and low frequencies in the pick-up. There are usually different tone knobs for each pick-up in the guitar. Selector or cut-off switches are used to select between the individual pick-ups and activate them, or cut them off. On most guitars you can use some combination of different pick-ups. The output jack is usually on the back-end of the guitar, or the bottom lip, where the guitar is plugged in to the amplifier via quarter-inch cable.
Solid body guitars are sturdy and weighty, made of a single piece of wood. Because there’s no resonance chamber, solid-body guitars must be played through amplifiers. The variety of pick-ups and the electronics of a solid-body guitar are very important. These are the go-to guitars for rock ’n roll, punk, and metal music. Famous solid-body guitar styles include the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul. Hollow body electric guitars are, as the name suggests, hollow on the inside of the body. While there’s no sound hole as will be found on an acoustic guitar, hollow-body electric guitars will often use a different variety of pick-up than a solid-body guitar. These are often used for playing jazz, featuring a warm and deep mid-range, and work best with mellow, low-volume amplifiers. Semi-hollow body electric guitars are hybrid models that feature a cut-out design and a small hollow portion of the body. These guitars have a bright and chime-like tone that’s perfect for country music, folk-rock, and for lead-guitar work. The Rickenbacker and the Gibson ES are famous semi-hollow guitar models. Electric-acoustic guitars look basically like acoustic guitars, but feature pick-ups that allow them to be played like electric guitars. While these typically will have fewer features than other forms of electric guitars, electric-acoustics offer the versatility of playing them without the use of amplification.
Most bodies are made of maple, mahogany, or poplar. Maple is known for its long sustain and bright character, while mahogany is known for its warmth. Poplar is great for bright and crispy high-register tone.
Famous Gibson Les Paul pickers include Jimmy Page, Zakk Wilde, Slash, Randy Rhoads, and Bob Marley. Famous Fender Stratocaster players include Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Other iconic guitar models include the Gibson SG, played by Angus Young, the Fender Telecaster, played by Bruce Springsteen, the Gibson Flying V, played by Kirk Hammett, and the Fender Jazz Master, played by Kevin Shields, Elvis Costello, Thurston Moore, and J Mascis.
By the same token, if you’re going to invest in a guitar to learn on, you need to get something that’s worth playing. Toy guitars sold at places like Walmart aren’t even worth the low price tags offered. It’s better to go for a used guitar or a cheaper model of the guitar you want. Fender offers the “Squire” series, using somewhat cheaper materials, but the same designs as their other more expensive guitars. You can get a Squire Strat for around $300, compared with the $1400 it might cost for an American Stratocaster, if you’re lucky. Explore used guitars and do your research to find deals. Some players will only play guitars that have been broken in a bit and worked over by other players. Neil Young is known for only playing old guitars, for example, and never plays new ones.
Consider your needs and buy an amp with enough output for your purposes. Also check out the customizable features on each amp, including reverb, tremolo, and other effects which can be fun to play around with. Solid-state amplifiers are the most inexpensive amps, based on semiconductor circuit models. For the beginner, these are usually fine purchases. More experienced guitar players usually favor more up-scale tube amplifiers, which feature vacuum tubes which need to be warmed up before putting a current through them. Combo amps feature an amp “head” placed on top of a larger speaker. The Marshall stack is an iconic combo amp. These are usually used for performance and for putting out large amounts of sound. Unless you’re planning on gigging in the near future, a combo amp is probably overkill.
Consider your needs and buy an amp with enough output for your purposes. Also check out the customizable features on each amp, including reverb, tremolo, and other effects which can be fun to play around with. Solid-state amplifiers are the most inexpensive amps, based on semiconductor circuit models. For the beginner, these are usually fine purchases. More experienced guitar players usually favor more up-scale tube amplifiers, which feature vacuum tubes which need to be warmed up before putting a current through them. Combo amps feature an amp “head” placed on top of a larger speaker. The Marshall stack is an iconic combo amp. These are usually used for performance and for putting out large amounts of sound. Unless you’re planning on gigging in the near future, a combo amp is probably overkill.
The pickups can be changed for very little money, but the wood makes the guitar. Hold a note and listen to the sound decay–does the guitar have a long, warm sustain? Or is it short and metallic? This will depend on the wood and the installation of the neck, which affects the guitar’s sound in a big way. [5] X Research source The guitar should also be in tune in both the 5th and 12th frets. Play up the frets and make sure that a barre chord in first position is in tune, and a bar chord up the scale is in tune. If not, the neck needs adjusted.
Gibson scale is 24. 75 in. This gives the Les Paul its round tone and its hefty bottom end. Anyone who’s ever picked up a Les Paul knows the gravity of it. This is partially the scale. Fender scale at 25. 5 in. The Fender scale offers a clear and bright playability, great for leads and those Hendrix-style outer space explorations. A 25″ scale is sometimes used by other manufacturers like PRS guitars, offering its own distinctive tone.
Most used guitars will need to be set up, so a certain amount of string buzz can be fixed. If you’re buying a used guitar, though, you need to check for buzzy frets and consider getting the neck adjusted to properly raise the strings off the fretboard to the height you like.
If the guitar doesn’t sound good or feel good in your hands, you won’t be as motivated to play it. [8] X Expert Source Ron BautistaProfessional Guitarist & Guitar Instructor Expert Interview. 5 November 2019.
Single-coil pickups have a glassy tone, great for blues and rock and roll leads. These will be oval-shaped, and have little metal spots, one per string, under the guitars. Stratocasters come custom with single-coil pickups. Humbucker pickups were designed as improvement to the single coil pickups, giving you more of a growl when cranked up loud. They’re rectangular shaped and made of metal. If you plan on strumming and getting some distortion in your sound, you’ll likely want a guitar with at least a humbucker pickup. Some guitars will have different kinds of pickups, for example, P90 pickups were the most popular among guitarist, the sound that they have is that mean growl from humbuckers but a warm bass tone along with it. With distortion, these pickups had made a mark on guitar history.
It’s good for some players to notice where the bridge lays in relation to where you hand wants to naturally rest on the guitar. Some guitars look great but have somewhat sharp or awkward bridge-placement, which can make it a challenge to play comfortably. Likewise, some bridges have irritating string-guides, which can make restringing a challenge. It’s a good idea to consider these topics when making a selection.
