Bldsnn Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 I have been looking at guitar reviews for a couple of days now and something started to bother me. It seems that everyone wants to know wether or not a guitar is fit to play metal. I've found out that the answer is usually no... It's always a very versitil guitar or very vorsatel or even versetel... And sometimes versatile as well, but never is it "good for metal". Must be hard to find a suitable instrument as a metal player... I was just wondering what a metal guitar should be like then... I'm not a metalhead, but I enjoy playing fast metal-like stuff now and then... just for fun and also to entertain the audience. Other than a good upper fret access and maybe a trem, I really can't think of anything else... AND I would love to know where the 'is-it-any-good-for-metal-culture' came from Because it seems that the few metal things I am able to do seem to work on every guitar I play... Any thoughts? (PS: I have nothing against metal, just not my cup of tea ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clash80 Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 I would think that there are certain guitars (or things you would add to a guitar) that you would use to play metal with in preference to others, but to say guitar in general isnt good for it just sounds weird to me. Sorry if that sentence sounds strange or not completely understandable, but its fairly late here and I'm getting a bit tired haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MojoRedFoot Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 It's a bunch of crap. The question should be "Is the player any good for metal?" Electric guitars all have strings, frets, pick ups, etc. You should pretty much be able to do any style. It's in the player's ability and amp settings. I have 15 electric guitars and use them all for all kinds of music and I primarily play metal. Gibson Explorer, ESP KH2, Ibanez PGM, Fender USA Tele, Fender Jaguar...to name a few and I use them for all types of music (except hip hop but that is a different debate). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clash80 Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Wouldn't It just come down to how YOU play the guitar...whether or not your playing style makes it Metal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 The older I get the more I'm convinced that the guitarist and perhaps other gear such as amp settings and nowadays stomp boxes make the style difference. Frankly I like hearing younger guys saying the same thing it took me years to learn: The creative picker makes any guitar his own regardless of theoretical musical style. My years of not learning that lesson cost me too many good guitars in stupid swaps. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bldsnn Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share Posted August 26, 2011 I completely agree... I can even do it on my ukulele... I suppose it's one of those marketing strategies or something and now lots of people think a guitar is only suited for metal if it is pointy and has EMGs. Seems that it has to be a magical self playing metal guitar for it to be possible to play any metal It was just something I noticed in reviews and on youtube etc. Kinda wanted to know what the general thoughts were and just checking if indeed one needed a magical self playing metal guitar at all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShredAstaire Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 It requires lots of sharp angles... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jantha Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 I think that just comes from lack of experience and knowledge. Just like the others said, I think it's mostly in the hands of the guitarist and the gear. Look at John 5 for example. Who'da thought a Telecaster could sound like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 I keep waiting for the day we see 40-50 something pickers using a guitar with those sharp angles, skull inlays and such, to do soft jazz. <grin> And I see nothing at all wrong with it, if it's an instrument the picker's comfortable with. But age... ah, how it broadens one's concept of playing. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanH Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 A fingerboard with a flatter radius is supposed to be better for string bending without the risk of choking out. If you have a compound radius neck that means you can theoretically get a lower action without the risk of choking higher up and good chord playing action lower down. However, low action, fast runs and string bending are not solely the preserve of the metal genre. Another school of thought is that the locking tremolo that comes with these types of guitar is more appropriate for metal because of the dive bombing techniques. I guess these tricks are more restricted to the metal genre. For me, my fave guitar for metal is the SG because of the upper fret access, fast all round performing 12" fretboard and the fact that metal was invented on this guitar by the likes of Iommi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milod Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 <grin> And I've use my early-mid 1970s Guild S100c "SG clone" for everything from blues to soft jazz to rock, to country rock, country and cowboy. <grin> I like the guitar. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harpo Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 I have been looking at guitar reviews for a couple of days now and something started to bother me. It seems that everyone wants to know wether or not a guitar is fit to play metal. I'd think it's more the Amp then the guitar and of course the player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dem00n Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 It's the play not the guitar. There's acoustic black metal bands out there, im not even joking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 While it's true that a Metal Sound can be obtained with any guitar, it will be easier to arrive at it with a solid body guitar equipped with Hot Humbuckers, like Dimarzio Super Distortion something voiced for Metal. Let's face it, Single Coils are noisier than humbuckers, and distortion just amplifies the buzz. Even noiseless singles have a narrower magnetic field and take more gain to distort, and hollow bodies feed back. So, while any guitar will work for metal and (like Blues) you can invent your own brand of metal with clean reverbed out Fenders (or any guitar sound you want), the easiest way to arive at the typical chunky, cascaded gain, METAL sound would be *Solid Body guitar with Super-Distortion (or your favorite hot humbucker) *Lots of Distortion (Piggy Backed Marshall Heads, three old school distortion pedals chained together, or a nice modern Metal distortion box ala Boss Metal Zone) *Chorus (personal preference, I like my metal tone with a tight chorus on it) *No Reverb or Delay! It just steals the space between your pick strikes, and thereby challenge your speed. All that said, Yngwie gets a pretty nice Metal tone out of his Single Coils, and he uses quite a lot of delay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzoboy Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 I'm glad that Milod brought up the Guild S-100,I have a '74 S-100-NB that can outwail anything out there as far as metal goes and with fairly flat radius it's well suited for shredding.My daughter's boyfriend who's a diehard S.G. metal player concedes that the S-100 kicks the S.G.'s butt and my buddy who swears by Les Pauls likes my S-100 better than any of his 5 Les Pauls. S-100s are going up in price pretty rapidly these days since Kim Thayill of Soundgarden and some other noteworthy players have been seen with them and people are finding out what great guitars they are.There was an S-100 without the original pups on e bay a few months ago for over $1000 and it was in rough shape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewy60 Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 yeah, this question would be more appropriate for amps.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dub-T-123 Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I read this all the time and it cracks me up. Especially when I read "you can't play metal on a telecaster". My main guitar is a regular old American standard tele and it totally kicks *** for metal. I just plug it into my Devi Ever Hyperion and it's the thickest, most intense sludgy metal tone everrr. Seriously.. It ******* slays. With the right amp and/or pedals, I think you can play metal and sound really good with a guitar that doesn't have a metal-style setup or whatever. Seriously I wish I had a recording setup because I just cranked up my tele>Hyperion>ac30 and it was major stoner rock action. Sounds like Kyuss or something. Sounds ******* awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brundaddy Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 No. "Will it blend?" THAT's the question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoFrills Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 In many cases I have come across with newbie metal guitarists who think they know a thing or two, see to relate the brand, look of the guitar and how many strings it has to how well it will work for metal without going into talking about the amp. Where I live we predominately have metal guitarists who all go for Ibanez or Jackson. But as people have said, at the end of the day it comes down to the amp and effects which can morph the sound of pretty much any guitar into something with a behemoth tone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender 4 Life Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I have been looking at guitar reviews for a couple of days now and something started to bother me. It seems that everyone wants to know wether or not a guitar is fit to play metal. I've found out that the answer is usually no... It's always a very versitil guitar or very vorsatel or even versetel... And sometimes versatile as well, but never is it "good for metal". Must be hard to find a suitable instrument as a metal player... I was just wondering what a metal guitar should be like then... I'm not a metalhead, but I enjoy playing fast metal-like stuff now and then... just for fun and also to entertain the audience. Other than a good upper fret access and maybe a trem, I really can't think of anything else... AND I would love to know where the 'is-it-any-good-for-metal-culture' came from Because it seems that the few metal things I am able to do seem to work on every guitar I play... Any thoughts? (PS: I have nothing against metal, just not my cup of tea ) I was just hoping that a negative response EVERY time the "is this good for Metal" question came up, might help steer the youngsters among us toward something BESIDES Metal......but now you've ratted us out man! (just kidding) Let's all make a pact right now....from this point on, every time THAT question surfaces, EVERYONE answers NOOO, (no matter which guitar/amp/pedal/p'ups they want to know about)......then respond, "But it's GREAT for Rock/Jazz/Blues/Country/Whatever".... Maybe doing this would help cause a resurgence of younger folk playing something besides "X-tra Killer Mondo Cray-Z distorted overdriven x 10 " music that sounds like the death-yelp of an industrial machine complex. I DO like Metal.....most genres of it even......but it CAN become "grating" at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
This_Dying_Soul Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 I keep waiting for the day we see 40-50 something pickers using a guitar with those sharp angles, skull inlays and such, to do soft jazz. <grin> And I see nothing at all wrong with it, if it's an instrument the picker's comfortable with. But age... ah, how it broadens one's concept of playing. m Smack dab in the middle of my "Metal" phase I was also taking lessons in jazz. Not having the money for what typically passes as a suitable jazz guitar, I played jazz on an Ibanez PL2660 (see pic below). It sounded great on the neck pickup and didn't really make a difference except that it looked a little out of place. Now, I know from experience that while a hollowbody electric guitar is not an ideal instrument for metal because of it's tendency to feedback under high volumes; it can be done and if you get it just right that tendency to easily feedback could be used to your advantage... Ted Nugent may not techically be "metal" but he's using hollowbody guitars in ways that most people thought impossible - in front of a wall of high gain amps turned up to 11. So, I cry bullshit on anyone who says a guitar is not good for metal. An electric guitar is an electric guitar and can be used for any style - it's a matter of how you set up your gear and the way you play it. Think of this, SG's and Les Paul's were conceived as instruments intended for Jazz and Country musicians but they are found in every genre and lots of the top players swear by them. I think the so-called "metal guitars" are just at a disadvantage to other styles because they don't have traditional appearances, but a well made one can be just as versatile as any other guitar. They are just a bold visual statement that many players outside of hard rock/metal just don't care to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibson Artist Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Master of Puppets by Metallica played on a Hannah Montana disney Telecaster. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilbPPuvfM7c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
This_Dying_Soul Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 It's the play not the guitar. There's acoustic black metal bands out there, im not even joking. Not exactly acoustic black metal, but a local group who've recently reunited and did quite well as an independant group in the mid 90's through to the early 2000's called An Acoustic Sin make the case for heavey acoustic rock. The singer's background before forming the group was in a local thrash metal band who sounded just as good as any signed thrash band of the time (including Metallica), the lead guitarist was just versatile for lack of a better word - he was mainly known for playing in a cover band that hosted a weekly jam for nearly 7 years and went from acoustic folk and ballads to Pantera over the course of the evening. I'm not so familiar with the backgrounds of the drummer and bassist though. Here's a link to their song Shot Down,which I find showcases their metal roots. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbrvsWuoOsc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versatile Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 Metal.....mmmm..... Not my cup of tea to listen to, but can be fun to play Arguably created in the UK Midlands in the metal working districts in the late 60's Glaring facial expressions, a propensity for black...guitars and clothes Humungous volumes, air guitar, shaking heads, more male than female fans SG's morphing into Explorers, Ibanez'z, Axes various Long straps Quite a long running franchise nowadays with many festivals each year Still wondering if it's a good or a bad thing....mmmmmm.... V Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlanH Posted August 27, 2011 Share Posted August 27, 2011 . Much better to get a nice haircut, put on a smart shirt and play something conservative like, say, a Les Paul Goldtop................. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UELw018TYtc&playnext=1&list=PL856CB6333DA159FF Seriously, the man in question (Alex Skolnick) is a very impressive player. He left testament for a number of years and played in a Jazz band apparently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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