Heres a hand choosing guitars...

[ibanezjunkie]

right, this is a little information for anyone wondering if theyre playing the right guitar, if theyre playing the right guitar for their genre or just generally want to know a few decent guitars.

your guitar should fit comfortably in your hands, and the neck should be comfortable. Depending on your style of playing, you should look for an electric guitar with enough upper fret access for you i.e. if you play alot of metal, you probably want 24 frets that you can get to easily.

right then, there will be others that i dont mention, but im only human =]

Guitars For Metal
Ibanez RG Series
Ibanez S Series
ESP F series
ESP signature series
ESP LTDs (most of them)
Dean Razorbacks (dimebags)
Dean MLs
Dean Zs
Jackson RR (randy rhoads) flying Vs
Jackson warriors
Gibson les pauls especially when fitted with EMGs or active pups)
BC Rich warbeasts, warlocks and wartribe.

Guitars For Rock
Fender strats
Squire strats and teles
fender teles
PRS
fender jags
ibanez ART
Epi les pauls
Epi SGs
gibson les pauls
gibson SGs

need some BLUES?
Fender Strats USA
fender strats Mexican
Squier Teles/strats
Fender teles
Fender jags
Gibson 335s
gibson les pauls
epiphone dot
ibanez semi-hollowbody models


right. that should give any beginners a few ideas to look around on genre wise. Now, what about perosnal preferences?

if you have big hands, you might want a thick neck, alot of les pauls and les paul remakes have fairly thick necks, also there are a few PRS guitars with faily thick necks. Alot of acoustic guitars are thick in the neck, but im clueless with acoustics thats why im trying to stick to electric here.

Left handers can have a few problems finding guitars. i am left handed but i play righty because i always found it easier, plus loads mroe guitar models to choose from.


Lefty?
most epiphones come in left handed models
ESP F series come in lefty i believe
Squire strats, teles jagmasters etc.
BC Richs
Jacksons (i think )

Weights?
some people prefere heavier guitars, some prefere featherweights..here 2 lists to show a few examples...

Heavy?
gibson/epiphone les pauls
washburn W200PRO-Es
many PRS
Dean soltero

Light?
Fender strats and teles
squier strats and teles
ibanez RGs and S Series models
PRS SE-1s


i hope this helps any beginners wondering if their guitar is right for their preferences etc. or if your just looking for a guitar that suits your preferences

later fretters :

[Viking Power]

Looks like a pretty solid list. I could have used it a few weeks ago, but it looks like I made pretty much the right choice with my Epi SG.

Good that you brought up neck thickness. This was what sold me on the Epi SG. I have a bit of a mangled fret index finger and the thicker neck is helping me out quite a bit. Well, it just fits better I guess...

Any way, good job man!:

[ibanezjunkie]

i had been answering a load of questions on UG and here about stuff liek this, so i thought id make one thread that hopefully answers most questions

just out of interest, do you think its worth a sticky?

[Viking Power]

i had been answering a load of questions on UG and here about stuff liek this, so i thought id make one thread that hopefully answers most questions

just out of interest, do you think its worth a sticky?

I think it belongs as a sticky or part of the FAQ, but I don't know how they control those things on this forum.

[Shredd Ed]

Hi,

Thanks for the info. Am thinking of changing my guitar and this has given me some good ideas.

There's so much to think about when choosing a guitar and it's really easy to end up with just an 'ok' guitar.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who later 'upgrades' their guitar once they know what they're really looking for!

Thanks,

Ed

[Eric***]

I think it's worth a sticky, but you'd need an admin for that, I guess. Maybe some more input from others and appropriate edits to the primary post.

One question: you wouldn't put a 335-style up in the rock category? Seems like I know of plenty of ppl (Ted Leo comes to mind) who I would consider rock/pop who use 335s.

[markb]

I think it's worth a sticky, but you'd need an admin for that, I guess. Maybe some more input from others and appropriate edits to the primary post.

One question: you wouldn't put a 335-style up in the rock category? Seems like I know of plenty of ppl (Ted Leo comes to mind) who I would consider rock/pop who use 335s.

The 335 and the tele' belong in the "guitars for everything except perhaps metal but you can probably fake it" category

[Kodiak3D]

I'm going to assume that Black Sabbath falls under "rock" for the purposes of this list. Otherwise, Tony Iommi would argue that the SG should be added to the "metal" list.

[SuperSwede]

The 335 and the tele' belong in the "guitars for everything except perhaps metal but you can probably fake it" category

Yeah! And i know a guy that plays a lot of swing jazz on his BC rich Warlock

[kiteman]

Yeah! And i know a guy that plays a lot of swing jazz on his BC rich Warlock

and blues players playing with flying Vs.

[jpfeifer]

Speaking of odd choices for guitars, I once saw an amazing Jazz solo fingerstyle player who used one of those Van Halen Wolfgang model guitars with the locking trem, etc. It seemed like such a bad pairing of guitar to the player, but he sounded great even still.

There's also Ted Nugent who used the Gibson Birdland guitar (which he stuffed full of of foam, etc. to keep the feedback under control).

--Jim

[deeaa*]

I might add that the biggest reason for selecting between the most iconic guitar types is usually the scale...these days there are plenty of 'metal' guitars which usually means shape and on many Ibanez, Tokai etc. guitars also quite a flat and wide fretboard for easier tapping etc.

But on the three originals, namely Gibson LP, Fender Strat and Tele it was always about the scale mostly I think...Tele scale makes for a guitar that is quite 'hard' to play leads on...can't think of any lead players using originsl teles, except Lee and he uses a capo...BUT the tension also means a Tele is great for vocalist/players as you can play it more carelessly, press down harder on the fretboard and not bend the strings out of tune because the neck is narrow and strings taut...there's a zillion rock singers using teles.

A Strat scale is much softer, but not as soft as Gibson, and being a good compromise I guess it's the most common one, good all-rounder.

Gibson scale on the other hand makes for super-easy bending and always used to be lead playing favorite, easy to make long bends and wails and has a beefier tone for leads...it's a bit too easy to press the chords out of tune due to that softness, which is why you seldom see a singer/rhythm player spank an LP...I myself used .11-54 set because of that on LP.

Modern guitars are so varied in scale lenghts etc. that this has much lost its meaning or is not even thought of I guess....mixed scales, tremolo bridges and such have blurred the lines... Ah, PRS is a compromise between a gibson and a strat btw. I always disliked PRS for its narrow fret spacing compared to either, but it's a handy compromise for many.

[oldguy]

I tend to think of Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton as lead players..............

[deeaa*]

I tend to think of Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton as lead players..............

LOL well sure there are some exceptions to any rule...you you know what I mean. Even with them it's instantly clear that it's a tele...it's twangy bluesy country style playing, despite the quick runs and bends. You wouldn't be doing any guitar-hero type wailing and such on a tele...or crazy wobbly Angus Young vibratos all the time. It'll always sound snappy and tight.

Of course you can solo on a tele as well...but the fact is, you put the same gauge strings on a tele, strat and a gibson, and if it'll require strongish fingers to manage a full-step bend on a tele, it'll be rather easy on a strat and on a Gibson scale you can go two steps. Teles feel more like acoustics due to the tight scale.

I usually play a strat at home, but in training I keep a Flying-V and it's always super-easy to bend when you've gotten used to the strat...sometimes too easy at first :-)

[marnold***]

Or John 5.

The only reason that a Strat would be any easier to play than a Tele is if the bridge is floating so it will "give" a little bit when you bend. That also introduces its own set of problems since you actually have to bend further and the other strings are pulled out of tune. OTOH, the vintage 7.5" radius certainly will make bending more difficult.

I'm of the feeling that while some of these categories are helpful, ultimately you can play any style of music on any guitar. Flat fretboards are usually thought of as a metal/shred thing, but the typical classical guitar is going to have an extraordinarily flat fretboard.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who would say that I can't play the blues on my Jackson. Any problems there are a limitation of my talent, not the guitar. It certainly would be off-putting to blues purists to see blues played on a guitar with sharkies and a pointy headstock, but they also would be cordially invited to do something anatomically impossible to themselves. Personally, I think it is a greater incongruity to play the blues on a guitar that costs several thousands of dollars than to play it on one with points.

Having said all that, I would not advise a new guitarist to get a Floyd-equipped guitar. I love mine and wouldn't trade it for the world, but it's a steep learning curve. As a beginner, that time would be better spent playing. Once you've got some experience, then you can dive into the wonderful and wacky world of the floating, double-locking tremolo. Which isn't even a tremolo. Thanks, Leo.

[deeaa*]

Damn, I always thought Teles had longer scales than Strats...I was sure of it, because all teles I ever tried seemed so stiff...but it seems I'm wrong...they're both 25.5...but PRS does use a slightly shorter scale and Gibsons are mostly 24.6. Then the stiffness of tele must be due to no tremolo and the twangy sound maybe also makes it sound tighter. I've never actually owned one, I guess all teles I've played might have been stringed with rather heavy strings.

Well you live you learn! But at least the gibson/strat/prs scales I had right all along.

[markb]

Or John 5.

The only reason that a Strat would be any easier to play than a Tele is if the bridge is floating so it will "give" a little bit when you bend. That also introduces its own set of problems since you actually have to bend further and the other strings are pulled out of tune. OTOH, the vintage 7.5" radius certainly will make bending more difficult.

<SNIP>


Having said all that, I would not advise a new guitarist to get a Floyd-equipped guitar. I love mine and wouldn't trade it for the world, but it's a steep learning curve. As a beginner, that time would be better spent playing. Once you've got some experience, then you can dive into the wonderful and wacky world of the floating, double-locking tremolo. Which isn't even a tremolo. Thanks, Leo.

I wouldn't advise a beginner to get a guitar with any sort of device that adds to the tuning problems they were going to have anyway. But the standard beginners' guitar is a 'strat copy, go figure!