Guitar help questions?

Question

I want to learn how to play guitar...I want to play like Killswitch engage sounding music. What is a good guitar to buy for that sound along with pedals and amps? Any advice will be great since I want as much info so when I buy this stuff I know what I'm getting

Answer 1

If you want heavy sounds, the most direct way is to get a guitar with aftermarket high-gain humbuckers and a high gain (pref tube) amp.

Not everyone can do that right away, so usually the way to go is to find a guitar with some beefy humbuckers in it. I recommend Ibanez, Epiphone, LTD, Schecter, Jackson, and that's about it. I do not, repeat, do NOT recommend Dean or BC Rich, unless you are getting one of their top of the line models. My personal experience with both has been terrible.

Do not get a guitar with a floating tremolo (ie a whammy) as your first guitar. You want your first guitar to stay in tune and to not be too complicated. A whammy, even a good one, is neither. If you're really bent on one, save up for a good one for your second guitar.

For any guitar you buy, you should expect to budget in a setup and intonation. Getting upgraded pickups would be a great idea at this point, if you can afford it and know what you want.

As far as amps go, Marshall is a great choice. It's a rock standard. The MGHDFX series are decent sounding, but of course you should go to a place like Guitar Center and try just about everything to see what you like (even if you can't afford it! *grin*).

You usually can't get that KE sound on a beginner's budget, but you can still come close if you shop well.

Next step is more distortion - but try the Marshall by itself first, you might like it as is. If you need more than what you're hearing, you have two things you need to do and at least one you should do - upgrade your pickups, get a distortion pedal, and get an EQ pedal. DiMarzio has some decently priced pups that sound pretty decent - Evolutions (Evos). Other alternatives are Seymour Duncan Distortion, SD Invaders, Gibson Dirty Fingers, etc. You want high output. The salesman should be able to give you some advice as to what might suit you best.

As far as distortion pedals go, I really like the Metal Zone, and I keep seeing them used, for sale. You can get a good distortion tone with many different pedals, esp fuzz pedals, when combined with an EQ pedal (usually after).

Check out http://www.harmony-central.com/reviews  (or is it harmonycentral.com? Dang, I can never remember....) for customer reviews on different products.

Good luck!

Saul

Answer 2

well i have an ibanez and its got a good solid sound to it. gibson is good too. go to guitar center and try out a ibanez and a gibson and see which one you like best. if you want ti play metal i would not buy a fender squier. i have one and am not to happy about it. it has a soft sound to it so i use it to play alternative. i use the ibanez to rock out to metal. if you want to play metal you must buy a distortion pedal. it makes it metally and distorted. if your starting out buy a practice marshall amp. dont spend $300 on one if your just starting out. your gonna need two cords to use the distortion pedal. and you obviously need picks.

good luck and rock on.