Guitar Help?
Ok, heres the deal. I have been playing guitar for a few years but i only own an acoustic and a Classical (nylon string). I am looking for a Electric guitar and dont know what i want!! I like pretty much andy music, as long as its good, Rocks and alternatives my faovurite (arctic monkeys, Kooks, Bloc Party) i like the look of the Epiphone/Gibson Les Pauls, but im not a big fan of Metal. In Fact, i hate metal and when i YouTubed Les Pauls, i could only find people playing metal on them! so the next guitar i looked at was a Fender Telecaster (Standard, im not made of money!) but unfortunatly my parentals dont like the “look: of them! which sucks considering theyre my funds!! Is there a guitar for me that looks good and sounds like a Tele??!?!?!?! and if not, whats something i can tell my parents to convince them to let me get the Tele??!?!?!
ten points for the best answer!
First of all Les Pauls are not only Metal guitars, they’ve been around since the early 1950′s and have been used to play every type of music a guitar has been used for. The reason people use them for metal is because they have a beautiful tone, long sustain, and high output so you can get crunchy rhythm and searing leads. The one disadvantage they have for metal is lack of easy access to the higher frets from 17 to 22 because the neck heel joins the body at the 17th fret. I guess this can be a disadvantage for any type of music, but especially metal since a lot of soloing uses the higher notes. I use mine for everything, including metal, but mostly for blues, jazz, and rock. If you are used to playing acoustic guitar a Les Paul would be perfect for you because it sounds great and you’d already be used to not having easy high fret access. But a Les Paul plays like BUTTER compared to an acoustic. So you really can’t go wrong with one, why do you think every big name guitarist owns one? Even strat players like Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimi Hendrix had Les Pauls. Telecasters are also great guitars and you can get a variety of sounds from them, but they don’t seem to be as tonally diverse as Les Pauls. They may have slightly better high fret access, but they’re used mostly for country, rock, and some blues because of their characteristic bright twang. They were the first production model electric guitar ever (then known as the Broadcaster), hence their classic look and feel. They also play very well and they’re made by Fender so they are great quality. By the way, don’t get any Les Paul other than a Gibson, at least not a cheap knock off, ESP makes nice copies as does PRS. Some better quality guitar companies make OK knockoffs, but the real thing is the way to go. Stratocasters are also very nice and very tonally diverse, and they offer excellent access to the entire fretboard. If you play electric guitar you MUST own a stratocaster because everyone whos anyone has used them on their records and they sound great. They have a 25 1/2″ scale which is a bit longer than the Gibson 24 3/4″ scale so your hands have to adapt to longer stretches, and this also affects the tone and string bending ability. The longer scaled strings are under higher tension to maintain the same pitch as shorter scaled instruments such as the Les Paul, and consequently the strings are a little more difficult to bend on a strat. But that shouldn’t be a factor in your decision because your hands will just become stronger. There are a TON of different strat copies out there, but I would suggest just spending the extra money from the start to purchase a quality Fender and avoid the knockoffs inlcuding Fender’s own Squier. This will assure that you have a good quality instrument that won’t hinder your playing and you won’t have to upgrade at any point, you then later have the option to just pick up a different type of guitar. Another big decision making factor is what sound you’re after because Strats and Teles use single coil pickups while Les Pauls use humbuckers. Single coils have more bite, they’re brighter sounding ,and they produce a little hum, whereas humbuckers have a warmer sound and “buck” the hum so you don’t have to deal with amp noise. But you can always swap out your pickups later and use single coil “soapbars” or coil taps in place of humbuckers for a single coil sound or use a stacked humbucker in place of a single coil for a humbucking sound. I’ve heard from other guitarists that Les Pauls equiped with coil taps can achieve sounds similar to a Telecaster. Listen to some of your favorite artists and see what they play, if you want to achieve something similar to that sound then get a guitar similar to what they use. If you want both humbucking and single coil sounds get a Fender “Fat Strat” with a humbucker in the bridge position.
So if I were you I would get either a Les Paul or a Stratocaster. Les Paul would be my first choice because that’s just my personal preference, but a Strat is probaly the best electric guitar in the world and perfect for a beginner. Strats are more affordable as well. When comparing lower end models of Strats and Les Pauls, the latter are a bit more expensive. Or you could forget everything I just said and go buy a $2000 PRS with a compromising 25″ scale, beautiful tone, looks, and great playability. Oh, and if you do get a Strat, get one with a tremolo (vibrato) bridge and learn how to use it. Hope that helps.
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