Posts Tagged ‘new guitar’

Review of the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus

Like the Fender Stratocaster, the Gibson Les Paul has become a music icon, favored by guitarists in such differing styles as rock, metal, blues, jazz, and country. From Slash to Jimmy Page, the lovers of the Les Paul are everywhere. For us mere mortals, there’s usually a major drawback to owning a Gibson Les Paul. They don’t come on the cheap, unfortunately! The average street price of a new guitar is well over $2,000, which is hardly small change. What’s a Les Paul devotee to do?

Look out for the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus.

Aside from its trademark Epiphone headstock, an Epiphone Les Paul is a Korean-made guitar that plays, feels, and looks like a more expensive Gibson Les Paul without the expensive price tag. It even has the signature of the greatLes Paul on the headstock. So how does it measure up?

We played a transparent Blue Les Paul Standard Plus Top, and I have to remark that the review model has one of the most delightful tops I’ve  in this price range. The figuring is absolutely beautiful, and is wonderfully supplemented by its creme-colored binding and chrome hardware. Aesthetically, the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus Top is simply a killer guitar.

Having used a Gibson Les Paul Standard for quite some time, I was curious to take note of how the Epiphone Les Paul would measure up, and I have to admit that I was very impressed. The slim-tapered neck reminds me of the 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard neck and in many ways was much faster than my Gibson Les Paul Standard with a 50’s style neck. The rosewood fretboard felt great and the frets were smooth and well-polished all in all, but not quite as pristine as my Gibson Les Paul. That said, the fretwork is still very good, especially given the instrument’s low cost.

The alnico classic pickups deliver the classic Les Paul crunch out of the bridge pickup and a round, smooth tone from the neck pickup. I generally swap pickups out of new stock guitars and would likely do the same here. I think a Duncan JB and Jazz would sound wonderful in this electric guitar, but the replacement pickups would be more of a proclivity than a necessity. These pickups sound very good and might be what you’re hoping for without the need for replacement pickups. They did happen to make some noise a bit at high volumes, but not terribly so.

The trade-offs in a model like this guitar aren’t incredibly apparent. Epiphone saves money by using a veneer flame top glued to non-flamed maple. Similarly, where Gibson Les Paul Standard bodies are made from a single mahogany slab, the Epiphone mahogany body is laminated, as is the guitar’s neck. Still, these cost-saving decisions enable the guitar to weigh considerably less than their Gibson counterparts. For the cost you pay, the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus Top is a beautiful sounding and effortlessly playable Les Paul for a minute fraction of the cost of the Gibson model.

Author R. S. Rasnick is the owner of Ray’s Guitar Shop, where you can find more reviews and choose your own Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus at the best possible price!

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/review-of-the-epiphone-les-paul-standard-plus-1292274.html

Buying A Fender Stratocaster On eBay?

If you are looking for a Fender Stratocaster, eBay is probably worth a browse. Many famous guitar players favored the Strat, so why not try to get this distinguished instrument for a bargain basement price?

The name Fender Stratocaster is a little bit misleading because these two words can mean many things to many guitar players. The first question you need to answer when considering buying a Fender Stratocaster on eBay is which model Strat do you need? Basically a Stratocaster has been adopted by players in the genres of rock and roll, blues, soul, funk and pop. There has even been the odd jazz guitarist to take up the Strat. If you are a new guitar player wanting to learn heavy metal, then the Strat is probably not for you.

The older Stratocasters were manufactured with three single-coil pickups. Some later models have a humbucker at the bridge which will give you the option of departing from that classic Strat sound, but this option is not popular amongst guitar players.

You should think about whether you need to use the whammy bar in your guitar playing. The Fender Stratocaster is not a guitar with a good reputation in the whammy department, in spite of one of the early Strat players, Hank Marvin, using the whammy almost constantly.

When you are looking on eBay for a Fender Stratocaster you need to have on hand some details on the features of the Strat models available. You can get this info from Fender’s website, Wikipedia and guitar forums.

eBay has become a great place for shonky guitar sellers to peddle fake  brand name merchandise. The Fender Stratocaster is no exception to this trend. The origin of many fake Strats is Asia. Sometimes the country of origin of the guitar is hidden by the vendor appearing to be selling from the USA.

eBay has a feedback system that allows you to get an idea of how well the vendor has pleased his previous customers. If a seller you are interested in has nothing to hide, his feedback will be there for you to see. So be careful if you are thinking of dealing with a guitar vendor with no feedback or who has chosen to keep it hidden.

One reason for alarm bells to  go off in your head when you are looking for a Fender Stratocaster on eBay is a ridiculously low price. If someone is selling a Fender Strat for one hundred dollars, look out!

(ArticlesBase ID #1270018)

Do you want to learn to play the guitar? Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free is a constantly updated blog which contains all the resources you need for: learning to play solo guitar, how to learn guitar chords, how to learn to read and play easy acoustic guitar tabs, finding a free online guitar tuner, looking for free guitar lessons online, and how to learn guitar scales.

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Buy A Good Guitar – Important Tips To Identify A Finely-Crafted Guitar

When it comes time to buy a good guitar, it’s hard to know what guitars are good from all of the new brands that are popping up to buy. All these guitars vary in manufacturer, style, tone, and a number of other good things to pay attention to.

However, you can make a well-informed decision when looking for a good guitar to buy, but you need to be critical in your personal inspections. Here is a list of important things to study when looking for a new guitar to buy.

1. The guitar neck has no gaps between it and the body. If you notice that when you play the guitar that the length of sustain in each note seems to be cutting short, there may be a small gap between the neck and body. Buy guitars that have virtually no gaps between any of its parts to ensure longer sustain and a higher quality of tone.

2. There’s a natural curve in the guitar neck. When putting on guitar strings, the guitar begins to develop a natural curving motion that serves the instrument in a good way. If the guitar you’re looking to buy doesn’t have this natural curve, there may be some very slight string vibration issues.

3. The guitar hardware moves very little or not at all. You want a good guitar to have very little play in the hardware, including the pickups and the cable jack. Get your hands on a guitar that appears to have all of its hardware securely installed with no movement.

4. The cable does not slip out of the guitar jack. It gets annoying if you constantly have to reconnect your guitar to the cable because the cable end slides out. Confirm that guitar cables are secure and won’t be moving around when they are connected to the input jack.

5. The tuning pegs have no room for play. A good guitar stays in tune for a long time, but the tuning pegs should be easy to move without any funny business either. Make sure the guitar you buy has tuning pegs that make immediate adjustments as opposed to continuously turning a couple rotations before hearing any actually change in pitch on the string.

6. It sounds good. Don’t forget after all of this visual and physical inspection that you want your guitar to sound good. Buy a guitar for its well-made construction, but mostly for its awesome and dependable tone.

You can get lucky sometimes and buy a good guitar without much inspection, but it’s almost best to do some snooping before you commit. Remember these points the next time you go to the music store and you might prevent yourself from getting stuck with a toy.

(ArticlesBase ID #1260157)

Before you buy ANY sort of guitar courses to improve your skills, check out Kyle Hoffman’s valuable FREE report on finding the best fast electric guitar lessons for your money! Learn tons of other great tips from his popular guitar blog, How To Guitar Tune

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Death Metal Guitar Lesson – Get A Metal Guitar That Will Suit Your Playing Style

A guitar is something that really defines the player and you need something that will define your death metal image on stage. Stick to the advice of professionals and don’t go after something that is better for other unrelated genres like jazz or classical.

A guitar that is perfect for the genre that you pick whether it’s death metal or pop rock is important to any guitarist. The next time that you go looking for a new guitar, take these points with you and make a very well-informed and educated choice.

1. If you have smaller hands, try a thinner guitar neck. Playing fast in death metal guitar is a common occurrence, but if you have smaller hands, getting a thinner guitar neck is a good idea. Even if you don’t have the smallest hands when playing guitar, thinner necks can deliver a very smooth sense of playing action that’s beneficial to the genre.

2. If you want to solo, you want more frets. When playing metal, guitarists are usually all over the place and all of the notes should be compensated in some way. If you want to be able to play some really insane highs on your axe, look for a guitar that delivers extra frets that most guitars don’t.

3. Metal is all about fast action. If you’re thinking about death metal, you can’t help but think about playing fast and fast action is what you’re going to need for your guitar. Pick out a guitar that has its strings adjusted very close to the fret board so they’re not very difficult to press down when creating pitches.

4. A boost in the low end gives it growl and power. Guitars are manufactured to accentuate certain sounds and tones in order for it to serve better in the genre in which it’s being played like rock or jazz. However, for metal, you’re going to want a guitar that knows how to get low and dirty to mix well with the bass and that powerful kick drum.

5. Heavy guitars will slow you down. You don’t want to be the one guy on stage that his guitar is so heavy that it’s a struggle just to move do you? Get yourself something lightweight so that you can be thrashing and pumping up the crowd at your next show.

6. Get something that’s really your style. If you show up on stage with something light blue or purple, you might not be the best representation of a death metal guitarist. Find that guitar that is in the style that you like, because you have to like the guitar’s image most of all.

Playing death metal guitar is completely awesome if you can get the right guitar for the music. When you’re out looking for a new guitar, remember these 6 tips on picking out a proper instrument for the genre and impress everyone with your new axe.

(ArticlesBase ID #1246748)

Kyle Hoffman is an experienced guitarist that has been performing in metal and rock bands for years. Get your hands on his valuable tips on playing fast electric guitar for FREE, visit his acclaimed guitar blog, How To Guitar Tune!

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/death-metal-guitar-lesson-get-a-metal-guitar-that-will-suit-your-playing-style-1246748.html

Playing Fast Guitar – Reach Extreme New Speeds With These Quick Tips

Playing fast guitar is a good goal to have, but it always takes a little dedication and persistence in order to make it happen. Even some of the best and speediest guitar players of our time acheieved their speeds only after years of practice.

Lucky for you, playing fast guitar isn’t the hardest thing in the world and can be reached by working smart and doing a little bit each day. Here are some really helpful tips in order to jumpstart your guitar speeds.

1. Learn to incorporate your neglected fingers into your playing habits.

Beginning guitarists ten do get into the habit of using only three or maybe just two fingers on ther strings when they start on guitar. Incorporating all four fingers into your playing will not only make playing easier, but will reveal more playing possibilities.

2. Practice guitar riffs with your eyes closed.

If you think that you’ve done all that you can do on a riff, try it with your eyes closed. Playing fast guitar is about knowing a lick before you play it and losing sight can really get your fingers into gear.

3. Use a metronome whenever possible.

Keeping a consistent tempo when you practice is never a bad idea. Get your hands on an electronic tuner from a music store or an applet from the internet. Then you can actually keep track of your speed progressions as you improve.

4. Keep your fingers light on the strings.

Feather fingers is a term referring to how quick and effortless it is to get through a lick when you’re playing fast guitar. Focus on how much pressure you’re applying to the fret board and try to ease up as much as you can.

These are just a few of the hundreds of ideas that can get you a little bit closer to being faster on your instrument. Follow through with your goals and you should find yourself reaching new guitar speeds.

(ArticlesBase ID #1197336)

Kyle Hoffman is a computer specialist, recording engineer, hardcore vocalist, guitar-enthusiast, and the writer of the popular guitar blog How To Guitar Tune.

Visit How To Guitar Tune for all the best quick and easy guitar tips.

If you’re a beginner, visit How To Guitar Play to get started!

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/playing-fast-guitar-reach-extreme-new-speeds-with-these-quick-tips-1197336.html