introduction and various guitar questions

fourmations

hi all

im new here,

i have been playing guitar for 12yrs
but only occasional acoustic dossing for 8yrs

i have been inspired by youtube
to learn all my old late 80's thrash favourites
and to learn all the lead techniques
(especially sweeping which is intriguing)
middle-age shredders unite!!

its like starting again for me
things like using my index finger a lot and alternate picking
has me feeling like i have never played before!! :eek:
but i am getting there and finding chromatic exercises
with strict alternate picking very useful.

I have dusted off my 89 squier hm3 (ibanez s copy)
its actually a great little guitar with a really nice neck
(h/s/h pups, 5 way toggle, 22 jumbo frets, floyd trem, basswood body)
its perfect for what i am at and i know it well,

that the intro... now the questions

I currently play through an old boss multi-fx (me-6)
and straight into a pair of middle-end pc speakers
through the headphone jack which gives me stereo
(useful for the stereo chorus on the boss)
i am dealing with eq issues with the boss

would a practice amp give me a much better sound
bearing in mind that ther is no issue with the
volume from the pc speakers (kids in bed and all that)
I like the idea of that little vox da5, especially the way
there is a output select switch, so you can crank the sound
without the volume. any thoughts?

I would also like to look at the pickups, as they are not great
i would like recommendations, i cant see the practicality
of going into a guitar shop and trying a load of pickups
as they will all be in different guitars and through an amp
i dont have and wont be used to, i wont be able to judge!
I'm pretty sure I wont go too wrong as the stock pups
are not great, so a decent brand will surely improve things.

I would like a high output shredder job in the bridge h/b
and for the neck h/b and the s/c to have some versatility
(maybe a more classic rock sound and some nice cleans)
i dont think emgs are practical as i have read that you need
to change them all to emgs or the levels will be all over the place,
the emgs are often accused of having no flexibilty and poor clean tones.
any advice welcome, (ebay bargains welcome too!)

i want to get the guitar set up again as it has
been lying around for yonks, action, intonation, possible truss adjust
I trusted musician inc. back in the day and bought everyting there
are they still good? is the guy in marlay good?

last thing, is there a site on music theory for dummies?
I have played for years and written loads of songs
but i couldnt tell you what key they are in!
I lived my life playing basic leads on a e blues scale
but would now like to understand it all better

many thanks

Kind regards y'all

4

Patricide

I honestly cant recomend a dimarzio super distorsion enough for the bridge, its a killer pickup and its pretty high gain but it has some versitility for rock too.

If your willing to wait it out a bit you could get a hand wired ****e hot pickup from bill lawrence, the XL 500 is unreal and hey...if its good enough for dimebag.
As for the neck id say a seymore duncan 59 or a jazz there both pretty damm sweet.

Also yea if anyone has a site for guitar theory for dummies id much appreciate it too, especially a guite into reading music.

Voodu Child

Couple of answers/suggestions, in no particular order..

1) Dimarzio Steve's special is the best bridge HB i have ever used for high gain.

2) Music inc are probably fine for setups. It's all pretty simple though, a few evenings tinkering with the guitar and reading the links in the resources will get you up to speed.

3) There are tonnes of books on music theory. I cant recommend any specifically, but what i can recommend are guthrie govans two books, "creative guitar 1&2". I picked them up cheap in chapters once by chance, and they cover everything from explaining music theory, right up to crazy stuff like 8 finger tapping, and everything in between. I never really used them much, but they definitely contain a lot of ideas and excercises for sweeping, legato, tapping etc. The kind of stuff you sound like youre looking to get into. Plus, tonnes of stuff on different modes etc, great for getting away from the pentatonics.
Plus they come with a CD each, with backing tracks & suggested solo's etc for all the different modes & ideas he covers

LundiMardi

man, you've been playing for 12 years.... You DESERVE to get yourself a decent rig... Go out and buy yourself a proper guitar!!!! Then buy guitar rig 2 for your pc and a quality pair of headphones and your sorted for home playing.

I've only recently tried out guitar rig and you can get some truely awesome metal tones. There's even an ''old metallica'' tone:D

Patricide

i dunno bout guitar rig, i never got a great tone from it, then again my computer hated it, even though its a pretty good pc. O well its gone now and my toneport it here to stay, handy for recording bits and pieces too.

fourmations

hi all

patricide:
theres bill lawrence xl500s on ebay for 40euro
but they are from the u.s.? are they the same type
http://stores.ebay.ie/GEARHOUNDS-GUITARS-AND-MUSIC-GEAR_Bill-Lawrence-Pickups_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ2QQftidZ2QQtZkm

is ebay viable for pickups or is it a heavily counterfeited item?

lundi:
i like the look of guitar rig,
i suppose you could get some monitors or
good speakers instead of a traditional amp
but i will read up a bit and see how people like it,

any more suggestions welcome

ciao
4

Patricide

i wouldnt go for anything other than www.billlawrence.com as theres been a load of forgeries by places like stew mac apparently. ITs a wai but its well worth it.

fourmations

hi

i assumed they were crazy money, they quite cheap
the xl500 are only 38euro and even with their preffered
(expensive) post at 23euro, it still cheap
are they better than the best seymour and dimarzios?
is the wait really long? is there customs issues?

rgds

4

Patricide

I think the wait is somthing like 6 weeks or so cause its a family run thing and theres a waiting list,id advise e mailing em for more info.

There cheap alright but there some class high gain pickups. If you love the sharp dimebag tone id definatly recomend the wait(and avoid the hideous seymore duncan dimebucker). Youl prolly get snagged by customs cause its coming from america but itl end up like an extra 20 quid or so so the pickup is still not that expensive.

If waitings not your bad the dimarzio super distorsion is still the bees knees, and id deffo go for the seymore duncan 59 or the jazz in the neck.

fourmations

hi patricide

thanks for the info,

I emailed bill, but have not got a reply yet

I am now thinking that i should get bills
for all my pickups as i might as well while paying the postage
they are still cheaper that seymours etc even with the tax

So i have two buckers and a single, i asked them
for recommendations, i let y'all know what transpires
Apparently their single coils are superb as well (been reading)
and maybe a lower gain 500 for the neck will suit.

I have noticed the 59 is really popular but
i will see if there is a BL version

regards

4