Question:
Recommendation for a lead guitar under £300 ($450)?
C
2013-11-28 03:37:05 UTC
I have some basic ability from using an acoustic guitar.

Not really into metal - more rock, classic rock, folk/rock

I was asked -

" are you going to drop tune or alternate tune the guitar? " (I have no idea what this means)


I would like the ability to fine control bass / treble

What I want to do is plug it into a laptop via a analogue to digital converter so I can play it through the laptop via headphones or the laptop speakers. Anyone know the best solution for that ? Possibly also get a amp, but not sure of that yet.

In terms of look / finish I prefer the natural wood look.

-- Hope that helps.

Thanks
Five answers:
Russell E
2013-11-28 08:59:26 UTC
Drop tuning is tuning the guitar to lower pitch than standard E tuning in which A=440.



A lot of Metal songs and pop/rock is now down tuned to lower pitch. And a lot of songs use alternate tunings.



that's what drop tuning is. (sorry if I confused you.)



Since you don't know about that , then you can probably safely have a guitar with a tremolo bridge.

If you like the natural wood finish, it limits the guitar choice some.

Squier does make a Telecaster with a natural wood finish and maple neck. It's well in your budget.



Here is a page from a European website to order guitars from in the UK.

this was the result for a search for "natural finish " guitars.

the Ibanez or B.C. Rich models would be my choices.



http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_squier_affinity_tele_mn_bb_02.htm

Here's the natural telecaster



Playing through your laptop is not a great idea as a substitute for an amp. You run a chance of "latency" which means there is a slight delay from the time you pick a note and the time it actually comes back out amplified. Which can be confusing and annoying.

And you'll be stuck with a perfectly clean sound. No distortion at all. Unless you use a software that has effects. And that can add latency as well.

There are headphone amplifiers.

I think that also something like this can be used as a headphone amp or routed to powered computer speakers

http://www.thomann.de/gb/digitech_rp_55.htm
2013-11-28 10:27:27 UTC
I assume you simply mean an ordinary electric guitar as "lead guitar" is a style of playing not a type of guitar.



The obvious things to look at are Epiphone (copies of Gibson type guitars) and Squier (copies of Fender type guitars) although you could afford a "real" Fender with that budget. Any of these guitars are available in natural wood finishes. Since you can already play, you need to check out these guitars and see which you like the look, feel and sound of.



Almost all electric guitars have simple passive low-pass tone controls - all you can do is cut the treble. Many players don't use their tone controls at all.



Russell is one of the best and most respected contributors here and if he says anything I disagree with I always think twice and consider carefully what he says. His opinion is always worth listening to and he knows what he's talking about. However, tuning...



Standard tuning for guitar is EADGBE. This tuning is called, "standard tuning", not "E standard" or "E" anything, just "standard tuning".



The A = 440 hertz tuning standard (NOT "standard tuning") applies to notes, not tunings. All instruments, regardless of how they at tuned follow this tuning standard. Without this standard, everyone would have their own idea of what constitute an A or a C or whatever. Using an alternative tuning on guitar, or a capo, or bending strings makes no difference, the individual notes are the same, it is still tuned to the tuning standard A = 440 hertz.



Decades ago, some players discovered if the de-tuned their low E string to D ("dropped" it to D) it was useful for playing in the key of D as the lowest bass note was a D. Also, six string D and D minor chords could be played. Lots of folk tunes were played in D (good keys for fiddle, melodeon etc.) so this tuning became popular in folk circles (Richard Thompson uses it more than anything else on acoustic guitar). This became known as "Dropped D tuning". Another variant was called "Double Dropped D" and involved de-tuning both D strings.



Now, this was okay until the "non-players" discovered that this tuning allowed them to play one-finger power chords on the bottom three strings of their guitars. Maybe they misheard the name of this tuning or couldn't get their tongues around it so they called it "drop D". "Drop tuning" involves de-tuning the sixth string so that it is as octave lower than the fourth string ("Drop D" would be DADGBE).



Then, some "players" decided to de-tune their whole guitar - the intervals would stay the same, each string would be de-tuned by the same amount (perhaps a semi-tone or a tone or even more). Then, having a de-tuned guitar they decided to de-tune the sixth string to be an octave lower than the (already de-tuned) fourth string. Terms like "drop C" or "drop B" were made-up and a lot of these "players" thought they were being really inventive and that the were using "alternative tunings" - they generally had no idea what notes or chords they were playing and had to alter the tuning of their guitar to match the key they were playing in, but they enjoyed it, beats learning to play any day!



In short, stay in standard tuning unless you have a really good reason for changing - several really brilliant players have had good reasons for experimenting with or changing their tuning, most of the people doing it now though can't even play a C chord.
Danny
2013-11-28 15:04:15 UTC
Hi, Chris. Two outstanding answers, RE & TB's, the first extremely practical, and the second likely the best summary of drop-tuning I've seen (and which I will copy for reference).



This old man's simple take is to just get simple: get a good quality instrument (preferably used) and a real guitar amp to give it the big voice it's capable of. There are some nifty small amps (i.e. "Pignose") that can grab you for lead lines, but something bigger is where it always ends up.



The tangible, even sensual feel of a good rig simply can't be downsized to a plastic-cased digital device, no more than playing "Rock Star" captures the power and reality of actually playing a stage with a real band.



And being a lead player, as opposed to learning some fast riffs to use in a guitar shop, requires real time with a real band. Sure, having a good axe with fast action helps, but the best I've heard/played with could fly with a pretty mediocre guitar, while some less-accomplished couldn't pull it off with $10k worth of gear.



So stay basic. If you stay at it, you'll dump it and upgrade anyway!
?
2013-11-28 04:11:29 UTC
Theres a guy who has a pub called the Red Lion in a village called Cropredy near Banbury Oxon. He also buys and sells elec guitars.

The last time i was there he had one of the most beautiful natural wood Fender Telecaster ive ever seen his showroom is part of the bar.

Anyway a Tele' was first developed for folk/country & western music. Its a right hander so no good for me, why not give him a bell as this thing was stunning, made up from a dozen different pieces of wood if it was a lefty i would have bought it on the spot.

Have a chat with him, he will helpya im sure. Cropredy is slap bang in the centre of England the pub has a thatched roof and an inglenook fireplace, buying a guitar, whilst having a pint as you warm your toes, how bad. If he asks tell him im Pats brother. Good luck and happy hunting, other than cars buying a new guitar is my fav type of shopping.
2014-07-30 10:46:35 UTC
You should use this free software to tune your guitar from your pc http://j.mp/1AyplTY

It's a good free solution.

Have a nice day


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