What gear to I need to learn playing guitar the death/black metal way?

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rancor

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Hi, I'm a 14 year old guy who knows practically nothing about guitars and stuff but wants to get one and learn to play it (the death/black metal way as stated in the subject)... First of all, I'm guessing I'd need a guitar (no shit), an amp, and a distortion pedal.

For the distortion, I've heard the Boss Metal Zone is good for that kind of music. Is that true?

Amps I don't know shit about. I don't wanna start with buying a huuuuge expensive as hell amp, but a small one, as cheap as possible for practicing. Any suggestions?

About the guitar I was thinking about a Fender Strat. Squier, it seems very cheap, and I don't need really hifi stuff as said. Is it a good one to buy or should I look for another one?

Also, is there anything more I'd need, or is it just git, amp, and dist?

If you know reasonable prices for this stuff, used or new, please tell me...

I would be glad to get an answer, sorry for the damn long topic.

/ rancor
 
For what you are wanting to do, check out a Fender strat pack. This a Korean made Squier and a small Fender amp all in one box. They sell for around $250 to $350. Larger music store mostly have the lower prices. Crate also sells a combo pack. And so does Peavy. For beginers, one is just as good as another. The boss Metal Zone is good. Also check out pawn shops and second hand music stores for the Boss HM-2. This is a distorion box from the late eighties and it does a good job for extremly distorted tones. But for the most part, any distortion box will get you started. Check out Ibanez Sound Tanks for the economy route. Have fun and welcome to the sport...
 
If at all possible try and get a guitar that has humbucker in the neck position. A single coil (which is what will probably be on the Squier Strat) just won't cut it.
 
if you've found a place with several fairly inexpensive guitars, i'd advise trying all of them through a metal zone and a fairly inexpensive (like in your pricerange, roughly, especially since you may want to get it) amp. humbuckers are twice as wide as single coils, as a general rule, though some single coils are also pretty wide-most humbuckers will have two rows of pole pieces on the pickup. try all of those guitars through the pedal and amp-start with everything in the middle for eq on the amp, on the clean channel if there are channels, at whatever volume suits you, and the switch on the guitar either toward the floor or toward the right, generally. on the pedal, you would do well to turn the low,mid,and high knobs all to the middle to start, and the distrotion all the way up, and the level to wherever you want. tweak around the nkobs on the amp and guitar, especially tone knobs. you'll want the volume knob/knobs up all the way on the guitar for this. now just bang around on em and see what impresses you, and go with the winner. if you aren't happy with any of them, try the one that seems best, and tweak the eq a little more-you should find something eventually. i play rather heavy stuff myself, and use a gibson explorer + metal zone + alesis microeq +fender musicmaster or crate tube amp. i also have a ~$100 hohner randy rhoads v copy that is just about as heavy and about as fun to play, so that goes to show that you can get some good heavy tones outta cheap stuff.
 
http://www.fender.com/spotlight/images/intro5.jpg

click above to see the two types of pickups (single coil and humbucker)

Ok, the first pickup, (the thing at the bottom of the body of the guitar under the strings) is a humbucker, the second and the third pickup are single coils. As you might notice the single coils are half the size of the humbucker. :)


[This message has been edited by Animaniac (edited 07-18-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Animaniac (edited 07-18-2000).]
 
Eh thanks guys, but what's that single coil and whatever stuff cooperman talked about?
 
Rancor,

Daddy-o's suggestion is good, cheap guitar, you wont be afraid to break it if it gets on your nerves, I had the HM-2 but now i have the Metal zone for me if you play metal it can sound better, might i recomend you to check out a Jackson (the cheap ones), i have the squire strat and a friend of mine has a jackson, there is absolutelly no comparison, the jackson Rocks! (beacause of the humbuckers) try them both, the squire is good (well respectivelly that is) for acoustic stuff, the neck is not so fast as in the jackson, "before you buy .... TRY!!"
 
The single coil and humbucker refers to the pickups. These are the electromagnetic thingies that pick up the vibration of the strings that gets sent to the amp to create the sound.

Now you will see on the squire for example that there are three on the body just under the strings. White elongated objects sometimes with six little metal pins that do not extend out. (I am sorry if I am talking to you like you are an idiot, but I do not know how much you know. so please do not take it personally).

The single coil is a pickup that consists of exacly that, a single electromagnetic coil to pick up these vibrations, where as the humbucker consists of two single coils wired together in parallel (or is that serie) and strapped up next to one another. This configuration is supposed to give less of a hum in the pickup (hence the name humbucker) but also gives a much stronger signal to the amp. Because of this stronger signal (as if its pre-amped if it is a good humbucker) this is the ideal metal pickup. A rich, full big heavy sound.

In your situation and for the sound you are looking for I would suggest the following:

1. A Rockwood guitar (the gibson copy). Has two humbuckers and the sound is very close to a real Gibson and quite good priced to. I think roundabout 200-300 dollars maybe
2. A second hand amp, something between 30 and 50 watt RMS. Why I say a second hand amp is because then you can get a better quality amp for the same price as a shitty small new amp. Which amp you use is another ten pager discussion, but I would suggest a Peavey Bandit with the Rockwood.
3. And the distortion pedal I would also look for something BOSS, or ZOOM or DOD. Maybe a BOSS Turbo overdrive pedal or look at the DOD pedals because they usually have pedals for exact purposes. Like for example a pedal that sounds like oasis or grunge or god knows nearly everything. I also agree with the BOSS Metal Zone.

Check out all the forums here though and see what people say about the different equipment, that will give you a good idea of where you stand. What I suggested is just my oppinion and I think many will disagree with me, all I can say is I have my reasons for suggesting this stuff.
 
First of all, feel free to talk to me as if I am an idiot cause in guitar terms I really am. ;)

I'll probably go for the BOSS metal zone, seems like the right thing.

When it comes to amps I guess I'll look for something second hand. But what features should I look for?

I found a good store with quite cheap (around $200) guitars (some used, some not)which seemed quite good. If I'd go for a guitar there, without looking for a certain type, how can I see if they have single coil or humbucker pickups? Or do I have to ask? (if that's the case I've gotta find out what those things are called in swedish :P)
How many knobs and things should the guitar have, and should it have stuff like a detuner (or whatever it's called)?

Just please observe that I don't want THE perfect metal sound or anything, just something cheap to learn playing metal with.
 
First of all, thanks Animaniac, I see now. Can't really say I remember if those guitars I saw had single coil or humbucker pickups.

Anyways, what zer0sig said sounded good of course, but I dunno if they had a metal zone there, or if you could test the guitars like that (but maybe that's usual in guitar stores? wtf do I know? ;))... Well I guess I've gotta go back there and just ask about some stuff.

Hope I'm not bugging ya....
 
yo dude. what others here said was some good advice. you'll want to get a guitar with a humbucker in the bridge position (right next to the bridge). i play metal myself and all i ever use is the bridge pickup. i have a les paul copy by the way. the neck pickup is just way to muddy. check out Epiphone Sg's and Les Pauls...and the Ibanez GAX is really sweat guitar for the price. Jacksons are very nice also. whatever you do, don't buy a fender...cuz they suck for metal. and plus people will make fun of you.
what kind of bands do you like?? you've got a lot of talent from your corner of the world.
For a death metal sound, you'll want a lot of bass and low low midrange and sucked midrange. a black metal guitar sound is a little bit more trebly and not so heavy since you play a little faster. you'll want to get an amp that has a midrange control on the distortion channel so you can turn it down. check out the Marshall MG series. you can get a used one for cheap. these amps have a cool fuzzy top end and they are really in your face. Crates are good too. also, you might want to get an amp that has a 12 inch diameter speaker because it will give you more bass and better treble. but if you're just practicing by yourself and not playing in a band it's really not a big deal at all.
 
This ones mainly for smidgie:
First of all I guess I wont buy a Fender then. I'll see if the guys at that store (or maybe somewhere else) can give me some advice.

And, swedish death/black metal rocks really. It's mostly stuff like Entombed's "Clandestine", At The Gates' "Slaughter of the Soul" and Dissection's "Storm of the Light's Bane" that makes me wanna buy a guitar. And well Slayer too... ;)

Thanks for the EQ tips...

I want to join a band in time, but like first I've gotta learn to play so I'll go with a small amp.

Also I've gotta ask, how much does the guitar (with those humbuckers and all) really matter if you're just gonna practice
on it? I mean does that extra power do very much, or is it mostly for perfection or something?
 
Gotta add this too:
Will like any amp, git, and dist work together? I mean technically, can you combine anything?
 
Extol is also a very good band. have you heard of them? but they're from norway. if you're into black metal, though, you'd probably want to kill them or something.

Humbuckers give a beefier sound. If you're just practicing by yourself and you don't care what it sounds like, i guess it's ok. I don't know if you'll notice the difference between a humbucker and a single coil, but a humbucker as more of a grind to it. It's alot cooler than a single coil. If you have a good sound, it'll probably make you want to play more. Plus, if you do get into a band, you're gonna have to buy a new guitar, because with single coils playing that loud, you'll get tons of hum and squeeling and will annoy the heck out of you. But if you can't afford a guitar with a humbucker, you could get by without one. But i'm pretty sure you can find a guitar in your price range with one. So, i suggest buying a guitar you can see yourself playing in a band with so you won't have to upgrade.
later
 
yes. any guitar will work with any guitar amp and any guitar pedal. but if you try to plug a guitar into a keyboard amp, for example, it won't work because the keyboard amp is made to accept a much louder signal which comes from a keyboard so the amp won't be able to boost the signal of the guitar.
 
is the pedal plugged to the git, the amp, or in between somehow?
 
Great questions, rancor. Keep asking them and your learning curve will rise rapidly indeed! Lots of good advice above, but one additional point I'd like to make. When you look for a cheap new or used guitar (and I've helped numerous starters do just that), I've found that the thing often overlooked is the playability of the guitar. This includes general condition (do all the switches, pickups, knobbies etc. work and not ready to fall off), is the action good (the distance from the strings to the fingerboard (too close and the strings will buzz against the frets, too high and your fingers will suffer), are the tuners wonky (do they turn well or are they jumpy or wobbly), are the frets worn down beyond repair, is the fretboard chewed up badly, does the whole thing look like it's fallen off the back of a truck, and (not unimportant) how much does it weigh. Some old beasts are heavy oxes and though it may seem trivial after 15-20 minutes playing standing up your back could be ready for a body cast. Just a few additional things to think about. Keep learning--you're doing great!
 
Hi Rancor,

I'm not a guitarist-I'm a drummer, but I studied Classical guitar for 2 years, before I could finally gte my Dad to halp me get a drumkit.
My Mom swears the day I brought that Drumset home was the worst day of her life! Hahahah

Do you have an friends who have older brothers or sister that play guitar?

You might want to get them to help you out.

Or, talk to some guitar teachers who teach the style you're looking for.
I got my first amp through a Guitar teacher.
It cost $50 in 1980.
When it was stolen in 1986-We got $1,000 from the Insurance company!!
It was a Univox 60 watt amp.

So try to find somebody who is experienced to help you.
You'll find that many musicians will help you out.


Tim
 
Tapehead speaks such truth. Although I have suggested second hand equipment I have failed to mention exactly what Tapehead said. Although you still want to learn to play and think that quality might be unimportant, it is. If you are constantly struggling with equipment especially a guitar that is not very playable) you might just get sick of it all, you might think that you are not making progress because the actual sound you get is bad, or the notes do not sound right. These are quite common with old guitars and is very annoying. Remember that the style you want to play requires a guitar that plays quite easily mostly because much would be played quite fast. Find someone you trust at a guitar shop or a friend to go with you when looking for equipment.
 
ok I will. ;)
I'll probably go get the stuff soon, instead of sitting here in front of my computer, writing stuff in a forum... and stuff.
 
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