Poll: ibanez

[BonsaiK]

I'll admit, I don't know much about guitars

Spoiler: (What is this metal thing running across the strings on this bass?)

A covered pickup. Early Fender basses had them, as did the first Fender Telecaster/Broadcasters. You don't really see them on new guitars but that early style of pickup is still copied on new retro-themed editions of the Fender basses.

 

[Kif]

Personally I wouldn't, but it depends on your playing style. Do you think you'll actually need a tremolo? I rarely use them, even when playing a guitar that has them. They're not really that useful, imo. Have you thought of the downsides?

I think you could get something better value for money. But then, it depends on your playing style.

I wouldn't bother with 7 strings though. Yes, it might make hitting the high notes easier, but that's just encouraging complacency. Learning to play the same stuff on a six-string will make you a better guitarist.

I think you've not quite understood what the 7th string adds, it's not a high note.

But besides the fact that it doesn't aide high notes; 90% of guitarists are complacent by nature anyway... most start on electric which is much much easier than acoustic, most only use a pick (plectrum) which is much easier than picking and most cant read sheet music as tabs are an easy alternative... I'm not saying it's wrong, just that it's the way things are, people will look for the easy route.

I'm sure if you asked the greatest metal guitarist in the world to play a piece of classical guitar with sheet music they'd be screwed but if you asked a classical guitarist to play some typical metal they'd muddle through.

 

[TheComedown]

I'll admit, I don't know much about guitars

Spoiler: (What is this metal thing running across the strings on this bass?)

It's just that the last time I saw a fender jazz bass at a store, it cost 21 000 NOK($3200), and I imagined that would convert to more than 3200 dollars. The bass I have now, I got for $770, with an amplifier included in the price.

I haven't played guitar in a few years either but anyone who has ever played will tell you there is a HUGE difference from playing a $700 bass/guitar and playing a $5000 bass/guitar.

I could be wrong, its been a while since i was in that music type circle but I'm pretty sure its called a pickup guard, as for its purpose, i cant remember.

 

[Jonluw]

I'll admit, I don't know much about guitars

Spoiler: (What is this metal thing running across the strings on this bass?)

A covered pickup. Early Fender basses had them, as did the first Fender Telecaster/Broadcasters. You don't really see them on new guitars but that early style of pickup is copied on retro-themed editions of the Fender basses.

Aah... good, finally an answer that sounds reasonable. All I could get out of google was 'thumbrest' and that did not sound very likely. Thank you.

What purpose does/did it serve by the way?

 

[BonsaiK]

I'll admit, I don't know much about guitars

Spoiler: (What is this metal thing running across the strings on this bass?)

A covered pickup. Early Fender basses had them, as did the first Fender Telecaster/Broadcasters. You don't really see them on new guitars but that early style of pickup is copied on retro-themed editions of the Fender basses.

Aah... good, finally an answer that sounds reasonable. All I could get out of google was 'thumbrest' and that did not sound very likely. Thank you.

What purpose does/did it serve by the way?

None really, purely aesthetic. I think perhaps the original idea was that less dust would get in your pickup or something, but to be honest the reverse is true because it makes the dust that does get in there harder to clean. And yes, you can rest your fingers on it I suppose, but the actual finger-rest in the picture is the black bar seen on the scratchplate.

 

[meticadpa]

Ibanez guitars are pretty good, but personally I'd get one without a floating tremolo system - every one I've used (including licensed original Floyd Roses) just cause annoyances with tuning and maintenance.

Ibanez guitars are shredding machines. I personally play mostly Paul Gilbert/Racer X stuff so they're perfect for me.

Personally I wouldn't, but it depends on your playing style. Do you think you'll actually need a tremolo? I rarely use them, even when playing a guitar that has them. They're not really that useful, imo. Have you thought of the downsides?

I think you could get something better value for money. But then, it depends on your playing style.

I wouldn't bother with 7 strings though. Yes, it might make hitting the high notes easier, but that's just encouraging complacency. Learning to play the same stuff on a six-string will make you a better guitarist.

A 7 string guitar has a low B string, not a further high string. It's physically impossible to play the same low notes as it is on a 6 string guitar, and getting a 7 string guitar will not make him a a worse guitar player.

 

[Hazzaslagga]

My Jackson king v kvx10 is good enough for me customised with with emg pickups mind you i would prefer it without a tremolo (they're a ***** to tune)

I'm sure if you asked the greatest metal guitarist in the world to play a piece of classical guitar with sheet music they'd be screwed but if you asked a classical guitarist to play some typical metal they'd muddle through.

Try asking Alexi Laiho (or however it's spelt)
he's got a good video on youtube showing him playing vilvaldi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZspGWM-aWs

 

[Jonluw]

Aah... good, finally an answer that sounds reasonable. All I could get out of google was 'thumbrest' and that did not sound very likely. Thank you.

What purpose does/did it serve by the way?

None really, purely aesthetic. I think perhaps the original idea was that less dust would get in your pickup or something, but to be honest the reverse is true because it makes the dust that does get in there harder to clean. And yes, you can rest your fingers on it I suppose, but the actual finger-rest in the picture is the black bar seen on the scratchplate.

It is indeed very aesthetically pleasing. I figured as much regarding the thumb rest (google searched "bass thumb rest; the only common denominator between the pictures was that bar).

 

[TheScarecrow]

Too expensive.

 

[era81]

No,the only one I would be interested with is the seven string but that has active pickups which needs a battery and when it goes dead it's a pain in the ass to change and the ax sounds like shit.I will stay with my Ltd deluxe not like I can play it anyway.

 

[meticadpa]

My Jackson king v kvx10 is good enough for me customised with with emg pickups mind you i would prefer it without a tremolo (they're a ***** to tune)


Try asking Alexi Laiho (or however it's spelt)
he's got a good video on youtube showing him playing vilvaldi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZspGWM-aWs

True.

Many "metal" guitar players are influenced heavily by classical music. This is what spawned the neo-classical genre that was made popular by Yngwie Malmsteen. Paul Gilbert (see avatar) is my favourite guitar player ever, and he's done lots of covers of classical music (most notably a few Bach covers and a Haydn cover) and they're awesome.

 

[Yagharek]

Personally I wouldn't, but it depends on your playing style. Do you think you'll actually need a tremolo? I rarely use them, even when playing a guitar that has them. They're not really that useful, imo. Have you thought of the downsides?

I think you could get something better value for money. But then, it depends on your playing style.

I wouldn't bother with 7 strings though. Yes, it might make hitting the high notes easier, but that's just encouraging complacency. Learning to play the same stuff on a six-string will make you a better guitarist.

I think you've not quite understood what the 7th string adds, it's not a high note.

But besides the fact that it doesn't aide high notes; 90% of guitarists are complacent by nature anyway... most start on electric which is much much easier than acoustic, most only use a pick (plectrum) which is much easier than picking and most cant read sheet music as tabs are an easy alternative... I'm not saying it's wrong, just that it's the way things are, people will look for the easy route.

I'm sure if you asked the greatest metal guitarist in the world to play a piece of classical guitar with sheet music they'd be screwed but if you asked a classical guitarist to play some typical metal they'd muddle through.

Because it's early in the morning and i'm stupid...

Personally I don't play much heavy enough to use another string. How often are you going to need it?

Also, it has neck locks, afaics. This makes tuning down a bit harder, since the bridge adjusters don't give you as much range as neck pegs. Not a big issue, but it is irritating.

As for complacency, I think you're being overly harsh there.

Your comparison with sheet music and tab for example. This is unfair as tab is a lot more intuitive than manuscript. Someone looking at manuscript with no explanation is buggered, because there isn't really a clue as to where to start. Tab is a lot more obvious. It's easier to figure out without explanation. A lot of the time you see the string written besides the lines, and it's easy to figure out that the numbers refer to the fret, than to figure out which note is hich on manuscipt. Bit of an unfair comparison, because tab is a lot easier to read.

I don't see how this is complacent though. It's an easier system, but complacency to me implies it has a downside. The only downside is when you come across something written in manuscript, but that's just due to using a different system.

The plectrum does make things easier, but i'm not sure that's complacent. It makes it easier to play on single and adjacent strings, but not as easy to string cross, so that's just a decision made on what kind of style you play. I doubt most classical guitarists can play single string stuff as quick as a guy with a plectrum, so it balances.

It's a different skill set, but I wouldn't say that one is better than the other. I think most decent metal guitarists could get through an easy classical tune. Likewise, most decent classical guitarists could get through an easy metal tune.

However, scaling that up, I don't think most metal guitarists could play a harder classical tune in a decent way(intonation would probably not be brilliant, and could have trouble with multiple string stuff, etc). Likewise I don't think a good classical guitarist could play a harder metal tune in a decent way. I think there'd be issues with the single/adjacent string speed, and again, intonation. You wouldn't get the same sound you get with a pick.

Complacency to me is doing something that makes it easier, but also makes you worse at the style of music you focus on(after all, it's hardly complacent if it means you're not good at a type of music you don't play, that's just due to what you practise). For example, using a capo simply to avoid barre chords.

 

[mew4ever23]

No, i have no desire to learn guitar.

 

[mikecoulter]

For my birthday i few months ago i got an Ibanez SR305
http://www.dv247.com/assets/products/48775_l.jpg

my 5th guitar

I'm also on my fifth guitar

 

[Kif]

My Jackson king v kvx10 is good enough for me customised with with emg pickups mind you i would prefer it without a tremolo (they're a ***** to tune)

I'm sure if you asked the greatest metal guitarist in the world to play a piece of classical guitar with sheet music they'd be screwed but if you asked a classical guitarist to play some typical metal they'd muddle through.

Try asking Alexi Laiho (or however it's spelt)
he's got a good video on youtube showing him playing vilvaldi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZspGWM-aWs

Watched it, think you've miss understood the definition of classical guitar, it's a technique not necessarily the type of music, he still looks like he's playing metal. Though, I cant hear it while at work I'm sure it would make me sad to hear Vivaldi murdered.

 

[Yagharek]

My Jackson king v kvx10 is good enough for me customised with with emg pickups mind you i would prefer it without a tremolo (they're a ***** to tune)

I'm sure if you asked the greatest metal guitarist in the world to play a piece of classical guitar with sheet music they'd be screwed but if you asked a classical guitarist to play some typical metal they'd muddle through.

Try asking Alexi Laiho (or however it's spelt)
he's got a good video on youtube showing him playing vilvaldi. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZspGWM-aWs

Watched it, think you've miss understood the definition of classical guitar, it's a technique not necessarily the type of music, he still looks like he's playing metal. Though, I cant hear it while at work I'm sure it would make me sad to hear Vivaldi murdered.

See, that's just being biased. You assume that because someone plays metal, they can't play classical music. In the main, I would agree. It is not an instantly tranferrable skill set. You would need to practise classical guitar.

However, don't you think that a classical guitarist would similarly murder a metal song? Just like a metal guitarist playing a classical song without practising classical guitar, they might hit all the right notes, but they'd still be playing it as if it was classical guitar, so it wouldn't be as good.

 

[meticadpa]

Your comparison with sheet music and tab for example. This is unfair as tab is a lot more intuitive than manuscript. Someone looking at manuscript with no explanation is buggered, because there isn't really a clue as to where to start. Tab is a lot more obvious. It's easier to figure out without explanation. A lot of the time you see the string written besides the lines, and it's easy to figure out that the numbers refer to the fret, than to figure out which note is hich on manuscipt. Bit of an unfair comparison, because tab is a lot easier to read.

I don't see how this is complacent though. It's an easier system, but complacency to me implies it has a downside. The only downside is when you come across something written in manuscript, but that's just due to using a different system.

The plectrum does make things easier, but i'm not sure that's complacent. It makes it easier to play on single and adjacent strings, but not as easy to string cross, so that's just a decision made on what kind of style you play. I doubt most classical guitarists can play single string stuff as quick as a guy with a plectrum, so it balances.

It's a different skill set, but I wouldn't say that one is better than the other. I think most decent metal guitarists could get through an easy classical tune. Likewise, most decent classical guitarists could get through an easy metal tune.

However, scaling that up, I don't think most metal guitarists could play a harder classical tune in a decent way(intonation would probably not be brilliant, and could have trouble with multiple string stuff, etc). Likewise I don't think a good classical guitarist could play a harder metal tune in a decent way. I think there'd be issues with the single/adjacent string speed, and again, intonation. You wouldn't get the same sound you get with a pick.

I completely agree.

Being able to read sheet music or not is not a great indicator of a musician's skill or prowess; look at Jimi Hendrix for example. He was an amazing guitar player (huge understatement) yet had no musical theory or knowledge at all. I also know a couple of people that can't read sheet music for piano at all, but they're absolutely unbelievable at learning things by ear, something that many classical musicians who can read sheet music can't do.

Besides being harder to learn how to read, sheet music also has another downfall: its musicality. When you see musicians playing together reading from sheet music, they'll play exactly what's printed on the paper, and nothing more or less. It has no improvisation, no brilliant things. I personally like a bit of a modulation in what I hear - it just keeps music interesting.

The plectrum argument is invalid. It's needed to play many things on an electric guitar. I'm a classically trained guitar player, but I play metal for the most part now. I can finger pick very, very well, but can I play metal finger picking? No, it's damn impossible. Can I play classical music with a plectrum? Again, no, it's damn impossible. Plectrums don't make things easier - they make things possible. You try and play something like Y.R.O. by Racer X with no plectrum and see how that goes. And that's not even a particularly difficult or fast song.

About intonation and stuff though... my guitar is perfectly intonated, so I could play anywhere and it'd remain in tune.

Edit: my favourite guitar player, Paul Gilbert playing some classical-esque stuff on a nylon string acoustic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11KaKhGAa3I

 

[Kif]

Personally I wouldn't, but it depends on your playing style. Do you think you'll actually need a tremolo? I rarely use them, even when playing a guitar that has them. They're not really that useful, imo. Have you thought of the downsides?

I think you could get something better value for money. But then, it depends on your playing style.

I wouldn't bother with 7 strings though. Yes, it might make hitting the high notes easier, but that's just encouraging complacency. Learning to play the same stuff on a six-string will make you a better guitarist.

I think you've not quite understood what the 7th string adds, it's not a high note.

But besides the fact that it doesn't aide high notes; 90% of guitarists are complacent by nature anyway... most start on electric which is much much easier than acoustic, most only use a pick (plectrum) which is much easier than picking and most cant read sheet music as tabs are an easy alternative... I'm not saying it's wrong, just that it's the way things are, people will look for the easy route.

I'm sure if you asked the greatest metal guitarist in the world to play a piece of classical guitar with sheet music they'd be screwed but if you asked a classical guitarist to play some typical metal they'd muddle through.

Because it's early in the morning and i'm stupid...

Personally I don't play much heavy enough to use another string. How often are you going to need it?

Also, it has neck locks, afaics. This makes tuning down a bit harder, since the bridge adjusters don't give you as much range as neck pegs. Not a big issue, but it is irritating.

As for complacency, I think you're being overly harsh there.

Your comparison with sheet music and tab for example. This is unfair as tab is a lot more intuitive than manuscript. Someone looking at manuscript with no explanation is buggered, because there isn't really a clue as to where to start. Tab is a lot more obvious. It's easier to figure out without explanation. A lot of the time you see the string written besides the lines, and it's easy to figure out that the numbers refer to the fret, than to figure out which note is hich on manuscipt. Bit of an unfair comparison, because tab is a lot easier to read.

I don't see how this is complacent though. It's an easier system, but complacency to me implies it has a downside. The only downside is when you come across something written in manuscript, but that's just due to using a different system.

The plectrum does make things easier, but i'm not sure that's complacent. It makes it easier to play on single and adjacent strings, but not as easy to string cross, so that's just a decision made on what kind of style you play. I doubt most classical guitarists can play single string stuff as quick as a guy with a plectrum, so it balances.

It's a different skill set, but I wouldn't say that one is better than the other. I think most decent metal guitarists could get through an easy classical tune. Likewise, most decent classical guitarists could get through an easy metal tune.

However, scaling that up, I don't think most metal guitarists could play a harder classical tune in a decent way(intonation would probably not be brilliant, and could have trouble with multiple string stuff, etc). Likewise I don't think a good classical guitarist could play a harder metal tune in a decent way. I think there'd be issues with the single/adjacent string speed, and again, intonation. You wouldn't get the same sound you get with a pick.

Complacency to me is doing something that makes it easier, but also makes you worse at the style of music you focus on(after all, it's hardly complacent if it means you're not good at a type of music you don't play, that's just due to what you practise). For example, using a capo simply to avoid barre chords.

I can accept that, perhaps I am being too harsh.

I started with piano so to me things like sheet music and good use of all 8 fingers and 2 thumbs is fairly standard.

What I will say though is as far as I've ever heard from students, teachers and alike it's much easier to go from piano to guitar than from guitar to piano simply because you have the option to avoid sheet music and not make much use of your right hand and most people take that option.

 

[Zero47]

Spoiler

Oh God Yes.