Hi, just wondering if it's true that cheap stuff could make you sound like awfully, since I'm into guitar playing for some years and my Behringer axe hasn't ever brought me improvement, everytime I hear buzz, even when I spend hours with chromatic scales... I know it's a stupid noob question, but I'd really like to know that it isn't just my guitar playing...

Once again, forgive my grammar... thanks.

Ibanez RGs have been known to make n00b guitar players improve really quickly because of their extreme overall comfort and playability. It also builds confidence in new guitarists.

__________________

My first guitar, a Lyon Washburn, didn't have very good tone
But my LP has an awesome tone, i can hear a distint difference, for the better

but there also could be like 1-pickups and humbuckers make you sound different

hell, maybe the width of the neck, you might play faster/slower

so overall, i'd say yes

__________________

Definitely yes. I would say that most of it has to with neck shape, size, and width though. The way the guitar feels on your shoulder and how its rests against your body are also important. It all has to do with confidence. The more comfortable your guitar feels, the more confident you are for the most part.

__________________

For sure it does. I have a little hobby I indulge sometimes, namely take a round through the many instrument shops I have within two hours from my flat and just try guitars and amps till my fingers bleed. And the funny thing is, that while sometimes I can just burn off with a cool improvised trash solo, other times I can positively feel people around me thinking "god, whoever let that dumbass get his hands on a guitar".

And what's worse, what's ideal for one is crap for another. So if you feel that your guitar is holding you back it's definetly worth checking out possible replacements.

And anyhow, a buzz can always be a question of pickups, cables and tubes - the things wear out you know.

__________________

Thanks for your answers, it makes me happy to think that I'm still capable to improve... now the trouble is the money for the replacements. Any suggestions?

Keep on posting, though...

once you get really good, it wont matter as much how good the guitar is.

__________________

You can't make a shitty guitar sound good no matter how much you try.

__________________

False.

__________________

i just successfully made my squire bullet sound good with a new pup and push/pull tone knob. It sounds tolerable...but i'm a pretty god damn good guitarist, so that helps

__________________

I call shinannigans on this one. Buy this shittiest guitar you can find and tell me if you can sound like any of the "gods" of guitar. Until then i say there is definitely a line that can be drawn that good guitar playing is snuffed out by bad equipment.

If this wasn't so then there wouldn't be "good equipment." It wouldn't exist.

Following this, there wouldn't be any musical equipment in existance that would be made of "high quality" because apparently the best of players can make it sound like its a million dollars.

Bullshit.

__________________

but tmfreak, there is a difference between good equipment and great equipment. For instance, a ridiculously cheap randall still sounds great, but yeah it's nothing compared to one of the expensive RX series. If you are a bad guitarist,you'll be just as bad with expensive equipment...look at job for a cowboy for instance

__________________

Absolutely.

The reverse of what i said does apply. Bad musicians don't make good equipment sound good, as much as the best musicians in the world can't make bad equipment sound amazing.

This is what i'm saying in a nice < > = format.

Great Musician Great Equipment > Great Musician Ok/Good Equipment > Great Musician crappy Equipment

and now..

Bad Musician Great Equipment = Bad Musician Ok/Good Equipment = Bad Musician crappy Equipment

Its good knowledge that in the case of music the sound is only as good as the weakest link. If the weakest link is the equipment the music will sound only as good as the quality of the equipment. Now in the other case the weakest link is the musician, so the quality will not change with equipment.

__________________

could not phrase it better myself sir

__________________

This doesn't really make sense. I wouldn't sound like a "god" of guitar with a $5,000 instrument.


I'm sorry, but I really don't follow you here. The reverse does apply? Does this make your entire argument valid somehow?

I bet Marty Friedman could make a peavey raptor played through a 10 watt kustom practice amp sound fucking tremendous.


Knowledge? LOL. Thanks for that vast bit of wisdom.


You seem to be very sternly defending your "methodology" for relating musicians and the quality of their instruments. Why are you so blindly convinced that you cannot produce respectable music with substandard equipment?

__________________

not substandard instruments, bad instruments. I doubt friedman could produce an 'outstanding' album running through a squire bullet, and a 10 watt president's choice amplifier. maybe playing technique is good, but it will not sound as good as a say, a caparison orbit through an ENGL E 670...in fact no where near. Not tremendous by any stretch of the imagination
So in that sence, better equipment will improve sound, it'd be foolish to say otherwise.
But it works the other way, some kid that just picked up his first guitar, and spends 10, 000$ on gear, still isnt gonna sound good. I think that's what tmfreak is tryin to say

__________________

Just for the hell of it, I'm gonna second much of what tmfreak says, but there's one factor he leaves out, and that is one of the most important things about what makes a piece of equipment great, namely how well you get along with it.
Me, my best guitar is a 2000$ LTD, not much in the world really, but thing is, it's perfect for me, everything is just right - I can play riffs and solos on that guitar which I'm utterly unable to do on most other axes I've ever tried... and that makes it what could be called "great".

__________________

Yeah i can second this. This is a little bit out of what i was mostly referring to but this is another consideration that should be thought about as well.

__________________

So which guitars do you recommend me to start improving a bit? I don't want to play technical stuff, just decent Death/Doom Metal with a decent soloing.
I bet my Behringer gave me trouble improving, too many hours spent with no result...

BTW, what do you recommend me to do for obtaining a kinda-Moondark dirty and heavy sound?

Just go to a music store and try out everything. Eventually you'll find what you're looking for.

__________________