• From: BELGIUM
  • Registered: 2007-01-27
  • Posts: 3,403

Topic: HEAVY METAL GUITARS

1) WHAT IS HEAVY METAL?
A fast and aggressive style of rock music, with a lot of emphasis on the guitar.
2) HEAVY METAL'S TOP TUNINGS.
There are many different guitar tunings that are used in Rock and Metal music besides standard tuning. Guitar players in these genres like to use these tunings because they give a heavier and darker sound to their music.
Some of the more popular tunings used are Dropped D, Dropped C, Dropped B, E Flat, D, C and open G. Here are the descriptions of how the strings should be tuned and some of the bands that use them.
3) USING FLOOR BOARDS AND/OR EFFECT PROCESSORS.
What is the most used effect?
I know that on some devices I have some METAL patches.
4) ABOUT GUITARS
Are there "classic brands" who do their job real good?
TAKE GIBSON and their special models
A GIBSON FLYING V isn't that a hardrock or metal monster? A Gibson Flying V faded has 496R and 500T ceramic magnet pickups. I think these are quit heavy pick-ups.
A GIBSON EXPLORER (model SHRED X EXPLORER price = 2.295$ AND EMG 85 pick-ups)
The normal EXPLORER has: also 496 & 500 hot ceramics. OR SHOULD THE TOPIC BE BETTER by writing HEAVY METAL PICK-UPS.
WHAT IS NEEDED TO OBTAIN THE TYPICAL METAL SOUND? THE GUITAR? THE PICK-UPS? AN EFFECT DEVICE? AMP?

[color=blue]- GITAARDOCPHIL SAIS: TO CONQUER DEAD, YOU HAVE TO DIE[/color]   AND [color=blue] we are born to die[/color]
- MY GUITAR PLAYS EVERY STYLE = BLUES, ROCK, METAL, so I NEED TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY IT.
[color=blue]Civilization began the first time an angry person cast a word instead of a rock.[/color]

gitaardocphil's Website

  • From: Zanesville Ohio
  • Registered: 2007-11-29
  • Posts: 74

Re: HEAVY METAL GUITARS

An amp with decent distortion, or a decent distortion/overdrive pedal, good solid pickups or humbuckers is really all that is needed. I personally used a strat for most of my metal playing for 3 years, before I got a 'metal' guitar. with the right eq settings, any guitar can be used for metal playing.

A lot of the traditional metal sounds comes from the way you play the guitar itself. As primarily a metal player, I tend to have a heavy pick attack (although I do pick lightly often), and I palm mute a lot.

3 Reply by cytania (edited by cytania 2008-08-05 20:11:46)

  • From: Nottingham, UK
  • Registered: 2006-08-08
  • Posts: 690

Re: HEAVY METAL GUITARS

The metal guitar came from one simple innovation. The Marhsall amp, an amp meant to give gain effects. To exploit the early Marshall stacks the weapon of choice was the Gibson Les Paul. It's pickup power and sustain created the early heavy rock sound that got harder and heavier to become metal.

Now amps and pedals will inject gain to the extent that any electric guitar can do metal. The Cult's lead player uses a Gretsch White Falcon. Status Quo use telecasters. Loadsa metal players use strats.

You mentioned shred. Well players who want fast above anything else look for something like an Ibanez Gem, a real smooth unrestrictive neck for ultra light strings.

If you haven't got a Line 6 Pocket Pod Phil splash out on one, they're an education in a plastic shell. With the same guitar you can go jazz, metal, country, blues at the flick of a dial or button. Even within one amp model you can drive it clean (low gain, low guitar volume) or crank both up and in comes that metal rock distortion...

'The sound of the city seems to disappear'
  • From: Teesside
  • Registered: 2007-08-01
  • Posts: 94

Re: HEAVY METAL GUITARS

Personally speaking, for the 'Metal' sound I play:

- Epiphone Les Paul Studio with Seymour Duncan Distortian (SH6 and TB6) Pickups installed at the recommendation of a friend.
- Seymour Duncan SFX01 Pickup Booster which I got second hand off a mate when he thought it had broke. Took it to my cousin who's an electronics geek and he fixed it - bonus!
Boss OS2 Overdrive - second hand when my mate bought a Big Muff I think it was.
Orange Crush 30R - Does the trick, although its not exactly perfect for metal  - could probably do with a Marshall or Laney style amp

Wibble's Website

  • Registered: 2008-08-27
  • Posts: 1

Re: HEAVY METAL GUITARS

ESP guitars are very big in the metal scene right now.  You can achieve a heavy sound from just about any solid body electric with decently hot pickups.  The biggest difference maker will be the amp that you choose.  Depending on how heavy you are looking for, the Mesa Boogie Rectifiers are solid all around metal amps.  Check out  for some clips so you can get an idea of the sound they can achieve.

[url=http://mesaboogieonline.com/]Mesa Boogie Amps[/url]