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Ive just started playing guitar and my axe has single coil pickups and i was wondering if theyre any songs that are easy to play on single coil pickups. all the songs i like are usually played on humbuckers and i dont got them

ta

I don't know if your pickups make it "easier" to play per se, but they obviously affect your tone significantly. Texas Blues can sound great on single coils or really anything clean. Jazz obviously works here. How much lead vs. rhythm do you play?

Jimi Hendrix and Iron Maiden?

Single coils or not, it's your amp that's the most critical piece of equipment. I don't know what type of music you intended to play, but I guess that it's probably something a bit more metal? You will need a high gain amp and "hotter" output single coil (Bare Knuckle Piledriver maybe?). There are humbuckers in single coil format as well. I wouldn't recommend switching out the PU's if it's a crap guitar though. If you've got a front routed guitar, then you could easily hollow out some wood to make a humbucker fit in the bridge position?

Seriously though, just play anything you want to play. You don't have to achieve the exact same tone you hear on the recordings. Make the song your own.

I'd disagree about the amp being bigger than the pickup in importance. From a pure distortion standpoint, maybe, but there's a hell of a lot more to tone than distortion. Even woodgrain factors in when it comes to sustain. Van Zandt had some pretty hot single coils a while back that could put out with the big boys.

The pickup will colour the sound of your guitar (brighter, darker, fizzy, smooth, clear, muddy) and the type of wood will not only affect sustain, but also the attack and overall tonal character.

I'm very well aware that there's more to tone than distortion. I'm not some newbie metal head, if that's what you believe. The thing is that an amazing guitar with extraordniary pickups will still sound gak on a medium gakky solid state amp while a medium gakky guitar could sound really good on a very nice amplifier. Factors like the midrange determine if the notes just melt together or if they all ring out clearly for example.

I believe that many players over-estimate the need for the most amazing pickups. They are indeed an important variable of the equation, but not by far the most important one.

tl;dr A poor amp will never let your guitar reach it's full potential. And an end note: The player is obviously the most important factor.

Inanimate wrote:The pickup will colour the sound of your guitar (brighter, darker, fizzy, smooth, clear, muddy) and the type of wood will not only affect sustain, but also the attack and overall tonal character.

I'm very well aware that there's more to tone than distortion. I'm not some newbie metal head, if that's what you believe. The thing is that an amazing guitar with extraordniary pickups will still sound gak on a medium gakky solid state amp while a medium gakky guitar could sound really good on a very nice amplifier. Factors like the midrange determine if the notes just melt together or if they all ring out clearly for example.

I believe that many players over-estimate the need for the most amazing pickups. They are indeed an important variable of the equation, but not by far the most important one.

tl;dr A poor amp will never let your guitar reach it's full potential. And an end note: The player is obviously the most important factor.

This is why Marshall heads are so expensive. They're the best!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Stephen Bond wrote:Ive just started playing guitar and my axe has single coil pickups and i was wondering if theyre any songs that are easy to play on single coil pickups. all the songs i like are usually played on humbuckers and i dont got them

ta

What do you like to play?

well i listen to things like sabbath and yes my guitar is crappy it cost abt £120 so is a heap of poo.