# Any body able to help?



## Metal7 (May 10, 2011)

Hi guys,

I've been playing guitar for 3 years and i've taken lessons, but i never could get hooked to it for one main reason, i can't get the sound. I've always wanted to play guitar and I enjoy jamming here and then. But, even after i tune my guitar and get the tab music for the song i wanna play, it sound extremely off. 

I'm into metal music (not the old metal, Ex: Iron Maiden) and it's the reason i started playing. My equipment is a inexpensive Cruiser guitar, with heavy gauge strings and a Johnson 50 Amp (BlueLine 50R). I've toyed around with the settings and all but no luck. 

Does anyone have any tips or tricks? I haven't been playing for a while now because of school, but i want to get back into it. 

Thanks.


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## Jocko (May 17, 2010)

See if one of your buddys can loan you a distortion pedal of some kind. Try that and see the difference that can make. Then go on from there.


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## jeremy_green (Nov 10, 2010)

Get your guitar setup with low action and medium to light gauge strings (009 or 010s). Like Jocko says get a distortion pedal. Crank the gain level. Maybe your amp can get this sound. If it has a volume and a master volume crank the volume to 10 and keep the master volume low. The volume may be called gain but the same approach. Gun the volume or gain and use the master as an overall sound level.

Most metal players use double coil pickups for a fatter sound. Not sure if your guitar has those and they arent critical but do help getting the overall sound.

Use tabs but also try learning songs using your ears. It is SO much better for you and fun once you get good at it. I did a blog post with a list of easy songs and some tips to get you off and running. Here is the link:

http://sixstringobsession.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-to-learn-to-play-by-ear-great.html


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## Metal7 (May 10, 2011)

I got 9 through 54 7 string set currently on my guitar. Though the 7th string has not been added on. It is true that the louder i turn my amp up, the better the sound is. I have on my amp Reverb, Presence, Bass, Middle, Trebble, Volume, Gain and of course an Overdrive channel. Also, i have 5 pick ups on my guitar and a 1-10 tone on it. 

I managed to get the right sound, and managed to play, Beautiful People - Marilyn Manson. I'm currently looking for something heavier. I use the Guitar Machine App on my ipod to tune myself.

Thanks for the feedback so far, i'll look into your post.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

get a decent amp, make sure your guitar has a humbucker or equivalent in the bridge, and get your guitar set up.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

Budda said:


> get a decent amp, make sure your guitar has a humbucker or equivalent in the bridge, and get your guitar set up.


line 6 is not your friend. try a roland cube amp if you want inexpensive, but good tone


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## Merlin (Feb 23, 2009)

Metal7 said:


> I got 9 through 54 7 string set currently on my guitar. Though the 7th string has not been added on. It is true that the louder i turn my amp up, the better the sound is. I have on my amp Reverb, Presence, Bass, Middle, Trebble, Volume, Gain and of course an Overdrive channel. Also, i have 5 pick ups on my guitar and a 1-10 tone on it.
> 
> I managed to get the right sound, and managed to play, Beautiful People - Marilyn Manson. I'm currently looking for something heavier. I use the Guitar Machine App on my ipod to tune myself.
> 
> Thanks for the feedback so far, i'll look into your post.


I looked through the cruiser guitars website and didn't see a 7 string model.

Your guitar does not have 5 pickups. It has two humbucking pickups and one single coil pickup.

A string set that starts with a .009" is light, not heavy.

Many of the bands you want to emulate used dropped tunings. If you're looking for tabs, check to see what tuning is specified. Dropping the 6th string to D is common, as is tuning the entire guitar down a half step or whole step. It's also fairly common to drop the guitar a step, then tune down the 6th string, resulting in a low C on that string. If you're doing a lot of dropped tuning on a 6 string, you'll probably want to go heavier on your string gauges.


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## kmrumedy (May 10, 2011)

Do you have an example of your playing that we can hear? That would help you get solid advice. In addition..........you may not be as bad as you think.


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## Metal7 (May 10, 2011)

My amp cost me 150$ and i don't have much cash to get a new one. I checked out what kind of strings i needed for heavy metal and i was told a 9 through 54 set, guessing youtube lied. I do need better pick ups but again, i don't have much budget towards my guitar with everything esle i got going. I dropped my guitar to drop c, drop d and drop b, results have varied. I'm not a advanced or intermediate guitar player, still at beginner but playing the music i like is the only thing that motivates me and which i enjoy. As for hearing me play, i don't have great recording or microphone equipement and what you may hear will probably sound terrible.

When i bought my amp, a guy was trying it out before me and the sound coming out of it was insane. So the amp is capable of delivering. So it's the either the strings, the pick-ups or simply me. Also, can anyone explain to me the differing buttons on the amp and what i need more/ less of? Out of: Reverb, Presence, Bass, Middle, Trebble, Volume, Gain. Thanks again guys.


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## Metal7 (May 10, 2011)

I dunno if it matters much, but I play mostly as rhythmic guitar, the background, beat and rhythm. Don't know why, but it's what i love. I don't really like solos. For me it's power chords all the way.


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## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

try scooping your mids. put the bass on like, 6 or 7, the mids on 2 or 3, and the highs on 7 or 8. i don't know what "presence" is on an amp someone else here knows for sure. for the heavy stuff, i would turn the gain up and the volume down, and add volume until i got what i wanted. a quick google on "guitar amp tone settings" brought up lots of sites like this one:
http://www.tonesettings.com/blog/site-news/ultimate-tone-resource


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## Metal7 (May 10, 2011)

New discovery! I have the option for a Hi and Low Input.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

use the low. what is your amp model? what's your guitar model?

I use: 10-52 for E standard/drop D, 11-54 for D standard/Drop C, and 12-60 for C standard or Drop Bb. 24.75 scale or 25 scale, I'd still use those gauges.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

I guessing that if you are using tabs to play the songs you like playing, your timing is off. That can make any song sound terrible. If you don't know how to read music can you get a CD and play along with it? Even better, do you have a way of slowing it down until you can get up to speed?


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## Slowfinger (Jan 1, 2011)

When I first began playing I didn't get the sound of fat roaring heavy chunky chords either. Part of that was my first guitar was badly intonated(2 years of tuning hell- I didn't know). It took awhile to get my fingers to press down accurately. Then the sounds came that I wanted. I thought then, "that's what a D chord is supposed to sound like".
If you can get a buddy who can really play to put your setup through it's paces you'll know in short order if it has the goods.
Persevere my friend. Things can only get better.
Bruce


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## fudb (Dec 8, 2010)

Well... Firstly these days my favourite way to learn things is through Youtube. If I want to learn something, I search youtube with " songtitle guitar lesson and then listen to what comes up for what sounds the best to my ears (usually if it's being done by someone with a dedicated teaching website it's probably accurate). It's an important step. As you posted: "I checked out what kind of strings i needed for heavy metal and i was told a 9 through 54 set, guessing youtube lied." To twist a phrase, there's lies, damned lies and the internet. Youtube is an incredibly valuable learning resource if you look around though. If you don't know which version is right, go look at the band playing it live! You can figure out one or two chords by looking at them then you have unlocked the song.

Secondly. If you want to become a great guitar player, don't make the mistake I did for years. Don't just learn riffs. Learn *songs*. Learn all the fills. Learn the intro. Riffs are fine, but they're essentially showing off. What makes a great musician is having a broad language and a strong sense of things like "timing, touch and phrasing". You can't learn that by learning the riff to a song. It's like learning to become a painter by painting the bottom right corner of the Mona Lisa.

Thirdly. Learning a song is a lot of work. Music is a lot of work before you can start to really express yourself. If you're not prepared to work, don't think you're gonna get any good. No one will ever pay to watch you juggle one ball, either. The pros are the pros because they do it for a living. If you can find a job that will pay you well to do nothing other than politics, please let me know. Your fingers need to get worked. What sounds great is strong hands. Keep hydrated and stretch if you're going to do it. All that being said, it's also completely worth it.

Just keep playing as much as you can bear. And then, when you're ready to bang your head on the wall, play more.


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