putting EMG's or branded passive pickups in a starter guitar is a waste of money
besides, the fewest people that use EMG's can actually play EMG's. They put them low because EMG's close to the string like they are designed to be pick up everything even the smallest touch of the string with the flesh of a finger, and after that, it all sound like the same flat dull dead kiddie metal. EMG's are a bonus on stage because they are impervious to EMI and RF noise, EMG's are actives so there is no impedance problem in the chain, and being low magnetic field rail pickups they have zero string drag, and that's about it as far as the advantages go, they sound less good than passives in most applications, they are more expensive, they are more demanding as to the skills and experience of the player because they are unforgiving being actives.
cheap guitars and cheap pickups from are much higher quality these days as they used to be in the past. They will never get to the point where they can compete with an Am Std Strat, far from that, but they make pretty good learning and performing-in-a-band guitars.
that being said, a strat/tele type will always require a bit more engagement than a short scale guitar. You have to fight it a bit. That's part of the dynamics, together with single coil pickups of course, which are dynamic. A short scale is easier to play, but harder to get to sound exciting.
as to the remark that single coils are suitable for metal... that is true, but not for learning metal. If you start by learning blues and rock and move on to metal, like most do, single coils are just fine. If you start with metal immediately, you don't have the technique yet and the single coils will fight you too much. A bridge humbucker offers a solution there.
I completely disagree, the only benefit emgs have over other pickups is consistency. Other than that they usually sound worse than normal humbuckers or single coils.
When I was in a metalcores band I bought them and hated it, sounds dull and lifeless. Immediately went back to single coil
I wasn't talking about emgs. I think someone else mentioned them. I was just stating that for some types of metal you need humbuckers to produce the proper tone. I'm not a big emg fan either.
humbuckers are more compressed and less trebly than single coils, and have more output, so they drive amp harder.
single coil metal exists, especially very skilled lead guitarists in power metal and other virtuoso styles can get very good results with single coils. Those are not standard single coils though, they are quarter pounders or other strong magnetic field pickups, often compressed and boosted by some kind of very compressing overdrive pedal to keep it tight.
Also always use a metronome. If you can't keep up, put it in half speed and outdo yourself. This appart from making your notes tidy, mastering the metronome (or the beat) will save you trouble with getting along jamming w/other musicians. They'll love you because "you will not fuck up the jam that much", specially the bassist.
I could suck for theory in general, and have a very limited knowledge of the instrument playing, but hell I can get along with most musicians and jam random poo and doodles, or sit in my pc and start writing a jam from scratch thanks to the metronome practice days /._./ still not a succesful musician, but those are the little bits of "succsess" that make this so fun. Suddenly you're in a stage, jamming with a reggae band as lead guitarist for about 500 people edit: that are actually cheering you and liking your band (true personal story haha)
Well over 10 years ago my friend taught me how to read tabs and how to play 'Seven Nation Army'. From there I went to learn a song at a time (on a spanish guitar mind you, my parents didn't want to splash out on an electric if I didn't have true passion for it) and progress from there. This worked for me, as I wasn't going much beyond bedroom playing with a few practices with friends.
I wish the age of YouTube was around when started learning. If there was a technique I didn't understand back then I had to google hard, or ask friends, to learn it. Nowadays it's all over YouTube and the internet, with video guides for certain songs even.
Not seeing a teacher is fine, providing you have a basis to start with. Although I never did in the beginning, I'd advise learning licks/riffs that focus on a certain technique, as well as learning songs. Don't feel too disheartened if you can't nail a song within a few days of practicing, just keep going (I've been learning songs like 'Kissing the Shadows' by Children of Bodom for a number of years). Every now and then you'll get a break through moment, like your brain flipped a switch, and you just get that song.
Beyond all, play stuff that interests and entertains you :)
I think playing with a metronome is an excellent idea. Just one question: How do I actually do it? How do I "sync" my playing to a metronome for a song like tnt? Im just a bit confused by this...
Damn thats actually kind of inspiring. When learning guitar (or learning anything remoteoy difficult for that matter), I always fear not getting any better. I dont know why but I just have this constant fear...
Fear? Fear for what exactly? It's not like your life depends on it.
The reality is that it takes time to play good. First you have to develop calluses on your fingertips, then you have to develop muscle memory, then you have to get basic music theory applied on the fretboard and learn all positions instinctively, then you have to learn tone control and vibrato, etc...
It just takes several thousands of hours of playing before it really sounds good.
It's much faster to learn together with others though, playing in a band is probably the best to learn really quickly.
The problem of learning online is that any fundamental errors that find their way into your learning, are never corrected by lack of constant feedback. The fewest people that learn online only get to a functional level. You can learn how to show off a bit by learning online, but you can't learn how to make music in a band, you can't converse in musical terms with other people (and I don't mean talking about gear, that is the eternal substitute on the Internet, everyone talks about products that are for sale instead of about the artistic product they can produce themselves).
From what it sounds like, you are learning the very basics of guitar technique. Like I said earlier, imo I'd stay away from focusing too much on playing songs. Sure, you can have some fun and try playing your favorite tracks, but this shouldn't be the main source of practice. At this point, you should be doing exercises which then can be applied to songs you like. Very soon, you'll notice that techniques that you've practiced will come up when tackling songs and you'll be able to get through the tricky bits much easier.
However, if you do want to play with a metronome, you can either purchase a standalone one, or use various software or online sources to generate a beat. Pick your song (in this case TNT) and tap your foot to the beat. Sync the metronome's ticks to the beat.
Another way to calculate beats per minute would be to use an online calculator, where you tap or hit a key every downbeat. In the case of TNT, its ~126 bpm. Play the song and then try to see what you get here: http://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm
If you dont get ~126 bpm, you're doing something wrong :D
Learn favorite songs, its basically the first thing everyone does even if you try struggling on course to some great plan, you end up playing Thunderstruck or something like that. You end up just learning that best part which I think is okay? Everybody did it, and some just never bothered to learn past that. I know people who have played guitar for ages and still don't know how to play whole songs.
Then after nailing right some melodies its really good practice to just play on top of songs, and for that the trick is simply not care if you do mistakes and focus is on staying with the song. That teaches you to ditch that "oh mistake" restart restart thing which is enjoyable for you and others. :D
At this point it should be clear for you if you want to play in band or just record stuff by yourself, and thats then different topic for what to do and why?
- Bill Burr is great, go fuck yourselves.
PS: Although I had played guitar for few years, I did actually learn how to play from discovering Anime and just playing those Bleach & Gintama OP/ED songs. Which then did lead me to play piano similar way, and recently LOTR tracks with Xylophone while waiting things ..with both real one and from app "One Plus X". :D
If you're practicing right then there's no reason why you should regress. Just because you're not seeing a notable improvement in your playing day by day that doesn't mean it's not happening. As @Zoltan mentioned, there are various steps to learning. So it may just be that some other element of your playing hasn't caught up yet.
As a general note as well, there is normally more than one way to tackle a challenge. If one method of learning doesn't work, try another :).
Well Ive tried that but my problem with the whole metronome thing is just that i dont know what note to play when. Theres just something Im missing here...
I guess Ill just keep practising my favorite songs then for now
Also @Zoltan I know the fear thing sounds kind of irrational but I just hate the possibility of not learning. Also since you made your point about learning online (which seems very valid to me) and I dont have anyone to play in a band with, Ill probably meet up with one of my friends who plays guitar, or Ill see an actual teacher
If you have anything to record with even like headset, it really helps a lot when you listen what did you just play ...aaand its all over the place, weird breaks, melody isin't even recognizable. Then you just work on that till you feel proud of it and try to combine other parts into it which you struggle to sound right the same way, and listen again and again and again..
There is weird momentum in that and it feels similar to listening new song over and over again, then it addicts as soon as you start getting it right. It's like playing them video games or drawing, and I have had moments when I just want to play it again even though fingers have craters in them. Then I have just clunky tape fingertips gone it through few times.
Also you don't have to be in an actual band to play in a band these days... you can organize someone to play together with by emailing reaper files. A lot of people do that to learn without actually coming together these days. You all record tracks in reaper, then share those files per email or on a google drive. you adapt your tracks as people give you feedback and the song evolves, and the nice and motivating thing is that you have a finished original song in the end, and a few extra friends.
The metronome is only there to provide you with the steady beat. It allows you to practice something to a beat and then increase or decrease the beats per minute. You could practice a song like tnt at its standard bpm and then use a metronome to increase the speed gradually until you are unable to play the song/riff successfully. After a lot of practice you will be able to play a song or riff faster and faster, etc.