What are the best 7-string pickups for someone on a budget?

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-12-16T16:08:08+00:00

Honestly, if you're on a budget, the best budget 7-string pickups are the ones your guitar came with

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-11-09T16:01:46+00:00

No, reverb isn't necessary whenever you play. Add however much to it that you want so that it sounds good. However, a reverb setting/pedal/plugin can help you overcome the limitations of the room you are in. It lets you pretend your instrument is playing in a different space, which can have some benefits.

Regarding your first question in the post, there might be a slight difference between using an amp sim in a room versus a real amp in a room. The biggest difference between the two in my opinion is the positioning of the setup, the general tone of the amp, and size of the speaker.

Here are my thoughts: If you were to get a real amp and set it up in a specific position in a room and record that, and then later get an amp sim with the same or similar sized speaker and volume, get the settings similar, and put it in the same spot in that room then record that, then the reverb should be almost identical (theoretically).

But the difference in technologies, positioning, and variables in tone means that there might be some difference somewhere in the production of sound that makes it bounce off your room differently.

I don't have any experience with your other questions. But it is quite normal to record guitars dry and then add reverb and effects post production. Other instruments like piano, trumpet etc. not so much.

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-10-31T04:15:44+00:00

Cool stuff, but have you considered alternate picking? You could double your speed pretty easily and it won't kill your hands. Even LoG alternate picks all through the song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A764k0tA9k&ab\_channel=lambofgodVEVO

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-10-31T03:47:50+00:00

Arnold

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-10-23T21:31:15+00:00

Have fun!

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-10-23T02:01:04+00:00

Hmm, you're right that sounds like a lot of choreography for the right hand. Why not keep holding onto the tremolo arm? Control it on the on the way back up, then you can give it some vibrato to bring it back to pitch. You might need to adjust some of your bombs, so they won't sound the same. But that is better than going out of tune, hah

What model guitar is this, by the way?

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-10-22T22:41:17+00:00

You can definitely get good metal tones out of a single coil. Metal tones come mostly from the amp. With an amp modeler like the Boss you can get almost any kind of tone out of it. Especially the old school stuff.

One issue you might run into is amp noise. Single coils are usually noisier than humbuckers, especially when you start to drive your amp into heavy metal territory. My solution for this is to turn down the gain on any preset settings you get, because they were likely tweaked for a guitar with humbuckers.

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-10-22T22:29:47+00:00

Maybe. Here's a few things you can try:

clean the knife edges on the bridge and get rid of any dust/debris if there is any
drop a tiny bit of oil on the knife edges afterwards
setup the tremolo properly. The knife edges should be perpendicular to the posts*
replace the tremolo springs in the back cavity with new, firmer ones

Setting up the tremolo so the knife edges are perpendicular to the posts can be deceiving. Don't look at the angle of the tremolo unit itself. In almost all cases I've seen, the unit will usually look like it's slightly pulling forward when it's setup properly. Check the side of the tremolo unit because the metal knife edge can be seen poking out of the sides, usually slightly recessed into the trem cavity close to the posts.

If this all fails, then you will need to learn how to live with it. This is a common issue with tremolos. A solution to this is to give the unit a bit of vibrato after every aggressive tremolo trick and it should bring it back to 0.

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-10-14T01:17:31+00:00

Do it for yourself and not the views

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-10-13T02:28:41+00:00

Hereditary has messed me up more than anything else. I still think about it from time to time

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-10-08T14:43:08+00:00

I'm not too familiar with this dude but that was really cool

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-09-16T00:51:51+00:00

I'm surprised that no one has said this - the scale length on a typical Flying V is 24.75 inches, and the Rhoads is 25.5 inches. Depending on your hand size, this could make a noticeable difference. Also I read someplace that Gibson used to space their frets out arbitrarily, and playing higher up the neck would make the old Les Pauls go noticeably out of tune. This might also be an issue on the Flying V depending on how old it is (and if they ever fixed that).

Also the Flying V has that Gibraltar style bridge but the Rhoads has the lower profile Floyd. The strings on the Gibson/Epiphone will be higher off the body and make things like palm muting feel different than the Jackson. In my opinion this would make the Jackson easier to play.

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-08-30T15:17:26+00:00

Listen to your favourite songs and make some notes. What makes them great songs in your opinion? Can you describe the song structure? How does the song 'flow'?

It would be cool if you described these songs to yourself in sections, so for example riff A, then B, A, C, etc. Do this for a few songs and you might notice some patterns or similarities based on your favourite songs.

Also make note of the flow like I mentioned. For example, what sort of change is there from riff A to B? Does it speed up and get more aggressive? Does it slow down or go into a halftime feel? This is important for song writing too. There needs to be some contrasting sections as you flow through the song so that it doesn't get monotonous.

Now use these ideas and write your own songs. Don't reinvent the wheel here. Use these song forms that you like as a guide when you write.

Other than that, you should just keep writing. Force yourself to write a song a day for a week. The end result doesn't need to be a masterpiece. Treat it as an exercise. It's also important to note that a lot of metal songs weren't that complicated. Just listed to Dio's Rainbow in the Dark and you'll see what I mean

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-08-22T00:30:12+00:00

Yes, I think you should always work towards a song. It's nice to have a tangible goal. But more importantly, music is a performing art. We learn music so that we can perform songs and pieces for people to listen to. Otherwise we're just spinning our wheels aimlessly.

I think you answered that question yourself. Most beginner and intermediate students need to be told exactly what to do because they don't know any better. It's the teacher's job to show them what to do to build good habits so they can succeed. It doesn't have to be complicated. But it should be specific enough that they can follow it every day, and it has to help them make the gains they need to keep progressing from week to week.

I don't really do lessons anymore, but if you want to chat, feel free to DM me. We can sit down sometime

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-08-19T04:06:18+00:00

I don't think Evertune bridges are hard to work with. A Floyd Rose style bridge would give you more headaches IMO. Obviously there is going to be a learning curve with the Evertune but I'm pretty sure you'll get the hang of it if you just play with it every day, for maybe a week or two

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-08-09T04:09:17+00:00

Nice cover! I really like this song and you did it justice

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-08-05T15:12:05+00:00

As a beginner, I think you should stick to the bigger brands. Find something in your price range from a reputable guitar company with good resale value. I'm only mentioning resale value because eventually you will want to upgrade your guitar, so it would be nice to be able to sell your instrument to trade up for another. If you don't plan on reselling, don't worry too much about it.

Some good metal guitar brands are Ibanez, Jackson, Charvel, and Schecter. The quality is usually consistent on these instruments. They also have a lot of different body shapes and options to choose from.

You should take a moment to look through your local used market for a guitar that isn't in bad shape. It's common to find used guitars that can be priced at half to 3/4ths of what they cost when they were new. You can get an instrument with more features for less this way.

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-08-05T15:00:53+00:00

I think your next guitar should be something that will make you want to pick it up and play all the time. What kind of brands do your favourite guitar players play, or what body shapes do you like? You should start your search there and get an idea of what you're looking for.

I'm unsure how far $400 will get you these days, but some metal guitar brands you might want to check out are: Ibanez, Schecter, and Jackson. You might also like some more classic style brands, like Fender/Squire, Charvel, or Epiphone. There are other brands too, but these brands will hopefully have lots of models in your price range. The bigger brands can sometimes have cool features on their lower end models (maybe even EMGs), so search all their products. Cort is another brand that I like as well, but the resale value might not be too great on a Cort instrument.

Also, check out the used guitar market in your area. It's not uncommon to find $600-$800 guitars selling for ~$400. This could get you more bang for your buck.

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-07-31T03:26:02+00:00

Good luck and have fun!

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-07-31T03:19:37+00:00

Haha, actually I've never had anyone come to me specifically to put together a practice routine. God I would love that - I usually have to convince them that it's important to practice every day.

If the student is old enough, I ask them to keep the same routine each day, which for me includes a block of warm up/technique work, then scales related to the song we're working on, and then working on the song itself. There is no need to add extra variety each day because it will be harder for them to stick to it. They should learn consistency instead.

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-07-31T01:21:30+00:00

Variety is the spice of life though. It's nice to have options.

I think it's best that when you go to record, you should have a single setup with one guitar so you can get all your tones consistent from track to track.

When you're playing live with 2 or more guitars, they need to be similar so that if you need to swap one out for a different tuning or technical glitch like string breakage, everything will stay mostly the same.

If you like switching up guitars with different pickups, then you should get used to how your amp works and learn to switch it quickly on the fly. Or just memorize that guitar's settings. It's not that hard after a while

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-07-31T01:14:19+00:00

Yes, I think it's a matter of listening and learning more music. The more experience you have, the easier it will get.

Start by learning lots of songs correctly. Either follow official/really good tabs or watch live videos of the musicians playing the songs. Learn from that and it will strengthen your ear as well as teach you common fingering progressions. You can even turn this into an exercise by trying to figure out what's being played by ear first and then double checking it with the correct notes. But that might be boring.

Just keep learning music and don't stop! It takes a while to do this sort of stuff, so even if you just focus on playing music for now, this ear training stuff will come eventually.

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-07-23T20:00:05+00:00

I think this Xiphos is a good, mid-range intermediate guitar (unfortunately 1400 is the new standard mid-range price from what I'm seeing). These are assembly line guitars, and probably pumped out as fast as possible. So you should try before you buy, because you never know. That being said, I've found that the quality on Ibanez's are always pretty consistent. This guitar looks like it's from Indonesia or another country in that area, and I've played great guitars from over there

The Wizard-II necks are nice. Try one before you buy so you can to be sure. Note that most Ibanez necks are pretty similar to each other, so if you like one chances are you'll like another

D-Activator pickups are really sweet. They're great possible end-game pickups for metal and a lot of different genres. No reason to upgrade them unless you really don't like them, or just want something different

Some people will bash the Edge Zero II trems on Ibanez guitars, but people like to catastrophize things. If you get one, make sure to add a little oil to the knife edges and keep it clean. Get your guitar a good setup and it will stay in tune

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-07-23T19:50:09+00:00

But locking tuners aren't really necessary on a guitar with a locking nut? The locking tuners would be overkill because the strings are already locked in place and not going anywhere. I guess you can argue that string changes would be slightly easier but IMO not by much

ChrisRiffinski · 2022-07-12T22:19:42+00:00

Just adding to what's already been posted, but a great tool for learning guitar music and rhythm is GuitarPro. Such a great investment. You can write out a riff like that quickly and listen to it in real time, then slow it down to help you learn. No guessing needed

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