Any guitar players here?

While I appreciate this advice for it's merits, I'd like to add a word of caution:

I have seen a LOT of guitar players turn this into a debilitating crutch which makes all songs sound and feel exactly the same- flat, lifeless and monotone. Not everything that you play will be run through a Marshall stack. I always advise that as you learn and grow you also learn the orchestral versions of all your chords- i.e. the un-'barred' versions, usually played within the first four frets using the open strings where necessary.

To their credit, barre chords have the advantage of helping one to learn the fretboard quickly, but it's important to experiment with the different tonalities that come with different chord voicings. As an example, here's a list of C Majors:

032010 (the 'orchestral' version)
032xxx
x35xxx (the 2-fingered barre)
335553 (a four-fingered barre)
8 10 10 9 8 8 (another four-fingered barre)
x x 10 9 8 8
x 10 10 12 13 x

That's further down the learning path, but my point is don't get yourself stuck into playing one chord voicing. And definitely LEARN HOW TO TUNE, AND QUICKLY! Nothing more irritating that standing around waiting for a guitarist to tune when he obviously never learned how. If he takes more than fifteen seconds....

 

I play entirely open tunings, (mostly open Eb) so I know nothing of different chord voicings other than my limited but I think cool sounding set of chords. It serves me ok. So little of music is in the technicalities of playing itself, it's in the overall catchiness of the tune, the lyrics resonating with the listener, and the right intensity at the right times.

That explains why dildoes like Michael Angelo Batio probably live in a van down by the river while Green Day with their power chords have been making tons for years and years.
If the most talented musicians were the ones with the fame and money, Bob Dylan would have been broke a long time ago, IMO. And Steve Vai wouldn't have to be suing Coldplay to get his name in the news.

 

On a different note: what is you guys' favorite pickup combination?

I used to be a Humbucker-Humbucker kind of guy until I switched to softer music, and played a strat. I love the single coils in the neck and middle position, not a big fan of the single coil in the bridge, too twangy and too much mids and highs for me.

I end up putting S-S-S on most of my strats though, because it looks more "classic" I guess, it seems like the real 60s-70 Fenders rarely, if ever, have the humbuckers in them.

I would say my personal favorite is Hum-single-single Just because you get the best of every world. I will never buy a 2 humbucker setup again, I don't believe.


Speaking of the best of every world, check out this strat which is now put together, it is: Lipstick pickup (from a Tele)- Single coil for the strat sound, and Humbucker for the heavier stuff.

 

I had a guitar with humbucking singles... don't remember what I thought of it...

I gotta have one guitar that sounds like a Strat and one that sounds like a Paul. Broader palettes, and I don't find them interchangeable.

 

You mean like Hot Rails?? They sound like crap, IMO. Like a much duller humbucker. I'm selling some duncan hot rails if anyone wants to destroy a perfectly good sounding guitar. I'm such a good salesman.

 

I have an obsession, as you know. I have to have 15 that sound like a strat, one that sounds like a tele, and a few that sound like a subpar Paul

 

Do you like P90s?? I have been looking into getting some humbucker sized ones, maybe interested in doing a P90-S-P90 combo. How would you describe the sound? I have never touched a guitar with them as far as I know.