The Fender Telecaster can be a hard guitar to love. The body is big and blocky, without the grace of a Les Paul or the comfortable contouring of the Strat. The tonal palette is limited by two single-coil pickups linked by a single volume and tone knob. The tones tend to be chimey and bright, and can border on harsh very easily. The single-cutaway design can make it hard to access the higher frets.

Heck, Leo Fender actually decided to stop making these. He considered the Stratocaster to be an “upgrade” over the Tele, and stopped making Telecasters. Only when musicians he knew kept demanding more Teles did he relent. What explains this guitar’s popularity?

Well, for one thing, Telecasters are great, gigging guitars, about as indestructible as a guitar gets. Traveling around the country, schlepping in on planes and trains, it’s sure nice to have a guitar that can stand up to some abuse. (And heck, even if the worst happens, and the neck or headstock is damaged, the bolt-on construction means that a new neck is less than an hour of a luthier’s time. Compare that to how long it takes to fix and break in a Les Paul – which have a much more fragile headstock).

The other great thing about Telecasters is that they’re unforgiving. You are going to hear every note, and if you don’t hit ‘em just right you’re going to hear that, too. Now, lots of rockers can’t handle a Telecaster for just that reason – if you play sloppy on one of these babies, the audience is going to know – but if you happen to have great technique and want people to hear it? A Telecaster is an easy choice.

That also makes them great instruments for students. If you really want to refine your technique to take your playing to the next level, a Tele isn’t going to let you hide. You’re going to be able to practice until you get it right. Also, the improved ease of tuning and tuning stability coming from the lack of a floating trem will save players who are still developing their ears lots of frustration. I know more guitarists who learned on Telecasters, and are grateful for the experience, than learned on any other guitar. They may not always love their Teles, but they appreciate them.

Fender’s lineup of American Standard Telecasters is everything you’d want a Telecaster to be. This is a solid, well-made guitar with good quality control. The “modern C” shape neck is comfortable and natural feeling – this guitar’s body may be a bit clunky, but it’s neck is beautiful.

I would recommend the American Standard Tele for any guitar student who really wants to take it to the next level. For more experienced guitarists, really, you know if you want a Tele or not – and if you do, this is a great model to choose.

Fender American Standard Telecaster (Amazon)

Every so often Gibson just hits a completely home run with their budget-priced guitars. The Les Paul Studio ‘50s Tribute is one of those home runs.

Gibson originally introduced this guitar in a limited run, but it turned out demand was so high that they ended up making the run bigger and bigger. The Gibson forums have been abuzz about this guitar, and with good reason.

This guitar features a chambered mahogany body, for great thick tone without backbreaking weight. It also features the thick, round ‘50s neck. Now, that neck isn’t for everyone, as it can feel like a bit of a tree trunk, but lots of people love it. Being a studio model, the body and neck lack the binding you’ll find on more expensive models.

But the real heart and soul of this guitar are the two P-90 single-coil pickups. If your experience with single-coils is limited to strats and telecasters, well, you’re in for a rather big surprise. 
These are not your father’s single-coils. P-90s are hot, bright, and strong. They can be temperamental and noisy, but they’ve got mid-range and bite. It’s not surprising that guitars with these pickups have been a staple of aggresive, driving punk-rockers and proto-punks: The Clash, The Who, Green Day, and more. But these pickups aren’t limited to punk-rockers. You’ll hear them on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s records, and on the Beatles’ “Taxman.”

This means they’re not for everyone, even though they have a strong, distinctive sound which can really help you stand out in a world where more and more people are playing Les Pauls.

The ‘50s Tribute Studio features excellent construction (although, as with all Gibson guitar, you probably want to play the individual guitar you buy before you buy it) and good looks. The sunburst models don’t feature the same gorgeous wood patterns of the more expensive Standards and Traditionals, but the Goldtop model I played cleverly imitates the look of body binding my leaving a rim around the maple cap unpainted.

The popularity of these guitars has meant that, for a short while, some of them were selling used for more than they went for new.

About the only mis-step Gibson made was deciding to ship this guitar with a gig bag instead of a hard case. Gibsons are great guitars are deserve solid protection, so you might want to invest in a proper case.

But that aside, this is a great guitar and a great value for the money. The value, as well as the distinctive sound, make the Les Paul Studio ‘50s Tribute a great choice as a second guitar if your #1 is a Les Paul. That way you’ll never be stuck at a gig without a working Paul, but you’ll be able to access a wider variety of sounds when you want them.

Gibson Les Paul Studio ’50′s Tribute

The Gibson Les Paul Studio is a truly excellent guitar, a fine choice for the musician who wants the Les Paul sound, but doesn’t particularly care about the cosmetic adornments which mark the famous brand.

Don’t be mistaken: the Studios are still magnificent-looking guitars. But they lack the body and neck binding of the more expensive models. Hence the name “Studio” – this is the guitar the gigging pro takes into the studio with him, rather than the showier guitar he takes on stage.

Of course, a Les Paul’s looks are great, but what really matters are playability and tone, and in those areas the Studios are truly fantastic guitars, with that great vintage Les Paul sound. The guitar I played featured 498T/490R pickups, which are nice and raunchy without being quite as overpowering as the Burstbucker Pros (in the standard) or quick as creamy as the Classic ‘57s (in the traditional). The differences between all three types of pickups are subtle, but I have to admit to these not being my first choice.

The Studio comes with a chambered body to keep weight down (a welcome relief if you’ve ever played a gig with an unchambered Paul!) and the rounded, 50’s neck. This neck is going to feel heavy and awkward if you’re used to a thin strat neck. You’ll get used to it pretty quickly, but it’s not for everyone. (It’s definitely worth playing a few different instruments, too, as there’s reasonable variation in the neck from guitar-to-guitar.)

Players who come from strats sometimes worry that the Paul’s two pickups will be tonally limiting, but in my experience that’s not the case. The individual volume and tone knobs actually allow more useful variety than your standard strat’s three pickups and five-way selection knob.

There’s an ongoing debate among Les Paul afficianados about the quality of the woods used in Les Paul studios, some claiming that they’re more likely to have three-piece backs. (This is presumed to be a bad thing, but the difference is likely to be considerably smaller than all the other variation from guitar to guitar). The guitar I played had a two-piece back, with great sustain and excellent playability.

My humble opinion is that most people would be hard-pressed to tell the difference. These guitars sound and play great. They have great sustain, and while you should always play the specific guitar you want before buying it, truly, Gibson is putting out top-quality guitars under the “Studio” name.

Gibson Les Paul Studio Electric Guitar (Amazon)

Guitarists seem to fetishize the past. It’s not too hard, if you browse blogs or online bulletin boards, to find guitarists waxing philosophically for older instruments, swearing that nothing today can ever come close.

So it’s not surprising that, when Gibson introduced a whole host of design tweaks to their Les Paul Standard, they chose to hedge their bets a little bit. The result is the Les Paul Traditional. The Traditional harkens back to the Les Pauls of the 80s and 90s, and is an excellent guitar, although a very different beast than the Standard.

When you pick up a Traditional, the first thing you notice is the heft. These guitars weigh a ton, and if you’re not used to it you’ll find playing for long periods of time can be a challenge. The neck, too, can feel like an oak tree: thick, short, and meaty. If that’s how you like your necks, this is the guitar for you.

(It’s important to realize that there is also a guitar called the “Traditional Pro,” which is a Guitar Center exclusive. It has a very thin neck, and is a different guitar from the one under discussion in this review).

One home run on the Traditional is the pickups. With a ’57 classic in the neck, and a ’57 classic plus in the bridge, the Traditional gives you a warm, creamy tone with just a touch of throwback vibe. These pickups don’t run as hot as the Burstbuckers in newer guitars, but they’re creamier, and a real winner. I know plenty of people who have bought standards and swapped the pickups for these, and it’s easy to see why. They won’t give you quite as much distortion pushing a tube amp, but to my ear sound nicer clean.

The control design on the Les Paul is just fantastic. Having your pickup selector up above the neck takes some getting used to, but you’ll never accidentally hit it on a heavy downstroke again. Separate volume and tone knobs mean that you can use your pickup selector almost like an amp’s channel selector. Roll back on the volume on your neck pickup for a clean sound, and then just flip the pickup switch to bridge get your tube amp to overdrive. This is truly how the greats played before we had channel-switching amps, and I recommend it.

The Les Paul Traditional ships with the pickguard already on, which is a bit of a disappointment for those of us who like our Paul’s unadorned, but it can be removed (and the small holes in the top are easy to hide). If you really don’t want a pickguard, though, consider a Standard instead.

Ultimately, this is a guitar for the man who wants his Les Paul do be a giant hunk of back-breaking, hand-stretching, tone-monstering wood. These are beautiful, guitars and it’s really hard to go wrong with a guitar like this.

Gibson Les Paul Traditional Plus Electric Guitar (Amazon)

There isn’t a more iconic guitar than the Les Paul Standard and it represents Gibson’s continued efforts at the evolution of this classic design.

If you have experience with Les Pauls, the standard will be instantly familiar. The scale length, dual humbuckers with individual volume and tone knobs, the iconic looks – these you know. Let there be no doubt that this guitar is descended from that great axes that defined the sound of rock music, as used by artists like Eric Clapton during his Cream years and Page with Zeppelin. Slash, of course, has almost always used a Les Paul.

But the current lineup of Les Paul Standards has some nice tweaks which take the guitar to the next level.

For starters, the guitar’s body has been chambered to reduce weight. A rather shocking amount of wood has been carefully carved out of the body, helping keep the weight down. If you’ve ever gigged with an older Paul, you know how useful this is – these guitars are a few pounds lighter than their predecessors, and that makes a huge difference if you’ve got a 4-hour rehearsal or jam session.

The neck have seen shaved asymmetrically, so that it still gives you the Les Paul heft, while giving more mobility around the high strings. The effect is subtle, but very pleasant – these guitars are much easier on your hands than earlier Les Pauls.

All of this comes with oodles of that classic Les Paul tone, courtesy of a pair of Burstbucker Pro pickups. The Burstbucker Pros are truly fantastic pickup design – hot enough to push a tube amp into overdrive, without sacrificing the warmth and thickness we’ve all come to expect from a Les Paul. There was a lot of concern about how the body chambering would affect tone, but if anything it makes the guitar more resonant unplugged. (I challenge anyone to actually be able to tell the difference between a chambered and non-chambered guitar with the gain kicked up, however). I was unable to hear a downside.

A few other tweaks are also welcome. Locking tuners facilitate faster string changes. Strap locks help keep the guitar where you want it (Les Pauls are, unfortunately, somewhat notorious for falling off the neck-side strap peg). The guitar I played was a “plus” model, which just means that the wood was selected for it’s visible grain and sunburst pattern. I played a so-called “desertburst” which was stunning gorgeous, but I admit for having a soft spot, also, for the “honeyburst” design, which looks like a nicely faded older sunburst finish. The “Herritage Cherry Sunburst” guitars can sometimes look a bit clowny, however. White, black, or gold guitars lack the “plus” designation but are functionally and tonally identical.

Gibson has also reverted to a longer neck tenon, like they used in the 50s and 60. This improves neck-body contact and should give better sustain. The model I played would sustain for days – just a lovely guitar.

If you want a Les Paul, the standard is a top-notch guitar with some nice refinements, subtly updating a classic to the modern age. Highly recommended.

Gibson Les Paul Standard Electric Guitar (Amazon)

A lot of musicians are confused by modes. They seem to reside somewhere in the musical ionosphere, out of reach of mortal musicians. Hang out with the wrong musicians, and you’ll hear phrases like, “Well, we were really being modal” tossed around as a pretentious way to sound more-musical-than-thou.

And when you first start to study modes, it just doesn’t make any sense. F Lydian, for example, has all the same notes as C Major. Why on earth should we call it F Lydian when it’s just those same ol’ notes that we’re used to calling C major?

The key to modes is the concept of a tonal center. That is to say, in any given scale, there is a note that serves as an orientation point, the note that all other notes are thought of as being in reference to. When your tonal center is C, for example, the notes C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C feel major. When your tonal center is F, however, those notes sound different.

If that’s confusing, it’s okay. By the time you get to the end of this two-part article you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

You Already Know Two Modes

Chances are good that you already know two modes – the minor and major scales. Of course, when talking about modes, these we call them “Ionian” and “Aeolian,” but let’s not worry about that.

Play your basic C-major scale on the guitar, starting on the 8th fret of the low E string. That series of notes should be familiar to everyone – Do Re Me Fa So La Ti Do. Now, play the same notes, starting with and A note (7th fret of the D string) playing up to the next A and back down.

Sounds different, doesn’t it. Same notes … different feel? Why is that? Well, it comes back to the idea of the tonal center. When you play those notes starting and ending with a C, the notes coalesce together into something major-sounding. Do it with the tonal center of the A note, and it feels minor.

Pitch Axis Theory

What we’re going to do now is walk through all the modes doing this same idea, using a simple trick to put the tonal center where we want it. What we’re going to do is drone our E-string while moving a major-scale shape around the fretboard to give us the right “E” mode. The idea is that by droning your low E-string, you will keep reminding your ear that “E” is the tonal center of the mode.

The major scale shape we’re going to use is the basic 2-3, 1-2-4, 1-3-4 shape. So for our e-major scale, we’re going to put the root on the E on the A string, 7th fret. So you’re playing the 7th and 9th frets of the A string, the 6th, 7th, and 9th frets of the D string, and the 6th, 8th, and 9th frets of the G string.

Remember that shape, because we’re going to move it up and down the fretboard as we begin our tour of modes in part 2. The idea of moving this shape around the fretboard to access different modes is called pitch axis theory.

Most new guitarists quickly learn a scale or two, and they drill them, but when it comes time to actually create a guitar solo they’re flummoxed. Sure, they can play a bunch of notes in the right key, but they can’t make it go anywhere. Read this article for help in turning your ability to play scales into an ability to play great sounding guitar solos.

A great scale to start this with is the minor pentatonic scale (Root, Minor Third, 4th, 5th, Minor 7th. On a guitar, in the key of E, this scale is 0-3, 0-2, 0-2, 0-2, 0-3, 0-3, from low to high). This is a great scale to start with because it has fewer notes, and is highly flexible.

The first key to learning to solo is to start listening to your scale over chords. After all, you won’t be playing your solos in a void. So, for example, if you’re practicing in Em Pentatonic, start with just playing over an E chord. (The minor pentatonic scale works well over the major chords of that key.) Listen to how each note works with the chord. Some work with it, some against it. Focus primarily on the feeling of “tension” – do some notes feel like they’re resolving, while others feel like they’re building tension? (Often, you’ll feel like tension is resolving whenever you return to the root note, but that’s not the only time. Experiment and see!)

Next, start expanding your chord progression. Record several bars of E-A (and loop them, if you have a program like Garageband). Notice how some notes which were “resolution” notes over an E chord are “tension” notes over an A chord. Expand your chord progression out and listen. I can’t tell you exactly what to listen for, because the way in which notes speak to you over certain chords is going to be a big factor in developing your personal style.

The next step is to begin developing licks and phrases. A good way to start developing licks is to play a bar-long phrase, starting and ending on the root note. Experiment. Then build it out to two-bar phrases, starting and ending on the root, but avoiding the root at other times.

Experiment starting on the root note, and ending on the root note one octave higher. Play this over your chord progression. Give yourself a bar to cover that octave, going lower and higher, never repeating the root note. Now two bars. Now two bars one over the E-major chord, and the second over the A-major chord.

Of course, you don’t have to go root-to-root. You could go 5th-to-5th. (B-to-B, in E). As you gain experience, you won’t even have to start and end on the same note. But I’ve found that starting with root-to-root makes the idea of a musical phrase very clear, it’s a short musical journey. And that music journey is the substance at the heart of a good guitar solo.

Online guitar lessons have exploded in recent years. Not surprisingly, as web video has become more and more accessible, a couple of big players have moved into the business, moving the model beyond “guy with a video camera” to the next level: a complete online music school, with multiple teachers, complete curriculums, and even proprietary video systems.

Two of the best known online guitar courses are Guitar Tricks and JamPlay. Both school are making an effort to do things right. They have multiple guitar teachers, allowing the student to pick and choose a teacher who works for them. They both offer lessons focused on different styles – whether you want to play rock or blues or classical you’ll find teachers at either site.

A certain number of the differences are subjective. When it comes to teachers, for example, a lot of it is personal. You want to take the video guitar lessons from the teacher who inspires you to play the most, so just because I prefer the teachers at one site doesn’t mean they’re the right teachers for you.

JamPlay seems to have better organization. Within a few minutes I felt like I had the hang of the site, and could easily find lessons on whatever subject I was interested in. Whereas on Guitar Tricks the organization was a little more hidden, and I felt I had to poke around more to find lessons on a specific subject.

JamPlay also has it’s lessons more clearly built into full lectures. There seems to be a higher level of curation. Different lessons are set up so you could spend hours working through thematic material with a single teacher, and there’s even substantial duplication, meaning that if a certain teacher rubs you the wrong way, you’re forced to deal with him to learn some of the material.

Guitar Tricks on the other hand, has more stand-alone lessons. They may be better if you want a quick snack – “here are a few of Hendrix’s ideas. Go play with them!” – but it’s definitely less satisfying if you want a full meal. I feel like Guitar Tricks lessons are less consistently high level, although there are absolutely some fantastic lessons and teachers there (Lisa McCormick, who teaches acoustic guitar, is particularly fantastic, as the lessons on Albert-King style licks are great). Guitar Tricks also lets your download many of their lessons to your hard drive, which is a nice feature.

The truth is that while both these sites are worthwhile endeavors, JamPlay strikes this guitarist as the clear favorite because of its better depth, breadth, and organization. That being said, both are definitely worth checking out, and many students may find that a month or two of JamPlay membership is nicely mixed up with a month at Guitar Tricks.

JamPlay (official site)
Guitar Tricks (official site)

So perhaps you’ve been playing acoustic guitar for a few years, and would like to start performing. Or maybe you’ve been performing with an electric guitar for years, but want to add an acoustic element to your tone. So now it’s time to consider a purchase: you want to add an acoustic guitar with a pickup to your collection, or upgrade your existing acoustic with a pickup. What are your options? Read on for more info.

The bad news is that there is no electric pickup that is going to sound truly like an un-amplified acoustic guitar. The technology just doesn’t exist. When you hear somebody playing an acoustic in an arena, recognize that there is a tremendous amount of digital signal processing going in to making that guitar sound like an acoustic.

That being said, there are three main ways of getting an acoustic-like sound from an amplified guitar. This article will walk you through the basics of all three.

The Best Sound: A Microphone

The simple reality is that the best way to get an amplified sound out of your acoustic is with a microphone. Nothing else is going to come close to truly capturing the sound of your guitar. In fact, you may notice that some of the best acoustic-electric systems (like the Seagull Q2 system) include an internal mike.

The downside of a microphone is simple: feedback. The solid-body guitar was designed as an effort to control feedback. External microphones require a competent technician to rig them up for good sound, whereas internal mikes are usually coupled with a piezo transducer so you can turn the microphone down at high volume to avoid feedback.

Magnetic Pickups

There are a wide variety of magnetic sound-hole pickups which can provide a decent acoustic sound (Fishman and J.R. Brags are just two popular manufacturers). The biggest advantage of these systems is that they can easily be applied to an acoustic guitar without much work. You can go to your local story, slide one in, and test out the sound. If you decide to install it, a qualified luthier will only have to drill out the bridge-side strap button to replace it with a jack, so you will have a minimal impact on your guitar’s sound.

These are probably the best choice if you want to add amplification technology to a guitar you already own. While having a sound-hole pickup can make a small change to the guitar’s sound, these pickups can be easily removed and reinstalled at home, so you only have them in when you need them.

Piezo/Transducers

These were one of the original ways to get an amplified sound from an acoustic. The problem is that the tone, for the most part, is mediocre, often very “quacky” without a lot of digital signal processing. Furthermore, installing one of these in a guitar requires a lot of work, and usually some rather severe surgery which may drastically change your guitar’s tone unplugged.

Therefore, these are only recommended if they come pre-installed in a guitar you’re buying, and you can try out the sound of the guitar (both plugged in and not).

More Complex Systems

In recent years the technology has advanced quite a bit. Taylor’s “Expression System,” for example, includes multiple magnetic pickups attached at strategic points to the guitar’s top. Some of the results from this type of system have been quite impressive, but again, it’s not a realistic choice as an aftermarket upgrade. It requires major surgery to your guitar, and since the pickups are mounted on the top, it will change the sound of your guitar, so again these are only recommended if they’re already installed on the guitar and you get to listen to the guitar before you buy.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, there are a lot of compromises involved in electric-acoustic pickups. Now, however, you’re armed with the basics and can go explore your options. Good luck and happy playing!

String muting, with your right or your left hand, can be a very powerful tool which opens up a lot of new sounds. It is a vital part of every experienced guitarists’ repertoire. This article will walk you through the three basic kinds of string muting.

Right-Hand (Palm) Muting

This is one of the most common kinds of string muting. All you need to do is rest the heel of your right (strumming) hand against the strings, just next to the bridge. (This article is going to assume you’re a right-handed guitarist. If not, you’ll just have to flip the directions around in your head. Sorry about that.) This stops the strings from ringing out as you strum.

When you first try this, it’ll sound clunky and not very musical, but like everything else, with practice it gets much easier. Try it on an electric with the gain cranked up for some really interesting sounds. By minutely adjusting the amount of pressure you apply with your right hand, you’ll find that you can precisely adjust how long the chord rings out for, and how it sounds.

Left-Hand Muting

This type of muting is even easier, and, in fact, you probably do it inadvertently all the time. When you’re playing a chord or a note, all you have to do is relax your left hand. Hold the chord, strum … relax. Don’t pull your fingers all the way off the strings or you’ll cause new notes to ring out.

You’ll notice quickly that this works better with barre chords, as relaxing your hand doesn’t silence any open strings. When playing chords with open strings, you need to do a bit more: relax your hand and flatten it lightly against the strings. This is still pretty simple. For example, when I’m playing a G-chord, (320033, low to high) and my middle-finger is on the low G string, I’ll relax my hand and just lightly press my middle finger against the E, A, D, and G strings. My ring finger, which is on the third fret of the B-string, will relax and flatten lightly against the high B and E strings. Practice it a few times and you’ll see how it works.

Single-String Muting

This comes up all the time, and adds an important level of precision to your play. Often you’re playing a chord but don’t want certain strings to ring. You can try to play around them, or you can mute them. A simple example would be the low E string on a C-major chord (x32010). If you’re playing carefully, it’s not to hard to simply not hit that E-string when strumming. But what about when you’re really rocking out? You’re going to hit that e-string.

This isn’t the end of the world, since the note E is part of a C-major chord. But if you don’t want it? Just slide your thumb around the back of the neck so that it lightly rests on the e-string. Don’t press down. Now jam away with your right hand … and the low E string will remain silent.

You can do this with other strings, as well. For example, one way to play a Bm7 chord is simply 7×7777. You can either barre the bottom four strings with your middle finger and wrap your thumb around to play the low E-string, or use your index and middle fingers, but in either case you just let the fingers lightly touch the A string, keeping it silent. (That chord shape, by the way, is a really versatile one to keep in mind, particularly when playing funk or blues).

Now you know the basics of muting. It’ll take a little practice to get the hang of it, but stick with it and you’ll have it down before you know it!