The highest reviewed electric guitars in the UK
Guitar tastes across the pond can be quite different from the US...
...but the main reason for that is because there are some guitars available there that just aren't available here. An example is the Ibanez GAX30 TR. I can totally see why it sells well in the UK. It's an inexpensive double-cutaway shape that looks great and has a very nice simple design that would please anyone. If you live in the UK, you can get this guitar for cheap easily. If you live in the US, it's not available anywhere, which is a shame.
Here are four more similar to the above:
Priced almost identical to the Ibanez above, this is a Gibson ES-335 copy that sells for an amazingly low price. Again, not available in the US. The closest we have here to this is the Epiphone Dot Studio which costs more and isn't as well-appointed as the Benson.
A bit of an odd one here, but again, it sells well, and not just due to its low price. This is a semi-hollow body Telecaster style shape with a Gibson style bridge and tailpiece, Jackson style headstock and P90 single-coil pickups. It might look slightly odd, but it's actually designed well. The control knobs are out of the way of the strumming area, the lightweight body makes it very comfortable to play, and the all-on-top inline tuners make tuning easy.
This is one also available in the US, thankfully. The HB35 from Washburn is an absolutely gorgeous semi-hollow body electric. Nicely priced for what it is. UK buyers actually get this guitar for less than what it sells for here (roughly the equivalent of $50 less in the UK) which makes the deal even sweeter.
Last but definitely not least is an SG style guitar from Vintage. This is a UK brand I wish was sold here in the US. Yes, you can find Vintage brand in the US if you look hard enough, but in the UK they're obviously much easier to come by. The VS6 is absolutely the best low-cost SG copy and it's always highly rated. Mahogany body and mahogany neck with set-in construction. No bolt-on here. This is as proper of an SG as you can get for the lowest price in the UK.
What about the bigger brands?
The UK has Fender and Gibson just like the US does. So if you want a Fender Stratocaster or Gibson Les Paul, there are plenty to be had over there.
And yes, there are also plenty of Squier and Epiphone guitars there too.
But I'd argue to look at the UK-specific stuff first. If I were living there I would absolutely seek out a Vintage VS6 just to try it out.
Modern natural color electric guitar choices
For a long time there really wasn't much choice where natural finishes were concerned. The closest thing you could get to a natural color on a solid-body electric was sunburst for a while. But now there are some good choices out there.
Grain matters. Sometimes.
Take the special edition Fender American '59 Stratocaster with a pine body where you can actually see the knots in the wood. Some guys would really go for this.
With this particular guitar, the entire look is about the grain as that is the first thing your eye is drawn to. This Strat doesn't attempt to hide anything. You can plainly see the cut line between the two body pieces, and the grain is very pronounced.
Not all electric guitars in a natural finish are like this. Far from it, actually. Some have a much plainer appearance to them where the body almost looks like it was painted.
I'm mentioning this so you know that "natural" doesn't necessarily mean "very obvious wood grain".
Some modern natural finish choices
Jackson JS22 Dinky - Natural Oil
Starting off with a low-priced guitar, you wouldn't think that basswood would look that good in a natural finish, but Jackson pulled it off nicely here. The bound neck and headstock is a nice touch.
This is an alder body. The grain in the wood on this one has a nice texture to it and the guitar has a very clean look overall.
This one is a laminate maple body. From a distance, it doesn't look like there's any grain lines. But once you get up close you can see them. Epiphone did this guitar right and the gold knobs work well with the wood.
Squier Vintage Modified '72 Telecaster Thinline
This guitar has an ash body, which is a tonewood well known for having pronounced grain lines - and this Telecaster definitely doesn't disappoint in that department. You can really see the grain on this one, even from a distance. It should also be noted that the pick guard is pearloid and not a solid white, which for this application works well.
Epiphone Les Paul 100th Anniversary Outfit
This is a commemorative Les Paul from Epiphone, and it's the best looking Les Paul I've seen of 2017. Everything on this guitar is premium grade stuff, and it also has the extra fancy Epiphone-specific headstock, which is something you don't see from Epiphone too often.
Fender American Professional Stratocaster - Natural
Fender this year is offering the American Professional Stratocaster in a natural finish. They've chosen to go with a black pick guard instead of white, which for this particular finish of Strat I do agree with. A white guard on this guitar wouldn't look that great, even if it was pearloid. The styling is kept reserved to give the guitar a "workhorse" appearance, and it works.
Rich's pick
The Epiphone LP is far and above the best of the lot. Very good application of a natural finish with other fancy digs to give the guitar a seriously good looking upscale appearance. It is a higher priced Epiphone model, but it is a special edition and to see that fancy Epiphone headstock with all goodies does not happen often. If there is any guitar out of this list that really gets a natural finish right, it's that one.
Joining vs. starting a band
If you can't find a band no matter how hard you try, perhaps it's time you change your approach.
There's no rule that says you can't be the leader of your own band. If you've tried joining bands in the past and it hasn't worked, start your own.
Many guitar players are afraid to take the leadership role because it sounds scary. Leading your own band is leading a team of people, and the thought of that may may you uncomfortable.
All I can say to that is that you're going to have to get comfortable with your discomfort. If you've tried everything you know and all you've ended up with is the wrong people or nothing at all, stop trying to join a band and start one instead.
Starting a band is not difficult. All you have to do is change the way your musicians classifieds listings.
What you change specifically is to stop talking about you and start detailing what you want instead.
For example, Instead of "guitar player seeking," you would put "need a bass player" or "need a drummer." And of course you add in extra details such as stating the type of genre of music you're into, state other bands you want to sound like, and so on.
Tips on starting a band
Drummer first and always
This is the guy who most likely lives in a house of his own, meaning that would be your practice space. Drummers need a space where they can set up and play loud, and in my experience the vast majority of drummers do live in a house (even if they don't own it.)
Yes, I am saying to look for a drummer first just to establish a practice spot.
Simplify, simplify, simplify
Most musicians aren't wizards at their instruments, so don't expect technical mastery. For the songs you bring to the table, purposely make them really easy to play, else you'll be wasting time teaching your band members how to play, and that's not fun at all.
Have standards
You're not looking for expert players, but there are things you should consider mandatory.
- Drummers and bass players: Good timing. Any drummer or bass player who can't keep time is worthless.
- Drummers: Ability to play straight beats. This means a drummer who can play simple 4/4 without the need to fill, fill, fill, fill and fill again "because he's bored".
- Bass players: Staying in tune. This one is fairly obvious but I have seen bass players who, incredibly, can't stay in tune (even on a 4-string!)
- Bass players: Working knowledge of root notes. This means when you say, "This song is in the key of C", the bass player should know where C is on the fretboard. If you have to actually point out where C is, that's not a good sign.
Getting paid?
This directly depends on the style of music your band plays.
I've said it before and will say again that the #1 music genre that guitar players get paid for is country. You stand the best chance of making actual real money playing music of that style. It is one of the few genres where a guitar player is required just to get that sound.
You can play other genres if you wish, but if you want the fastest way to get that green, play country.
Aside from that, two other things help to get paid. Being entertaining and having someone that actually knows how to get gigs.
Being entertaining basically means not standing like lumps on stage. Move around. Use stage props. Maybe even tell a joke between songs. Just do something and don't just stand there.
Where finding that someone to get gigs is concerned, that's a manager. You need someone that knows the local area, and yes you will have to pay this person. This is your booking manager. Work a deal that for any gig booked, the manager gets a percentage (at least 15%.) If that sounds too expensive, then guess what? You're the manager.
Tip for RECORDING the band
Ordinarily I recommend the ZOOM R8 for recording yourself, but for a band you need something larger with more inputs. I suggest the ZOOM R24 for that. That unit has all the inputs you need, easily does double duty as a mixer and for what it does, it's definitely priced right.
Also, yes there is the R16 model, but it doesn't have a drum machine in it. You can get that one if you wish, but if you want a recording unit that works both for you and your band, the R24 is the better choice.
Be picky, find the right people, have fun
You, as the band leader, can be as picky as you want. But be reasonable. It is unlikely you will find perfect people for your band, and it is okay to settle for "good enough," but as said above, have standards. Pick people who keep good time and know their notes, and have fun.
ESP LTD Eclipse EC-256FM is the best Les Paul for the money
This guitar is the best bang for the buck when you want a Les Paul style axe that really delivers.
Before starting, the only guitar that actually beats this in value is also from LTD, the EC-10 model. So if absolute rock-bottom price is your main concern, see that guitar first.
The EC-256FM from LTD is without question the best Les Paul style guitar for the money (at least at the time I write this).
It has the 24.75" scale length that Les Paul players are familiar with. It also has set-neck construction, binding everywhere, Tune-O-Matic style bridge and tailpiece, coil-tap push/pull tone control and chrome hardware.
As for the price, it beats the Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus Top PRO (the closest competitor in specifications) by being over $100 less. And as far as any guitar at or below the LTD's price that offers the same features, I couldn't find one.
Summed up, the EC-256FM has everything LP players want. Looks-wise, it has the flame top, the binding, the fancy inlays and all the chrome. Performance-wise, it has the proper scale length, proper bridge, fast neck and enhanced electronics.
The only thing the EC-256FM doesn't have is a high price tag. And again, if you want cheap, just get the EC-10 model. But for what the 256 has, it's truly a needs-nothing guitar. Just plug in and go.
How to get great clean tone for electric guitar
Let's talk about clean tone and how to get it right the first time.
Getting a good clean sound out of a guitar is actually not that hard to get, but it has to be approached in a specific way.
Step 1. Use the bridge pickup
Easy to do. Switch your guitar to use the bridge side pickup. You do this because to get the most treble tone. Later on you can experiment with other pickup positions, but for now, switch to bridge.
Step 2. Compression
Most guitar players simply think "turning off everything" is the only way to clean tone. It isn't. Compression is necessary. You can do this with a BOSS CS-3, the (much) more affordable Behringer CS400 or use a muilti-effects unit like the DigiTech RP360 that I use.
No matter what style of music you play, if you're going clean, compression is mandatory. Why? Three reasons.
First, it evens out the string volume so the wound strings don't "boom" over the plain strings.
Second, it makes every note heard clearly no matter where you are on the fretboard.
Third, it allows you to play softer so you're not getting fret buzz all over the place. When playing with an overdrive or distortion effect, that masks just about all the fret buzz. But when playing clean, all the buzz is heard. And no matter what guitar you play or how perfectly set it up it is, there will be times you will hear small amounts of fret buzz when playing clean. The simple solution around that? Play softer. The way to bring up the quiet notes when playing softer? Use compression. Problem solved.
Step 3. Purposely use a tone that's slightly broken up
If you have ever played guitar through an amplifier cabinet that uses Celestion speakers, you know that there is no way to get 100% crystal clear clean tone through those. And the reason for that is that Celestions naturally break up and distort the more they're driven. This can easily be heard when playing live with a band when the amp has to be turned up to be heard.
As a side note, this is a big reason why there are many guitar players who prefer bass amps such as a 100-watt Fender Rumble (which by the way can be had up to 500 watts if you want something that really thunders). If you play a lot of clean tone stuff, it's typically true the bass amp will serve you a lot better...
BUT...
...there is something pretty cool about the sound of a broken-up Celestion when played clean.
My sound isn't 100% clean. I purposely use an amp model out of my DigiTech RP360 that isn't crystal clear in its sound, and in fact has slight distortion to it with some treble cutoff. That kind of tone is similar to a guitar amp played clean at a medium volume using Celestion speakers.
In the end, a slightly broken up clean tone sounds "more real". There are many hit songs from the late '70s that have that broken up Celestion tone to it. Three examples are Back on the Chain Gang by The Pretenders, Roxanne by The Police and My Sharona by The Knack.
Step 4. Washy chorus
Not required, but it helps for one simple reason. It helps make chords sound more in-tune.
As all guitar players know, the enemy when playing clean is that G string. How you tune that G when playing clean determines which chords sound in-tune and which sound out-of-tune.
The standard advice given is to purposely tune the G string 15 cents flat. This is a very slight detune of the G and you need a tuner that can display cents such as the tried-and-true Korg GA-1.
However, even with that G tuned to 15 cents flat, there are some chords that will still sound slightly out-of-tune...
...which is where washy chorus comes in. The chorus effect liberally applied will mask that slightly-out G string.
Step 5. Multi-tap delay
When I want to go no-reverb that still sounds like reverb, I use a specific delay type.
The RP360 I use has many delay effects in it, and one of them is 2-tap. This style of delay uses repeats at varying rates. This means that instead of a sound repeated at a rate of every X milliseconds, it introduces differing rates. Think of it the same way as if you chained two delay pedals together with one set at 400ms at 50% volume and the next one set to 600ms at 25% volume. The end result of this is a "dreamy" style delay that sounds like a reverberation effect but is in fact all delay.
If using pedals, the easiest way to get multi-tap without breaking the bank is just use two. My recommendation here is to get two smaller pedals with a lot of range. The Tom'sline digital delay is the best solution here. Chain a pair of those together and it's easy to get multi-tap goodness.
Single pedal offerings for multi-tap aren't cheap. Far from it, actually. And they're complicated. The Pigtronix Echolution, while a very cool pedal, is really expensive, not user-friendly at all and outright intimidating. I'd recommend the the RP360 over the Echolution any day of the week. Even if you use the RP360 for delay and nothing else, it's way cheaper and easier to use.
Clean is not really clean?
For electric guitar tone, total absolute clean tone actually doesn't sound that good. It is OK to dress up the sound with compression, very light overdrive (broken up tone,) chorus and delay.
Remember that the only guitar that absolutely sounds right 100% clean is, of course, acoustic. For electric, yes you have to apply some effects to get the clean tone sounding right, and it's not a sin to do so.