Can a guitar be better suited to lead/rhythm?

Stubbs

For example: an ESP Explorer for rhythm (James Hetfield, Metallica) and a Gibson Explorer for lead (Joel O'Keeffe, Airbourne).

What makes a guitar better suited for one over the other? Wood? Pickups? Neck construction?

Your thoughts.

MikeM

I personally thing it's more amps/pedals that differentiate tones like that.

However if we're talking strat/tele vs LP/SG, I'd say the natural strong mids of a bucker will always have a stronger and more cutting tone.

Keira-WitherKay

It's the player that is better suited to lead or rhythm not the guitar

Danny-B

I agree with Keira.

AlanRatcliffe

+1 on the player rather than the guitar.

MikeM

What if we're talking about the same player?

Clint-Green

I've found, and I think many would agree, that guitars with a larger/flatter radius fretboard and a thinner neck such as traditional classical guitars or Ibanez RGs, make lead playing a breeze but are a bit more challenging to play rhythm on (particularly barre chords) - mainly as you move closer to the nut. That's why you'll sometimes hear someone referring to a certain guitar as a "shred" guitar. Of course you can play great leads on a guitar with pretty much any size fretboard radius - Yngwe Malmsteen shreds the hell out of Strats (12 inch radius). It all depends on the player, but the majority will find a flatter fretboard easier to play fast single-note patterns.

Gearhead

Eliminate the influence of the player, I'd say it still is not the guitar. It's more about the vocal of the band. A female voice would imho be better accompanied by a darker guitar, whereas a bright guitar can stay out of the range of a male vocal. Lead guitar is in most styles played not played at the same time as the vocal, so it would wind up just having to cut past the rhythm guitar in that band.

ZarK

The short answer imo is yes. I does depend on your lead requirements, however. For basic to intermediate lead techniques most guitars will do the job. It's only when you start doing advanced lead technique where the instrument can become a limiting factor...

Flat radius fretboard with 24 frets or more would definitely suite lead technique better where higher fret access and comfort is often a necessity. The pups also make a huge difference. I find that my Jem produces fantastic lead tones on all the pup positions... Tones that are vocal and naturally cut through the mix but then some of my other Ibbys with similar setup and different pups/timber are more suited to rhythm tones -especially the bridge pups... To me a fatter, smaller radius neck tends to be more comfortable for chording while wider-, larger radius fretboards tend to offer improved comfort for bending-, tapping- and sweep techniques etc. Certain solos can only be played on 24 frets and certain solo's require the use of a Floyd Rose. These features are not necessary for rhythm guitar in general and I tend to prefer a hard tail for rhythm work 9/10 times... The thickness of the neck to me is subjective... Unless a thin shred neck is of a high quality with a near perfect neck joint and preferably with titanium re-enforced truss-rod, they can loose a lot of natural resonance -which just saps your tone and sustain. A shred neck utilising neck-through construction helps a lot to preserve the instrument's natural resonance and tone.

For lead-work I prefer an instrument that offers a more 'vocal' tone that naturally cuts through the mix without the need to raise the volume. This has a lot to do with the tone woods and pup combination...

Clint-Green

ZarK wrote: The short answer imo is yes. I does depend on your lead requirements, however. For basic to intermediate lead techniques most guitars will do the job. It's only when you start doing advanced lead technique where the instrument can become a limiting factor...

Flat radius fretboard with 24 frets or more would definitely suite lead technique better where higher fret access and comfort is often a necessity. The pups also make a huge difference. I find that my Jem produces fantastic lead tones on all the pup positions... Tones that are vocal and naturally cut through the mix but then some of my other Ibbys with similar setup and different pups/timber are more suited to rhythm tones -especially the bridge pups... To me a fatter, smaller radius neck tends to be more comfortable for chording while wider-, larger radius fretboards tend to offer improved comfort for bending-, tapping- and sweep techniques etc. Certain solos can only be played on 24 frets and certain solo's require the use of a Floyd Rose. These features are not necessary for rhythm guitar in general and I tend to prefer a hard tail for rhythm work 9/10 times... The thickness of the neck to me is subjective... Unless a thin shred neck is of a high quality with a near perfect neck joint and preferably with titanium re-enforced truss-rod, they can loose a lot of natural resonance -which just saps your tone and sustain. A shred neck utilising neck-through construction helps a lot to preserve the instrument's natural resonance and tone.

For lead-work I prefer an instrument that offers a more 'vocal' tone that naturally cuts through the mix without the need to raise the volume. This has a lot to do with the tone woods and pup combination...

^ This!!

DaFiz

It's the player... Take the Strat with it's whammy bar and bring on the vibrato. That's how it's done. 8)
Then again I've seen dudes decline the offer and bend the strings on a Tele and provide even more feel.

Even a rhythm designated guitar can be used for lead. ?

deefstes

While I'm sure there are a few technical aspects that make a guitar better suited for a certain style of playing (rounder fretboard = better suited for chords, flatter fretboard better suited for weedly bits etc.) I think it's more of a styling issue than anything else. It just doesn't look cool to be playing black metal on a Rickenbacker 330 while Jazz just would quite look the same on a Warlock.

That said, surely there are certain guitars that are quite simply not suited for a certain style of music. For instance, a hollow body like a ES335 or thinline tele just wouldn't work for heavily overdriven music. No?

vic

deefstes wrote: While I'm sure there are a few technical aspects that make a guitar better suited for a certain style of playing (rounder fretboard = better suited for chords, flatter fretboard better suited for weedly bits etc.) I think it's more of a styling issue than anything else. It just doesn't look cool to be playing black metal on a Rickenbacker 330 while Jazz just would quite look the same on a Warlock.

That said, surely there are certain guitars that are quite simply not suited for a certain style of music. For instance, a hollow body like a ES335 or thinline tele just wouldn't work for heavily overdriven music. No?

The ES335 is a different animal....due to its centre block of solid maple. Unlike other semi's it normally behaves very well at higher volumes.

vic

Playing rhythm on an electric guitar is not that straight forward. Due to the different responses of electric guitars vs acoustics, one should not just strum away like on an acoustic at a braai. PUP selection (neck, middle,bridge) is another aspect to consider. Personally I prefer an electro-acoustic for rhythm.
Interestingly, the Shadows (Bruce Welsch) used an acoustic Gibson for rhythm on many of their studio recordings. On the other hand heavy electric rhythm playing can be heard on recordings by Creedence Clearwater Revival....Proud Mary is an example.

Gearhead

deefstes wrote: It just doesn't look cool to be playing black metal on a Rickenbacker 330

Dude, a Ric looks cool on anyone ?
You can actually pull it off if you play the same thing, change the lyrics to deal with depression rather than death and call it grunge or alternative ?

You're right to a certain extent but most guitars are not only by looks made to suit a particular purpose. In metal, you need a Floyd to pull off dive bombs, you prefer EMG pups to get more drive before things become muddy, you do not care about a guitar's sustain since power chords will ring on anyway, etc. You can't really get good clean tone from a metal guitar like that.

Clint-Green

Gearhead wrote:
deefstes wrote: It just doesn't look cool to be playing black metal on a Rickenbacker 330
Dude, a Ric looks cool on anyone ?
You can actually pull it off if you play the same thing, change the lyrics to deal with depression rather than death and call it grunge or alternative ?

Lemmy from Motorhead - weapon of choice: Rickenbacker.
Sharlee D'Angelo from Mercyful Fate/Witchery/Arch Enemy - weapon choice: Rickenbacker.
Frank Watkins from Obituary - weapon of choice: Rickenbacker.

Rics seem to fit in image-wise with every form of music imo ?

deefstes

Clint Green wrote:
Gearhead wrote:
deefstes wrote: It just doesn't look cool to be playing black metal on a Rickenbacker 330
Dude, a Ric looks cool on anyone ?
You can actually pull it off if you play the same thing, change the lyrics to deal with depression rather than death and call it grunge or alternative ?

Lemmy from Motorhead - weapon of choice: Rickenbacker.
Sharlee D'Angelo from Mercyful Fate/Witchery/Arch Enemy - weapon choice: Rickenbacker.
Frank Watkins from Obituary - weapon of choice: Rickenbacker.

Rics seem to fit in image-wise with every form of music imo ?

LOL, I must have know someone would find a counter example ? Still, that does not disprove my statement that it's more of a styling issue than a technical issue. Unless you feel like finding an example of death metal bands who thrash it out on pink Hello Kitty strats ?

Clint-Green

deefstes wrote:
Clint Green wrote:
Gearhead wrote:
deefstes wrote: It just doesn't look cool to be playing black metal on a Rickenbacker 330
Dude, a Ric looks cool on anyone ?
You can actually pull it off if you play the same thing, change the lyrics to deal with depression rather than death and call it grunge or alternative ?

Lemmy from Motorhead - weapon of choice: Rickenbacker.
Sharlee D'Angelo from Mercyful Fate/Witchery/Arch Enemy - weapon choice: Rickenbacker.
Frank Watkins from Obituary - weapon of choice: Rickenbacker.

Rics seem to fit in image-wise with every form of music imo ?
LOL, I must have know someone would find a counter example ? Still, that does not disprove my statement that it's more of a styling issue than a technical issue. Unless you feel like finding an example of death metal bands who thrash it out on pink Hello Kitty strats ?

Well actually there are a few bands tha..... Wait, no, I got nothing for that one...hahaha

No one can really disagree on the styling point; one can clearly see that pointy guitars, for instance are geared toward Metal in terms of appearance but I don't think that's what the OP was referring to... this question seems to me to be alluding to playability as opposed to body shape, no?

ZarK

For the average player that doesn't have the need or urge to push all the limits, it could be and probably is a simple matter of styling. For someone looking to do certain advanced techniques it has nothing to do with styling when certain features of the axe will be the limiting factor. To me, the Ibanez RG range is probably the best mainstream example of a guitar that was conceived and designed from the ground up with the sole intent of creating an axe that frees up the whole fretboard, removes physical limitations found on most other electrics and has the tuning stability to match so that extreme whammy use (when set up correctly) will have zero effect on tuning. Double octave neck; superior Floyd Rose (Edge; Lo-Pro Edge); Massive non-restrictive cut-outs; all access neck joint; Wide neck; Flat fretboard etc. etc... To some the Floyd is often seen as a limiting factor but then its not the right axe for the individual. A double locking setup offers tuning stability unmatched by any non-locking guitar I've ever played... If tuning on the go is a must this will be a limiting factor or you should just prepare to purchase an instrument for every tuning you intend to be using. Sure my Strat can probably do 80% of what my RG's are capable of doing and she's able to create some sweet tones you'll never get out of an RG but it's not fair to compare the two... The question is: do you actually need that extra 20% or not? Personally, I love both equally but it's unfair to compare a sexy fast Hot Rod to a Formula 1 car based on sheer performance and technical ability... Driving pleasure is another (very subjective) matter altogether! ?

Malkav

deefstes wrote: Unless you feel like finding an example of death metal bands who thrash it out on pink Hello Kitty strats ?