New musician, gear questions!

[Yarbles]

Ahoy! I'm a fairly new guitarist, having bounced between bass, guitar, bass again, selling that bass, buying another bass, buying a new guitar, etc etc over the last two years. Money problems had destroyed any desire I had to learn, but its all finally done with and I finally have the funds and time I need to dedicate myself to playing.

Any how, I'm Currently sitting with:

For my guitar setup I have an Ibanez GRX40 which is currently out of comission and a 1996-1997 MIM Fender, currently im using a marshall MG30DFX, while most reviews give this amp shit its served me well so far.

as sexy as the fender/ is I don't really get the sound out of it I want and I can't help but think about picking up this beast, ESP Viper-100 SeeThru Viper [16809] - $369.95 : Steve's Music Store, If We don't have it you don't need it


My knowledge of even setting up my EQ on the marshall and getting a sound that would suit me better is fairly limited, so if theres any tricks or tips that wouldn't require picking a new axe, i'd love to hear em! As much as ive owned guitars in the last few years, ive probably barely played with them for over 12 hours, as most of the time I planned on picking up an amp later on and never could afford it and ended up having to sell off my guitars.


Anywho, any tips/tricks/suggestions are welcome, im starting lessons in January and hope to be shredding soon. If it affects the decisions at all, I plan on playing Metal exclusively to start.

 

[Dead Winter]

Ahoy! I'm a fairly new guitarist, having bounced between bass, guitar, bass again, selling that bass, buying another bass, buying a new guitar, etc etc over the last two years. Money problems had destroyed any desire I had to learn, but its all finally done with and I finally have the funds and time I need to dedicate myself to playing.

Any how, I'm Currently sitting with:

For my guitar setup I have an Ibanez GRX40 which is currently out of comission and a 1996-1997 MIM Fender, currently im using a marshall MG30DFX, while most reviews give this amp shit its served me well so far.

as sexy as the fender/ is I don't really get the sound out of it I want and I can't help but think about picking up this beast, ESP Viper-100 SeeThru Viper [16809] - $369.95 : Steve's Music Store, If We don't have it you don't need it


My knowledge of even setting up my EQ on the marshall and getting a sound that would suit me better is fairly limited, so if theres any tricks or tips that wouldn't require picking a new axe, i'd love to hear em! As much as ive owned guitars in the last few years, ive probably barely played with them for over 12 hours, as most of the time I planned on picking up an amp later on and never could afford it and ended up having to sell off my guitars.


Anywho, any tips/tricks/suggestions are welcome, im starting lessons in January and hope to be shredding soon. If it affects the decisions at all, I plan on playing Metal exclusively to start.

If you start taking lessons in January, don't expect to be shredding so soon, as you've said. It takes a lot of time, patience, and determination to get to that point. I've been playing for 6-8 years and I still can't shred. Not to say that you can't, because everyone is different. I'm more of a fast rhythm and melodic lead player, so I really don't care about shredding. However, I've seen people shred in 2 years before, so never say never. Just remember not to set unrealistic goals and keep working hard. Play every day, even if it's only for ten minutes.

Just remember, the instrument is not plug and play...it takes years to get where you'd like to, and most of the time you'll never be as good as you want to. There isn't a single guitarist on earth that's happy with his/her level of playing and decides to stay there. Everyone will tell you, there's always room for improvement and there's always someone better than you.
Good luck and welcome to the fold!

 

[Yarbles]

Hah, to show you how much I have actually played, I was using shred as a simple term for playing , I wasn't aware of a shredding being an actual style up until now

 

[Hexer]

"shredding" is just the term generally used for playing very fast lead-stuff, thats all

if your only problem with the Fender is the SOUND, then I can tell you that the amp has more effect on your sound than the guitar. and you can always swap the pickups on that Fender for something more to your liking if you like the guitar.

I still have a Mashall G30RCD (predecessor of the MGs) and its not that bad of an amp actually (I've heard though, that the newer MGs are supposed to not be as good)
for metal-sounds, try using the bridge-pickup on your guitar (does it have a humbucker or only singlecoils?). try setting all EQ-knobs on the amp to 12oclock and adjust from there. dont use TOO much gain, it will only make you sound muddy.

 

[ParsonsMatt]

Heres what you do.

Go to a guitar store, play EVERY guitar. Don't even look at the price tags. Just play. Pay close attention to how it feels, how the neck feels, how it sounds, the frets, etc. Bring along a more experienced guitarist also. Don't let the look of the guitars bother you, just pay attention to sound and feel.

You'll have a pretty good idea of what you like.

The guitar you have now is a fine starter guitar. Keep it until you KNOW what you like and you know what you want. Then base your choice on a guitar on what you know you like.

When I first started I wanted an LTD F-400. Now I know that's not my kind of guitar, and I am much happier with my Edwards E-FR-120GT.

 

[Yarbles]

Thanks for all the tips, definetly some words of wisdom I will take into account before making a future purchase, I believe im getting the viper as a gift anyway for the holidays, so, win-win!

:Smokin: