You will, instead, want to cut off those strings and fit on a set of 12 gauge or 13 gauge strings as standard, especially since most death metal guitarists see fit to tune their guitars down to at least drop C (or even C standard in some instances).Ī thicker string is also going to give you far more to bounce off of, allowing that almighty chug to ring good and ring true, projected forth through the girthy mahogany tonewood and outwards through the appropriate pickups and amplifiers. The bizarre part is that, even though the best metal guitars are catered for death metal guitarists and the like, they usually come fitted with either 9 gauge or 10 gauge strings as standard. They will simply be too light to do any of the damage that death metal musicians are looking to do. Any heavy metal guitar equipped with a set of 9 gauge strings, for example, is scarcely going to cut it. Many metal guitarists swear by it, especially those who have been a bit in the back hard by heavy mahogany.Īlongside tuning, the gauge of the strings on the guitar is another important thing to consider. Most importantly, it is far lighter than mahogany, meaning that it can cater to just about any stage antics you might find yourself yearning for and is in fact one of the best guitars for the job. Ritchie Blackmore et al.Īnother option would be basswood, which offers more of a balanced tone, with a girth in the bottom end that is mirrored by the brightness in the upper range. This would be a slightly more rogue choice for metal guitarists, though it would also be in acknowledgment of a lot of the roots of the genre, e.g. The main downside comes in the form of the weight of the wood, being one of the more dense and heavy tonewoods, hence the bulk and durability.Īlternatively, there is alder, a tonewood that provides more of a mid-range sound with brighter inflections, ideal for a guitar like the Stratocaster. Mahogany is also a fairly inexpensive wood from which to construct a guitar and is in fact highly durable considering the cost. The chug is an essential part of a person’s ability to play death metal, and a mahogany body provides it in spade, allowing a girthy chug without sacrificing any of the guitar’s ability to resonate properly, all while offering forth an impressive amount of sustain on the notes. While the reasons for this can sometimes border on superstition, there are some perfectly valid scientific reasons, regardless of whether you use passive or active pickups.Ī mahogany body produces a warmer, darker, punchier, and altogether beefier tone when conducting the vibration of the strings, the kind of tone that puts the heavy in heavy metal. Petrucci used his custom “John Petrucci BFR” guitar to record this song.Īpart from that, Petrucci also used standard A tuning in songs like ‘Blind Faith’ from ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’ album and ‘Viper King’ from the ‘Distance Over Time’ album.It is a truth almost universally acknowledged that the best wood for death metal guitars is mahogany. With some amazing chord voicing, killer riffings, and clean playing, this song can easily get a place in your playlist. John Petrucci is known for using a variety of tunings across the band’s discography and through the song ‘These Walls’ he perfectly showcased how to put this extremely heavy, Standard A tuning to work. There are tons of metal songs that use the Standard A tuning, but one of the most popular ones is ‘These Walls’ by Dream Theater from their 2005 album, ‘Octavarium’.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |