Best Guitar For Rock

Are you looking to find the best rock guitar for your budget, but aren’t exactly sure what you’re looking out for? Our experts break down precisely what you should be looking for and how much money you can expect them to cost. 

 So continue reading all the way through to learn what the guitar stores won’t like you learning about buying guitars.

Best Guitar For Rock Buyers Guide

Your favourite rock band plays certain guitars, and it’s only natural that you should want to emulate them. There are reasons guitarists play the guitars they do, Angus Young for instance prefers the Gibson SG. He says it’s because he’s a small guy and the smaller, lightweight SG suits him best.

It’s interesting because there are certain guitars associated with certain genres of music like the Fender Stratocaster was originally intended for country music but is now found in pretty much all genres of music.

The guitar doesn’t make the guitarist, the guitarist makes the guitar sound how he (or she) wants it to sound.

Pickups For Rock Guitars

There are 2 basic types of pickups, single coil, or humbuckers. The single coil pickups have a clearer rounder sound but are prone to feedback at high volume. To counteract the feedback or hum, the humbucker is basically 2 single coil pickups connected in a way to prevent the hum.

String Action

The distance between the fretboard and the strings is known as the action. The lower the action the less chance of string buzz and also the easier it is to move along the fretboard at speed. This allows a higher range of notes available to add to the riff of whatever tune you’re playing.

Control Knobs

By switching from pickup to pickup, it is possible to change the sound from your guitar, giving you a greater range of sound. Some guitarists rely on cranking the volume and ton

e knob up to full capacity to create the sound they prefer, and that can work really well, but by switching between pickups, adding more or less bass, can really change the guitar’s sound.

Fretboard Length

The overall length of the fretboard doesn’t really vary by a great deal, and is commonly known as “Scale Length”. The scale length can vary by around 2 inches which doesn’t sound like a great deal, until you’re trying to reach a certain note and your finger is positioned wrong. So it’s a good idea to get really familiar with the variations of the distance between frets so it’s never a problem.

Guitar Weight

Presumably you are going to play your guitar for at least a couple of hours at a time, that extra couple of pounds in weight will tell surprisingly fast. As we mentioned earlier, Angus Young chose the Gibson SG because of it’s lighter weight. That doesn’t mean you have to choose the lightest weighted electric guitar you can but it is worth getting the feel of as many different models as is possible.

Some rock guitarists prefer semi-hollow bodied guitars because they often weigh much less than other similar solid bodied guitars.

Guitar Shape For Rock

With so many various shapes of guitar being manufactured nowadays,choosing the correct shape that’s suitable for you is extremely important. If you take just a cursory glance at the amount of electric guitar shapes available, you’ll soon see just how many varieties there are. No one shape is better for rock guitar than for any other genre of music.

It doesn’t matter what the guitar looks like, it’s the music it produces that matters and that is why getting the correct shape of guitar for you is so important.

As we mentioned earlier, the size of the neck is important, as is the weight of the body, and the overall length of the guitar. These all need to be considered carefully before buying a guitar for rock or for any other genre.

Frequently Asked Questions