Fans of heavy metal are often drawn to the complex and highly inventive guitar solos found in the majority of heavy metal songs. Obviously, the biggest input of the solo is the skill of the guitarist, but certain guitars have been designed and manufactured specifically to improve the tone and quality of a guitar solo. The following are the best guitars available to buy today for use writing and playing heavy metal solos.

Jackson King V

The Jackson King V is a very famous electric guitar designed and manufactured by Jackson Guitars. The style of the body mimics the famous Gibson Flying V, but the head features the standard Jackson pointed head. Countless guitarists, from Dave Mustaine to Phil Demmel, have used this guitar. There are multiple variations that can be bought, but all feature a sturdy maple body with Seymour Duncan® humbucking pickups. The Jackson King V is the ideal guitar to use for solos featuring heavy distortion.

Ibanez Guitars

Ibanez are a very famous guitar manufacture operating out of Japan, and have provided guitars to seminal guitarists for over thirty years. Ibanez guitars are very popular with heavy metal guitarists because of the lightweight body, and reliable and well-spaced finger frets. There are multiple models available, but guitars such as the Ibanez JEM7V are especially well suited to fast and complex guitar solos.

ESP Guitars

ESP is another Japanese owned guitar manufacturer, and as with Ibanez guitars most ESP models feature a light but durable body with well spaced finger frets. ESP guitars are very popular with the newer generation of heavy metal guitarists, and many find that the ESP Limited line of instruments are perfect for heavy metal guitar solos that feature reverb, delay and other guitar pedal generated effects.

Learning to Play Heavy Metal Guitar Solos

As stated in the opening paragraph, the biggest aspect of the sound, speed and style of a heavy metal guitar solo is the skill of the player. When it comes to solos, practice makes perfect, but there are a number of other ways to improve your playing from the comfort of your home. Our website features dozens of home lessons dedicated to heavy metal playing, and the lessons are easy to understand and very beneficial. Readers are also advised to check out the rest of our blog for additional tips and advice on how to get the most out of your playing.

Conclusion

There are three ‘big’ guitar companies that make models especially suited to heavy metal playing and guitar solos. Jackson is probably the best known, and is world famous for their high quality instruments and advanced pickups. Ibanez is a Japanese company preferred by very fast guitarists, as the smoothness of the fret board ensures easy transition from note to note. ESP is definitely the most popular with the latest generation of guitarists, and their Limited line of guitars is very popular thanks to their affordable nature and high quality build. The best way to work out which guitar is best for you is by visiting a local music shop and having a trial session. Readers looking for lessons, tips and advice on how to perfect their heavy metal solos should check out Jamie Hunt’s lessons here on our website.

When you are learning to play guitar, you will usually choose whether you wish to learn to play fingerstyle or with a guitar pick. For many years, there was a distinct split between guitarists and bass guitarists, in that the former would be played with a pick and the latter fingerstyle.

However, the lines between when to play with a guitar pick and fingerstyle have become increasingly blurred through the years. While fingerstyle guitar is typically used to describe the playing of the guitar with the fingers, it is also its own unique genre of music, as evidenced by the popularity of the likes of Andy McKee and Don Ross.

To watch these successful fingerstyle guitar players, it is easy to get intimidated and think that you would find it very difficult to learn how to do this for yourself. Here are some tips to help you get started, whether you want to play guitar with your fingers or become a true fingerstyle guitarist.

Commit to Practicing

It is possible to become a self-taught fingerstyle guitarist, but you should commit to practicing for at least an hour a day. On top of this, if you can secure some private tutoring for yourself, even if it is just with someone who isn’t an official teacher but can play guitar to a reasonable standard, you will see some benefits.

Here are some ideas that will help you to get started, too.

Playing Your Guitar

The important thing to remember when you’re looking to play fingerstyle guitar is that you need to be set up to play each string individually. Many make the mistake of believing they merely need to strum all the strings at once. This is fine if you’re generally planning on playing chords only, but it isn’t going to help if you want to become a true fingerstyle guitar player.

It is best to set yourself up to play the sixth, fifth, and fourth strings with your thumb, index finger for third, middle finger for second, and ring finger for first. You should also set up so that you can use the palm/base of your hand to mute the strings when you need to. You can use your little finger if you want or if it feels more comfortable, but it is generally redundant.

Starting to Practice

When you start to practice, look to keep it simple. Begin by playing the strings with your left hand free, before gradually starting to play in different tunes.

A good way to get used to playing with the thumb and fingers simultaneously is to play 6-123 as a sequence repeatedly, followed by 5-123 and 4-123, before you start to mix it up some more.

Using YouTube

We mentioned McKee and Ross earlier, but there is a huge number of fingerstyle guitarists you can watch on YouTube as a means of getting inspiration and understanding how they play. Many have their own YouTube tutorials, too, which could be a great resource for yourself when you’re starting out with learning fingerstyle guitar.