Best metal guitars 2022 | Louder

Best metal guitars 2022 | Louder

Best metal guitars 2022 | Louder

Best Metal Guitars 2022

When people ask me which guitar to buy I often ask myself two questions “What does it do?” and “How well does it do it?”

This straight away singles out a few guitars for most people, maybe you too!

Why Should I Consider “What does it do?” and “How well does it do it?” when I can just Buy a Brand?

I Get that guitarists are usually a compartmentalized bunch, with idols who they want to emulate, whether that’s through mimicking (the best form of flattery) or with mindset. This often limits the player or student, in how far their search for a new guitar will go. I mean this in the nicest possible way but guitar brand fanboys have the most limited mindset of any instrumentalist I’ve come across!

For example, I often see kids take advice from their old man and buy some kind of Les Paul copy or strat copy. This is absolutely fine and there is NOTHING wrong with that! The problem arises however when the player tries to play a certain song and they realise they require a Whammy bar or 24 frets for example.

A lot of guitars, for some reason, have limitations placed upon them by the manufacturers, usually under the guise of “Tradition”…

If you are searching for the best Overall Metal Guitar then, you will be left wanting and disappointed if you purchase a Fender Strat or a Gibson SG. Now, I’m not saying these are BAD guitars, I’ll leave the quality control for Gibson for another Blog, however, they are limited!

Okay, so I’m open to looking at some other brands now. What makes a “Good” Metal Guitar anyway?

When you think about the genre “Metal”, you very quickly realise that the genre is MASSIVE. No single guitar can possibly be perfect for every single metal genre out there. Can it?

I would recommend that you look at what your idealized skillset would be as a player! Start by considering;

• Does it stay in tune?
• Can it be EASILLY tuned? (Floyd Rose, Evertune etc…)
• Will I be able to play 90% of my favourite songs and the music I want to create with it?
• How’s the balance if I’m on stage/practising for long periods of time, is it too heavy and does the neck ‘dive’ when standing up with a strap?
• What pickups does it have, passive/active?
• Am I paying for flair or extra functions which I don’t require?
• What’s the headstock like? Does it offer maximum tension for drop tunings or slip the nut when tuning?
• Does it need to be fanned frets for those drop tunings, maybe a 7+ string?

There is a multitude of questions to answer and these are by no means everything! These are a handful of considerations I have come up with off the top of my head. Feel free to comment if you have suggestions or recommendations by the way.

Does it stay in tune?

The 3×3 headstock, made iconic by the Gibson brand, is notorious for slipping out of tune. This is often down to inferior nut material/manufacturing. There are addons you can add to the strings like a string butler but, is this what you really want? A new, expensive guitar that you need to buy/modify to stay in tune? Having a simple setup can work wonders if you are planning to play live or record then you want reliability above all. This is where I ask the next question.

Can it be EASILLY tuned? (Floyd Rose, Evertune etc…)

I can tell you right now that there is no such guitar that is the PERFECT machine for every situation. I can also tell you by experience that systems such as Floyd Rose and Evertune offer amazing tuning stability. That means that when you pack your guitar to head off to the studio or a live gig, practice session or whatever it may be when you unpack your guitar it will 99% be perfectly in tune!

The major drawback to these systems is however when you want to change tuning or change strings, it can be a learning curve or time that a lot of players refuse to spend. You may also consider a fixed bridge.

Will I be able to play 90% of my favourite songs and the music I want to create with it?

I say this with experience. My first guitar (and actually still rocking, albeit HEAVILY MODIFIED lol) was an Epiphone Les Paul which, limited me because it only has 21 frets, 24.75″ fret scale length, and tuning instability *see the first point*. Now, I solved SOME of these issues by adding expensive Sperzel tuners and grinding out the nut giggity.

However, there is NOTHING you can do if the guitar is missing 3 frets (good luck playing a lot of Metal solos if lead playing is your thing…) or the fact that most of these models come with passive pickups and specifically for those low tuning riffs (Djent etc…) then Active pickups are your friend so replacing the pickups down the road is a consideration when buying a guitar for Metal. Even the fret material makes a difference as to how the strings sound, Stainless Steel frets add clarity and “zing” to your chugging that accentuates heavily distorted metal sounds whereas a zinc composite can wear down faster and “deaden” the notes after hard use, or create Fret Buzz.

I recommend Stainless Jumbo Frets for Metal Guitars.

How’s the balance if I’m on stage/practising for long periods of time, is it too heavy and does the neck ‘dive’ when standing up with a strap?

Honestly, I never realised how important the balance of a guitar was until I played a friend’s Gibson Les Paul that was so poorly balanced the neck would drop down when I Was playing standing up with a strap. Now, granted my Epiphone doesn’t do this. But I quickly realised the weight of the Gibson after spending an hour in the practice room was tiring me out WAY too fast. Metal tends to be quite an energy intensive to play anyway, especially if you’re hitting that 200+ BPM stuff…

Always test the guitar by sitting and playing and also standing before you buy!

What pickups does it have, passive/active?

I find that rhythm playing for metal sounds better with Active and Lead playing (for everything) sounds way better with Passive pickups. This for me is a big reason why I said earlier about there is no ONE guitar that perfectly does EVERYTHING. So take this into consideration. If you want to play like Petrucci, get passive pickups and if you want to Djent, get Active pickups.

I’ve yet to try Fishman Fluence active pickups however, they’re supposed to be decent at doing both! I can recommend EMG 81/85 for Rhythm playing, those pickups just bite.

To choose passive pickups then you going to consider what sound that you want. If you want those rich creamy and sustained leads then maybe a guitar with these Di’Marzio pickups will do nicely, or if you want intense, scratching and cutting neck pickup sounds for Black Metal then something like This Seymore Duncan Black Winter will be the best. It’s entirely down to personal preference but, the pickups are most important in my opinion when it comes to how your guitar will sound! So don’t overlook this step.

Am I paying for flair or extra functions which I don’t require?

Take Gibson for example, I love the idea of those many push/pull pots and polarity shifters, phase shifters etc all built into the guitar. Don’t get me wrong, it can add to creativity! However, do you really need up to 100,000 combinations of pickup sound? Will you use all that? Will you REMEMBER the combination when playing songs live or in the studio?

Now I’m coming across as harsh to Gibson in this article I know. However, this is purely based on what I believe should be important considerations for a practical METAL GUITAR!

You get my drift…

What’s the headstock like? Does it offer maximum tension for drop tunings or slip the nut when tuning?

Okay, I thought I’d mention this. For metal – go with a reverse headstock so you can apply maximum tension when drop-tuning the bottom strings. Again, try dropping to drop C on a Gibson and see how floppy the strings get… Good luck controlling noise when recording with everything sounding like an unplayable floppy, muddled mess. Trust me on this one. Also, get heavier gauge strings when drop tuning to keep tension as TIGHT as possible. Tight Strings = Tight Sounds.

Does it need to be fanned frets for those drop tunings, maybe a 7+ string?

If you pay attention to the headstock style, the scale length of the guitar and the string gauge then you can drop to anything even on a Gibson. I’m not saying it’s ideal but you can figure out workarounds. Do you want to have to do this with a brand new guitar? No.

For example, I use Boomers Dynamite Nickel Alloy 11-70 Electric Guitar Strings which is basically like having a bass guitar, IF I tuned to standard on my Epiphone Les Paul. By maximising the string gauge I can have maximum tension with drop tunings and the smaller 24.75″ fret scale length on the Epiphone Les Paul. No floppy, buzzing and messy sounds for me thank you very much! Overkill? Maybe, does it work? YES!

If you want maximum tension, go fanned with a reverse headstock and possibly even a 7-string. If you want a versatile guitar then go for a reverse headstock with thicker strings.

Conclusion

Check out the article in the link above to see what the best Metal Guitars of 2022 are. Use my tips to help you decide what’s best for YOU!

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Matt Gwinnutt

My name is Matt Gwinnutt and I am a music instructor based in Louth, Lincolnshire in the UK. I teach guitar and music theory. I am currently studying for a BA(Hons) degree in music and RGT diploma in teaching music!