There’s an easy trick: Turn down the volume. The slightly muddy, distorted sound of electric guitar chords that you get with your amp turned up and your guitar volume at 9 are great for playing chunky rock progressions and creating a powerful wall of sound. But what if you’re playing a song that has an intricate fingerpicking part or one that calls for rapid, strong strumming on a solid body electric? In those situations the strings blending together will be working against you.
To get a guitar sound that resembles an acoustic guitar on your solid body electric, turn down the volume on the guitar itself, and make up the lost amplitude by turning your amp up. [more…]
Buying a guitar can be a harrowing experience. You’ve saved up the money and now you’ve got one shot at getting an instrument with which you’ll be happy. When you’re trying out a guitar and you’ve decided that you like the overall sound quality, tone and feel of the instrument, here are five essential points to check to make sure you’re buying a well-built guitar: 
If your guitar sounds out of tune at the high end of the neck, even when you’ve just tuned the instrument perfectly with an electronic tuner, it means that your intonation is off. Intonation refers to the ability of your guitar to produce notes that are in correct tune on every fret of every string.