Monday, August 16, 2010

Is high action better then low action on an electric guitar?

I mainly like to play a lot of metal and shred a lot. i have very fast fingers. my guitar does not buzz no matter what action i have it on it has a flyod rose lo pro edge bridge so i have experimented a lot with action as it was easy to adjust. when i have it really low it does not buzz and its not hard to play at all its just i never feal the strings and my fingers go way to fast i end up notes ahead of me picking after a while and it just gets sloppy. even when i sweep pick my fingers come up way to early no matter what i do i cant go slow enough on low action its way to easy to go fast and sucks in my opinion when it comes to the tone i hear and my calouses are so big i cant feal the strings. so i decided to raise my action and it was a miracle my hands coordinated much better. it slowed me down just enough yet it sounded better. is high action actually better? people online i read say low action they think is better for this because its easier but i find it goes to fast and you dont actually feal like your playing the guitar it feals like your playing a keyboard with no springs and i cant understand how you get any fidelity on bends, or noting or any techinique it feals like the guitar plays its self. is this true what i am experiencing is high action better? i have only been playing the guitar for a month with my first guitar ever an ibanez rg570ct. is it possible i am not doing anything advanced enough to notice the difference. i have been learned to play iron man, canon rock, and my latest song i have learned to play is steve vai's the audience is listening. are those songs difficult enough to notice which action is better?Is high action better then low action on an electric guitar?
Change the guitr pick and go for a lighter one if you want a cleaner sound. Most guitarist prefer the lowest action possible which is normal since your fingers don't have to apply too much pressure on the strings. This results in faster playing because you barely touch the strings and the notes sound. Hammer-ons and pull-offs are definitely better on low-action guitar by a far stretch.





As far as action, this is personal and if you like a high action, go for it. I am sure Steve Vai and others are playing a very low action.Is high action better then low action on an electric guitar?
Depends what you mean by ';better';. Saul is dead right about tone. Higher action allows the strings to oscillate more and therefore creates a stronger signal for the pickups - hence more sustain and tonal variation.


As far as playing is concerned, that is totally up to you. If higher action helps you to play better then yes, higher action is ';better'; - for you.
i use 10's and bend like a mofo all the time, but for me, the faster i want to play, the lower the action. but you may like the higher action, it's all about what you learned to play on man.
Lower action = better. Just as long as you do not hear buzzing sounds.
I prefer lower action but that does not mean you have to. You have only been playing a very short time so you will tend to experiment a lot until you find what is right for you. I might suggest leaving your action low and trying a heavier gauge of strings. This will help with tone and still give you a good feel. A thicker gauge string uses more tension so you will have to adjust the tremolo accordingly.


The bottom line is do what feels right for you
Action is purely to the taste of the player. To me, speed doesn't matter. You might have to give yourself a few days to adjust to different action, but unless you aren't that good your speed should stay the same. The real difference is in sustain and feel. You get more sustain with higher action and you can feel more of what's going on with the guitar. Using heavier gauge strings helps too with that.





There is no right way to set your action. The only thing I can tell you is to experiment with higher action and see if you like that better. Don't let anyone tell you what is better. It's up to you to figure that out. Your hands will have to adjust, but it shouldln't affect your playing after the initial adjustment.
If you like your action a bit higher, then that's what's better.





Generally speaking, most people like it as low as you can get it without anything buzzing. Then again, most people use 9 gauge strings, but I can't stand 'em so I use 11's.





Whatever works best, man.
action is a matter of personal taste although, typically lower action is preferred especially if you do lots of fast playing. trust me, if your action is too low, you will get buzz. some guys like higher action in order to use thicker strings and get bigger cleaner bends. which brings me to my next point: if youre not feeling your strings and your guitar feels almost too easy to play, try raising the action a little and use thicker strings. it will give you MUCH better tone and more volume and sustain. and you willl notice a difference in the feel. dont jump too high too quick. go up 1 guage at a time. if you use 9's go to 10's. if you use 10's go to 11's. at one point i had my strats set up with 13's to get that fat bluesy tone. make sure your guitar is set up properly when you make the switch(get the truss rod adjusted and bridge set). good luck
I've always heard the opposite - that high action is better for shredding - for the same reasons. Most people who shred need to feel the strings, and low action just won't do that for you. Also, people who shred often tend to have strong fingers (and like you said, big calluses), and I find that with low action I can sometimes push too hard and cause a slight bend/note raising effect... it depends on the player. I think that you will be happiest with nice high action, as I am... one isn't better than the other, it just depends on the player and what helps them play the best.
Here's the deal - higher action tends to be better in terms of both tone, sustain, and tension. Having to push down a little harder helps you feel the strings, absolutely. Higher action means you can pick/strum a little harder, and the strings have more room to vibrate without hitting the frets - this is good for sustain, better tone, more volume, etc etc.





The downside of higher action is that if you go too high, you actually pull the strings out of tune when you fret! Personal experience - it may not happen very quickly, but many times when gigging I'd have to retune every few songs... but after my tech clued me in, and I learned how to play correctly (softer, not as hard as when I started on an acoustic), not only did my speed improve but I stayed in tune essentially through the whole set, just needing to fine-tune about halfway through.





If you cannot play correctly at slow speeds you cannot play - your technique is sloppy and undisciplined. Start playing to a metronome, set it at, say, 80 bpm, and practice your scales, riffs, and techniques until you can do them perfectly. Once you can, only then start raising the tempo. Tripping over your fingers is a sign that your fingers aren't practiced enough.





If you can't feel the strings, I'd move to a higher gauge. I use 11's, for instance, partially because I tune Drop D down 1/2 step - helps keep the tension up so I don't go out of tune.





Caveat: higher gauge strings make it harder to keep a floating trem in tune. Even 10's make it harder, and you're basically SOL in terms of 11's or higher.





I'm not saying that moderately high action is wrong... I am saying that if your guitar isn't set up correctly that it *is* a bad thing... you should be able to play with no fret buzz, and your strings should be low enough that playing doesn't pull them out of tune.





The difficulty here is that you've got a floating trem... make sure you know how to correctly intonate and setup your trem, or you'll just be screwing yourself in terms of being in tune all the way up the neck, whammy'ing properly, etc.











Saul

No comments:

Post a Comment