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Electric guitars are pretty simple things at their heart. Aficionados worry about things like the tone characteristics of the body, but that's a really subtle effect, and budget guitars are unlikely …

If you are already a guitar player, play it. If you don't perceive anything wrong with it as you play it, then anything else doesn't matter. If you're not already a guitar player, find someone who is …

You should focus on three related areas: scales, shapes and licks. Scales You've already said you know the theory, so that's great. Take the time to study the kind of solos you want to work on, and …

Delay Delay is an effect in itself, and also the basis of some of the other effects1. Delay is simply the effect of playing the input signal some time later than it was fed into the device. Delays c …

Reverb Reverb is the effect of playing a sound in an enclosed space, or a simulation of that effect. The sound travels from the source to your ear directly, but it also bounces off surfaces in the ro …

Broken strings are a known risk with Floyd Rose tremolos. It doesn't seem to be particularly related to a worn saddle though. The standard solutions seem to be: taking care when tightening the scre …

Dr Mayhem gives a good answer, but I think it's worth adding something about the physics. When you pull a string out of its resting position, you are giving it potential energy by stretching the stri …

String manufacturers publish tables showing gauge/tension/pitch. See: How do I use string gauge tables? First, decide what tension you want your strings to be at. Do that by looking up the tension o …

"What not to learn" questions usually don't get the answer you want. It's never a bad thing to learn more, and having a rich palette of chords available to you will always be useful. You have a very …

Practice slow, with a metronome, and gradually speed up. Either everything will work out fine, or you'll hit a tempo where there's just too much for your fingers to do. When playing slowly, concentra …

ZZ Top's guitarist Billy Gibbons uses .007 strings, so it's certainly possible to get a good blues tone from light strings. Because lighter strings mean less energy going into the pickups, you'll need …

If you have a guitar input for your iPhone, which your tuner app supports, then plug directly into that. If your tuner app has to use the microphone, then plug your guitar into an amp, so the microph …

Short answer: No. Long answer: If you want to. As an example, take the popular British R&B guitarist Wilco Johnson. He has a guitar, a lead and a combo amp, and that's all he uses. Of course he twea …

Always use your ears. If something makes the sound better, it's good. If it makes the sound worse, it's bad. If it has no audible effect then it doesn't matter (unless you can think of other factors, …

I decided when shopping for the amplification side of my guitar rig, to buy a multi-fx pedal that included amp simulations, and a PA amp that adds minimal distortion or colour. This means that I can …