How to Choose a Fuzz Pedal

Are you about to open your own Fuzz Workshop? This guide will walk you through the key factors you should consider when choosing a fuzz pedal. Alongside distortion and overdrive, fuzz is the most common effect for electric guitar. It’s also the most diverse, which is why you probably need help to invest your money

PRS SE 245 Review

Today, we’re reviewing the PRS SE 245, the first-ever 24.5’’ long-scale electric guitar from a brand that prefers building bulky all-rounders. This is a mid-level perfection wearing two humbuckers and featuring a wide range of tones. Whereas PRS guitars are quite expensive, the SE series is made in Korea, and so SE-series guitars are more

Fender Play Review – Beginner-Friendly Online Lessons

Fender Play is an online teaching platform for guitar, bass and ukulele. Launched in 2017, it’s still a relative newcomer to the scene. But it already has millions of users – thanks to the iconic music brand it belongs to. With endorsements by musicians like Jimmy Page, H.E.R. and Brendan Urie, Fender Play keeps growing

Epiphone Wildkat Review

The Epiphone Wildkat semi-hollow guitar is one of those original Epiphone models. You see, aside from making affordable Gibson-designed instruments, Epiphone also manufactures original designs that date the company’s origins. The times where you choose an Epiphone instrument simply for its Gibson aesthetics are over. Gibson’s subsidiary is now much more than that. They have

Ibanez Talman Review

Today’s article is reviewing the famous Ibanez Talman TMB100 budget bass guitar for beginners. We’ve chosen an Ibanez bass or electric guitar on most of our top 10 charts, so I think it’s time to dedicate another review to this revered brand. We already choose the Talman TMB100 as one of the best bass guitars

Digitech Whammy Review

The Digitech Whammy is one of the first, and most famous, pitch-shifting pedals ever invented. In the couple decades since it was first released, it’s graced pedalboards of famous guitarists like Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and Ed O’Brien. However, the Digitech Whammy has also become a cult favorite pedal with hard rock and grunge guitarists. Tom

The Best Electro-Harmonix Pedals

Electro-Harmonix is one of the most famous companies ever to make the best guitar pedals. Founded in the 1960s by legendary engineer Mike Matthews, EHX has produced some of the most famous effects ever for the guitar. Pedals like the Deluxe Memory Man, Big Muff, and Small Stone have influenced generations of guitarists and created

Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar Review

Johnny Marr’s career has led him to places in bands like The Smiths, The Pretenders, Modest Mouse, The The, and The Cribs. Over the course of his four-decade career, he’s been called one of the greatest guitar players alive. Now, that has led to a signature guitar: the Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar. His melodic, riff-filled

Sterling S.U.B. Bass Review

Recently, we chose the Music Man Sterling StingRay 5 as the best overall 5-string bass you can buy right now. Now, we’re reviewing the Sterling S.U.B. bass guitar, a mid-level model that’s worthy of all of your attention. The original Music Man Sterling is one of the best basses ever created. It’s been present amongst

ESP LTD-EC 1000 Review

Today we’re reviewing the popular LTD-EC 1000 “Les Paul” type guitar. A quick look at this ax is enough to realize it’s made for metal. But, in classic ESP fashion, this is a metal guitar with a surprising amount of versatility. In particular, the LTD series of electric guitars is known to be a great

How to Play the Pentatonic Scale

At BeginnerGuitarHQ, we like to guide you through the perfect way to play guitar. This covers everything from getting hold of the right equipment to learning the theory behind what you’re playing. In this guide, we’re going to teach you everything you need to know about the pentatonic scales and how to use them to

Fender CD60CE Review

There are no doubts and no second guesses regarding Fender instrument quality. We’ve already reviewed some of its best bass guitars, like the Fender Precision Deluxe Special, as well as their top value electric guitars, like the Fender Player Strat or the Fender Modern Player Telecaster. We’ve also reviewed quite a lot of Squier instruments.

Epiphone Les Paul Special II Review

We’ve highlighted and praised Gibson’s little sister Epiphone. However, we’ve never fully reviewed an Epiphone electric guitar, so we thought we could change that by reviewing the Epiphone Les Paul Special II electric guitar for beginners. I’m writing this guide for the total beginner because I understand this is the kind of guitar first-timers are

11 Best Pickups for Metal

Here we review the best guitar pickups for metal. My top 11 pickups for metal include humbucker and single-coils as well. All of these items pair great with metal amps and metal distortion pedals. If you’re looking to build yourself a great guitar gear to jam along with Ghost and Alter Bridge tunes, you’d want

Top 20 Best Bass Pickups Reviews

Time has come to finally talk about bass pickups here at Beginner Guitar HQ. We’re always guiding you towards the best tools and musical gear to start or continue your journey, so it’s only natural for us to share the top 20 best bass pickups you can buy right now. Now, electric bass pickups are

DigiTech RP55 Review – An Affordable Multi-Effects Pedal

Sooner or later, every electric guitarist faces the same dilemma. You’ve learned all your chords, mastered your pickups, and now you want to take your sound to the next level. Only with hundreds of effects pedals on the market, how do you know which ones are right for you? Do you go with a fuzz

How To Use The Dorian Mode

At BeginnerGuitarHQ, it’s our mission to teach you how to play the guitar as well as possible. One of the most important parts of a guitarists toolbox is the humble scale. You’ve probably become rather used to standard major and minor scales, but were you aware of the basically endless possibilities modes afford you? They

The Magic of the Mooer Tender Octaver

The octave pedal market is, albeit well saturated, not sufficiently appreciated. That’s because most models are unnecessarily advanced and complex. In an effort to try their best to pack as many features as they can in a small octave pedal, manufacturers often forget performance, price, and ease of use.  Mooer knew this, apparently, as they

Squier Standard Telecaster Review

We at Beginner Guitar HQ have reviewed some great Squier alternatives. We’ve listed the Classic Vibe Series, the Squier Jaguar models, and the Squier Bullet Stratocaster. Time and time again, we find that Squier has grown so much from its early “cheap instruments that are trash” reputation. Right now, Fender’s subsidiary Squier is the top

How To Use The Phrygian Mode

At BeginnerGuitarHQ, it’s our mission to teach you how to play the guitar as well as possible. One of the most important parts of a guitarists toolbox is the humble scale. You’ve probably become rather used to standard major and minor scales, but were you aware of the basically endless possibilities modes afford you? They

Best Single Coil Pickups

Beginner Guitar HQ is helping you upgrade your guitar with a new set of tapers. We’ve compiled the list of the top 10 best single-coil pickups you can buy right now. Brands include Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, EMG, Fender, and more. The truth is you no longer need to buy a new guitar to drastically improve

How To Use The Lydian Mode

At BeginnerGuitarHQ, it’s our mission to teach you how to play the guitar as well as possible. One of the most important parts of a guitarists toolbox is the humble scale. You’ve probably become rather used to standard major and minor scales, but were you aware of the basically endless possibilities modes afford you? They

Fender Modern Player Telecaster Review

Fender has a decades-long reputation as a top leading guitar maker. They share their throne with the likes of Gibson Gretsch and LTD. Everyone knows Fender means high-quality and standards. I’m here to talk to you about Fender’s budget Telecaster guitar, the made-in-China Fender Modern Player Telecaster Plus. As I said, this is an affordable

Best Field Recorder for Musicians

Musicians are a breed that thrives on inspiration, and being able to get down this muse is vital in being successful as a musician. Having a field recorder is therefore essential for a musician. Recording sessions, rock concerts, and rehearsals are parts of those moments when having a quality recorder can be invaluable. However, a

Jazz Standards You Should Know

Jazz is one of the most daunting genres for many guitarists to play, and for good reason — jazz often incorporates rapid chord changes and shifts between different keys, along with a heavy focus on improvisation. If you want to play jazz on guitar, it’s absolutely essential that you learn how to improvise over standard

How to Use the Mixolydian Mode

Mixolydian, one of the seven modes of the major scale, is also one of the most popular modes among guitarists across a wide variety of different genres. If you’re looking to take your rock, blues, and even jazz playing to the next level, the mixolydian mode is an essential tool that you can use. However,

10 Best Budget Bluetooth Headphones

The sense of hearing, though present in almost everyone, does not guarantee the ability to listen. Listening is the ability that helps you to hear sounds and, your ability to listen can often go a long way to determine how well you can reproduce sounds, especially when you play the guitar. Advancement in technology has

Best Metal Pedal

Mean, loud & dirty. We’ve seen the best metal amps for electric guitar before on the site and found out how the right amplifier can work miles towards getting you the metal sound you’re looking for. We also searched the best 15 metal guitars because without the right ax you won’t really achieve an aggressive

The 10 Best Looper Pedals

At BeginnerGuitarHQ, we like to guide you towards an incredible set-up for your guitar as well as some brilliant playing skills. Once you’ve got the basics down (or even before, if you want) dig deep into this article and figure out which looper pedal is the one for you. Then, you’ll be able to become

Best P-90 Pickup

The vintage sound in a small soap-bar. There’s a time at the point of every guitar player’s music career when they feel they have to improve their old guitars with newer pickups. So, if by any chance you’re looking to give your guitar that raw early rock’s sound, boy, you’re in the right place. I

American Special Telecaster Review 

Is it worth the money? Us mortal guitar players have heard over and over how good the American Fender instruments are. If you’ve done some digging, you’ve also seen how expensive the American Special Telecaster can get. Every musician, even beginner musicians, has some context on the quality of Fender. Even so, we might wonder:

Best Flanger Pedal Reviewed

At BeginnerGuitarHQ, we like to keep our learners at the top of their game tonally as well as technically. This means we can guide you towards some incredible gear, from guitars, to guitar strings, to amps, to effects pedals. Each of these will help to turn your ability to play guitar into an incredible feast

The Squier Bullet Strat – Squier Bullet Series review

When we think of budget guitars, Squier always comes to mind. Squier by Fender is one of the kings of entry-level guitars, as they build instruments with the excellent Fender bodies and fits them with quality electronics and pickups. With great values in design, sound, and body, you can go wrong with the Squier Bullet

Best Overdrive Pedal

In this ultimate guide we review the best overdrive pedals for electric guitars you can buy right now. The best overdrive pedals on our list can fit all budgets: there entry-level options, mid-level options, and professional, costly options that can take your sound to another level. Are you thinking vintage and powerful? Well, the overdrive

Best Octave Pedal

There are a lot of pedals out there for guitarists to get a hold of. The octave pedal is perhaps one of the least well-known and least common of the many available, but that doesn’t make it any less important. Beyond being able to really beef up your chords if you’re in need of a

Best Chorus Pedal

BeginnerGuitarHQ brings you a new guide scoping the best chorus pedals for electric guitars you can buy right now. We’re detailing both analog and digital alternatives, and we’re covering prices that can fit all budgets. In my humble opinion, I suggest chorus pedals as one of the 5 essential effects for all guitar players: Delay,

Best Jazz Drum Set

BeginnerGuitarHQ might be designed to teach you how to go from beginner guitarist into professional shred-master, but rhythm is an important skill. In this important guide, we review the best jazz drum set and best jazz drumkit out there, carefully selected from more than 30 jazz drum sets available on the market. Learning how to

Behringer Super Fuzz Review: SF300 Super Fuzz Pedal

Behringer is known for creating superb, affordable guitar effect pedals, probably the best in the market. Because of that, we’re going to review the superb, easy to use, and affordable Behringer Super Fuzz. First of all, though, let’s understand what fuzz is, and then I’m sharing my review of my favorite affordable fuzz, a guitar

20 Easy Ukulele Songs for Beginners – Master Beginner Ukulele Songs in 20 Hours

In this detailed guide, I’ll show you 20 easy ukulele songs you can learn as a beginner ukulele player. At BeginnerGuitarHQ, we mainly aim to teach you everything we can about guitars. However, sometimes we branch out into the world of similar instruments. The bass, the mandolin, and in this case, the ukulele. The brilliant

Best Keyboard Piano

With so many options and brands to choose, it might be overwhelming to pick your first digital keyboard piano. Lucky for you, I’m here to quickly guide you through that process. This Beginner Guitar HQ guide will show you exactly what you need to look for in keyboards so you invest your money into a

Learn the Circle of Fifths

The circle of fifths is a common theoretical term in music. It has many uses across all instruments and  genres but in this lesson we are going to look at a few simple ways that you can learn this essential piece of knowledge and apply it to your playing right away. What is the Circle

Ultimate John Frusciante Gear Guide

How to sound like this popular Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ guitar player on a budget? Celebrating John Frusciante’s return to Red Hot Chilli Peppers, we’re going to learn how about the gear of the famous Red Hot Chilli Peppers Guitar Player. This is an ultimate gear guide showing you how to sound like John Frusciante

10 Best Bass Effect Pedals

These bass effect pedals can take your bass to the next level. This is a guide for beginner, intermediate, and advanced bass players alike. I’ll take you through everything you need to know to buy the exact bass pedals you need to improve your sound and create the basslines you imagine. I’ll give you budget

Best Basslines for Beginners

I’m helping you learn and practice the top 10 bass lines for beginners. Instead of touching theoretical subjects, we’re going straight into the actual bass playing. However, we do need to understand what is a bass line you can not only create one of your own, but also understand, play, and even improve over someone

15 Of The Best VST Plugins

At BeginnerGuitarHQ, we aim to help you learn to become a great guitarist. When recording and producing your own music, you’re pretty likely to encounter VST (Virtual Studio Technology) both in terms of creating instrumental sounds and timbres, as well as applying effects and manipulation to real, recorded instruments. In this important guide, I’ll talk

The Best Music Making Software

Once you have your basic home studio setup ready to go, the big decision is in the DAW that you choose. DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation which is a piece of music making software that is central to all your studio needs. All home studios and professional studios are built around a DAW. The

Boss DS-1 Distortion Pedal Review

At BeginnerGuitarHQ, we aim to help you learn to become a great guitarist. When learning this valuable skill, you need the equipment to go with it, so we put together helpful reviews that’ll give you a head start in deciding what’s right for you! In this important guide, I’ll talk you through the Boss DS-1

How to Create Layered Arrangements with a Looper Pedal

Common Looper Pedals Looper pedals come in all different shapes and sizes, with varying amounts of control knobs, added features, and storage space. Even though they don’t distort your signal or add spacey delay to your tone, some looper pedals may be among the most complicated to operate on your board!  Your specific needs will

How to Use a Vibrato Bar

The vibrato bar goes by many names: Whammy bar, tremolo bar, vibrato arm, Bigsby arm, even “floating synchronized tremolo”! Whatever you call it, the vibrato bar is a common feature on myriad different guitar models. However, many players only use the vibrato sparingly or don’t know how to properly use it at all. If you

15 Blues Turnarounds You Should Know

In blues music, the turnaround is a familiar companion. You may recognise the sound of a turnaround from the start or end of your favourite blues tracks. Typically, a turnaround is a 2 bar phrase that sits over the 11th and 12th bars of your usual 12 bar blues and acts to “turn around” the