Does anyone actually use their neck pickup for rhythm playing?

[iaresee]

yes

 

[Alex Kenivel]

Yes. Neck humbuckers can be great for blues and jazz. Neck singles are good for most things.

 

[KFF]

NEVER!

Anytime I do... I just EQ it out in the mix, anyway. Skip that bollocks and let my convertors focus... is my thought.

I often swap stock (necks) for something brighter... IF I'm going in... to do something else. Improves things when just arsing-about on the guitar with nothing else going on. Come record time...

Kill that MUCK!

 

[Piing]

Us and Them, Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2, Money, Breath. Panama, Finish What You Started, When It's Love. For the Love of God, Tender Surrender. Stairway to Heaven, Since I've Been Loving You, The Song Remains the Same. Fade to Black intro. One intro. Still Got the Blues. Hysteria. Still Loving You. Brothers in Arms. Little Wing. Tears in Heaven. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room. Most SRV...

 

[KFF]

Us and Them, Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2, Money, Breath. Panama, Finish What You Started, When It's Love. For the Love of God, Tender Surrender. Stairway to Heaven, Since I've Been Loving You, The Song Remains the Same. Fade to Black intro. One intro. Still Got the Blues. Hysteria. Still Loving You. Brothers in Arms. Little Wing. Tears in Heaven. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room. Most SRV...

All numbers withOUT neck bollocks... correct?

If not... ... is that all you got?

w a n k

 

[2112]

I don't think Les had aggressive rock rhythm playing through a Marshall on his mind when the LP got designed

Neck pickup on a Strat is life (obviously). Neck P90 with a bridge humbucker is a great combo for varied rock rhythm tones.

I've done entire gigs on the neck pickup humbucker of my Custom 24 (Duncan Jazz) playing funk/R'n'B stuff. But for rock gigs bridge humbucker is IT.

 

[2112]

Now that I have this '73 Custom with original T-Tops, I use the neck pick up on my Les Paul all the time for rhythm, especially on the IIB channel of my VII. It's a fantastic, Stones-y rhythm sound and can even get close to a Strat neck pickup vibe (scale differences aside).

I get it now, all those old guys complaining how modern LP neck pickups are too boomy, bassy, etc. This T-top neck is the sweetest, clearest, least bass-heavy LP pickup I've ever played, just love it, can't emphasize enough how much more clarity it has vs the Bare Knuckles in my R9, Gibson PAFs, and even Lollars I've had. The ebony fretboard probably helps, too, but overall these are the greatest LP pickups I've ever played, no exaggeration and I know I gush about them a lot, lol, sorry can't help it.

So yes, 70s T-Top neck + IIB is a great rhythm sound.

I've got T-Tops in my old 335, so crispy!

 

[Frankencat]

I’m an 80%’r.

 

[monwobobbo]

Yes. Play blues

 

[sleewell]

I kinda want a guitar without a neck pickup lol

 

[KFF]

I kinda want a guitar without a neck pickup lol

I have an LP Jr. (copy) without one. Love it!

 

[Jarick]

Depends on the guitar and song. More likely to use the neck pickup for rhythm if it's a single coil guitar or if it's an arpeggiated part. For heavy strummed chords, probably not as much.

 

[CakeEater]

On my CU24, the neck pickup is the poistion I play the least, but it adds great qualities to positions 2, 3 & 4 on the 5-way switch. Same with the middle-position on the LP.

 

[dk_ace]

Tom Morello played most of the big RATM riffs on the neck pickup. He dialed in his rig around the neck pickup sound though.

D

 

[Jkist7]

I do for Hendrix type stuff

 

[Dom Mcsweeney]

Yep, there are some simply awesome tones available (especially with fuzz, and even more especially with octave fuzz), but also clean tones, that you really can't dial in without using a neck pickup and those are reasons I always want guitars to have a neck pickup.

 

[László]

I use the neck pickup for rhythm and some solos, both humbucker and single coils. The DGT has coil splits that also sound good on the neck pickup, too.

It's just a matter of aesthetics. I try to be intentional about musical choices, and sometimes they even work!

 

[mbenigni]

Short answer to your question is probably a "no". On a Strat the neck is an excellent lead tone (and I'm more likely to pos 2, 3, or 4 for rhythm parts.) On Les Paul or SG (or almost any hum/hum guitar without trick wiring) I mostly ignored the neck pickup until very recently. And now that I'm using it, it's usually to keep the neck volume extremely low and use the pickup selector like a channel-switcher (which I wish I'd tried... oh, about 35 years ago.)

 

[sashimi]

I use the neck or bridge pickup depending on the sound I want, not whether it’s a rhythm or lead part. Sometimes I want bright chords, and sometimes I want dark leads. It just depends.

 

[QQQ]

These are the two guitars that are the most important to me, so I guess my answer is obvious.

View attachment 53175View attachment 53176

Beautiful guitars Jim.