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what does it mean to have a "fast" neck?


Gas Hed

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I've heard this saying many times, but I've never come across a guitar that makes me a faster player. What do you consider a fast neck? This has got to be a set up thing (along with a good feeling neck). But both of these things are subjective? So is a fast neck just a subjective thing or is there a magical equation for it?

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I think that term is more fiction than fact, probably born more from of marketing slogans than anything real.


Any well setup instrument is "fast" enough.

 

 

It isn't fiction. Guitars with fast necks generally have more comfortable and better upper fret access. A Gibson SG is said to have a faster neck compared to a Les Paul which in my experience I find it to be truthful. It's much more comfortable playing fast on the higher frets of my SG. You have to work harder to play fast pieces on the higher frets of guitars with big neck joints, that tends to compromise stamina and accuracy. When you spend a lot of time at the high end of the neck you want something that's not going to restrict access and motion.

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imma a speed demon. i can play faster on a narrower neck than a wide one. i reckon it's because my fingers simply don't need to cover as much distance when moving between strings. i prefer small radius, vintage frets (the more worn down and closer to a fretless wonder LP, the better), and thin thin thin contour. these are more of a comfort thing than a speed thing but when i'm comfortable i don't tire as easily and can do the speed thing longer.

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I've never been able to play faster on some guitars than others. I've owned every type of guitar and in between and have never found any easier to "shred" on then others.

I'm a pretty right hand dominant player and I dont like to do a lot of legato-type playing. I dont see why a guitar would be easier to pick faster on.

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I think that term is more fiction than fact, probably born more from of marketing slogans than anything real.


Any well setup instrument is "fast" enough.

 

 

Yes, any well setup instrument that you are comfortable with can be played fast on. I think the stereotypical definition of a "fast" neck comes from the 80's shred generation. They were some of the fastest players in history and that was their preference so that's the standard for speed, at least in the eyes of many players. Of course, that's just conventional wisdom so what's that worth, anyway? Play whatever you want on whatever you want.

 

I happen to hate those Ibanez Wizard-style necks because there's no meat to grab onto when you're digging deep for a bluesy bend... there's no substance filling up your hand when you go to grab a full chord. I guess I'm not tweedly-tweedly-tweedling up on the 24th fret so they're useless to me.

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Yes, any well setup instrument that you are comfortable with can be played fast on. I think the stereotypical definition of a "fast" neck comes from the 80's shred generation. They were some of the fastest players in history and that was their preference so that's the standard for speed, at least in the eyes of many players. Of course, that's just conventional wisdom so what's that worth, anyway? Play whatever you want on whatever you want.


I happen to hate those Ibanez Wizard-style necks because there's no meat to grab onto when you're digging deep for a bluesy bend... there's no substance filling up your hand when you go to grab a full chord. I guess I'm not tweedly-tweedly-tweedling up on the 24th fret so they're useless to me.

 

 

Same here. That lack of meat actually slows me down, so I don't get it.

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It's like saying a restaurant has delicious food.

 

Marketing.

 

Most people, weather they know what they prefer yet or not, can play faster on certain neck profiles. It's a matter of opinion. You see "fast neck" in bass adds more than guitar it seems. They'll say it about jazz and p style necks when the two are vastly different.

 

They should just say "This guitar features a neck profile!" and skip the "fast playing" bit.

 

Personally, I like a very round, I believe it's "U" shaped profile with a narrow, narrow, narrow, nut width. Some, especially shredder types, would consider this to be pretty much unplayable, but it's different strokes for different folks.

 

What are they gonna say? "Features a slow as {censored} neck profile!"

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I think that term is more fiction than fact, probably born more from of marketing slogans than anything real.


Any well setup instrument is "fast" enough.

 

 

I agree. Ibanez Wizard necks cramp up my hand, so I'm not playing fast. My fastest neck is probably the TMO-FAT I have on my Tex Mex Tele Special. IT'S A {censored}ING INCH THICK!

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I think it's a bull{censored} word too. I'm no speed demon but I do pay attention to working on speed and how I play on each of my guitars. I have fat les paul necks and thin les paul necks, a flat wide SG neck, small strat and medium strat, a monster tele neck, and a carvin "shredder neck". Of course they are all different but I can play all the same stuff on all of them.

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Yep, generally speaking a thin neck with a flatter radius and a low action. A neck that facilitates rather than fights back.

 

 

+1

 

The concept I believe has a lot to do with the concept of having "good left hand technique" which is often promoted as having your thumb positioned more in the middle of the back of the guitar and being able to quickly move the supporting thumb to maintain the best support position for proper fretting attack angles. Then as you are running the fretboard from side to side, on a flatter shape there's less of a hump to traverse on the back of the neck. My stepson has an older Ibanez that has an incredible feeling neck. It seems like no matter what position your fretting hand is in, the back of the neck seems to be perfectly contoured for great ergonomics with still a good design for being able to hook the thumb on there for bends. It's definitely an asymmetric design.

 

I think my technique is somewhere between plebe shredder and death grip cowboy chorder so it doesn't matter that much to me. But that one guitar of his makes it pretty clear what the concept is and it slays any "fast neck" I've ever had in my collection since his changes shape along the length of the guitar to compensate for wrist/hand angle. I'd wrestle it away from him but his gf bought it for him before they got married so it has huge sentimental value to him. I wouldn't be able to get it off him for a VOS LP.

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But both of these things are subjective? So is a fast neck just a subjective thing ?

 

 

But for a short answer, I'd have to say "Yes" since we all have different playing styles. I like to have my thumb wrapped around a bit further than mid section so a flat neck without that definite anchor point tends to throw me off. OTOH, I happen to have a JS100 and it's not a particularly flat neck back. I'd say it's somewhere in between. It's not like the Wizard necks.

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Its easy with Gibsons, 60's neck is slimmer and less "clubby" than the 50's neck, combined with the shorter scale length its speeds things up, I noticed an increase in the speed of my runs changing to one from the 25.5 scale length of the strat type guitars.

Lately I've been playing a PRS with the "wide fat" neck profile, very comfortable, but the extra width is noticeable when trying fast runs as is the extra 1/4" on the scale length over my les paul.

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Technically i think its a term manufacturers use to describe shredder style necks - ie thin, jumbo frets, compound radius, 25.5" scale, etc, which is kinda funny cause i recently found out that i can play my fastest on my LP studio with its 50's "baseball bat" style neck, so its all subjective really :idk:

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I think that term is more fiction than fact, probably born more from of marketing slogans than anything real.


Any well setup instrument is "fast" enough.

 

 

Not fiction. I had a PRS for a while and that guitar was just so comfortable to play on I was able to play much faster than I could on my strats or acoustic.

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Its easy with Gibsons, 60's neck is slimmer and less "clubby" than the 50's neck, combined with the shorter scale length its speeds things up, I noticed an increase in the speed of my runs changing to one from the 25.5 scale length of the strat type guitars.

Lately I've been playing a PRS with the "wide fat" neck profile, very comfortable, but the "EXTRA WIDTH" is noticeable when trying fast runs as is the extra 1/4" on the scale length over my les paul.

 

 

Did you know their the same width? Don't let the name fool ya.

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