Guitar Pickups: How Players Misuse Them
To bridge or not to bridge?
4,0 / 5,0 | 
Guitar pickups are a vital component of your guitar sound. I see so many players not fully utilising their potential. Let’s fix that.
This workshop looks at the best ways to use the pickups on your guitar. From swampy neck blues lines to soaring bridge humbucker solos, here’s everything you need to know.
Key Information about Guitar Pickups
- What are guitar pickups? They allow the amplification of your guitar via magnets and coiled wire. They act as your guitar’s ears to hear what you’re playing.
- The pickups respond to the vibrations of your strings and convert that into the sweet sound that we know and love.
- Various layouts and pickup types depending can be seen, depedning on what guitar you have. These differing designs have helped craft hundreds of hit records.
Guitar Pickups Guide
Guitar Pickups: What are they?
As a guitar teacher, I teach almost 50 students per week. And I’d go as far as to say that half of those budding players don’t know what their guitar pickups do, or what they’re for.
Now, we don’t have to get all scientific, but they’re essentially a bunch of magnets that pick up the vibrations from the strings. For a more detailed analysis, you can check out another guide called Guitar Pickups 101 here at gearnews.
Here, we’ll be looking at which is which, and when it’s appropriate to use each of them. So, why not grab your electric guitar, and we’ll get a better understanding of your guitar pickups.
Neck Pickup
Let’s start at the top. For these examples, we’ll be looking at a Stratocaster. Typically, these have three pickups. Single coils, to be specific.
We refer to the highest-up guitar pickup as the neck pickup. This is because it sits just underneath the guitar’s neck.
To select this, you’ll want to have the pickup selector switch flicked towards this pickup. Usually, you’ll have a warm and deep sound from this pickup. Appropriate for chord and rhythm playing. Telecasters and Les Pauls will differ as to where the pickup selector is, but they’re all the same in how the neck pickup reacts with the instrument.
Bridge Pickup
By contrast, we also have the bridge pickup. This is situated just above the guitar’s bridge. Which is the metal section at the bottom of the instrument that houses the strings.
For this one, you’ll need to flick the pickup switch towards the bottom of the guitar. Or, the opposite end of the neck pickup.
What is the bridge pickup used for? It is ideal for solos and riffs; the bridge pickup results in a sharper and brighter sound compared to the neck. Making it perfect for standing out on stage. Mother nature’s boost pedal. You could think of it as the treble-oriented pickup, with the neck leaning towards bass tones.
Middle Positions
Now, you may have thought that I’ve missed one. Well, not quite! Situated between the neck and the bridge, on a Stratocaster, we’ve got the middle pickup. This is quite a cool one!
Now, this middleman can be used simultaneously with either the neck or the bridge pickups. Moreover, it can be used on its own, too. How cool is that?
Strats have a 5-way pickup selector. But only 3 pickups? That’s because we can use the middle pickup on its own, in the middle selector position. However, we can also use position 2 to benefit the bridge and middle, or position 4 of the selector switch to blend the middle and neck pickups together.
- Position 1: Bridge
- Position 2: Bridge & Middle
- Position 3: Middle
- Position 4: Middle & Neck
- Position 5: Neck
Examples in Music
So, what difference does it all make? Well, take a quick listen to this Stevie Ray Vaughan number. Playing a Fender Stratocaster, the driving rhythm works beautifully with the neck and middle pickup. Otherwise known as position 4.
Whereas, this Sultans of Swing staple uses the bridge pickup for the rhythm part. By contrast, you can hear the brighter tones.
Which octave, which pickup?
Now, this could be personal preference, but I like to switch which pickup I’m using depending on where on the neck I’m playing. Or, of course, what the song I’m playing actually sounds like.
Which pickup should you use for specific songs? This could be on any electric guitar, whether it’s a Gretsch or a PRS; the physics are the same. Usually, riffs or improvised phrases played at the top of the neck by the headstock sound more pronounced and defined when using the bridge pickup.
Whereas, when you’re noodling from the 12th fret onwards, the neck pickup just suits that part of the neck better. By using the neck pickup in higher octaves, you get a nice, glassy tone and avoid the notes being too harsh. It all depends on your playing style and desired impact.
Tone Controls
To conclude our look at guitar pickups, we’re going to take a quick look at the control knobs. Otherwise known as potentiometer pots, these govern the tone and output of the pickups.
On a Stratocaster-style guitar, you get two-tone knobs. One operates the bridge and the other the neck pickup. Think of them like your bass and treble control, taking away some of the overall output of the pickups.
However, on a Telecaster, you just get one to govern the whole guitar. Plus, on a Les Paul you’ll have these bass and treble controls, but also individual volume controls for each pickup. This means that you could have your neck pickup louder or quieter than the bridge, for example. I find this feature useful for gigging on stage when switching between songs in the set list.
Different Guitars, Different Pickups
What are the different pickup types? There are loads of different configurations. Such as a Telecaster with a humbucker in the bridge, or an SG with P90s. You can even find mini-humbuckers and lipstick pickups!
All available from *Thomann, here are a bunch of examples that either stick to tradition or defy convention with cool guitar pickups:
Conclusion
The main thing to think about when choosing which guitar pickup to use is ‘what am I playing?’. Open chords? Chances are, the neck or position 4 will be just fine for a rich rhythm tone. Looking at something heavier, maybe even some power chords? That bridge pickup will provide all the crunch you need.
Videos
Further Information
*This post contains affiliate links and/or widgets. When you buy a product via our affiliate partner, we receive a small commission that helps support what we do. Don’t worry, you pay the same price. Thanks for your support!
This might also interest you
One response to “Guitar Pickups: How Players Misuse Them”
i like to divide my humbuckers by coil each having its own volume and tone control. it simplifies the super 72 switching in my honest opinion. then add a switch to combine one coil from each humbucker to the other. two from each, thus connecting either of neck coils to rear bridge coil and forward bridge coil and vise versa.