How to work with mid range as a guitarist

[Fretworn]

The trick is learning that what sounds good by itself can be terrible in the mix. In a live context guitars often have to be eq'd more towards the treble end as bass and drums (and often keyboards) take up so much real estate at the bass end of the spectrum. Pete Thorn recommends that guitars always have a low pass filter taking out any sub frequencies. In a recording context compression and stereo spread also do a lot to make guitar stand out more.

I always have my amp set pretty bright as eq is better than volume if you want to be heard.

[Andy123]

The trick is learning that what sounds good by itself can be terrible in the mix. In a live context guitars often have to be eq'd more towards the treble end as bass and drums (and often keyboards) take up so much real estate at the bass end of the spectrum. Pete Thorn recommends that guitars always have a low pass filter taking out any sub frequencies. In a recording context compression and stereo spread also do a lot to make guitar stand out more.

I always have my amp set pretty bright as eq is better than volume if you want to be heard.

...which I completely understand. What doesn't compute for me is that apparently bands like Metallica used to go full scoop and yet their guitars could definitely be heard live. Or is that just a myth?

[Fretworn]

Well, they also either turned the bass down (Newstead) or had very bright bass sounds (Burton). It wasn't till later years that they learned how to have a full bass sound and full guitar sounds. The other trick is to avoid modulation effects or use a multi-amp wet/dry rig (That Pedal Show have talked about this in many of their videos)