when strat players discover THE SG 

The sg is the most versatile Gibson model, it's like what a tele is for fender.

Played my first-show in 1986 with my uncle’s 1962 Les Paul (SG) It was a “battle of the bands” at my high school, and as a sophomore at age-16 had been asked to replace 2 guitar-players in the hot-shot band of seniors; who’d had some sort of falling-out. We won … beating the band the two departed guitar-players had started to “embarrass” the band that I had joined.

Did a content creator just make a video about SG's and not mention neck dive once? Thank you for this blessing, Mike.

Frank Zappa is the SG God

I played an SG first time in ´74. What a bite that thing had. Real rock tone. Funny thing is I haven’t played one in decades but keep thinking about one.

I wanna hear about the ac/dc thing.

Tony Iommi has made a pretty good living over the last 50+ years playing an SG!

Great video. I started playing an SG as a kid and now appreciate strats more than ever. I did the reverse, and like you can appreciate both as foundational guitars every player would be proud to have in their collection.

His SG was called the fool. Sweet guitar.

Robby Krieger played almost all his Doors stuff on the SG neck position. Why did he pick an SG? Because that was one of the less expensive guitars he grabbed off the rack that day in a store. That’s honestly how most of your heroes became identified with a certain type of guitar: That’s the one they learned on, before they even knew about any technical differences, so there’s a lot of dumb luck about it.

When it comes down to it, I have never cared for the aesthetics of the SG and would rather have a double-cut Les Paul special or junior. But I do like how they feel (I agree, being light makes them easier to live with than a regular Les Paul).

In the 60s Clapton mostly played Gibson. Started with a burst led Paul then 335s and sgs

Don't forget Frank Marino,,,,,,still my #1 ! "Poppy" and 'It's Begun To Rain'.....those 2 tunes were the catalyst that finally got me to pull the trigger and buy my SG.

dude the clean tone on these things is insane. I went and saw Men I Trust w/ Tops earlier this year (both dream pop bands), and both David Carriere and Jessy Caron were using SGs that night. I was FLOORED by the sounds I was hearing.

I was a fender guy for 20 years. Only played strats and tele’s. Then at the beginning of the year I bought a SG standard and it’s been my main guitar ever since. It works for everything I play and sounds amazing.

Quick addition to Clapton, he actually played a Telecaster with Blind Faith before he went solo and picked up the Strat.

I’ve had a 2023 SG 61 for the last year and a half. It’s 6 pounds and both plays and sounds awesome. The neck dive is minimal on the one I play and a suede strap keeps it from diving at all.

The SGs pretty versatile. I watched a guy play a jazz gig on an sg. He got a nice arch top type sound out of it.

I don't understand why this is such a revelation. All throughout the 60's Clapton shifted from Telecaster, Les Paul, ES335 and SG

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath is my favorite SG player. Bought a black SG standard last January and I love it!!

Eric Clapton's 60's sound with a Gibson is his best sound IMO

Great video Mike…Got my first ‘proper’ guitar at 18 years old it was a Gibson SG and loved it and played in lots of bands in the late 70’s mainly heavy metal bands in London pubs and clubs and the SG was phenomenal for that style of music especially with a Marshall stack, loved my SG and still have it, later in life I got into playing the blues all the time, mellowed as I got older, my wife then bought me a Stratocaster for my 50th birthday and I found that much better for blues, so easy to play and that became my guitar of choice just so easy to play and now play that 90% of the time, but now and then still sit down with my SG for old times sake and I still love playing it…..the old saying you never stop loving your first love… ❤️

Had the budget for an LP Studio but decided to try an SG Standard for the same price and they've become my favorite guitar to play in terms of neck feel - the "batwing" version has a thick, round profile - weight and sound combination. I learned to love the look and to adjust my picking angle, been lucky with little to no neck dives. Love them.

SG’s have one of the chimiest and best clean tones on the planet. This Indie Rock band entitled Versus uses one and is a great example, especially the early stuff. The Burstbuckers that Gibson is using on the SG now are some of the best pickups ever made.

Robby Krieger from The Doors always made me want an SG. I finally, after 25 years or so of playing got a Casino. SG is next on my list.

Being a bass player and not an electric guitar tone chaser my ears always perk up (or melt) whenever I hear that double humbucker clean tone. Nothing wrong with single coil guitars, but that deep rich tone is just something so beautiful.

Good stuff Mike. I'm a fender guy; and a recent SG player. Its opening up a whole new world for me. Cheers. Dennis

I’ve owned 2 SGs. Back in the 80s I had a single humbucker sg. Loved it but I traded it in towards a Charvel. Then I had an SG standard back in 2018 and traded that in towards a Les Paul. Kinda wished I kept that SG standard. Your video makes me want to buy another one. They have great tones clean or dirty and they are so easy to play.

My father in law had given me both an SG and a Les Paul. Always been an acoustic player. Learning a lot about these two guitars.🤙🏼 great video

Just bought my first SG. Amazing guitar. All the classic Gibson tones, yet very easy to play. The fretboard access and lightness of the body are really nice. I always viewed it as the "dad-metal" guitar, but then I saw guys like Clapton and Johnson using it. I realized that it's actually a classy-looking shape, it just evolved into that "metal" instrument overtime. Now it's difficult to put down every time I pick it up. Glad you also found an appreciation for it!

Benefit of the SG, is that it shows the mids more than the Les Paul. And really....it's amazing for JAzz clean playing.

when i was 15 i did “work experience” in a guitar shop. there was almost nothing for me to do so i played every guitar. i fell in love with the SG. such a smooth, full tone! i couldn’t afford the gibson of course so i bought the epiphone - actually great for the money, and i still have it, albeit with upgraded everything. it’s never leaving me, even if i do find the money for the gibson one day. my fave new SG player is tom dowse of dry cleaning. not flashy, but he comes up with some amazing parts.

I love the SG! Been in love with them since I saw one as a little kid, finally got one and it exploded my expectations!

Great video! I have all three: my SG, Les Paul and Strat :) I like the location of the toggle switch on the Les Paul, which makes for quick changes on the pickups.

Derek Trucks gets some hella tasty sounds out of his SG. If I had one, I'd wanna do more slide playing.

Great video. Solid entertainment. I started on Gibsons and just recently got into fender. Bought an American tele about two months ago which I love. And now I’m waiting for my American strat to arrive.

Watching this a week before buying my SG

I heard an SG for the first time in concert back in December of last year. Gannon Fremin CCrev had opened for treaty and their guitarist was playing a Gibson SG. That thing has some insanely clean and clear high gain rock tones and really pumps out beautifully heavy tones.

My favourite SG player of all time has to be Brian Molko from the band Placebo, His strumming style is so unique its something id never seen before discovering him, He may not be known for playing only SG's, h also plays Jaguars and mustangs and all sorts of other guitars but I personally relate him with the SG. I highly recommend you and anyone else reading this to check him out because he is seriously, in my opinion one the best guitar players I've ever seen.

I’m a major SG guy, I built my first Strat years ago, and played it till my fingers bled. When I started looking into the SG out of curiosity, I found a brown one that I couldn’t get my eyes off of and I had to have it. I didn’t even try it; I bought it on eBay and as soon as it was in my hands it felt right.

The best solo I’ve ever heard from an SG is the long version of Foghat …Step Outside, it’s not shred but the phrasing and tone are simply Amazing! A must!

Robbie Robertson was a big influence for Clapton changing to a strat.

My first electric guitar was a 70's Japanese "Kopy Kat" brand SG. A friend had a Fender Strat, he loved it, but it just didn't feel right to me, and I wasn't experienced enough to dial in and play with the classic Strat tones I know and love today. Many of my favorite guitar players at the time played an SG, Angus Young, Tony Iommi, Clapton with Cream etc. Then Jeff Beck and Clapton switched to Strats, and a few years later Stevie Ray Vaughan totally blew way my musical soul and concepts of playing guitar and what it should sound like. For a couple decades I was obsessed with dialing in a Strat to sound like him as close as possible. And then recently I decided I wanted something to play some more modern, heavy rock, border line metal riffs and shreddy stuff, I loved the feel of Gibson necks for this, and fortunately fell into a really good deal on a Gibson SG, which I thought I would never be able to afford. And then I noticed SGs being played all over the place, by Eric Johnson, Gary Clark Jr and others. I've discovered the SG is much more versatile than many give it credit. The only thing I might consider changing is modding it with coil tap switching. There's something about that silky, smooth ("woman tone" says Clapton) yet gritty overdriven tone you can get with an SG. It feels very responsive to my touch.

I've always been a Fender player having owned a tele and currently own a strat but have always liked the way that SG's feel and play. I finally bought one at the beginning of the year as a late Christmas/early birthday present. It has been my go to ever since I got it as I prefer the P-90s over the single coils in the strat.

The headstock just snapped off of my SG. Need to get it fixed, and I'm gutted. I love the tone of my SG. I can go crunchy and rawk with it! But I love it for it's cleaner tones, and blues sound. Glad that you rediscovered your love for it.

I like that you put it in the context of how you will use it. I’ve been guilty of just getting gear because my heroes are seen with it. Thinking primarily about how I will apply it in a musical setting is what gives it any of it meaning and can get me out of my well-worn patterns of noodling unplugged on a cool looking guitar!

Clapton started with les paul on his marshall amp , the bluesbreaker sound on beano. After he plays his telecaster with strat neck with blindfaith , strat , es 335 and sg

I love my Gibson SG. I swapped out the neck position pickup and added a 57 Les Paul neck pickup. It’s great. Such a rich tone.

Nice video Mike…I love the SG special with the 2 P 90s, sweet and nasty , but they all seem to have their specific lane . Great guitars

Great Video. I picked SG as my first Electric, and it is a great all rounder.

Pete Townshend recorded Tommy on an SG with P90’s and toured exclusively with it for a few years, Woodstock, Live at Leeds, Isle of Mann, all on the SG.

I own 16 guitars, and electrically speaking my 2013 ‘61 Gibson SG with 57 Classic pickups is my #1

I think SG guitars are one of the best guitars ever made. They have versatility, huge tone and they are really comfortable: short neck, easy bends and vibratos and it's not heavy at all. I own a SG special zebra made in 2017 and I am in love with that guitar, it's just perfect.

That’s one of the most beautiful guitars ever made. You are a blessed man

Great vid man. Enjoyed it! Thanks.

Thankyou for making me stop pigeon-holing my SG. I have exactly the same one you have, and i need to get it back on.

I wish I got an SG a long time ago. I was so surprised how light and comfortable those guitars are. They sound great too, almost as thick and heavy as a Les Paul.

Bought one of these Maestro SGs a few months ago. Love it.

Great Video, Mike. I always agree with you. You know your stuff. Thanks, Man.

I was a drummer in the mid-70's but one guitar player in our band played a strat and the other played an SG. The SG's were quite popular back then. Many decades of guitar collecting and at 67, I have whittled down the collection to a 1995 American Std Ltd Edition matching headstock Stratocaster and after selling off many Gibson Les Pauls keeping one Epiphone Modern Les-Paul that Plays and Sounds to 95% of its 5-times the price, USA version as I owned both at the same time to compare. But, other than my Acoustic guitar and Mandolin, I got the itch to pick-up the Gibson SG Faded with Vibrola a while back, and If I can only end-up with one guitar, this will be the one. Lite, versatile, great smell, action and sounds! BTW, you do know they make an SG model with two-P-90 single coil pups don't you? Maybe with your preference to single-coil guitars, that could be your ultimate sweet spot? Enjoyed your video, Thank you!

I have two sgs, one with p90s and one with hums. They are the best guitars I’ve ever played, I love sgs and always will

Great video and thanks for the review/thoughts on the SG- I've been a Les Paul player for most of my life and hoping to get my first SG sometime soon. Too many models to choose from, so trying to narrow down my search. Can't decide between P-90's or humbuckers.

So, I’ve been playing a Gary Clark Jr SG signature model for the past few years as my main standard tuning guitar. It’s got 3 p90 pickups and does a good approximation of strat tones in certain settings. I’m a Telecaster and Les Paul guy. This can get close to those Stratocaster tones but doesn’t have the ergonomic problems I often have with a strat.

George harrison also played an SG in some songs on Rubber Soul, Revolver, and the White Album. It appears in the music video for Paperback Writer.

Hi! Love the SGs,i have two of them. One cherry red 61' and a Black with the bigger pickguard(a gift from my father), batwing pickgard as the called it. I was a stratplayer as you but nowdays i play the SGs more...light and easy to play...love the thinner necks as well.

i would have never imagined kurt playing an sg, i’ve always seen him as a strat, jaguar, mustang, and jag stang guy

I like your channel. You communicate your ideas well and keep us thinking about our own playing experiences. Good information. Well done.

Great video, what a beautiful guitar (and nice playing). I'm a true strat player, but I've had a Gretsch G3515 CVT once which I used for my band (in combination with the strat) and many people on first sight thought it was an SG. I loved that guitar (shouldn't have sold it, might buy it back)

My first non beginner guitar was a Gibson SG Faded Special with the original moon inlays. They later switched to boring old dots. I think I paid $600ish when I was in my early 20s. If you got lucky you would get one that didn't have much of any faded spots on it at all which is what I ended up with. Basically a beautiful red finish that you can see the grain through. I added pickup covers and locking tuners. For many years I dealt with the tuning issues that I later learned come from the 3x3 head stock design and how the strings go through the nut on an angle. It was never a horrible problem but I still dealt with pings and pops while bending mostly and tuning might not fully return. About a year ago I stumbled upon something called The String Butler and it was claiming to solve that very issue without any permanent modifications, so it was fully reversible if I didn't like it. There are different versions and I ended up getting the V1 that basically replaces the truss rod cover. Ever since I put that on my SG I absolutely will never sell it. Zero tuning issues now. I love this guitar so much.

First time seeing your content. Nice work.

Hey Mike, super cool video and yes as aa lifelong Strat guy and the SG is a great guitar to as an introduction to the Gibson brand

Love your videos, thank you.

Occasionally, I play Doom/Stoner Metal with a buddy of mine. Usually, I use a Les Paul and he uses an SG. The two really compliment each other in this setting, having similar yet distinct sounds. We also sometimes veer into Power Pop territory and the combination of the two totally works well here, also.

My first electric epiphone sg bully My second Gibson sg faded special 2005. I love my SG the most. It's got its quirks, but, if you can dial in set up, it's great. (Raise the hard tale to decrease the break angle over the bridge, way easier to intonate and it'll make the tuning more stable)

Sounds great when tuned down a half step as well.

I was a strat guy who fell in love with an sg. What it took for me was lowering the humbuckers away from the strings. SG’s always sounded too muddy when I wanna play clean- but backing the pickups down a bit helped. And when I finally bonded with an SG it didn’t ruin strats for me. I still love my strats, still love my SG’s. But my favorite is my Firebird V Celebrity. No other guitar sounds quite as good anymore compared to it. My ‘bird straight into my FSR 1x12 Princeton Reverb on 5 makes me laugh out loud and say “holy sht!” more than any combination on earth. No pedalboard required. When a strat guy finds SG’s and then graduates to reverse Firebirds lol The best way I can describe it is if your strat grew a 3rd teste and then became more cultured at the same time, while doing steroids. A firebird is like a mix between a strat, macho man randy savage, and the most interesting man who ever lived. Disclaimer- those Under 6’ tall may struggle reaching cowboy chord area on a real deal firebird

I was always a Les Paul enthusiast, even though I never owned one. My drive was my 2005 Washburn Idol , which looks like a Les Paul. Nevertheless I always liked SGs, mostly because of Robby Krieger of the Doors and Tony Iommi. However, the past two years I have become a Strat player! I always wanted to build my own, so I assembled some parts and with the help of a friend / guitar tech we made an ash body partcaster with fender mexican neck and single coil sized humbuckers that can split into single coils. Everything else ended at that point. This instrument can play ANYTHING. Has amazing cleans, both splitted or not, has amazing dirty sound, it is awesome for 60's garage and surf and psychedelic tones, to 70's prog rock, to 80's heavy metal, to 90's and 00's death metal to bluesy / funky stuff. I even gave it to a friend who is a jazz player and was amazed .

Great video. Ive always thought SGs were interesting. My bandmate growing up had an Epiphone SG. I ended up gravitating towards Ibanez guitars myself.

Thom Yorke from Radiohead used the SG on In Rainbows. That's where they got a lot of those buttery smooth clean tones (that and johnny's tele). He definitely used it on reckoner, which is my favourite song of all time and the clean tone is incredible.

I’m a Les Paul guy but when I think of an SG I think of Ed King. He played it live for Freebird and in the studio for Am I Losin’ and I’m A Country Boy. Best SG tone to me is on Am I Losin.

Love my SG Tribute, killer tone awesome neck and light enough to stay on me as long as I want which is good because I'm old. lol

I love playing both strat and fender, both completely different guitars but both give me exactly what i want out of them, ive owned many guitars, Jackson's, Ibanez, Charvels, but my top 2 are the strat and SG..

Great video man! I feel what you're saying I was a strat guy for a number of years, from a cheap squier from the 2010's to a prs silver sky in stone blue i loved them both to pieces and still do, but one of the first guitars i got was a really cheap epiphone sg, i still like it don't get me wrong but with it being such a cheap one never really fully saw the appeal as it never really fully scratched that itch. But recently i have been listening to loads of derek trucks and black sabbath, both use sg's and i just so happened to stumble upon a great deal. 1976 Ibanez made in Japan Pre-Lawsuit SG, and let me tell you i just haven't been the same since. with an out of phase middle position, a beautiful warm and soft neck pickup and an aggresive firey bridge pickup, locking tuners and a trapeze bridge its just an otherwordly guitar, and my strats have sadly sat collecting dust since i got it. I'll still play them from time to time, but the SG has my heart for sure.

Literally me, got an sg standard and haven’t really picked the Strat, great guitar, but there’s something abt my gibson i love.

I’ve had an SG and a Strat. I think I liked them both equally. I never owned a Les Paul. Great video!!!

My first Gibson was my ‘08 SG Special Faded and i still pick it up a few times a week

Frank Marino my favorite SG player! Only his main SG is with 3 singlecoils. A killer sound and technique and feel

I like Gibsons for the tune-of-matic bridge and tailpiece. They are great for anchoring palm mutes for metal. Not your cup of tea, but it feels nice for chugging.

Paid $325.00 for my SG in 1973. Still cherish that instrument today. For a 51 year old guitar people are amazed how well it rocks with the original electronics and pickup switch. Wonder how much it's worth today?

In the mid 60’s I liked SG’s more than any other Gibson. They look like a psychedelic oriented guitar and have Strat like tones but different from a Strat but unique. Nothing else like it. They were cheaper than other Gibsons and lots were bought by people on a budget. The cherry is my favorite even though there’s many different colors, the white three pickup SG Custom is one I always liked.

Pete Townshend with The Who at the Isle of Wight convinced me to get an SG. It can play clean at a high volume. The only thing that takes getting used to is that it has to be played with a gentle touch. Fretting too hard can make it go out of tune. Other than that, plug it into your Marshall, turn the Volume all the way up and the Gain only until you get that bark. Bliss! And, it can always be used as a Firehose Of Rock!

Clapton started out playing Gibsons then he did a lot of drugs and switched to strats. When he got sober he had Fender make him a strat with special electronics that allowed him to approximate the sound of his Gibsons.

Outstanding video, I have been thinking so much about buying one, :)

Love the sound, like the feel when it's a slim taper neck, hate the head/neck dive...

I'm a Les Paul man all the way: classic looks, unbeatable tone, and with a few modifications more versatile than even the venerable Strat.

Back in the day, most bands I knew people in had two guitars in the band. And after a while, I started noticing a pattern. If one guy had a Les Paul, the other one would have a Strat. But if one had a Tele, the other would have an SG. And if they only had one guitar player, he'd probably have an ES335-type. This held for years. To the point where now, decades later, it looks weird to see other combinations.

I always love the SG!!! I have one and it’s the only guitar I never sold and always go back to

SGs tone are great. Played a few but never owned one because I've never found one that didn't have annoying neck dive.

Clapton was also a Telecaster player in the 60’s with the Yardbirds and Blind Faith.

My favourite guitar for clean tones is the SG. It's wonderful.