Guitar Pickup Switch?!

Guitar Pickup Switch?

I got Gibson Les Paul Double Cutaway. On there is the pickup swith with Rythm and Treble. Right now it's on Treble, but I've tried playing it with it on Rhythm and it comes out all muffled. What should I have it set on? If it makes any difference, I'm using a 12 watt practice amp.

Try using the treble setting if you're playing mostly rock music. This is your bridge pickup, (the one farthest away from the guitar neck), on the guitar. A bridge pickup is generally brighter in tone than the neck, (rhythm), pickup.

Jazz guitar players, (like Les Paul himself), generally like the more mellow sounds of the neck pickup, and will stick to using it when accompanying a band. That's why it's labeled "Rhythm". Most rock guitar sounds you're probably used to hearing are almost exclusively played on the bridge, (treble), pickup. Though many great rock guitarists, (Randy Rhoads, John Petrucci, Yngwie Malmsteen, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, etc.), utilize both pickups, (or all three if they're playing a Strat-type guitar), to get different sounds when playing.

You'll definitely want to get a new amp in the future, if you stick with guitar playing. A little 12 watt practice amp will never be able to put out the massive sounds you hear on recordings. You'll need a Marshall, Mesa/Boogie, Hughes & Kettner, 5150, or something substantial for those professional sounds.

Good luck!