: I am new to guitaring and havn't been playing that long. I do not have a guitar teacher and i self teach myself. I do not know anything about pick-ups. What do they actually do and whats the difference between really cheap and really pricey ones?

The two main types are 'single coil' pickups (they are a single row pickup and 'humbuckers' (they are a double row pickup). Single row pickups are on Strats and give a bright treble tone while Humbuckers are found on Gibsons and most modern rock guitars, they give a fuller warmer sound.. its down to personal preference which you prefer but I think humbuckers give the best tone especially for metal.. but then again Ritchie Blackmore always used single coils and he got great tone!