How to Have Great Electric Guitar Tone
Know what you like., Listen and pay attention to your sound as it is now., Experiment with your touch on the strings as you fret the neck., Change your strings., Replace your pickups., Where is your signal going?, If you're still not satisfied...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Know what you like.
Listen to other guitarists that appeal to you and pick out what sounds good.
If you don't know what sound you want, you can't get it. -
Step 2: Listen and pay attention to your sound as it is now.
Begin to become aware of the quality of your tone and how you can affect it.
Know your guitars sound in and out with switching between your pickups and dialing the tone nob up and down. , Try alternating the harshness of your picking.
Pay attention to how your sound changes as you vary the attack.
Your vibrato is your signature, it gets better with years of practice.
Picking/strumming up and down the neck at different positions can add to your tone.
Picking closer to the bridge makes your tone chunkier, while picking more around the neck mellows out your tone. , Fresh strings can perk up the sound of any guitar.
Different string gauges dramatically affect your playing.
Experiment with a spectrum of string gauges to know what you like to play with, and what sounds good to you. , Cheap pickups are a threat to most guitarists good pure tone.
Single coil, humbuckers, P90s, telecaster pickups all have unique tone and react to your playing differently.
If you're playing with stock pickups, your tone is probably suffering. , Right into an amp? If you want effects, make sure they're quality pedals so you don't get buzzing.
Don't buy too cheap because usually the effects will be cheap for a reason.
If you don't have the money to buy a all tube Marshal amp, you could try using something like iRig.
Lower end solid state amps are to be avoided.
Examples of poor, cheap solid state amps include Line6 Spiders and Marshall MGs.
This is perhaps the biggest contribution to good tone.
A £100 quid guitar will sound alright through an expensive amp.
A £2000 guitar will not sound good through a £100 amp , A solid-body guitar will have a different basic tone than a hollow or semi-solid guitar will have.
Depending upon your finances, purchasing a different electric guitar may bring you closer to the realm of that great tone that you have in your mind. , Good technique will definitely help your tone and will make you able to play that Joe Satriani lick or nail that particularly hard solo.
If you want to sound like someone, learning their technique style can help.
For example, if you want to sound like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, you're going to need to be adept at funk and rock techniques like left hand muting and 4th finger embellishments on chords.
It can also help songwriting as you are lest constrained by technique. -
Step 3: Experiment with your touch on the strings as you fret the neck.
-
Step 4: Change your strings.
-
Step 5: Replace your pickups.
-
Step 6: Where is your signal going?
-
Step 7: If you're still not satisfied
-
Step 8: perhaps it's the guitars body.
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Step 9: Technique.
Detailed Guide
Listen to other guitarists that appeal to you and pick out what sounds good.
If you don't know what sound you want, you can't get it.
Begin to become aware of the quality of your tone and how you can affect it.
Know your guitars sound in and out with switching between your pickups and dialing the tone nob up and down. , Try alternating the harshness of your picking.
Pay attention to how your sound changes as you vary the attack.
Your vibrato is your signature, it gets better with years of practice.
Picking/strumming up and down the neck at different positions can add to your tone.
Picking closer to the bridge makes your tone chunkier, while picking more around the neck mellows out your tone. , Fresh strings can perk up the sound of any guitar.
Different string gauges dramatically affect your playing.
Experiment with a spectrum of string gauges to know what you like to play with, and what sounds good to you. , Cheap pickups are a threat to most guitarists good pure tone.
Single coil, humbuckers, P90s, telecaster pickups all have unique tone and react to your playing differently.
If you're playing with stock pickups, your tone is probably suffering. , Right into an amp? If you want effects, make sure they're quality pedals so you don't get buzzing.
Don't buy too cheap because usually the effects will be cheap for a reason.
If you don't have the money to buy a all tube Marshal amp, you could try using something like iRig.
Lower end solid state amps are to be avoided.
Examples of poor, cheap solid state amps include Line6 Spiders and Marshall MGs.
This is perhaps the biggest contribution to good tone.
A £100 quid guitar will sound alright through an expensive amp.
A £2000 guitar will not sound good through a £100 amp , A solid-body guitar will have a different basic tone than a hollow or semi-solid guitar will have.
Depending upon your finances, purchasing a different electric guitar may bring you closer to the realm of that great tone that you have in your mind. , Good technique will definitely help your tone and will make you able to play that Joe Satriani lick or nail that particularly hard solo.
If you want to sound like someone, learning their technique style can help.
For example, if you want to sound like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, you're going to need to be adept at funk and rock techniques like left hand muting and 4th finger embellishments on chords.
It can also help songwriting as you are lest constrained by technique.
About the Author
Olivia Russell
Experienced content creator specializing in hobbies guides and tutorials.
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