15 Ways to Make Your Electric Guitar Sound Awesome

Do you know what is referred as the most elusive thing to the guitarists? That’s a type of rhetorical question, be it the most expert or a newbie in the world of guitarists, as guitarists all over the world strive after this one most sought after thing – ‘tone’. To some the search of that perfect tone is a sort of utopia and to some it is a goal that is hard to reach – but not impossible. While we stand here in this philosophical search for the perfect tone, we can also do another thing too! We can give you some ways to make your guitar sing like the canneries! Someone once mentioned challenged us that we cannot provide more than 10 tricks in this regard and what do we do in this situation? We give you 15 awesome ways to make your electric guitar sound like a pro! So here we go.

Way 1 – Use heavier strings

This is simple, because if you want rich tone, the simplest way to go about it is to make sure you have heavier strings at your disposal. Fatter strings can do wonders to your guitar tone, as it will ensure the much needed weight and juice that normal strings cannot provide.

Way 2 – Think hard about the kind of speaker you are using

Most of the time, guitarists fuss much about the strings and other guitar components, but we want you not to make that kind of mistake, you know! We want you to think out of the box and think hard about the kind of speaker you are using for your electric guitar. Use the speakers that have heavier magnets installed. They tend to provide richer sounds than your usual speakers. Then also think about the wattage. The more watts your speaker is, the better your guitar will sound when played in a louder environment. Last but not least in this section, to simply put – try to use the speaker that has more dB numbers to it. Combine your efforts to use this kind of speaker with your guitar and you can rest assured that your guitar tone will produce a richer tone!

Way 3 – Use Slapback Echo to deepen the sound

When you are playing your electric guitar, you sure have to use at least a decent effects processor. In this case, we want you to understand that using the slapback echo effect on your guitar tone and you will see the difference immediately! The tone will be much richer than it was before!

Way 4 – Practice with Acoustic guitar time to time

When you are searching for getting that perfect tone with your electric guitar, although it might sound a bit weird to some people, but practicing with a good acoustic guitar helps quite a lot! This will come in handy especially if you want your tone to become infused with clarity which will ultimately lead to lifting up the sonority of the tone. Such exercise will ensure your electric guitar’s tone will be up to the mark.

Way 5 – Play loudly increased sensitivity

You need to play your guitar in order to find the true tone. As such, you need to experience the experiment that you do with your guitar. Try to play as loud as you can and you’ll get to understand your guitar bit more and what exactly your guitar is capable of producing under high voltage situations.

Way 6 – Play with increased sensitivity

However, playing loudly is not the ultimate solution. You need to explore the sensitivity of your guitar. Electric guitars are hugely dependant on sensitivity and the tone would vary a great deal depending on it. Therefore, experience your guitar’s most high and most low tones and explore the depths of the sound and ultimately you will reach the point where you’ll get your desired tone.

Way 7 – Get advanced guitar lessons

It does not matter how advanced of a guitarist you are, you can always welcome a bit of a more advanced training. Guitar lessons are important for honing your skills and therefore taking your touches to the next level of expertise. Practice with a mentor if possible, who shall help you improve your tone and the art of guitar playing will be enhanced by improving your skills on specific areas like string bending, vibrato and others.

Way 8 – Double the tracks

There is a studio trick for enhancing your electric guitar sound and getting the rich tone that you desire for. This trick is known as ‘doubling the track’. But how do you access that? The answer is pretty simple enough. You can do it one of the following two ways:

i) You can either record your guitar track twice the same way if you are skilled enough to do that or

ii) You can record it once and then copy it in the studio mixer and duplicate the track with minimal delay.

Either way, you will get a richer sound the way you want from your electric guitar.

Way 9 – Monitor and Control the bass

We all know that the more bass your guitar tone get the more enriched sound your guitar will produce through the amps. However, what you need to do is monitor and control the exact level of bass you want. If you overdo it, the tone will give an indistinct sound. So maintain the balance and you will get a fresh tone through your guitar amp.

Way 10 – Bring down one semitone for greater effect

A lot of guitarists know it and now we want you to try it! Yes, you can achieve a greater enriched sound from your electric guitar if you just tune it down just one semitone. The trick is good and very effective and you must try it. But be careful when playing in a band – don’t do it alone!

Way 11 – Use nicely polished frets for richer sound

This is also another practical thing that you must get a hang of. Our experiences show that whenever you use a nicely polished fretboard you get a smoother sound than that of a regular board. This is simple enough but very effective!

Way 12 – Experiment with your amplifier

Electric guitar does not have a sound hole. As such, it is heavily dependent on the amplifier that it is plugged into. So, the issue is simple. Experiment with your amplifier, try different tones, effects and ultimately you will know how to get the best out of your guitar.

Way 13 – Try different capacitor for your guitar

Capacitors have a huge impact on determining your guitar’s sound. As such, it may happen that you are finding that your guitar tone does sound kind of muddy. If anything like that happens, we would suggest you to change the cap and use a new one instead. When doing this, try to find a smaller cap to get a sharper tone. This will definitely help with the indistinctiveness of your electric guitar sounds.

Way 14 – Get your guitar set up by an expert

Whatever you do, you can never get the perfect tone unless your guitar is set up properly. So get your guitar set up by a pro. Usually in such cases, the person will re-adjust your guitar’s saddle and the neck as well. This will surely improve your guitar tone and what’s more, you will get a better grip of your guitar when playing.

Way 15 – Make sure your hands are properly set to give that Midas touch

When playing your electric guitar, it is also possible that you are doing everything right but somehow your desired tone isn’t coming through. In such cases, make sure your hands are in the right place. If your hand co-ordination is good, if your touch is smooth and sensitive, then you won’t have a problem getting that Midas touch following which your guitar will give awesome sounds!