Do you know that scratchy sound the guitar/strings make when you move your hand across the strings? How do I get rid of that? Or at least minimalize it?

First I should say it might be a really great thing in your life to learn to love string squeak. It’s on TONS of records. A lot of the time when people record music, especially early on in their careers, they start over analyzing because they want the recording to be PERfect. I personally love how string squeak sounds, especially with some reverb or delay.

However, here are some ways to get rid of it, for live and recording:

1) Flatwound Strings: These strings are more expensive than roundwounds (which are what most people, probably including you, use), but the squeaking will be almost completely gone if you use them. These strings also generally last a little longer, and have a slightly different tone.

2) De-essing: A de-esser is a tool that I use all the time, not just on vocals to get rid of esses, but on anything that I want to get rid of a high frequency range when it sounds painful, but not when it doesn’t. A little bit of de-essing should take care of those squeaks.

3) Reducing Treble: This is the usually the worst choice, since it will make the guitar sound dull, but EQing out the high end will most certainly take care of squeaks. It’ll also make your guitar a little more lo-fi sounding. But who knows, it might sound cool?

Ask me anything

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