How to Adjust Controls on Guitar Amps to Get a Rock and Roll Sound

Your guitar amp comes with just a few dials that allow you to change how the sound of your guitar strings comes out of the speakers. The one that changes the sound the most (besides volume) is probably your gain control. Guitar players can get a range of sounds out of an amp and here's how to get what you would call a "rock and roll" sound.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Get your volume down to a moderate level, maybe 1 or 2. You'll be playing around with dials that might change volume, so you don't want to start out too loud.
2. Check your bass/treble levels. These are levels that control the "brightness" of your sound; for rock and roll, you probably want a good amount of treble.
3. Turn off or turn down any special controls such as reverb. A little reverb can be OK on an electric guitar, but a lot will not get you a rock and roll sound but more of an emo/experimental/'80s type sound.
4. Find your gain control. Most guitar amps have them, but some don't. Your gain control lets you create a different, rock guitar sound. Start from 0 and slowly increase your gain. Play stings on the guitar and listen to the sound get different, fuzzier or "more electric." The gain control breaks up the sound to make it distorted (and guitar players refer to no gain as "clean").
5. Continue to turn up your gain slowly, listening to the sound and turning down the volume as necessary. On some amps, turning up gain means turning up volume as well.
6. Strum chords like you would on a rock song at progressive levels of gain. When you get to the sound you like, stop. Turning your gain all the way up will get you a sound that's more like heavy metal than rock.