How to Change The Tone of Your Guitar

One of the questions I hear most often from people fairly new on guitar is "How can I change the tone of my guitar, or come up with a better sound? Hopefully this will at least help answer some of those questions.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• guitar
• guitar strings
• amp
• screwdriver

1. 

   Purchase a new amp. This is the quickest way to change your tone. No two amps are going to give you the same sound, and some of the tone changes from one amp to another can be huge.

2. Go out and buy one or two pedals. A low priced stomp box, such as a distortion can improve even a cheap amp. And adding a sustain pedal can be a huge boost to letting your guitar notes ring out much longer, which makes things like bends and slides a lot easier to perform.

3. Buy one or more new pickups. If you have stock pickups, the one's that came equipped with your guitar, switching them out for real Duncans or EMG's can produce a noticeable difference.

4. Replace your strings with a different brand. All those different guitar strings all are made from different material, or have had something done to them or added to them. Each type of string will produce a slightly different tone. And keep in mind, Gibson strings don't have to go on a Gibson guitar, and the same for Fender. Fender strings tend to be bright sounding, while Gibson strings, such as their vintage, are warmer sounding. Try different strings out until you find the tone you like.

5. This one won't cost you a cent, raise the heigth of your pickups. Take a screwdriver, and turn the screws to the far right and left of the pickups, one way will raise them and the other way will lower them. Raise them a tad closer to the strings, and play some notes, repeat until you get the results you want. Just don't get them so high that they touch the strings. Keep eye balling the distance between the string and the pickups, testing the distance by pressing down on the strings near the last fret by the pickups. Remember, the lower the pickups the lower their sound, and the higher the pickups the louder your sound.

Tips & Warnings

• A cheap $60 guitar processor will give yo dozens upon dozens of different tones.
• Virtual guitar amp software will give you dozens of different amps on your computer for the price of one real amp adding many different tone options.
• Don't raise your pickups so high that they come into contact with the strings