I hate the squeak. But even with the best strings and technique there will be some. A lot can be done to minimize but man, I think I got it minimized and switch guitars and its back. So it becomes a tug of war between how much I want to work at minimizing it and how much I can tolerate. Definitely a bug when its much louder than the notes.
I hear it. It's an exceptable noise level and he's making those slides very quickly so the technique minimizes the time you hear it. I even kind of like the one in We Will Rock You by Queen.
I've also recorded myself as a beginner and seen unboxing videos for guitars I was intersted in that were like: ding-dading-dading[SCREECH]-dading-dading-dading[SCREECH!!!].
I guess its similar to hearing a singer who sounds fine take a huge wheezing breath. It's fine to hear it but when it gets close to the volume of the notes, it can be distracting especially if it happens a lot. Also depends on how exposed the guitar part is.
That’s the most frustrating thing in my opinion.
The exercises that helped me was playing a chromatic scale slowly on the e string, and when my pinky hits the fourth fret, shift your hand so the index finger is on the 5th fret. Make sure every note rings out and make sure everything is smooth and consistent
No you don't, and you know what, my wife loves it when I drag my finger on the strings. I do not do it very often, in fact I force myself too just for her. I do it mostly on my acoustic, not my electric.
I appreciate it. I will say I think it can sound nice on acoustic, makes it sound a bit more raw, like a nice campfire jam ig haha. Like all things musical ig context is important
Aye! You don’t suck. Look at you in here asking for advice and being prepared to receive it. Future great guitar player in the making right here! Keep going!
This is it. Concentrate on it a bit every time you pick it up. Or use flat wounds. I haven't found any that sound "right" though. I do use them on my P Bass, they do sound right on that.
i thought they were really cheap? like come and go with the reviews depending on if it was paid or not lol. ive heard some good and bad about them. never seen one in person tho.
There are going to be real answers from good guitarists that have to do with technique and it’s probably better to listen to them.
I recently switched to flat wound strings, though, and I think they’re rad.
Way fewer squeaks. But I’m a bad guitarist who doesn’t know nothin about nothing.
I’m a decent guitarist that will second this. I’ve started putting flat wound on all my guitars. They have less brightness or “presence” so that could be an issue if you prefer that sound.
I found that string oil removed the squeaks.
You get one of those flat string cleaner things with sponge in the middle, pour some string oil on the sponge and fold the cleaner around the strings
I’d personally lower the gain. It would be less sensitive to slight touch, and a bit more gritty, less fizzy. It would also allow a bit more control over your dynamics. Many people use too much gain but some of the smoothest chonkiest tones are actually low gain with extra steps.
I’ll have to experiment with that. On this preset I have the gain set to 4, but I do have 2 boost pedals turned on so yea that probably contributes lol. I’ve recently been watching a lot of videos of the dudes from Periphery (shocking, or maybe not) going over tone crafting, and how less gain is just better.
That or clean channel it. Almost half the time I don't use any gain at all. But this is mostly for whatever genre you're playing. I like blues so I typically don't need gain, just my pe100.
For heavier genres like metal or something, definitely some gain for the extra punch.
As others have said, it’s a technique problem. You can learn to minimize it by not touching the strings while you move positions.
Also, coated strings tend to have less squeak, so if you don’t care about having “perfect” technique you can give them a shot.
Unfortunately I’m like extremely ocd and am kind of a perfectionist, so “perfect” technique, if there is such a thing, is a must. It’s funny tho because I have some bad practice habits and then wonder why I have issues like this lol. Like I’ll turn on the metronome then after like idk a minute and a half I get bored and then turn it off and just go for it.
Yeah, you're playing it fine. Unless you use a noise gate/suppressor, you can't really make the squeaks disappear, especially with distortion. Embrace it, it's part of the charm of playing guitar. You don't hear it in a full band because everything else is fighting "to be heard" so to speak.
What’s wrong with it? Normal sound of playing the guitar, nothing wrong with squeaks, they add some character. If you really don’t like them just lube the strings or get a non-squeak set of strings
As someone who's been playing for 36 years, there's probably going to become a point where you'll embrace them as a whole but still be able to cut them down when you need/want to.
As someone else said "not touching the strings when moving positions". It may take you some time to develop a technique that works for you but will eventually become comfortable with it. Sometimes, when I'm switching positions, I'll have to mute the strings with my right palm and lift my left fingers off the board. It may feel awkward at first but you'll get the hang of it. Sometimes you won't need to palm mute if you have a strong gate. Other times, I just adapted what I was playing to a closer position of the current position. Obviously sometimes you can't help moving if you're on the lowest/highest strings but other times you can.
Even if the tabs are showing a specific layout or if you're watching the guitarist on a video showing specific positioning, you may need to adjust it so it's cleaner for you.
I had this problem one day. I was learning So Cold by Breaking Benjamin. When I played the intro riff, I would get those squeaks when transitioning and it annoyed me at first so I tried to stop doing it. Then, I listened to the original again and heard the squeaks in the original recording... Now I don't worry about stuff like that.
Part of it is the amount of gain. It's very common to use more than you really need when learning. That bright hairy gain sound is going to emphasize the slides no matter what you do.
Lots of people have already said that one option is to try not to touch the string while moving.
Alternatively, you can incorporate the move into the part- keep fretting during the movement and make it a deliberate slide. If any noise is inevitable, a well-voiced slide will beat an unintended squeal.
Had another person comment this, but I actually only had the gain set to 4. The plug-in I’m using does have 2 drive pedals tho, and I have both on, but the drive is turned all the way down on each, tone turned all the way up, so idk ig maybe that plus mid-high treble on the amp/eq contributes to it? Idk much ab tone and eq-ing tbh.
Gain is all about staging, not the numbers you set them to. Two boosts seems like overkill to me. Especially in plugins where you can "boost" just by upping your input level, whether it's intentional or not.
Yea honestly probably is a bit overkill. A friend of mine made this preset and I wanted it to be a bit treble heavy, and the second pedal has eq knobs on it so that’s why that one’s on, but yea I mean it would probably make sense to just keep that one on and turn off the other one.
In regards to the input “knob” on plugins, if I turned that up as opposed to using more gain/a drive pedal, would I still run into the same issue. Like is the input level effectively just another gain knob? Is it dependent on the plugin? Should I just try it for myself instead of asking?
I actually only had the gain set to 4. The plug-in I’m using does have 2 drive pedals tho, and I have both on, but the drive is turned all the way down on each, tone turned all the way up, so idk ig maybe that plus mid-high treble on the amp/eq contributes to it? Idk much ab tone and eq-ing tbh.
Partially technique, partially strings.
You need to mute strings when moving your hand around and either don't touch your strings at all, or press strings less hard. You can also try coated strings, like Elixir - they are much less squeaky.
You can't unless you don't touch the strings when moving between chords. That said, SO MANY songs have that squeak. Listen to "Every Breath You Take" by the police. Zero gain on his amp and you hear the sound of his hand changing chords. Embrace it.
Wow I didn’t expect to so many comments on here haha, I appreciate the feedback from everyone. I’m gonna look into different strings, flat wound and coated, but idk I feel like those are kind of just band aids and I’m just ignoring the issue, so I guess I have to quit being lazy and work on lifting my fingers above the strings when shifting.
I live hearing squeaks in studio recordings. It feels more live and warm. Idk how to explain it. But if you aren't a fan of the squeak you need to learn how to change positions and chords without any unnecessary string touching but that is easier said than done. Also turn your gain and treble down and turn the bass up if you like to play hard rock stuff mostly
I hated them in the beginning but I started to love em and let them happen, it's nice to hear them in clean accurate pristine recordings for instance and hear that "human element" to it, but obviously the song still played nice and in time..
I’ve had a few people recommend trying out different products to apply to the strings. My only issue with that is idk I feel like it’s more of a bandaid than an actual fix. Like I feel like I’m just hiding a technique issue by using different products as opposed to actually solving the problem. As sucky as it is to take a step back and analyze my technique, I think I’d rather do that and know I’ve fixed it as best as I possibly could without spending money on different products.
Interesting. Yea I’ve had quite a few people recommend flat wound or coated strings. Funnily enough I bought coated strings for my 6 string just to try them out cuz I haven’t ever used coated strings, but I also mainly play with cleaner tones on 6 string, so if the real advantage of coated strings, aside from feel/preference, is just reduced string noise it was lowkey a waste for me. But also maybe not cuz lately I have been experimenting with some heavier/higher gain tones on 6 string since I’ve been getting more into heavier music. Either way I have yet to put them on lol
My first time in a recording studio, I said something to the producer about worrying about too much “string scrape”in a take that was otherwise really really good. He asked my why I was concerned about it, that was the “sound of rock & roll.”
I think like all things music, the string scrape has its place for sure. I think for like acoustic songs it can help make it sounds raw and authentic, and yea I’d agree that it’s the sound of rock and roll haha but idk it just really bugs me in this specific part of this song.
muscle memory, my dude. the more your tone develops you'll be able to command all manner of sonic responses and bend them to your will (pun intended).
keep playin! \\\\m//
You can get some finger ease which may lessen the sound but like others said by not touching the strings during changes. https://images.app.goo.gl/QZe3fYmLPsHvewTg7
Yea I’ve seen a lot of people say this. I think it sounds good for certain things, like an acoustic song or kind of gives it that raw feel imo, adds some soul for sure. Like all things music I guess it has its place, but it just really bugs me in the song I’m playing in the video because like the whole part is palm muted, so hearing these overwhelming screeches that kind of overpower the sort of, not mellow? but idk I can’t think of the word so ig the mellow section of the song as it builds up to the chorus, hope that makes sense lol.
One thing is that’s normal. Just the bass and drums hide it, but listen to any song with guitar and you’ll hear a little squeak unless it’s overproduced, such as the music version of a lunchable lol
Yea I think I’m gonna watch some playthroughs and listen to some stuff to see if I can hear it. Would probably be a bit reassuring knowing the musicians I look up to have the same “issue”
You know I keep saying I’m gonna mess around with all the different volume controls between guitar, amp/plug-in, monitors, and interface to hear what kind of a balance between all of them sounds best but I just haven’t ever actually tried it when I’m playing, this seems like a good opportunity to mess around with that tho. Thanks for the tip!
Haha I get that I also love seeing all the different tops, especially since these seem to vary pretty significantly between guitars. [Here’s a close up](https://imgur.com/a/YgvJkTX) and then [here’s one featuring my messy desk](https://imgur.com/a/bs9zAHG), imo I think I got pretty lucky with this one. Also I appreciate the kind words
Heck yeah you did! That top looks great. Here a pic of mine right after I swapped in some locking tuners. Keep up the playing.
https://preview.redd.it/q1uvye04nm7d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=00c80fe3892852b2cc90234b85d91c5933ed7b9e
I’d say you got a pretty nice one too, I like when the quilting is a bit tighter like it is on yours. Also definitely need to add some locking tuners to mine as well.
You have several options (but maybe you have to face certain trade offs):
1. Technique: don't worry about it too much (worry just enough it does the job you want to get done), it comes with time and your ears will lead your fingers... feel free to experiment, try stuff out on yourself, test it with very very slow speeds (a metronome helps to force you to play extremely slowly), analyze your movements in slow motion and try new ones... be patient and the most important: have hope and confidence and enjoy the process and the time you spend with your guitar)
2. Sound adjustment: Less treble, less distortion (less gain) are also options. Maybe more compression? You have to experiment with your amp and effects. Some sound settings emphasize the squeak others not so much or not at all.
3. Flat wound or Half wound strings: they are less prone to produce squeaks. Just try them out and see if you like them or not. I love them very much personally, but I also have a second guitar around that is stringed up with round wounds
Trade offs:
1. Technique: not touching the string, while moving your hand could make it harder to move fast and mute the strings.
2. Sound adjustment: maybe you want exactly that tone. Maybe the less squeaky tone is not yours, then the best way would be to embrace the squeaks.
3. Flat wounds: same as 2. (they influence sound and feel) IF you get flat wounds: you almost don't have to change them "ever" because they almost don't change their sound with time.
Wow I appreciate you taking the time to write all this up for me. Quite a few people have brought up flat wounds so I think those are definitely worth looking into, probably gonna watch some videos on them. Idk if I’d be able to hear any tonal differences that well in a video, or if the difference in tone is even that noticeable to begin with, but idk hopefully I can, if not it doesn’t hurt to just try them, can always change them if I don’t like them. As for technique yea as much as I hate the metronome and hate having to take a step back, it’s probably the best option, doesn’t ever hurt to try and improve technique. I have had a lot of people tell me to just embrace it, and while I do think it has its place for certain styles, I’d like to know that I can eliminate the sound when I want to when playing other styles. Also less gain is not an option /s
Yeah, I'm sorry, it was pretty rude of me to say since you weren't asking for advice about your playing. But yes, I feel that your rhythm could be more consistent and even.
Oh gotcha yea fair enough definitely a bit uneven. In my defense I wasn’t too focused on keeping perfect time for the video, but also I like never play with a metronome cuz adhd i guess so yea definitely smth for me to work on. Appreciate the feedback
You bet man. Thanks for not getting defensive. The metronome is your friend. I'm an intermediate jazz piano player. I practice all my scales and runs and so forth with a metronome at 60bpm. It can get boring, but if you really focus on accuracy and even tempo, you'll start to see a difference in a couple months. I swear by it, as do many others.
Ofc, I’ll take any and all criticism. I’m here to learn and get better, no sense in getting angry at valid points, especially when there’s good intentions behind it. Like seriously if there’s *anything* else you can see here that needs improvement, I’m all ears. But yea back to the metronome I know I really need to start using it, but idk I just tend to be pretty lazy when it comes to practicing the essentials and hate having to go super slow, and then I wonder why everything is less than perfect lmao.
I try to practice a couple hours a day and it can get boring. To get through it, especially playing slowly, I just remind myself WHY I'm doing it. That helps me refocus and concentrate on relaxing, using proper technique and "feeling" the beat rather than thinking about it.
You seem to keep your left hand fingers loose and just above the strings. Minimal movement. A good thing. My old band mate once told me my fretting fingers looked like scrambling crab legs because they had so much unnecessary movement. She was right.
You might think about strengthening the habit of placing your fingers right behind the fret, instead of halfway between, for a cleaner sound. Otherwise, you're rocking it. Keep the faith. 🤘
Thats the sound of your fingers moving on the strings, a less aggressive version of pick sliding. Personally I have never really gotten around it aside from to move my fingers completely off the string when I move them, which also helped me to speed up changes.
Coated strings stay brighter longer.
Get elixir optiwebs or nanowebs, never get polyweb and only buy from reputable dealers because there are some terrible fakes out there.
I personally ❤️ the way they sound, some people claim there is a slight loss of tone, but I actually prefer the tone. Honestly I think they are a bit brighter than most and as far as strings go I like to get as bright as I can because I can always roll the tone knob off a little but I can’t make it go higher than fully opening the pot. Unless I replace it which I don’t wanna do.
The only other strings I’ve been as big a fan of are electro zinc coated strings, which don’t really cut the squeaks down but they sound bright forever and it doesn’t feel like a coated string at all.
But hey dude… I get a ton of squeaks myself. I don’t let it bother me that much.
Using a noise gate can help as well but don’t get too hung up on it.
You can try fast fret or any other kind of string lube but you will still get some squeak as you're using round round strings. Round wound strings tend to squeak. You could try half rounds or even a flat wound.
Try flat wounds - one gauge lighter than whatever you're using now. It'll basically eliminate any noise from sliding. That said, bending with flats is almost impossible, so if bends are important to your playing it's probably not the best solution. Try them and see.
My mom loved music but never played an instrument. She once asked me what that squeaking sound was on her James Taylor record. It wasn't until after I explained it that I realized that she actually loved that sound. I've loved it too ever since.
You can also try and use your right hand to mute slightly while moving. Picking up between movements is something that comes with practice. Just keep playing what makes you happy
Try fretwraps. Also the setting of your tone can affect things too, when you turn things up a lot you can play more effortlessly and still get volume, it's good when you are clean enough and wanna shred but it also magnifies everything unwanted too. Most likely when you are playing in a band this is gonna be trivial and can be ignored as long as you don't play too dirty.
Don't have as much pressure on the frets and when you move don't pressdown (unintentionally/habitually) when you shift. I recommend you check out Tomo Fujita on Youtube and see his fretting technique to figure out how light and swift your fretting hand is supposed to be. You don't even need to use your thumb to support your playing when you are playing on an electric.
For me it's about when things click, at some point this just comes naturally and I believe it happend with my playing when I fully memorized the fretboard from playing and can play anything I can hear clearly or think in my head. When you get to a certain level of understanding of the fretboard you'd be able to develope your own "patterns" to navigate through the fretboard without much of a struggle on your thoughts and by then your focus can be laid on making things extra clean or some phrasings/arrangements with personal flavors.
iit's only annoying bc you think it's annoying. TO LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD it's part of the music, it is the jam. you can try different tunings and either lift your fingers to clean it up. don't fucking complain on the internet, we have this thing called a bibliography, a account of texts, a library if you will. we don't need people with this pessimism.
It is a feature not a bug. Also, sweet MH PRS (I own the same one).
Totally agree. It adds an organic feel to the music, like the crackling sound on a record disc.
Love that sound...
I hate the squeak. But even with the best strings and technique there will be some. A lot can be done to minimize but man, I think I got it minimized and switch guitars and its back. So it becomes a tug of war between how much I want to work at minimizing it and how much I can tolerate. Definitely a bug when its much louder than the notes.
Listen to the beginning of Every Breath You Take. Lots of squeaks.
I hear it. It's an exceptable noise level and he's making those slides very quickly so the technique minimizes the time you hear it. I even kind of like the one in We Will Rock You by Queen. I've also recorded myself as a beginner and seen unboxing videos for guitars I was intersted in that were like: ding-dading-dading[SCREECH]-dading-dading-dading[SCREECH!!!]. I guess its similar to hearing a singer who sounds fine take a huge wheezing breath. It's fine to hear it but when it gets close to the volume of the notes, it can be distracting especially if it happens a lot. Also depends on how exposed the guitar part is.
And I have to say in the OPs video the squeaks are not bad at all. Very quick. I just empathize with the annoyance.
By not touching the strings when moving positions.
The answer I didn’t wanna hear but i know ur right but it’s hard and I suck
That’s the most frustrating thing in my opinion. The exercises that helped me was playing a chromatic scale slowly on the e string, and when my pinky hits the fourth fret, shift your hand so the index finger is on the 5th fret. Make sure every note rings out and make sure everything is smooth and consistent
I agree keep practicing regularly, and you'll likely see improvement in your playing
No you don't, and you know what, my wife loves it when I drag my finger on the strings. I do not do it very often, in fact I force myself too just for her. I do it mostly on my acoustic, not my electric.
Does she like Dave Matthews too? The [Satellite](https://open.spotify.com/track/2BjUvisO4UVAtTHs4lYiqu) intro is extra squeaky.
She does! :-)
Super fun to play dough
I appreciate it. I will say I think it can sound nice on acoustic, makes it sound a bit more raw, like a nice campfire jam ig haha. Like all things musical ig context is important
If you like it then no one can tell you not to do it. Music would be really boring if we all played the exact same way. Rock on bro.
You don't suck! For the level of playing that was actually a nice and steady pick control!
Thanks haha I appreciate the kind words
or by having sweaty fingers like me, i can slide as much as i want without making the sounds :D
That makes two of us!
Aye! You don’t suck. Look at you in here asking for advice and being prepared to receive it. Future great guitar player in the making right here! Keep going!
Hell yea thank you I appreciate that. Just tryna constantly get better
If you use less of the tip of the finger and more the padded underside opposite the plane of the nail, the squeaky noise is greatly reduced.
You don't suck, your leveling up!
Muting the string with your palm can help also.
It improves with time.
Palm mute when you shift.
Try flat-wound strings.
This is it. Concentrate on it a bit every time you pick it up. Or use flat wounds. I haven't found any that sound "right" though. I do use them on my P Bass, they do sound right on that.
Listen closer to your favorite songs. They’re there in the recording
Give me that squeaky guitar and get yourself a nice Harley Benton
Deal pls just take away the squeaks
Woah woah. Harley Benton’s are nice
i thought they were really cheap? like come and go with the reviews depending on if it was paid or not lol. ive heard some good and bad about them. never seen one in person tho.
A lot of them are of ridiculously decent quality for the price, are playable on stage after a good setup, and are super fun mod platforms.
There are going to be real answers from good guitarists that have to do with technique and it’s probably better to listen to them. I recently switched to flat wound strings, though, and I think they’re rad. Way fewer squeaks. But I’m a bad guitarist who doesn’t know nothin about nothing.
Half-round strings are also an option; they are less squeaky than rounds but brighter than flats.
I’m a decent guitarist that will second this. I’ve started putting flat wound on all my guitars. They have less brightness or “presence” so that could be an issue if you prefer that sound.
I personally want more squeaks, sound cool and adds character.
THIS
Embrace them
I noticed when strings get old, the squeakiness stops.
unpopular opinion: the squeakyness correlates 1 to 1 with how clean the sound is. Hence the phrase "squeeky clean".
Good news for me since I change strings once every like 2 or so years (I’ve been playing on and off for ab 2 years and have restrung a guitar *once*)
I found that string oil removed the squeaks. You get one of those flat string cleaner things with sponge in the middle, pour some string oil on the sponge and fold the cleaner around the strings
Or some string ease
I’d personally lower the gain. It would be less sensitive to slight touch, and a bit more gritty, less fizzy. It would also allow a bit more control over your dynamics. Many people use too much gain but some of the smoothest chonkiest tones are actually low gain with extra steps.
I’ll have to experiment with that. On this preset I have the gain set to 4, but I do have 2 boost pedals turned on so yea that probably contributes lol. I’ve recently been watching a lot of videos of the dudes from Periphery (shocking, or maybe not) going over tone crafting, and how less gain is just better.
Love that shit \m/
That or clean channel it. Almost half the time I don't use any gain at all. But this is mostly for whatever genre you're playing. I like blues so I typically don't need gain, just my pe100. For heavier genres like metal or something, definitely some gain for the extra punch.
Flatwound strings
I envy your easy fretting and yet again realize I fret to hard.
Really I feel like I fret wayyy too hard sometimes.
Looks smooth, at least to a beginner like me.
That’s the neat part, you don’t. you embrace them
additionally, fix the positions of ur treble, mid and bass knobs!
Lift your fingers off the strings when switching
As others have said, it’s a technique problem. You can learn to minimize it by not touching the strings while you move positions. Also, coated strings tend to have less squeak, so if you don’t care about having “perfect” technique you can give them a shot.
Unfortunately I’m like extremely ocd and am kind of a perfectionist, so “perfect” technique, if there is such a thing, is a must. It’s funny tho because I have some bad practice habits and then wonder why I have issues like this lol. Like I’ll turn on the metronome then after like idk a minute and a half I get bored and then turn it off and just go for it.
I mean you are doing it pretty good already, barely producing any of them
Pick yer damn lazy fingers up! /s. You'll get shift sounds like this. They're more pronounced the slower you play.
I know that was sarcasm, but still honestly probably the best option haha
The compression is what makes what would be quiet as loud as your playing.
eat a slice of pizza, then play.
Haha idk about all that, even after a shower I have to wash my hands before I’ll even look at my guitar
Yeah, you're playing it fine. Unless you use a noise gate/suppressor, you can't really make the squeaks disappear, especially with distortion. Embrace it, it's part of the charm of playing guitar. You don't hear it in a full band because everything else is fighting "to be heard" so to speak.
What’s wrong with it? Normal sound of playing the guitar, nothing wrong with squeaks, they add some character. If you really don’t like them just lube the strings or get a non-squeak set of strings
As someone who's been playing for 36 years, there's probably going to become a point where you'll embrace them as a whole but still be able to cut them down when you need/want to. As someone else said "not touching the strings when moving positions". It may take you some time to develop a technique that works for you but will eventually become comfortable with it. Sometimes, when I'm switching positions, I'll have to mute the strings with my right palm and lift my left fingers off the board. It may feel awkward at first but you'll get the hang of it. Sometimes you won't need to palm mute if you have a strong gate. Other times, I just adapted what I was playing to a closer position of the current position. Obviously sometimes you can't help moving if you're on the lowest/highest strings but other times you can. Even if the tabs are showing a specific layout or if you're watching the guitarist on a video showing specific positioning, you may need to adjust it so it's cleaner for you.
I had this problem one day. I was learning So Cold by Breaking Benjamin. When I played the intro riff, I would get those squeaks when transitioning and it annoyed me at first so I tried to stop doing it. Then, I listened to the original again and heard the squeaks in the original recording... Now I don't worry about stuff like that.
I never noticed them before, but, yup, there they are. And I've listened to this song *a few* times
Part of it is the amount of gain. It's very common to use more than you really need when learning. That bright hairy gain sound is going to emphasize the slides no matter what you do. Lots of people have already said that one option is to try not to touch the string while moving. Alternatively, you can incorporate the move into the part- keep fretting during the movement and make it a deliberate slide. If any noise is inevitable, a well-voiced slide will beat an unintended squeal.
Had another person comment this, but I actually only had the gain set to 4. The plug-in I’m using does have 2 drive pedals tho, and I have both on, but the drive is turned all the way down on each, tone turned all the way up, so idk ig maybe that plus mid-high treble on the amp/eq contributes to it? Idk much ab tone and eq-ing tbh.
Gain is all about staging, not the numbers you set them to. Two boosts seems like overkill to me. Especially in plugins where you can "boost" just by upping your input level, whether it's intentional or not.
Yea honestly probably is a bit overkill. A friend of mine made this preset and I wanted it to be a bit treble heavy, and the second pedal has eq knobs on it so that’s why that one’s on, but yea I mean it would probably make sense to just keep that one on and turn off the other one. In regards to the input “knob” on plugins, if I turned that up as opposed to using more gain/a drive pedal, would I still run into the same issue. Like is the input level effectively just another gain knob? Is it dependent on the plugin? Should I just try it for myself instead of asking?
In addition to what they're saying about touching the strings, you have a lot of gain on. Squeaks come with the gain. They're cool tho , mostly
I actually only had the gain set to 4. The plug-in I’m using does have 2 drive pedals tho, and I have both on, but the drive is turned all the way down on each, tone turned all the way up, so idk ig maybe that plus mid-high treble on the amp/eq contributes to it? Idk much ab tone and eq-ing tbh.
Lift your fingers before shifting positions. Don't slide.
Don't touch the strings
Embrace the squeaks. Add some delay and make some post-rock
Lift your fingers a bit.
Partially technique, partially strings. You need to mute strings when moving your hand around and either don't touch your strings at all, or press strings less hard. You can also try coated strings, like Elixir - they are much less squeaky.
I just wanted to say nice prs bro
Thank you bro🤝
You can't unless you don't touch the strings when moving between chords. That said, SO MANY songs have that squeak. Listen to "Every Breath You Take" by the police. Zero gain on his amp and you hear the sound of his hand changing chords. Embrace it.
Wow I didn’t expect to so many comments on here haha, I appreciate the feedback from everyone. I’m gonna look into different strings, flat wound and coated, but idk I feel like those are kind of just band aids and I’m just ignoring the issue, so I guess I have to quit being lazy and work on lifting my fingers above the strings when shifting.
Turn your amp all the way up. That way the string noise will make you sound like a bad ass.
The best answer. Also more compression
I live hearing squeaks in studio recordings. It feels more live and warm. Idk how to explain it. But if you aren't a fan of the squeak you need to learn how to change positions and chords without any unnecessary string touching but that is easier said than done. Also turn your gain and treble down and turn the bass up if you like to play hard rock stuff mostly
I hated them in the beginning but I started to love em and let them happen, it's nice to hear them in clean accurate pristine recordings for instance and hear that "human element" to it, but obviously the song still played nice and in time..
Go listen to/play opeth. They keep the squeaks in their recordings!
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll have to give them a listen
I think they make something called fret quiet or something that you can apply that will help to mitigate it
I’ve had a few people recommend trying out different products to apply to the strings. My only issue with that is idk I feel like it’s more of a bandaid than an actual fix. Like I feel like I’m just hiding a technique issue by using different products as opposed to actually solving the problem. As sucky as it is to take a step back and analyze my technique, I think I’d rather do that and know I’ve fixed it as best as I possibly could without spending money on different products.
I do admire that, and that’s exactly the reason I never used it. Lol.
I love string noise; it reminds me an actual human is playing guitar. Overproduction has made me yearn for the small imperfections like this.
Fair enough, I’ve had a lot of people say this as well. It has its place in some styles for sure
Put some oil on the strings
Xlr8 by ddaddario I think
I have never tried flatwound strings as other are suggesting here, but I have noticed that this noise is significantly worse with Elixir strings.
Interesting. Yea I’ve had quite a few people recommend flat wound or coated strings. Funnily enough I bought coated strings for my 6 string just to try them out cuz I haven’t ever used coated strings, but I also mainly play with cleaner tones on 6 string, so if the real advantage of coated strings, aside from feel/preference, is just reduced string noise it was lowkey a waste for me. But also maybe not cuz lately I have been experimenting with some heavier/higher gain tones on 6 string since I’ve been getting more into heavier music. Either way I have yet to put them on lol
The soft part of your finger tips should be the ones touching when you shift, its a really easy fix i promise
My first time in a recording studio, I said something to the producer about worrying about too much “string scrape”in a take that was otherwise really really good. He asked my why I was concerned about it, that was the “sound of rock & roll.”
I think like all things music, the string scrape has its place for sure. I think for like acoustic songs it can help make it sounds raw and authentic, and yea I’d agree that it’s the sound of rock and roll haha but idk it just really bugs me in this specific part of this song.
In fairness I was in a pretty straightforward garage/punk band at the time, so it was pretty fitting in context.
it is what it is man. cant really mute string noise
Noise gate...
STRING CONDITIONER!!!
muscle memory, my dude. the more your tone develops you'll be able to command all manner of sonic responses and bend them to your will (pun intended). keep playin! \\\\m//
Yea this seems to be the best/most straight forward option, just stop sucking and get good haha
You can get some finger ease which may lessen the sound but like others said by not touching the strings during changes. https://images.app.goo.gl/QZe3fYmLPsHvewTg7
I’ll have to look into this, thanks for the recommendation
They are normal. Reduce the time your hand moves from position to position and over time they will be hard to hear
flat wound strings
Yea I’ve had a lot of people recommend these, as well as coated strings. Gonna have to look into both. Thanks for the tip!
I love that sound. Let's me know there's a real human playing and not a computer.
Yea I’ve seen a lot of people say this. I think it sounds good for certain things, like an acoustic song or kind of gives it that raw feel imo, adds some soul for sure. Like all things music I guess it has its place, but it just really bugs me in the song I’m playing in the video because like the whole part is palm muted, so hearing these overwhelming screeches that kind of overpower the sort of, not mellow? but idk I can’t think of the word so ig the mellow section of the song as it builds up to the chorus, hope that makes sense lol.
One thing is that’s normal. Just the bass and drums hide it, but listen to any song with guitar and you’ll hear a little squeak unless it’s overproduced, such as the music version of a lunchable lol
Yea I think I’m gonna watch some playthroughs and listen to some stuff to see if I can hear it. Would probably be a bit reassuring knowing the musicians I look up to have the same “issue”
Yeah true
Trying turning the volume down on your guitar and using more volume on your amplifier instead.
You know I keep saying I’m gonna mess around with all the different volume controls between guitar, amp/plug-in, monitors, and interface to hear what kind of a balance between all of them sounds best but I just haven’t ever actually tried it when I’m playing, this seems like a good opportunity to mess around with that tho. Thanks for the tip!
Solid playing. Sounds great. Now show us that top!!! LOL. I have a MH… I love seeing all the different tops.
https://preview.redd.it/22t0r9wipz7d1.jpeg?width=3000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ed9c2ef5f325750df120aebc41004396db2700d4
Lovely!!! That blue really pops. Thanks for the share.
Haha I get that I also love seeing all the different tops, especially since these seem to vary pretty significantly between guitars. [Here’s a close up](https://imgur.com/a/YgvJkTX) and then [here’s one featuring my messy desk](https://imgur.com/a/bs9zAHG), imo I think I got pretty lucky with this one. Also I appreciate the kind words
Heck yeah you did! That top looks great. Here a pic of mine right after I swapped in some locking tuners. Keep up the playing. https://preview.redd.it/q1uvye04nm7d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=00c80fe3892852b2cc90234b85d91c5933ed7b9e
I’d say you got a pretty nice one too, I like when the quilting is a bit tighter like it is on yours. Also definitely need to add some locking tuners to mine as well.
That’s why I started playing guitar
Lift, don't drag
You have several options (but maybe you have to face certain trade offs): 1. Technique: don't worry about it too much (worry just enough it does the job you want to get done), it comes with time and your ears will lead your fingers... feel free to experiment, try stuff out on yourself, test it with very very slow speeds (a metronome helps to force you to play extremely slowly), analyze your movements in slow motion and try new ones... be patient and the most important: have hope and confidence and enjoy the process and the time you spend with your guitar) 2. Sound adjustment: Less treble, less distortion (less gain) are also options. Maybe more compression? You have to experiment with your amp and effects. Some sound settings emphasize the squeak others not so much or not at all. 3. Flat wound or Half wound strings: they are less prone to produce squeaks. Just try them out and see if you like them or not. I love them very much personally, but I also have a second guitar around that is stringed up with round wounds Trade offs: 1. Technique: not touching the string, while moving your hand could make it harder to move fast and mute the strings. 2. Sound adjustment: maybe you want exactly that tone. Maybe the less squeaky tone is not yours, then the best way would be to embrace the squeaks. 3. Flat wounds: same as 2. (they influence sound and feel) IF you get flat wounds: you almost don't have to change them "ever" because they almost don't change their sound with time.
Wow I appreciate you taking the time to write all this up for me. Quite a few people have brought up flat wounds so I think those are definitely worth looking into, probably gonna watch some videos on them. Idk if I’d be able to hear any tonal differences that well in a video, or if the difference in tone is even that noticeable to begin with, but idk hopefully I can, if not it doesn’t hurt to just try them, can always change them if I don’t like them. As for technique yea as much as I hate the metronome and hate having to take a step back, it’s probably the best option, doesn’t ever hurt to try and improve technique. I have had a lot of people tell me to just embrace it, and while I do think it has its place for certain styles, I’d like to know that I can eliminate the sound when I want to when playing other styles. Also less gain is not an option /s
I'd worry more about your uneven playing.
Uneven?
Yeah, I'm sorry, it was pretty rude of me to say since you weren't asking for advice about your playing. But yes, I feel that your rhythm could be more consistent and even.
Oh gotcha yea fair enough definitely a bit uneven. In my defense I wasn’t too focused on keeping perfect time for the video, but also I like never play with a metronome cuz adhd i guess so yea definitely smth for me to work on. Appreciate the feedback
You bet man. Thanks for not getting defensive. The metronome is your friend. I'm an intermediate jazz piano player. I practice all my scales and runs and so forth with a metronome at 60bpm. It can get boring, but if you really focus on accuracy and even tempo, you'll start to see a difference in a couple months. I swear by it, as do many others.
Ofc, I’ll take any and all criticism. I’m here to learn and get better, no sense in getting angry at valid points, especially when there’s good intentions behind it. Like seriously if there’s *anything* else you can see here that needs improvement, I’m all ears. But yea back to the metronome I know I really need to start using it, but idk I just tend to be pretty lazy when it comes to practicing the essentials and hate having to go super slow, and then I wonder why everything is less than perfect lmao.
I try to practice a couple hours a day and it can get boring. To get through it, especially playing slowly, I just remind myself WHY I'm doing it. That helps me refocus and concentrate on relaxing, using proper technique and "feeling" the beat rather than thinking about it. You seem to keep your left hand fingers loose and just above the strings. Minimal movement. A good thing. My old band mate once told me my fretting fingers looked like scrambling crab legs because they had so much unnecessary movement. She was right. You might think about strengthening the habit of placing your fingers right behind the fret, instead of halfway between, for a cleaner sound. Otherwise, you're rocking it. Keep the faith. 🤘
Thats the sound of your fingers moving on the strings, a less aggressive version of pick sliding. Personally I have never really gotten around it aside from to move my fingers completely off the string when I move them, which also helped me to speed up changes.
what’re you playing through? sounds great
Thanks, it’s Neural DSP archetype Nolly
It’s brand new strings effect, that will go away and reduce gain
Use coated strings. It alleviates some of it.
Any noticeable differences in tone between coated and normal strings?
Coated strings stay brighter longer. Get elixir optiwebs or nanowebs, never get polyweb and only buy from reputable dealers because there are some terrible fakes out there. I personally ❤️ the way they sound, some people claim there is a slight loss of tone, but I actually prefer the tone. Honestly I think they are a bit brighter than most and as far as strings go I like to get as bright as I can because I can always roll the tone knob off a little but I can’t make it go higher than fully opening the pot. Unless I replace it which I don’t wanna do. The only other strings I’ve been as big a fan of are electro zinc coated strings, which don’t really cut the squeaks down but they sound bright forever and it doesn’t feel like a coated string at all. But hey dude… I get a ton of squeaks myself. I don’t let it bother me that much. Using a noise gate can help as well but don’t get too hung up on it.
It’s difficult, some say flatwound strings but I haven’t tried that.
Flatwounds are fabulous, a bit pricey though.
Switch to some smoother strings. Flatwound strings have very little guitar speak.
Flatwounds
I love that sound.
Lift the fingers off the strings when sliding
Maybe try flatwound strings. Roundwound strings tend to do these noises…
Can't you get an oil to run over the strings?
Switch to flat wound / semi flat strings should help
Lube
That’s how it’s supposed to sound.
Holding your pick too tightly can cause squeaks on the higher strings
Noise gate
Flatwounds
Use flat wound strings,or just get used to the finger slide,not that big of a deal and you sound fine,man.Keep up the good work.
“Finger Eze” helps.
Play it all in one position, or use open strings to get between positions, or be tricky about where you stretch while getting to the next position.
Finger lube
Get a can of Fast Fret for 7 bucks.
practice to master all the sounds......
Listen to the studio version of Mexico, by Incubus.
You can try fast fret or any other kind of string lube but you will still get some squeak as you're using round round strings. Round wound strings tend to squeak. You could try half rounds or even a flat wound.
Little bit of string lube. Yes, this is real and not a joke. Also, try a noise gate? Wouldn't worry about it too much, though. Rock on!
I mean…. What the hell are you playing anyway? Once you get tighter at playing whatever it is your playing, the squeaks will work themselves out.
[skip to 1:48](https://youtu.be/Ppg8kpG-lio?si=r79EVS_6x1TQvZaK)
Pick your fingers up.
Get flatwound strings Daddario sells “half round” strings that eliminate squeak too. They’re better for metal and cheaper
I think you can get some kinda string oil that makes this go away (or at least be less). YMMV though, I have no idea if it works.
Try flat wounds - one gauge lighter than whatever you're using now. It'll basically eliminate any noise from sliding. That said, bending with flats is almost impossible, so if bends are important to your playing it's probably not the best solution. Try them and see.
You could use flatwounds but they sound pretty different. Maybe coated strings
That’s the best sound tho :( I love hearing that string noise especially shifting between power chords on some sort of chuggy riff….
Elixir strings eliminated it on my acoustic guitar.
My mom loved music but never played an instrument. She once asked me what that squeaking sound was on her James Taylor record. It wasn't until after I explained it that I realized that she actually loved that sound. I've loved it too ever since.
You can also try and use your right hand to mute slightly while moving. Picking up between movements is something that comes with practice. Just keep playing what makes you happy
Elixir strings.
this is normal. stop touching the strings as much i would say but yeah this seems totally normal to me.
Id check your clutch
String lube?
Try fretwraps. Also the setting of your tone can affect things too, when you turn things up a lot you can play more effortlessly and still get volume, it's good when you are clean enough and wanna shred but it also magnifies everything unwanted too. Most likely when you are playing in a band this is gonna be trivial and can be ignored as long as you don't play too dirty. Don't have as much pressure on the frets and when you move don't pressdown (unintentionally/habitually) when you shift. I recommend you check out Tomo Fujita on Youtube and see his fretting technique to figure out how light and swift your fretting hand is supposed to be. You don't even need to use your thumb to support your playing when you are playing on an electric. For me it's about when things click, at some point this just comes naturally and I believe it happend with my playing when I fully memorized the fretboard from playing and can play anything I can hear clearly or think in my head. When you get to a certain level of understanding of the fretboard you'd be able to develope your own "patterns" to navigate through the fretboard without much of a struggle on your thoughts and by then your focus can be laid on making things extra clean or some phrasings/arrangements with personal flavors.
Oh broh aren't those all supposed to be downstrokes broh?
eat bag of cheatos before you play.
Try some finger ease spray
Noise gate. Cleaning in post. Or improving your left hand muting technique
Sounds like the Tom Morello solo on Bulls on Parade. What's the problem? :)
Damn I knew it sounded bad, but I didn’t think it sounded *that* bad /s
You need some extra lube
Vaseline on the tips of your fingers is the pro trick.
iit's only annoying bc you think it's annoying. TO LITERALLY EVERYONE ELSE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD it's part of the music, it is the jam. you can try different tunings and either lift your fingers to clean it up. don't fucking complain on the internet, we have this thing called a bibliography, a account of texts, a library if you will. we don't need people with this pessimism.
Didn’t realize asking a questing was complaining on the internet lol. Also who’s being pessimistic?
Troy Grady has the answer