11 ways to improve your guitar tone for FREE - No new gear needed!

As a guitar player, we often struggle trying to achieve a certain guitar tone or even just getting a guitar sound that we love.
It’s easy to become frustrated with trying to find the perfect sound, and never quite getting there. And obviously buying new gear can be expensive, especially when you're not sure if it will make a difference.
In this video I’m detailing 11 ways to improve your guitar tone without spending any money. I'll be sharing 11 tips on how to improve your guitar tone, including techniques for better playing and tips for getting the most out of your existing gear. These tips will help you make the most of what you've got, no need to buy anything unless you just want to ;)
We'll be covering two main areas: technique and tone. Why technique? Because this: I'm sure you've heard "tone is in the hands" or some version of that, and what that actually means is that technique plays a massive role in guitar tone. Understanding that, we’ll dive into some easy techniques that can help you improve your guitar playing, which will ultimately make you sound better. We’ll also discuss the importance of practicing regularly and playing in the pocket to create a tighter sound.
Then, we'll move on to tone talk. From using the right amount of gain, or not over-using various effects (unless the song calls for it) to understanding the importance of the midrange, these tips will help you get the most out of your gear. We'll also discuss the role of EQ and how to use it to shape your tone, as well as the importance of not over-compressing your guitar tone (again, unless the song calls for it).
It's important to understand that there are caveats or exceptions to the rule for a lot of the "rules" that surround guitar effects and their use, so please don't take these tips as absolutes but more as 'general' advice.
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www.guitarpedalcourse.com/

[@SachaIlBoveShow]

To me, one very important thing, when playing in a band, is amp position. Don't keep your amp near you, pointing to your legs, they can't hear it. Keep your amp in a higher position, or at least pointing the speakers to you, will let you hear what's really coming out of them. So that you can properly set your amp, and improve your sound. And again, It costs nothing 😄

[@leftundersun]

I only have 1 guitar, 2 pedals and a 15w 6" speaker amp and I'm very happy with my guitar tone. I'm just watching the video because I appreciate your experience, so thanks for the tips.

[@CompletePandemonium]

Outstanding tips. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

[@manthehelm]

This is why I love the channel! Awesome advice for beginners and a fantastic reminder for more intermediate players! Good job dude!

[@joshuaevans1922]

Just what I needed to avoid post-holiday GAS. Thanks, Brian! Love your pedals, your channel, and your playing (which differs quite a bit from my own). Happy New Year!

[@joshuaevans1922]

Also, love seeing Cory Wong in this vid - he is, if memory serves, an Ego Compressor user.

[@MeatSteeple]

Love all of your videos, Brian! You're an inspiration. Keep on keepin' on!

[@ChrisBrayden]

Great stuff Brian. I agree with #11 wholeheartedly, so many times I jam with people who can’t even change their own strings. Everyone should take the time to learn how to change string and intonate their guitars. Will save money over the long haul

[@stoneysdead689]

I know a lot of guys who can't intonate a guitar- they don't even know what that means. And surprisingly, they play really well- some of them do anyway. They've just always taken their guitars in for setup and then when they change strings, they just leave it as is until they get another setup done eventually. That would drive me nuts, I can't do it- I'm OCD- I have to know the guitar is intonated, even if I can't hear that it's out- it bugs me. I won't play a guitar that's not intonated- I never tell my friends why I pass on playing their guitar when they offer but- that's why.

[@DMSProduktions]

Shh! Bread & butter work for music shops!

[@ummagumma7826]

I really liked the bending one. I listened to recordings of mine (perhaps another tip?) and I realized my bends were just a fraction of a bit flat and it just sounded sloppy. Gotta complete the bend in tune. Thanks.

[@liquidsolids9415]

Totally agree about practicing with a drum groove rather than a metronome. Works way better for me, too. Thanks, Brian!

[@DAB687]

Nice. I only wish I had resources like this when I was starting to play. Great job. Solid advice.

[@ScottfromBaltimore]

Thanks, Brian! This was encouraging, especially that bit at the end.

[@FreddyJ120]

Excellent stuff, Mr. W - always appreciate your insights. This is info I can put to immediate use, especially how the guitar sits in the mix. Thanks!👍🏻👍🏻

[@shannonjones3714]

Great video! Thanks Brian!

[@Jonathan-se7nr]

I've been playing for 30ish years and I still get something out of your videos Brian 👍

[@SystemOfStrings]

Not sure why I love the look of this tele so much. It's just so clean and smooth!

[@mistershabadoo]

Love your pedals, Brian! Excellent tips! These are great! Cheers!

[@davidsumpter7117]

Thank you for bringing up vibrato. I have seen many KZbin guitarists who play really well, yet have awful, nervous and twitchy vibrato. I’m constantly working on getting mine better.

[@BlackChromeJamTracks]

Excellent tips, thx for sharing!

[@paroblynn]

Good call on the vibrato and the bending discussion. Yngwie brought it up before. Said that bending in key is critical and too many people don’t worry about it.

[@PerroConBufanda]

Great video, usually we get caught up in gear and forget about playing. You rock ✌😁☀️

[@gavinsolomon2711]

Excellent video, tons of valuable advice here. Cheers, Brian!

[@chrish.4067]

Cool video Brian!

[@zacate1983]

Great video!!

[@chuckjcarter]

Great video. I learned a few new things, thanks!

[@erico2001]

Stand up guy Brian awesome teaching tools for those in need

[@172turtla]

Great presentation and great tips. Especially important is to play every day. I stage a guitar in a convenient place so I can pick it up and play at a moments notice.

[@GrantUsEyesenhower]

For all my fellow Floyd Rose players out there, I would like to add that the locking nut does not exempt you from “Tune regularly”. I made this mistake for a couple months, and it took me a while to notice because the strings won’t slip off all at once or slip so badly it’s impossible not to hear it. They just drift over time. Go find that hex key!

[@murrayguitarpickups9545]

Great advice Brian!

[@doublepanthers3088]

Thank you Brian.

[@marlonbrianchannel3970]

Thanks for the info man...

[@TheNino37]

Playing guitar is enjoyable, Brian, and also, so is watching your channel.

[@xTrengo]

happy and prosperous new year! \o/

[@blackfishgaming7145]

One practice I discovered that really improved my tone was simply backing off my volume knobs on my guitar a little, then setting my amp to barely breaking up. It’s become the way I start tone shaping. I’m almost always working my volume knobs now.

[@PatrickEmMartin]

Solid advice

[@linusheeda]

Thanks for these useful tips 👍🏻✌🏻 Greetings from Augsburg Germany Linus

[@coffeedudeguy]

When I was younger I was very into Joe Satriani so I practiced legato runs for days. I think my playing style now is quite fluid, but now I struggle to do fuzzy alternate picking styles!

[@brandonjackson5865]

Great encouraging tips and important point on the fundamentals. It’s easy to over look the small details in your playing and just learn riffs. I’ve never been really good about practicing technique and concentrating on specific things and I’ve never liked playing to a metronome,because I’m old and I could play with a drummer in the pocket and always thought I had pretty good timing until I tried playing to a click recording something for a friend in pro tools also a lot of learning apps and games like rocksmith either I’ve always played a little behind the beat or there’s enough lag that I feel rushed it’s weird, but I think metronome should probably be the first thing someone works on when learning. You could probably build a pretty solid rhythm foundation just playing quarter notes and then 8th and 16th chromatically up the neck before even learning any chords or scales. Approach it like a drummer and a lot of the great rhythm players have admitted that they were just playing drums on guitar. James Hetfield has always said that and also Dave Grohl has had a pretty successful career playing drums on the guitar, he’s not a guitar god but he’s written some incredible songs and great catchy riffs. It sure would be an exciting time to be first picking up the guitar with all the resources and free lessons online.

[@lynnhopewell4728]

The main things are the plain things and we so often forget the basics (fundamentals as Brian says) allow us to lay the floor for our dancing along the strings. Thanks Brian.

[@JonathanKillstring]

Legend

[@The9mmProfessor]

Well DAMN ! & With a Brent Mason Tele. THANKS !!!

[@erock5b]

I really like my Edge like delays! hahah. Actually, I've been trying to figure out how to get a sound similar to a couple Coldplay songs from Mylo Xyloto. Seems like they have a TON of reverb and delay on that album, and I really dig the sound.

[@Margilio5150]

Thanks for this video but I still miss my Triple Wreck V1, it was the first time I actually enjoyed my high gain tones 😊

[@Crusatyr05]

Great tips. The more I see that Tele the more I love it. The color reminds me of a shark, so in my mind it's name is Bruce. The name of the shark in Jaws. Thanks for another fun video.

[@robinstehwien6841]

Hi Brian. Liked the video. But I think sometimes tone is confused with technique. What are your thoughts?

[@davidstump]

I’ve been playing for 20 years, and I’m still terrible at bending into key. I just randomly pull on things like a spaz randomly for funsies 😂 great video!

[@stevemaass3074]

Good reminders. I just retired and I intend to re-learn guitar after about 30 years. I had played in bands for 15 years or so starting in high school, but I have to admit my technique was never great. Now if I can just get my hands to cooperate.

[@Bertyification]

With you there brother! I agree and resemble your comments 😊 Some great simple and easy advice in this vid - well done again!

[@mattgilbert7347]

I took 17 years off from guitar, any music at all. Picked it up again around 8-9 years ago. Videos like this one were - are - crucial for me "getting my hands to behave" It's not easy, good luck to you!

[@stoneysdead689]

Some advice someone gave me on bends and vibrato when I was first starting out- When you bend a string you want to get underneath it and push it up- you're finger isn't perfectly on top of the string- it's below it, pushing it up toward the top of the neck. And to apply vibrato you simply relax the bend a tad and let the string come down, then push it back up. Let the string come down on its own, all your doing is relaxing the push on it, then pushing back up. And the movement is, generally speaking, really small- the string comes down maybe a string's width, then you push it back up about the same. It's also common when applying vibrato to relax the bend a tad and then you're not quite hitting the note you were bending to- so try purposely bending just the tiniest bit past the note, then apply vibrato. This will help you hit the note and hold it as you apply vibrato. Smaller radiuses like 7.25 fret boards- are easier to bend on because you can get underneath the strings to push up so easily. The flatter a fret board is, the harder it is to get underneath a string. That said- on a flat board when you do bend, it won't fret out- on a 7.25 if you bend past a full step, it's probably going to fret out- unless you've got your action pretty high. Last tip- when you bend a note, generally speaking- mute it when you relax it and let it come back to normal pitch. There are some licks where you hear a descending bend intentionally but- they're rare. Usually, you bend the note up either a half or full step- sometimes a 1.5 to 2 steps, apply vibrato- then move to a different note- but you don't hear that bend relax and the pitch fall back to normal. It just doesn't sound good to have the pitch go up and then right back down- usually. Like I said- sometimes you will hear it- David Gilmour used it quite a bit. He would bend a string up- pick it, then relax the bend- really cool technique. In fact, if you want to learn accurate bends and good vibrato- imo Gilmour is your guy. Learn his solos- and you've got it down.

[@DavidRavenMoon]

I can’t stress enough how many guitarist use too much gain and too much low end. I’m a bass player in several bands and have had to walk over to the guitarist’s amp and turn the bass down! People get used to playing at home by themselves. But that doesn’t translate to a band setting. And too much gain sounds thin and buzzy out in the audience. When I’m playing guitar in bands my main tone is crunchy, just past being clean. And I play heavy post punk/grunge/goth stuff. For solos I step on a pedal like my DS-1. I always get compliments on my tone. Also let the guitar be what it is. Too many people buy a guitar and want it to sound like a different guitar. Or they try to make all their guitars sound the same. The same set of pickups in two different guitars won’t sound exactly the same. My Parker P-38 with hot humbuckers sounds like a Tele. I’m okay with that. It’s a bright sounding guitar. Also great tip about playing in the pocket. Don’t just randomly strum chords. Come up with a set part to play. That sounds cleaner and more focused. And less is more. Best compliment I got from a drummer at my last gig was “I like that you can play anything. But you don’t!” lol Us old timers learned this stuff a long time ago. Lol. I’ve been playing 54 years.

[@wampler_pedals]

fantastic advice!

[@johnrogers2826]

So neat, so spicy.

[@picksalot1]

Great suggestions, and besides improving your tone, it will make you into a better musician and guitarist. This is a "semi-gear" improvement. Just a couple nights ago, in an attempt to get more sustain, and even out a couple high wolfy notes on my Strat, I stuck a magnet (with base plate, Weight = .9oz, 25g) from a Computer HD to the back area of my Super-Vee Tremolo "floating" bridge. The magnet base plate is about 2 inches long, and the powerful magnet is about 1.5 inches long. The sustain was improved and the wolfy notes are more even now. But, there was also an interestingly tone effect. When I moved the magnet to the treble end of the bridge, the tone became brighter, and moving towards the bass made it thicker sounding. The middle location sounds particularly good, boosts midrange, and it adds a desirable characteristic I hear in cranked Amps as "electricity, or the intensity of power." I often hear that sound on Matthew Scott's Channel when he plays Strats through cranked Fender Amps. The volume of the Neck Pickup is about 10-15% louder with the magnet than without it, and no doubt is contributing to what I'm hearing. But, I think something else is also going on. The magnet is flat, unobtrusive, and has an arced edge shape. It sits just behind the saddles, and is held firmly if place by magnetism. The tone effect is more noticeable when the wide outer curve is in the direction of the bridge pickup. I don't have a Gauss Meter. I tried testing if the the strings are getting slightly magnetized by seeing if a tiny piece of wire would stick to the strings, but it did not. If anyone else happens to try this easily reversible Mod, please post a comment on your experience. I'm only two days into this test, but so far, this is one of my very favorite mods!

[@STRATMAN1969]

Greetings from the Stratcave ,I found this super interesting ,I'm trying to figure out what side you put the magnet on .Please forgive my ignorance ,you were pretty detailed in your description .But I was hoping you would elaborate a little more .Thanks ,if I can figure this out I will try ,and post to your comment .

[@picksalot1]

@@STRATMAN1969 The magnet is facing down and is in contact with the bridge. So the baseplate its magnet are parallel to the top of the bridge. Kind of like a piece of toast sitting on top of a piece of cheese (i.e. the bridge in this example).

[@gainbear8853]

Brian … do you agree that “buzz” is different than rattle. Rattle being that slight ringing noise you get for a moment after hitting a sustained note when the hit string isn’t quite oscillating perfectly yet and slaps a fret. To set up a guitar with no rattle, the action seems miles high to me. Best advice I’ve ever been given on tone is “if you really like how your open E-major chord sounds, turn your bass down until you are only ok with it.” Sounds crazy, but it’s a good guide. Awesome episode.

[@wampler_pedals]

absolutely! I use higher action than most simply because that rattle drives me nuts! :D

[@ant1sokolow]

The last tip is really crucial. A well set up decent entry level guitar sounds way better than a high end one without fresh strings and proper intonation and action, wrong pickup height etc.. As an european i'm always surprised how often worship music is discussed by american youtuber or other music related media. I'm pretty sure that playing in church is a factor for the higher average level of musical education and instrument practice in the USA than in europe where music is mainly profane. But playing in church means going to church...and we didn't do that that much either.

[@Lokair54]

Practice, practice, practice, your ear will start telling your fingers how hard to and how position to make it sound better. After a break i have to work back to my calluses and my hands to playing condition.

[@STRATMAN1969]

Don't use to much Delay ? But I just got my Metaverse yesterday .So now I have 11 Delays to improve my tone

[@csgilliam]

What's the thought process behind the upside-down mini-bucker?

[@rockandrollmd541]

More clarity because the pole pieces are closer to the bridge.

[@PooNinja]

Use the click!!!!! Just keep playing 🤘🏽😀

[@MrAcEsNeIgHtS1188]

The other part of live guitar changes every/every other song is not every song is recorded in the same tuning. Also a lot of bands tune down to accommodate the vocalist.

[@gusto73]

I’m interested in hearing your opinion on that Boss Katana you have there in the background.

[@wampler_pedals]

I love it! I always bring it as a back up just in case my tube amp goes down. I have the smaller portable version as well that I take on trips as well when possible.

[@gusto73]

@@wampler_pedals Good stuff. Follow up question for you. If you had no other choice but to use the Katana (paired with a decent cab of course), do you think you could use it as your main rig and actually be happy with it? Also, any chance of a Katana video in the future discussing it’s application for recording and/or live use?

[@brandonjackson5865]

I bet he’d be just fine with a 100 watt katana and could probably get about any sound he wanted out of it. I plugged into a new one once and I wasn’t impressed and I plugged into a used one I guess someone had edited in the app and it was incredible.

[@gusto73]

@@brandonjackson5865 Oh for sure, 100%. Still I’d interested in watching Brian dial-in some tones through a cab and through an audio interface.

[@wampler_pedals]

@@gusto73 absolutely, could use it for a gig no problem, it's great! Yes, a Katana video may be interesting, I'll definitely keep that one in mind!

[@coltonpouch2653]

What do you say to people who just hit roadblocks by physical capabilities? I've been playing for a little over 6 years and still can't get past a few things no matter how much I've practiced. It makes it really discouraging to keep playing guitar

[@wampler_pedals]

Seems like every guitar player I know, pro or not, has areas that they just aren’t great at. Most of them just accept that weakness and work around it somehow. For example me personally I just am not that good at fast alternate picking shredding, so in situations where I need to do that I rely more on hammer ons and pull offs. But also I find that I tend to enjoy playing things that don’t involve that as much. I do still practice it though.

[@jash500]

🖐️ guilty of over compressing recently. it took away all the great harmonics in my bridge humbucker.

[@juancarlossuarez7486]

Wampler is love

[@rockandrollmd541]

Good advice about midrange frequencies. My bandmate doesn't know how to eq his amp and scoops the mids for playing classic rock songs🤦‍♀ My 2 cents: Adjusting the pole-pieces of the pickups for equal volume per string and adding a small treble bleed capacitor on the volume pot. I can go from distorted to clean just by lowering the volume pot.

[@brandonjackson5865]

Surly your band mate will eventually get tired of being buried in the mix . He’s probably using his at home practice tone with the band and what sounds good alone disappears with drums and bass alone and if you got another guitar player who knows how to cut forget about it. A guitarist in a classic rock band scooping the mids, huh I thought that was a strictly metal player problem lol . Maybe he’s a metal guy in a classic rock band so he can work ?

[@rockandrollmd541]

​@@brandonjackson5865 He has a Fender Blues Jr. and has a very tinny sound. He puts the bass and treble at noon and mid around 9 o'clock. My guitar amp eq is low at 9 o'clock, mid at max, and high at 3 o'clock. I crank the eq controls on max and reduce from there because eq controls are passive - you can only reduce frequencies from the pure guitar signal. Presence is different and adds frequencies. I already showed him how to eq his amp, but he reverted to his old ways. When he stepped on his Boss Blues Driver, it was like an icepick to the ears!

[@brandonjackson5865]

@@rockandrollmd541 damn Fender amps are kinda scooped out to start with at least compared most other amps. I haven’t played a bunch of fender amps and I’ve never played a blues Junior everyone’s hearing is different and I tend to favor a more bright sound some might even think harsh but I don’t sweep the mids I used to run pretty extreme eq settings to start dialing an amp in back when I was just starting out I was bad about diming the bass and treble and starting with the mid dial on zero and ease it up a little bit, I’m sure it sounded like ass but that was an old Marshall split 50 dual reverb solid state 2x12 , when my uncle loaned me his 50 watt JCM 800 2x12 combo I still pushed the treble and bass but kept the mids around noon for the most part but I don’t think it really matters where you put the dials on an 800 as long is the volume is loud enough for it to fill out you really can’t make it sound too bad.

[@zugzug2006]

i love the warm sound of the Gibson Les Paul, is there any way to get this sound from my Cort CR250 ? . the amps im using are a Blackstar id core 10 and positive grid spark mini. thanx in advance

[@inframundo1919]

I expected another kind of video

[@gobodega5226]

From my point of view, a well-adjusted intonation is the most important thing on a guitar. So that it not only sounds good but right. An often neglected point. Otherwise quite funny video 👍

[@jaibandroide]

4:50 tone

[@what1864]

i have to admit i hate midrange , i scoop my amps most of the time regardless of what style i'm playing , not sure why but i hate midrange frequencies , i'm a bedroom player so i can get away with it ...

[@wampler_pedals]

isolated in a bedroom practice scenario it's not a problem at all! It's adding it to a mix within a band that it starts to get buried... unless the other instruments are mixed in such a way to take that into account. A great example is the album master of puppets.

[@reverendg5937]

What?!?!? Free Tips?!?!? Unheard Of!!!!

[@wampler_pedals]

lol, free meaning no gear purchase necessary

[@snflip]

Mid range ! Oh yeah, when your sitting around by yourself (guitar or bass) and you have this fat bottom, thin mid and crystalline top you think "this is it, sounds great" till you put it in the mix. And bass guitar for bass, guitar will add mud if too much bass tone. Drummers.... volume volume vol..... " it only sounds good when I hit hard " yeah, no. Thanks Brian for putting this up.

[@douglask.carvalho8393]

Wampler Top 10 tips to improve your tone: 1 - Practice 2 - Practice again 3 - And again 4 - Practice a little more 5 - A little more 6 - A little more 7 - A litt… 8 - Now with a metronome 9 - Now with a drum beat 10 - Start over again You know who is a great practicer? My good friend Brian Paisley, that’s why I did this new Wampler Paisley Looper so he can practice with his signature tone

[@rockstardr]

Dude....Do a stereo reverb with midi and presets....

[@StuartBridson]

A great example of the "less is more" gain approach is Metallica - known for a huge but tight percussive sound that isn't possible with the gain dimed. This comes from someone who cranks gain and doesn't care about anything else. 🤣

[@Markleford]

Step 12: Buy a Brent Mason Tele! :)

[@wampler_pedals]

i love it!

[@FatalBrainError]

Most important thing: Not use to much gain... True, because the bassplayer desires to be a guitarist and uses 5 dirt pedals at the same time. So no more gain is left for the rest of the band. 🤪

[@ElBlueDrummer]

WHAT! LESS GAIN! BOOOOOOO..... just kidding... Great video.

[@alexwoolridge94aw]

I just bought another Magnatone. Instant better tone lol

[@MillerCustomGuitars]

Step 1: play a Brent Mason Tele…

[@TheCyberMantis]

Learn how to MUTE effectively.

[@davidtomkins4242]

"...buying new gear can be expensive, especially if it has "Wampler" printed on it..."

[@wampler_pedals]

Unless you buy the new Phenom or Triumph for $99 ;)

[@TheCyberMantis]

.... especially if it has "STRYMON" or "EVENTIDE" printed on it.

[@guitarpicker6844]

@@wampler_pedals when is the awesome $99 compression pedal coming? Got a Triumph on order!

[@edsonmarquezani]

No new gear??? Oh, no, not interested. I'm just looking for more excuses to get new gear. 🤪

[@stanknugget]

You don’t just have something I can buy?

[@wampler_pedals]

Sure! www.wamplerpedals.com or reverb.com/shop/official-wampler ;)

[@crystalbarker5902]

Surly cia but i still like you. Wishmore people was like minded 🙄

[@carlossanteliz5293]

Great video and great tipps. Thanks for sharing the knowledge, Brian. Greetings from a nicaraguan : )