Hey Friend,

So my buddy Brad sent an email the other day asking me about recreating a particular sound when playing through an amp.

Not such an odd request, except this is not a sound most of us are looking to accentuate!

If you’ve played guitar for any length of time, I know you’ve noticed the sound your finger makes as it slides along the thicker strings. This sound comes from the friction of your finger against the string windings.

On an acoustic guitar, this sound is very easy to create, and for most players, you’re looking to minimize the presence of that sound. Not get rid of it completely, but to keep it at a level that it doesn’t detract from what you’re playing.

Not Brad - he likes it! And he want’s that sound to come through the amplifier more when he’s playing his electric. (Nothing but love, brother!)

I have never honestly given “string squeak” that much thought. I see it as a byproduct of playing, as natural as breathing. You can’t breath without releasing carbon dioxide, and you can’t play guitar without your strings squeaking.

I went about searching for an example of this sound through an amplifier, but what I came up with was techniques to soften the sound during the mixing and production process. You would typically use a compression effect to cut the squeak

Now I was intrigued, so I tried to get the sound through one of my amps. I couldn’t really crank up the volume (gotta keep the peace with the family, you know), but what he’s asking ain’t so easy!

I could clearly hear the squeaking from my fingers, but to get it to transfer through the pickups to the amp just wasn’t happening, at least at those volumes. I did notice that having a bunch of gain and reverb on the amp helped a bit (and Brad confirmed this), and I could hear some possible traces of squeak, but nothing like the sound amplified by the sound hole on an acoustic guitar. 

I asked Brad who the artist is that inspired his question and he directed me to Lari Basilio - she’s freakin’ amazing! 

I’m gonna spend some more time looking for the example Brad mentioned to me, ‘cause now I’ve gotta hear this... 

Catch you tomorrow - Rock on, my Peeps!

Peace~

Dave