The Haywire Custom Guitars Custom Shop recommends the following.
Getting guitar sounds and tones from your guitar can include:
1. Adjust Your EQ Settings: Lower Treble: Reduce the treble frequencies on your amplifier or effects pedals. This will help soften the brightness.
2. Change Your Pick: Use a thicker pick or a softer material (like nylon) to strum or pick your strings. This can produce a warmer tone.
3. Use Different Strings:
4. Pick a note, any note and play it. Then hit it a little harder. Then a little softer. Fret it really hard and fret it just enough so it’s not muted. Then combine all of those things and notice how you can get different tones all from the same note with the same settings. Some of this will be accentuated by your amp.
5. The pickup closest to the bridge (sometimes called the lead pickup) has a tighter, more biting tone. Middle pickup can have less bite, more warmth and a chimey tone. The pickup closest to the neck is called the rhythm pickup and boasts a warmer, rounder tone.
6. Getting guitar sounds and tones is one of the most complex things most guitarists will have to deal with. Like colors for an artist. There are lots of guitarists that look at a guitar and make a blanket assumption about the sound (or ‘tone’) it produces. The amp, speaker and settings are always more important than the guitar itself.
