Electric Guitar

10 Ways to Make Your Electric Guitar Louder

By · 13 min read

10 Ways to Make Your Electric Guitar Louder

Electric guitars are typically amplified and loud. If you want to make a statement with your music, an electric guitar is the way to go. However, some people have trouble making their electric guitars loud enough to play over the drums, vocals, and other instruments in a band. You might also want to make more noise just to immerse yourself in the music.

To make your electric guitar louder, turn up the amp, upgrade your amplifier, and adjust the pickup. You can also use heavy picks, thick strings, and bigger speakers. Adding a booster pedal and a microphone can make a world of difference for those looking to increase their electric guitar’s sound.

In this post, we’ll cover multiple ways to make your electric guitar louder. We’ll also provide a few product suggestions to get you started.

Related: how to identify a Fender Custom Shop guitar, best Telecaster guitars, and best semi hollow guitars.

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ways to make your electric guitar louder

Adjust Your Amp

Adjusting an electric guitar’s amplifier will make a huge difference. Not only does it let you change the volume, but you can also switch the gain, treble, bass, and many other settings. Some amps have more adjustments than others, so it’s important to keep an eye out for an amp that suits your taste.

Here’s an in-depth look at each of the adjustments you can try to make your electric guitar louder with an amp:

  • Turn up the volume. Perhaps the most obvious suggestion is to crank up the volume on your amp. Most people use amplifiers to make their music louder, but they have plenty of other settings that are worth looking into. Adjust the volume to your desired setting, then try some of the suggestions below.
  • Increase the gain. The gain and volume often get mixed up on amplifiers and digital audio workstations. While the volume makes the amp (and electric guitar) louder, the gain increases the tone. The tone and sustain will drastically increase the longevity of the electric guitar, making it seem louder.
  • Adjust the bass as necessary. It’s no secret that bass-packed riffs sound a bit louder. This is because they last longer than instruments without enough bass. Much like increasing the gain, raising the bass on your amp will increase its sustainability and resonance.
  • Monitor the treble. Your amplifier’s treble determines how loud and intense the higher notes sound. When the treble is too high, it can make the amp sound tinny. It can also overwhelm the bass, making your electric guitar sound tacky and toyish. However, slightly increasing the treble can make your guitar sound louder.
  • Check the favored outputs. Some amplifiers let you favor one output or input over another. For example, if you have a microphone and an electric guitar hooked up to the same amp, you can favor the electric guitar over the microphone. This means you’ll hear the guitar a bit louder and clearer.

Move the Guitar’s Pickup

According to Build Your Guitar, your instrument’s pickup directly influences the sound output. If it’s in the wrong position, your pickup can buzz the strings or alter the guitar’s intonation. Furthermore, placing it at a slight angle will favor one set of strings more than the other. It’s all about knowing the proper placement.

Try these suggestions for different results:

  • Neck placement: Keeping a pickup on the neck is a popular choice for acoustic guitars because it emphasizes the low tones and resonance. However, you can use this placement on an electric guitar if you prefer a bass-packed performance. Remember to keep the pickup from touching anything else on the instrument.
  • Bridge placement: A lot of electric guitars have their pickups placed near the instrument’s bridge. The bridge placement highlights the treble, which vibrates from the higher strings. You can use this placement if you play a lot of solos that you want to remove excess bass.
  • Slanted placement: The slanted placement technique lets you choose which strings are louder and more prominent. For example, slanting the pickup closer to the bridge on the high strings and close to the fretboard on the lower strings will make it quite a bit louder across the board.
  • Flat placement: Most electric guitars have flat pickups. They don’t have a slant, which means the angle can’t highlight all of the strings. These pickups are usually near the bridge on electric guitars as mentioned above. However, you can adjust a flat pickup and turn it into a slanted pickup if desired.

Keep Your Electric Guitar in a Small Room

Playing your electric guitar in a small room naturally traps the sound waves. When the sound waves can’t travel too far, they have more sustain and resonance. They’ll also sound much louder than if you played the instrument outside or in a large, open room. Place a few pieces of furniture or wall art in the space to prevent too many echoes while you’re recording.

keep your electric guitar in a small room

If you don’t have a room that’s small enough to prevent sound wave issues, you can load it with furniture, rugs, and soundproof foam. Soundproof foam covers the walls and ceilings in any room, trapping the sound waves and preventing excess white noise while recording. It can also make the amplifier much clearer.

Quick Note: No matter what room size you play your electric guitar in, make sure you close the doors and windows. These exit points allow sound waves to leave the room, preventing them from resonating. Your electric guitar will sound much louder when everything is sealed since the sounds will stay in the room.

Get a Bigger Amplifier

Amplifiers come in numerous sizes. If you have a small amp, it’s no secret that it won’t put out much noise. Some small amps are specifically designed for apartments and other shared living arrangements. If you have a compact amp and you want more noise output, you could put a microphone and some speakers in front of it.

That being said, we suggest upgrading your amplifier. Nothing beats a high-quality amp when it comes to sound manipulation and control. You can crank it up as loud as you want and turn it down when it’s too late to wake up the neighbors. Make sure you keep the amp off the floor if you want to reduce the vibrations going through the walls.

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