Classical Guitar Guide: How To Avoid Guitar Squeak

A Guest Post by Bryan Wesley

Playing the guitar can make a person's life beautiful. It can help you express your talent, style, emotions, or even relieve your stress. However, that might not be the case when there are guitar squeaks. They can totally ruin the mood and your performance.

Fortunately, there are ways and a technique to get rid of the "The Curse" of guitar squeak and make your instrument sound better. So, keep reading and discover some useful tips.

What is Guitar String Squeak

Guitar string squeak is also known as guitar noise and finger squeak can. It is the messy sound that some guitarists tend to produce when the tip of their fingers scrapes on the wound strings. This kind of sound can be produced in any type of guitars, including acoustic guitar, electric guitar, or classical guitar.

While a squeak happens in any guitar, it can still ruin the smoothness of your music performance. Thus, it would be better to know why you end up making that sound and the right trick to stop it.

Tips To Getting Rid of A String Noise

If you try the following tips, you can find out what's causing the squeak and how to avoid it.

Don't Rush Too Much.

In playing your guitar, you have to match the rhythm of the song. But even if you are performing a fast rhythm, strumming too fast will still not give you the clean sound you like. For this reason, it's essential to low down a little bit and not rush too much. Doing that will help you apply your listening skills, observe what's causing the squeak, and avoid making it.

Lift Your Fingers

When you don't pay attention to shifting your fingers, it can also cause unwanted guitar noise. Remember, you have to lift before you change your fingers' position. Otherwise, it can make you drag some strings as you shift and make that finger squeak you don't want.

Aside from that, when you are going to shift, ensure that you do it carefully and straight, avoiding the angled shift. So, keep in mind that you can't do the lifting and shift at the same time. They are two separate actions you have to do to produce a clean guitar sound.

Add Moisture to Your Finger

Sometimes, the reason behind the guitar noise is the dryness and hardness of the tip of your fingers. If you are frequently playing guitar, it can be avoidable to have that kind of fingertips and form calluses. But since they can cause the squeak, you have to do something to solve that. You need to moisten your hands to get rid of the guitar noise and also to prevent your fingers from cracking as you play your instrument.

Clean Your Guitar Strings

Clean guitar strings do not only help you prolong your strings' lifespan, but they can also help in making your guitar sound better. Guitars usually produce smoother sounds when they are new because their strings are completely clean. But over time, grimes can build up, causing your strings to lose their smoothness and sometimes making you produce the finger squeak.

For this reason, try to regularly clean your strings and ensure that you avoid dirt build-up. You can do that by frequently wiping your strings with a clean cloth or using a microfiber cloth specifically for better results. Microfiber cloths can ensure that you get all the dirt and avoid residue as you wipe the strings.

Use Polished Strings

If you badly want to stop the curse of the squeak, there's also an easy way to do it - by using polished strings. There are many brands available in the market, and you can use them to lessen the unwanted noise you make with your guitar. These polished strings have a smoother surface, helping you minimize the squeaks.

They can be costly if you keep buying, as they have a shorter lifespan than regular guitar strings. But if you really want a solution, they can help you play smoother. Plus, if you will be doing a recording, they can be beneficial as you'll get to lessen the edits you have to make.

Practice Well

Finger squeaks can be annoying yet avoidable. As much as possible, it would be better if you get to find a long-term solution rather than spending money on a short-term investment. So, before deciding to buy polished strings, consider following the mentioned tips first. They will guide you to find out how you can eliminate the guitar squeaks you produce.

Besides that, it will be better if you can give yourself enough time to practice and enhance your talent further. This way, you can pay more attention to your mistakes more. Plus, ensure you get to avoid them and improve your skills.