fourth Posted September 27 Posted September 27 Hello, everyone. I've been playing guitar for about four months and recently got myself an Ibanez GRG121DX-BKF guitar and an audio interface. When I play the same note quickly on any string, I hear a strange “squeaking” noise. Could you tell me if this is a problem with my playing technique or the guitar? How can I get rid of it? I'll attach an audio file for a clearer understanding. Thank you in advance for your help. sound.wav Quote
fourth Posted September 27 Author Posted September 27 In fact, I just found out that this happens not only when I play one note fast, but during the whole guitar playing. But it doesn't happen all the time, it happens periodically. As I understand it, it happens when I touch the string with the pick. But sometimes this sound appears, and sometimes not. I cannot understand what it depends on. sound2.wav Quote
Dad3353 Posted September 27 Posted September 27 3 minutes ago, fourth said: ...Thank you in advance for your help... What you're hearing there is a harmonic, which is pretty much inevitable when playing at high gain, and is often even desirable in many styles. Try playing at different spots with the pick; that will probably change the note (the 'squeaking'...); choose the position that sounds best to you. It can be eliminated by playing without such high gain, but then you'd have no need of a pointy guitar..! Hope this helps. 1 Quote
ezbass Posted September 27 Posted September 27 (edited) Yep, sounds like a partially pinched harmonic to me. You may find that part of the thumb or finger, holding the pick, are choking off the note and creating a false/pinched harmonic. This can be used to good effect, if you want it and that’s your thing, Billy Gibbons and Zakk Wylde are noted exponents of the technique. Edited September 28 by ezbass 2 Quote
fourth Posted October 26 Author Posted October 26 (edited) On 27/09/2024 at 16:18, ezbass said: Yep, sounds like a partially pinched harmonic to me. You may find that part of the thumb or finger, holding the pick, are choking off the note and creating a false/pinched harmonic. This can be used to good effect, if you want it and that’s your thing, Billy Gibbons and Zakk Wylde are noted exponents of the technique. On 27/09/2024 at 16:00, Dad3353 said: What you're hearing there is a harmonic, which is pretty much inevitable when playing at high gain, and is often even desirable in many styles. Try playing at different spots with the pick; that will probably change the note (the 'squeaking'...); choose the position that sounds best to you. It can be eliminated by playing without such high gain, but then you'd have no need of a pointy guitar..! Hope this helps. Hello again! I appreciate your feedback. I've been trying out a lot of the tips you gave me and watching how the sound changes depending on what I do. I've made sure that when I hit the string, my picking hand fingers don't touch the string. I also tried moving things around a bit to see what happened. This is what I managed to achieve with high gain. high gain.wav I noticed that even with a lower gain, I still hear this strange "whistling" sound. low gain.wav Even when I play with more gain and try not to touch the strings with my fingers, I might still sometimes accidentally touch them. In the third audio recording, I just hit the open string with downstrokes without gain, making sure that my picking hand fingers don't touch the string. And then I heard that sound again. no gain.wav I read on the internet that it could be the sound of the pick hitting a string that is already vibrating. Could this be the case? Could there be a problem with the strings? Should I replace them with other ones? I don't think the problem could be the amount of gain, given the 3rd example. Besides, I've seen and heard other guitarists play with a lot of gain and they haven't this sound. Edited October 26 by fourth Quote
ezbass Posted October 26 Posted October 26 30 minutes ago, fourth said: I read on the internet that it could be the sound of the pick hitting a string that is already vibrating. Could be that. 31 minutes ago, fourth said: Could there be a problem with the strings? Could be that too. 31 minutes ago, fourth said: Should I replace them with other ones? It won't hurt. Quote
Dad3353 Posted October 26 Posted October 26 Don't trust me on this as I have cloth ears. I hear no 'whistling', nor harmonics, on that last (third...) recording. You say it's without gain; it sounds distorted to me, not at all like a guitar simply plugged into an amp. Are you using pedals at all with all of this..? Can you record just the guitar, with no Fx at all (downstrokes is fine, or just play a tune...)..? Quote
fourth Posted October 26 Author Posted October 26 53 minutes ago, Dad3353 said: Don't trust me on this as I have cloth ears. I hear no 'whistling', nor harmonics, on that last (third...) recording. You say it's without gain; it sounds distorted to me, not at all like a guitar simply plugged into an amp. Are you using pedals at all with all of this..? Can you record just the guitar, with no Fx at all (downstrokes is fine, or just play a tune...)..? Yes, I used an effect. Here's just a plugged-in guitar with no effects. What I also noticed during the recording is that I hear this sound only on the bridge pickup, there is no such sound on the neck pickup. It's really barely audible (in the second half of the recording), you can hear it in the background, at the moment of hit. Perhaps, of course, I'm making this up, and there are no problems with the sound, and I'd rather work on other ‘unwanted’ sounds while playing instead. bridge: bridge.wav neck: neck.wav Quote
ezbass Posted October 26 Posted October 26 I’m only hearing what I would consider normal pick response (there’s always some extra harmonic content). Try not playing so quickly and see if you can still hear what you’re hearing with space between the notes. Something else to consider is pick-up height, if the pickups are too high, you might be hearing what are referred to as ‘wolf tones’. 1 Quote
Dad3353 Posted October 26 Posted October 26 I agree with EZ, above ^^; it sounds like a guitar being played rapidly with a pick. Just about the opposite of how I play (badly, slowly, with fingers...), so the sound I get, myself, is very different. I don't think I can help much, if at all, but I don't think you really have a problem, either. Play with whatever sounds you're getting, rather than analysing what's going on. In other words, if you have lemons, make lemonade. 1 Quote
