How to Make Your Guitar Sound Warmer Today? [5 Easy Tips]

Do you feel your guitar gives a bit bright-sounding tone? Do you want to know how you can make your guitar sound warmer? This is the article for you?

At first, we need to understand that, Every guitar has its own unique voice. but there are certain things that if you applied, can give you a warmer sound from your guitar.

So, How you can make your Guitar Sound Warmer? You can make your guitar sound warmer by using a thick pick of softer material and shifting to warm-sounding guitar strings. Also, the Position where you strum your guitar also affects the warmness of sound.

The Tips that I shared below in this article are from my personal experience and a bit of research. I’m sure this definitely going to help you to get the warmer-sounding tone from your guitar.

Let’s dig into this deeper:

5 Easy Way to Make Your Guitar Sound Warmer

If you think your guitar is a little bit brighter and if you want a nice warmer tone, here’re some of the tips for you:

1. Use More Warm sounding Guitar Strings

Guitar Strings is the first thing you should look for if you want to make your guitar sound warmer.

I not going into the actual science but, if you want a thumb rule, phosphor bronze strings sound warmer than any other treated or 80/20 guitar strings. that’s because phosphor bronze strings consist of around 92% copper.

So, if you want a warm tone, get a new set of strings and see the difference yourself. But keep in mind, when you put any new set of strings, you will feel it a bit brighter for a while. So, give them some play before you change them right off.

Here’s are some of my recommendations for warm-sounding strings: (Links to Amazon!)

• Martin’s Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings (MSP7050)
• D’Addario EPN115 Pure Nickel Electric Guitar Strings

2. Use Thick Pick of Softer Material to make Sound Warmer

If you ever ask any music teacher, which is the best pick for a beginner? He / She always recommend you to go with a light and thinner pick (usually around 0.5 mm).

This is because lighter gauge picks are easy to grip and handle and helps a lot in the beginning. But, that’s certainly not useful when one is seeking for warm-sounding tone.

You need to know, thinner the pick, the brighter sound your guitar is going to make. Thus for a warm sound tone, go for a thicker pick of a softer material like this one.

Well, this one factor is not going to change your guitar’s tone entirely, but yes, you’ll definitely see the difference.

3. Try Different Playing Positions

This is also one of the things you should try if you’re seeking for warm-sounding tone from your guitar.

To get the warmest sound from your guitar, try to strum strings on the soundhole and more towards the neck area. basically, if you strum the strings farther from the saddle, the more warm sound you’ll get. But make sure you won’t go too far from the soundhole itself.

I understand, by changing the position, you feel a little different in the beginning but it will normalize after some sessions of practice. And you’ll clearly see the difference in the tone.

4. Change your Amp Settings for Warmer Sound

If you’re using a transistor amp or solid-state amp for your guitar and looking for a warmer-sounding tone, you need to think about this. Personally, I feel that Tube Amps tend to provide a warmer tone than solid-state amps.

As far as the settings, keep the gain low and turn the volume knob up to get a warmer sound. You can consider this as a thumb rule but be practical about this. Adjust settings according to your place and your taste.

5. Get your Guitar Set up from Technician

This is the last option you should consider to try to get a warm sound. First, follow all the above tips. If you think, by following the above ways, you didn’t get sufficient warm tone, give your guitar one proper setup is the final solution here.

Go to your local guitar shop and get your guitar set up done by a technician who knows what he is doing. Just tell him you’re looking for warmer sounding tone and he’ll do his stuff.

But, if you know how to set up your guitar all by yourself, then these are the things you should know:

Saddle, bridge pin, and nut material does make the difference in the overall tone of the guitar. but the good news is, you can easily upgrade them.

Let say, your guitar has plastic bridge pins, which are great and provide a nice, consistent sound but if you change them to ebony wood or some other softer material pins, you will get a more warn-sounding tone.

Thus, check out the material of the bridge pins. If they are made from brass or aluminum then you have to change them because they make your guitar’s sound nothing but bright.

But, I always recommend not to experiment with such stuff, if you don’t know what are you doing. Find a guitar shop in your local and let him take care of it.

Why People Like Warm Sounding Guitars?

Warm-sounding tones are generally low-midrange frequency. Usually, highs are rolled off to the point where they might feel subtle whereas the lows show fullness and richness in tone.

Basically, warm-sounding guitars tend to sound mellow, softer, more woody and gives you kind of bit more mixed notes. Whereas on the other hand, bright-sounding guitars are considered as louder, clearer, and have more sharpness in their tone.

Bright sound is consists of high frequencies. Many people prefer warm sounds because those high frequencies can get lost in the cymbals and sibilance of the vocals.

But, one thing you need to know, one can’t just say, the warm-sounding tone is better than the bright one. This is clearly a personal preference and depends on your music taste.

Final Words on Warm Sounding of Guitar

If you’re an internet guy like me, you might come across a discussion like “Sound can be warm and bright at the same time”. But personally, I don’t think so!

I consider bright sound is the exact opposite of the warm sound. But, I would definitely love to hear your opinion on this. please let me know, what do you think about this topic, so others can learn from it.

I hope you like this article and got your answer to your query. If you have any doubts or even any suggestions for me, the comment section is all yours!