As an aspiring guitar player, you are learning that TONE is very important! There are some basic things that you can do to improve your tone and your sound.
1. Change Your Strings Once a Month
Make sure you have a good new set of strings on your guitar. Old strings sound dull and will not hold tune. When you play every day, you should change your strings about once each month! Many of you have had those old strings on there for over 1 year! Get a good set and change them soon!
2. Use FAST FRET
This stuff is awesome and it cleans your strings after you play it and it prolongs the life of your strings. It’s only about 5.00 and lasts forever. It can even revive some older strings for a while. Use it after every time you play. Made by GHS, its the best I have found. You don’t have to spray it on and it is very nice.
3. Have your guitar “set-up”
A professional guitar tech can set you guitar up and make it play like butter! Many students bring their guitars to lessons and the setting are completely off. Perfect intonation, a straight neck and good string height are all very important to tone. Plus you won’t believe how great your guitar feels when it is all set up right. Do this before you buy a new guitar! Ask around at the local music store for a Luthier with a good reputation.
4. Use a Humidifier on Acoustics
Especially important for guitar with solid tops! Your guitar tone will come alive when it is properly humidified. When a guitar gets dry, it sounds bright and brittle. My Taylor sound amazing when I do this. When I don’t use one, it gets annoying! An inexpensive sound hole type humidifier will work fine. 10-15 bucks is all you need! This is the type that I use. (shown on right) AND remember to keep your guitar in the case most of the time and away from the trunk of your car for long periods of time.
5. Tune Your Guitar with an Electronic Tuner
Sure, you can tune it by ear, but your ear will not match the perfection of the tuner. Your guitar will 
sound much sweeter when tuned by a tuner. I can tune by ear fine, but for every performance or recording, I use an electronic tuner. I use the tuner on my pedal while performing but my favorite tuner for any other time is the Korg GT-3. It’s about $30.00 and it is my favorite. Don’t use a $5.00 tuner like a QuikTune. They are not that great.
Follow these easy steps and you will notice a HUGE difference in how your guitar sounds! If you have any questions, just comment below! Good luck!
also, are ghs strings good because a friend of mine told me he likes them the best and hes been playing guitar for over 20 years.
I like ghs. Just find a type of sting that you like by testing out several brands over time.
How can you tell if your guitar is not already set up well?
If you get buzz when you play notes. – bad
if your guitar sound in tune with one chord but out of tune on another – bad
If your strings are far off the neck and you have to push do really far – bad
If your guitar doesn’t stay in tune and sound in tune and play with ease – bad
Take it to your local music shop and ask for a guitar setup. Guitar center is doing them now for about 25 bucks I think.