How to Make Your Electric Guitar Scream
- 1). Invest in a guitar with a whammy bar. Although it is possible to produce screaming sounds on a guitar without one, a whammy bar will make these sounds much more powerful.
- 2). Crank up the distortion. Play on the heaviest distortion setting on your amplifier. Utilize maximum bass levels and the lowest mid-range and treble settings. Use the pickup setting closest to the bridge. Acquire a distortion pedal if your amplifier is unable to produce high distortion.
- 3). Flick the open "G" string on the third fret with your fretting hand. As the note rings, lightly touch the "G" string directly on top of the seventh fret to create a natural harmonic. Dive the whammy bar either up or down as soon as the harmonic is produced. The resulting sound will be a high-pitched squeal.
- 4). Play a pinch harmonic on the 14th fret. The "G" and "B" string will produce the strongest scream. Hold the pick so that part of your thumb brushes against the string as you pick it. Pick the string nearest to the pickups. Experiment; performing this technique in different places on the guitar will produce different sounds.
- 5). Perform volume swells. Pick a natural harmonic or pinch harmonic when the volume is at its lowest. Gradually turn the volume knob to the highest level to create a scream that builds up.
