guitar squeaks

August 16, 2009 10:08 PM

What is that squeak that guitars sometimes make, and where can I hear more of it?

You know how sometimes a song that includes guitars will make the occasional squeaking sound? (heard in the first few seconds of this song, all over the place in this song, and throughout this one too.) What causes that? And can you please point me towards some more squeaky-guitar songs?

I am musically ignorant, but I love that squeak.

posted by jschu to media & arts (28 comments total)

I think you're just hearing the sound of the player's fingers sliding over the strings when they're moving chord to chord.
posted by GeekAnimator at 10:13 PM on August 16

That's caused by the player's fingers sliding on the strings.
posted by C17H19NO3 at 10:13 PM on August 16

It's the sound of something (fingers or a slide of/in the left hand moving across the strings as the chord changes. Don't know of any good examples of songs where you can hear it though... I'll think about it...
posted by brainmouse at 10:15 PM on August 16

It's the result of the left hand fingers moving along the wire wound bass strings, when moving up and down the neck, to play chords or notes in different positions. Some guitar strings are coated with various plastics to reduce this; other, usually electric guitar strings, are wound with flat section wire, so that there is a smoother surface for the fingers to slide on, which also reduces this noise. But coating and using flat wire to wind the strings also tend to dull the bright overtones the string will produce, making the conventionally wound strings the choice of most classical and acoustic guitar muscians.

Listen to classical and acoustic guitar soloists, if you love that sound artifact. Doc Watson and his son Merle make those noises often.
posted by paulsc at 10:18 PM on August 16 [1 favorite]

That is the sound of the player's fingertips sliding along the wound strings on the neck of the guitar, it's known as string noise or fret squeak.

Personally, as a guitar player it drives me nuts but you might like Nick Drake or Jose Gonzalez. Neither are particularly squeaky players but have done quiet acoustic guitar songs similar to your examples.
posted by jamaro at 10:20 PM on August 16

Curiously it's also often called "fret noise", especially in music software (on patches, etc), even when it's not strictly that.
posted by wackybrit at 10:22 PM on August 16

Belle & Sebastian squeak all the time. I was actually thinking of posting an AskMe about whether it's deliberate, considered a feature in some music but a bug in others, considered incompetent, etc. Some B&S songs have so much of it I find it distracting, and have wondered if it was a deliberate styilstic choice or just a quirk of the guitar player or something else.
posted by not that girl at 10:26 PM on August 16

It's really prominent in Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles) by The Arcade Fire.
posted by ludwig_van at 10:37 PM on August 16

not that girl: "I was actually thinking of posting an AskMe about whether it's deliberate, considered a feature in some music but a bug in others, considered incompetent, etc. Some B&S songs have so much of it I find it distracting, and have wondered if it was a deliberate styilstic choice or just a quirk of the guitar player or something else."

Like everything in life, it's a little from Box 1 and a little from Box 2.

There are technical issues with string squeak (as explained a little above), so conscious choices such as string type and radius will affect the amount of squeak a player may get. There is also the issue of technique - some players are particularly noisy, others unfathomably quiet on the same guitar with the same strings.

Unless the music particularly demands silence (classical guitar, for instance, should have no string noise between notes), players will often "not worry" too much about leaving it in, feeling it's earthy and realistic. Rarely is it actually specifically and intentionally generated as a part of the song though.
posted by benzo8 at 10:48 PM on August 16

Thanks, Benzo8. I suspected it was something like that.
posted by not that girl at 11:05 PM on August 16

Don't feel weird about liking it: I like it too.

It's all over Jenny Lewis / Rilo Kiley, Ani DiFranco, Kimya Dawson / Moldy Peaches... and most alt-folky stuff, really.
posted by rokusan at 11:11 PM on August 16

Particularly squeaky Ani song, for example.
posted by rokusan at 11:34 PM on August 16

I will follow into the dark by death cab for cutie is a squeaky song. You can hear Ben's breathing too.
posted by magikker at 11:49 PM on August 16

It's all over Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners, a Foo Fighters track that's an instrumental guitar duet with Dave Grohl and Kaki King. I'm inclined to believe the side with the squeaks is provided by Grohl.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 12:34 AM on August 17

Oh, Ani, yes. Her squeaks are so earnest.
posted by redsparkler at 12:56 AM on August 17

Elliot Smith liked squeaking. Fond Farewell has a lot, for instance.
posted by fire&wings at 3:59 AM on August 17

Matt Nathanson on the album versions of "Sooner Surrender" and "Still".
posted by ersatzkat at 4:57 AM on August 17

The last track of Ivy's In the Clear ("Feel So Free") has guitar squeaks that I believe were deliberately added into the mix: they're loud and distinct, and mixed way to the left and right of the soundstage, and sometimes treated with a little bit of echo. "If you like squeaks," that song says, "then I got your squeaks right here. SQUEAK! SQUEAK!"
posted by Prospero at 5:00 AM on August 17

Pat Donohue's fingers squeak on his strings a lot. I think it's probably related to the fact that he's a finger-picker. You can hear him on CDs by Red House Records or as the main musician on "Prairie Home Companion" radio show. (No endorsement/relationship, other than that he's the uncle of an old friend and hearing him play at a White Bear Lake (?) park is one of my older memories.)
posted by wenestvedt at 6:51 AM on August 17

I seem to recall there's a lot of 'finger squeaking' on Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's.
posted by 543DoublePlay at 7:15 AM on August 17

A lot of grunge music featured some squeaky guitar players, likely because many of them weren't classically trained and enjoyed the sound, warts and all.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:36 AM on August 17

Satellite - Dave Matthews Band is all squeaks for the first minute.
posted by loquax at 7:38 AM on August 17

A lot of jazz players use flatwounds for just this reason but most people, myself included, think flatwounds sound kind of dead.
posted by tommasz at 9:29 AM on August 17

There is a Rolling Stones live album from the Brian Jones days that has startling amounts of string noise: Got LIVE If You Want It is the title. It was remastered to CD in 2002 but I have no idea what it sounds like now; I would imagine the string noise is gone because it was out of control on the original 1966 LP. If you cannot track down a vinyl copy, memail me -- I have one gathering dust in the attic.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:53 AM on August 17

It's only at the very beginning of the song, but Sheer Heart Attack by Queen has a pretty badass squeek.
posted by usonian at 6:49 PM on August 17

Ken Reaume does a mean squeak: Ken Reaume - He Comes To You.
posted by scruss at 7:12 PM on August 18

Muse - Falling Away with You has this for the first minute and a half or so
posted by odi.et.amo at 11:49 AM on August 23

Popping back in a week later because my iPod randomly gave me three squeakers in a row in today's shuffle, which reminded me of this thread.

Emiliana Torrini: Sunny Road
YouTube version

Emiliana Torrini: Today Has Been Okay
YouTube version

Belle and Sebastian: Piazza, New York Catcher
YouTube version
posted by rokusan at 9:21 AM on August 30