Guide to Bowed Guitar Tone

Bowing on a guitar is definitely something all guitar players should try once in their lifetime. It's a technique that, overall, is underutilized. This may be because it's difficult, or the beginner doesn't understand the little tricks for making this style of play work. The big deterring factor for many players is the tone of bowed guitar is usually awful. Luckily, I'm here to share my experiences getting a great bowed guitar tone. Let's begin.

First, a guitar that possesses a smaller and more curved body will be better suited for this style of play. A Les Paul, for instance, is much easier than a Stratocaster as far comfort and playability go for this style. You don't need a guitar like a Les Paul, but it sure helps.

Second, if you've ever played a violin the strings are very rigid and don't have much give. This is very unlike a guitar, especially if they are strung with 9 gauge strings which is the norm. In order to tighten the strings and make it easier to bow, an easy method is to simply place a capo on the guitar. This will tighten the strings and make it much easier to bow.

Let's talk equipment, though. If you want the best tone while keeping ease of use, you're gonna need to pick up a few things. First, you'll want to use dark rosin over normal rosin. Normal rosin makes scratchy noises really pronounced, and unless you're a professional cellist or violinist you probably don't want something that pronounces your icky noises. Instead, get dark rosin and turn down your tone knob a bit. It'll make a smoother, rounder tone more fitting for this style of play.

As far as strings go, you'll want to go with very thick flat wound strings. 13 gauge, maybe more. If you're not familiar with flat wound strings, they're simply strings that aren't wound. They have no ridges, and are thus smooth. The are very much like strings found on classical instruments.

If all else fails, pile on reverb. No, seriously. Bowed guitar, and pretty much anything really, sound great with tons of reverb. So if you're still not satisfied with the tone and want to be a bowed guitar player, drench your tone in reverb.

One last thing, you'll want to wipe any rosin off your strings and guitar after your playing session is done. If you leave it, it may erode your finish and strings over time. Good Luck!