How do you get sound on a guitar to sustain longer?

Question

I am learning the solo for Don't fear the reaper, but the noise won't last long enough to do all the hammer-ons and pull-offs

Answer 1

Turn the echo on the amp higher.

Answer 2

Play with the amp. A lot of effects make the sound go longer. Also try changing the strings.

Answer 3

Boss CS-3 Compression/Sustainer pedal. I had one, it was bad ***. you can find them on ebay.

Answer 4

The truest form of sustain is mechanical, and comes from having a well-built guitar with decent quality tone wood. This is something that your guitar either has or doesn't have.

Since note decay is defined as a tone becoming quieter over time, if we make the signal louder then that means it will sound like the guitar is sustaining longer. This is the basis of all other forms of sustain - compression, amp, distortion, etc.

If we have a pedal that sets parameters that say that at when the guitar gets this quiet we boost gain and at this loud we lower gain, well, that's a compression pedal. By boosting the quiet parts and limiting the louder parts we achieve the impression of a consistently louder sound.

Distortion gives us sustain also, whether the softer-clip variety that you find in overdrive pedals and amps, or the hard-clip that you find in distortion devices. The idea is that if we raise gain across the board, ie, always make the signal louder, then the quiet parts get louder. Of course, the louder parts get louder, too, and at some point those louder points are going to hit a ceiling where they just can't get any louder. The top part of the wave is clipped off, and distortion happens. How the wave is clipped determines its sound.

Anyways, in general you want a hotter signal. Try raising your pickups a smidge, especially on the treble side (thin strings), and consider either increasing the gain on your amp, or getting a pedal to boost your signal for the solo. An EQ pedal or an overdrive pedal should do the trick.... a distortion pedal will not.

Saul

Answer 5

Whammy bar?

Answer 6

Put alot of distortion on it and use loud volume

If you have 2 distortion pedals or amp distortion and a pedal turn them both on at the same time

Sustain for days

But just make sure your playing something or holding a note or else your get some bad noise

Answer 7

sustain pedal

Answer 8

A lot of factors go into sustain.  Some instruments are just better than others.  A real, Gibson Les Paul is built to have a 20-second natural sustain.  They achieve this by increased body mass and by gluing the neck to the body (as opposed to a bolt-on.  Nech-thru's theoretically would have even better sustain.)  Trey Anastasio, formerly of Phish, takes a different approach to sustain: he plays a semi-hollow body, and uses a touch of distortion.  With this mix, he is able to use feedback to create monstrous sustain- listen to the transition-section of You Enjoy Myself to see what I mean.  Buck Dharma, the guitarist from BOC, played Don't Fear the Reaper on a solid-body Les Paul.  

Also, the tonal characteristics of your amp will come into play.  As mentioned above, feedback can be used creatively to achieve greater sustain.  

Here's a quote from Buck Dharma's website, http://www.buckdharma.com/Guitar/GuitTip...

"If you need more sustain and feedback for legato passages or effects than is provided by any overdrive or distortion box you may be using, it helps to mechanically couple the guitar to the speaker cabinet. After setting your amp to a healthy volume, hold the headstock and/or body of the guitar against the speaker cabinet. (Experiment!) You should experience sustain and feedback for days, as you flog your whammy bar or just generally annoy your neighbor. Enjoy!"

Answer 9

buy a fender strat i have one