Worst guitar sound

[Fretcruiser]

After taking a trip to my local Guitar Center the other day, I heard many horrible sounds. I was trying to figure out which one was the worst. Here's what I heard...

1. An out of tune guitar
2. Bad bends
3. Missed harmonics
4. Excessive feedback
5. Hitting a note out of key
6. Someone playing a Jonas Brothers song


You tell me which one is the worst. I personally have to go with someone hitting a bad bend.

[duhvoodooman]

You tell me which one is the worst. I personally have to go with someone hitting a bad bend.
I'd have to agree with that one. A missed note is one thing, but a bad bend is s-o-o-o painfully obvious.

[Spudman]

It is pretty even for me on Out of Tune and Bad Bend but the Bad Bend won my vote.

[R_of_G]

None of the above. I am going with tone that's too thin.

[peachhead]

I dunno. It's hard for me to be really annoyed at something that I've done so regularly and that includes all except the last one (thankfully).
Feedback is pretty rough on the ears though.

[oldguy]

I'll go with out of tune guitar.
Unless you miss every bend, or feedback is the constant screeching painful type.
Out of tune is constant, unless you tune up, it never stops hurting..........

[TS808]

Nothing on earth is more annoying than the Jonas Brothers...worse than fingernails scraping on a chalkboard!

[just strum]

I picked "hitting a note out of key" because that is the thing my ears tend to pick-up more than anything else (unless the guitar is ridiculously out of tune).

Actually the worse sound a guitar makes is when it makes no sound. I guess that would be considered neglect.

[marnold]

Out of tune drives me mad. I have the same fight every one does with the string tuned to G. My sense of pitch is just good enough to know it's wrong but not good enough to know how to fix it without a tuner.

It sounds especially bad with my typical amount of gain where you get that lovely warbling effect.

[Algonquin]

My sense of pitch is just good enough to know it's wrong but not good enough to know how to fix it without a tuner.
Ditto!

[Fretcruiser]

Out of tune drives me mad. I have the same fight every one does with the string tuned to G. My sense of pitch is just good enough to know it's wrong but not good enough to know how to fix it without a tuner.

It sounds especially bad with my typical amount of gain where you get that lovely warbling effect.

Yeah. Why is that? My G string always goes out of tune. I guess it must be something with the string gauge.

[just strum]

What exactly is a bad bend? What is the difference in sound?

[Fretcruiser]

What exactly is a bad bend? What is the difference in sound?
Missing the note you're intending to bend to by being too sharp or too flat. Like if you play the 12, 14, and bend 14 to 15, it's supposed to have the exact pitch that simply fretting the 15th fret would have. If you bend it too much or not enough, it's going to sound way off.

BTW, just strum, I'm from Cleveland too!!

[Childbride]

i'm still a newb at 2 years in, but i have a relatively good ear, and pitch issues are like pencils jammed piercingly in my eardrums about four inches in. with steel leads, or something.

but, then, you did mention the jonas brothers... :rotflmao:

[Rocket]

but, then, you did mention the jonas brothers...
What is this "jonas brothers" y'all speak of?!

[wingsdad]

Nothing on earth is more annoying than the Jonas Brothers...worse than fingernails scraping on a chalkboard!

Well, some of the 6, might be 'bad', but if I hear the intros to 'Smoke On The Water', 'Stairway To Heaven' or 'Hotel California' mangled yet one more time....:puke:

[markb]

What is this "jonas brothers" y'all speak of?!

You beat me to it, Rocket :bravo: :)

[Fretcruiser]

You beat me to it, Rocket :bravo: :)

It's best that you don't know.:AOK:

[Suhnton]

No matter how good you are, out of tune just sounds plain bad.
I tried listening to Jimi Hendrix at the Isle of Wight, it nearly drove me mad.

[Plank_Spanker]

No "all of the above" choice? :D

[Cottonwood King]

I'll go with out of tune guitar.
Unless you miss every bend, or feedback is the constant screeching painful type.
Out of tune is constant, unless you tune up, it never stops hurting..........

Exactly, I agree. The constant pain of an out of tune guitar got my vote.

[jpfeifer]

Yeah, I'll have to go with the bad bend category.

Nothing grates on my ears more than hearing someone "sit" on a bad note bend and stay there way to long ... ouch. I'm surprised to hear this kind of thing in Neil Young's lead playing, but there are some people who really like his playing so maybe it's just me.

The other one that drives my up the way is playing with heavy scooped distortion on everything. It would drive me crazy to work at a place like Guitar Center and have to hear this all day long.

-- Jim

[R_of_G]

Nothing grates on my ears more than hearing someone "sit" on a bad note bend and stay there way to long ... ouch. I'm surprised to hear this kind of thing in Neil Young's lead playing, but there are some people who really like his playing so maybe it's just me.

Probably not just you, but definitely varies on an individual basis. I love much of Neil's electric playing and the dissonance is a big reason why. I like the 'right' note as much as the next guy, but I also appreciate an approach where things need not resolve every time. Sometimes the wrong note is the right note. I think a lot of it has to do with whether or not it fits within the context of the song. Or perhaps that's just me.:confused:

[Viking Power]

I am at that happy place where ignorance is bliss. :wave:



Not good enough at guitar to recognize a lot of bad sounds. Never heard the Jonas Brothers (and God I hope it stays that way!).

[scgmhawk]

I voted for "out of tune" -- BUT I have an 11 year old daughter and the Jonus Bros. song is right up there! Or, Hannah Montana...or any other Disney Channel child star's song!

[Fretcruiser]

I just thought of something. Didn't the Beatles used to be the "Jonas Brothers" of their day, where all the kids were screaming for them and stuff? I just hope 40 years from now we're not talking about the impact the JB had on music.

[tot_Ou_tard]

After taking a trip to my local Guitar Center the other day, I heard many horrible sounds. I was trying to figure out which one was the worst. Here's what I heard...

1. An out of tune guitar
2. Bad bends
3. Missed harmonics
4. Excessive feedback
5. Hitting a note out of key
6. Someone playing a Jonas Brothers song


You tell me which one is the worst. I personally have to go with someone hitting a bad bend.

Sorry, I'll make sure not to go into Guitar Centers in Ohio anymore. :o

[pes_laul]

for me it must be when you gett that teenager who keeps on playing crazy train and smoke on the water badly

[Suhnton]

for me it must be when you gett that teenager who keeps on playing crazy train and smoke on the water badly

I'm sure we were all that teenager at some stage. Being forced to listen to it is called "payback" :)

[Plank_Spanker]

In all fairness, there is no "worse guitar sound" at GC. The kids are there having a great time trying out new gear................even if some of them bring their posse to support them. We were all young once.........indulge them. Ah.....................to be be young and care free again..............:D

Then you have the next level - "got some chops down; let me see who I can impress".....................easily spotted. They play a lick or two and look around to see if anyone noticed it.

All this ends immediately when a real player comes in to try out a guitar or amp at volume......................killer lick after klller lick................jaws dropping all through the store..............and you can hear a pin drop when he's done. :D

[Fretcruiser]

In all fairness, there is no "worse guitar sound" at GC. The kids are there having a great time trying out new gear................even if some of them bring their posse to support them. We were all young once.........indulge them. Ah.....................to be be young and care free again..............:D

Then you have the next level - "got some chops down; let me see who I can impress".....................easily spotted. They play a lick or two and look around to see if anyone noticed it.

All this ends immediately when a real player comes in to try out a guitar or amp at volume......................killer lick after klller lick................jaws dropping all through the store..............and you can hear a pin drop when he's done. :D
Well said!

[Andy]

people who go to guitar center to play on expensive gear with clearly no intentention of buying anything.

It kills me to see someone bang around a $3000 les paul for no reason like it's a playtoy put there for their cheap enjoyment

[sunvalleylaw]

I tried to find a clip of a guitar falling over and breaking, which to me must be the worst guitar sound.

All I found were knuckleheads intentionally breaking guitars, which is also a bad sound, but not what I was going for.

[Ro3b]

Bad rhythm. I'll take anything else on the list over playing with someone who can't lock into a groove.

[thearabianmage]

On the list, it's a tie between out of tune and missed bends. . . But off the list, I'd have to say one of the most annoying guitar sounds is people playing songs out of rhythm.

Either that or a combination of out-of-rhythm/out-of-tune. Especially when they are playing 'Sweet Child 'O Mine', 'Stairway to Heaven' or, heaven forbid, 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'. . .