How to Record Electric Guitar the Minimalist Way

My band recently released a song that features an electric guitar. It was our first attempt at including electric guitar in a song. All our past material has been pretty minimalist as far as instrumentation: vocals, acoustic guitar, and the occasional Glockenspiel. Just think acoustic, stripped-down versions of pop songs and you’ll have a good idea of our sound.

At the time we were arranging the song, I didn’t have an electric guitar. I hadn’t needed one because we only ever performed acoustic sets. But for this recording, we wanted a Coldplay-esque guitar solo and some simple background picking. We didn’t expect to ever perform the song this way; it was merely for the recording. So instead of investing in a decent electric guitar and the necessary amp, I figured out a cheap workaround: I bought a used children’s electric guitar on Facebook Marketplace for $70.

Buy a Used Children’s Guitar

A children’s electric guitar has several benefits. First of all, since children’s guitars are smaller, they are cheaper than regular-sized guitars. Also, if you buy the guitar used, you can get one at a discounted price. I was able to walk away with my Fender Squier Mini for only $70 (They’re about twice as much new).

Now, you might object that a used children’s guitar will lack in quality, and this is true. However, the beauty of the minimalist recording method I am about to lay out is that you don’t need a quality instrument. Like I said, I only wanted the electric guitar for the recording. And with the help of digital recording techniques, you can make many a cheap instrument sound good.

Connect Directly to Audio Interface

Recording is all about eliminating as much unwanted noise as possible. To bypass the need for a microphone, which picks up noise indiscriminately, you can record your electric guitar directly to your computer. To do this, you’ll need an audio interface and a regular 1/4 inch guitar cable. Plug your guitar directly into the audio interface with the guitar cable, and connect your audio interface to your PC via USB cable (or FireWire depending on the audio interface).

Eliminating the microphone stage is huge. It means you don’t need to worry about room acoustics, soundproofing, or mic placement. With a direct line to your computer via an audio interface, you’ll have a clean signal void of outside noise.

Apply VST Amps and Effects

With the electric guitar plugged into an audio interface, you don’t need a guitar amp. However, you’ll likely not want a straight clean guitar tone either. To get an amplified sound, not to mention effects, without investing in a physical guitar amp and pedal board, you can take advantage of free VST amps and effects. VST stands for Virtual Studio Technology and includes virtual instruments and effects compatible with your DAW. In your DAW, simply apply VST amps and effects to the guitar track to shape your guitar tone. This way, in addition to saving yourself the need for a microphone, you save yourself getting an amp and pedal effect as well.

There are many VST amps to choose from, including several that are free. I would recommend the trial version of AmpliTube 4. Though it’s features are limited, it still offers plenty of guitar sounds, including different amps and pedal board effects. Plus, you can use the trial version for as long as you want. The trial version of AmpliTube 4 is the best, most user-friendly VST guitar amp I have come across, but there are many more. You cane explore some others here.

Edit Mistakes Post-Recording

After recording your electric guitar through an audio interface and applying VST amps and effects, it’s time to edit. You may need to splice together multiple takes or fine tune off-pitch notes. All post-recording edits can be done within your DAW.

One thing I almost always correct for is timing. It’s hard to always pick or strum in perfect time (if you really struggle, consider a click track). For Reaper (my preferred DAW), you can find the best process for correcting guitar timing here. If you use a different DAW, I would recommend searching for similar tutorials on YouTube. Knowing you can correct timing mistakes later means less pressure when recording. If you don’t get a perfect take, you can always shift the occasional offbeat note on your computer.

Become a Bedroom Artist

And that’s all it takes to record electric guitar. If you don’t want to get serious about playing electric guitar, the children’s-electric-guitar-to-audio-interface-to-VST method does the job. The combination of these recording hacks makes recording a decent-sounding electric guitar easy, something you can do on your own.

You can witness the success of DIY recording generally in several modern solo artists. Many produce from their own bedroom, leading to terms like bedroom artist and bedroom pop. Two of my favorite bedroom artists are Clairo and Steve Lacy. Clairo rose to prominence by lip syncing to her self-produced song “Pretty Girl” in a viral YouTube video she recorded with her laptop. And Steve Lacy produced his first hits on an iPhone because he couldn’t afford a MacBook.

Since recording has become increasingly accessible and affordable, past barriers to making music are substantially smaller. For example, you no longer need to pay for a producer, a recording studio, or session musicians. You can do it all on your own. Of course, making music this way can have a learning curve. But the opportunity is there. Anyone can make music today. So don’t buy a nice electric guitar or, worse yet, hire a session guitarist unless you want to. You can do it all on your own, and it won’t even sound half bad.