The guitar is one of the oldest stringed instruments known to humanity. And as such, we are naturally drawn to its timbres and tones. But not every music producer can be a mastermind on the six-string, which can be frustrating when you want to tap into its timeless tonality to use in your productions.
So what options are there? Well, the majority of guitar VSTs and Kontakt Libraries out there can cost a fortune and usually only offer you a single style of guitar which can be frustrating for us music producers.
To save you time and headaches, we dug deep across the internet to find the best free alternatives for you to use in your productions. There is a unique free electric guitar, an excellent sampled guitar, and even a super impactful free electric guitar VST. If you’re looking for a free guitar tone of any kind, we did you a favor and found it.
But First, Do Need Free Stuff? We Got You Covered:
Vinyl Guitar
The vinyl guitar was designed to create a realistic Lo-Fi and Trap-friendly guitar sound. To achieve this, they sampled it twice: Once to record the actual guitar and then resampled it on a real vinyl record player to make it sound more LoFi and realistic. The result is a free plugin that has all the tonality and depth of a classic guitar tone with the nuance and texture of a gritty vinyl player.
I have found even better results by running this VST plugin through Guitar Rig 5, adding another level of gritty distortion and delay to the signal. It certainly encourages experimentation, which is half the battle.
Ample Guitar M Lite II
Ample Guitar M Lite II is a free acoustic guitar simulation, or virtual instrument, software with a very realistic feel, even when compared to more expensive pieces of software. I love using this on any number of guitar tracks in my productions. After running it through a plugin, the Valhalla Supermassive, it even sounds great as an FX guitar. It might not be the best guitar on this list, but it does a great job of sounding like a real guitar.
This guitar sounds great with or without effects. You can also double the guitar sound by pressing a button, making the sound fuller by mimicking that classic Fleetwood Mac guitar tone that we simply can’t get enough of.
Lethality
Iridium Iris’ Lethality is a tremendous free VST electric guitar with many different playing options. It has most of the critical articulations and effect modes you need to get a good sample, especially for alternative and rock genres.
The plugin is versatile and sounds realistic, from chords to pitch bends, and harmonics, to strumming control with manual automation. Plus, the guitar’s tone can be adjusted by many different knobs on the interface, such as gain, distortion, and fuzz control knobs. This guitar is a VST replication of some heavily distorted guitars. If you’re a fan of the sound of guitar distortion, this distorted electric guitar will surely be at the top of your list. And the fact that it is available for free is even more incredible!
Classic.GTR Lite
This sound is very similar to the Playstation games from the early 2000s. It’s nostalgic for me, but it also sounds like something that would be perfect for a video game. This plugin is a free lite version of the premium model, which allows for more customization and playability features. Free works for us too!
This plugin’s primary focus is simplicity; You can scroll through the seven different presets or create your sound, and all tone shaping options are reduced to modulation settings, an amp envelope, and High- and Low-pass filters. This result is a unique guitar pick sound that adds an excellent layer of detail to your productions.
Spitfire LABS Guitars
I use the LABS collection by Spitfire a lot in my posts because the instruments sound great, and it’s fantastic that they are free.
These are recordings of an electric guitar, a lap steel guitar, a peel guitar, a mandolin, and even a charango that professional players sampled. They probably have some of the most realistic guitars sounds that you can get, even when compared to paid plugins.
The entire line of their free offerings makes Spitfire LABS a powerhouse player in the production world, all without the majority of its users spending a dime (although their premium stuff is incredible too). If you’re looking to add any guitar sound to your studio, this sure is sure to be one of the best plugins on this list for your needs.
Suburban Guitarist
The Suburban Guitarist VST is an electric guitar with unique lead and rhythm guitar modes. By incorporating different techniques, such as bends, slides, whammy bar actions, palm-muted notes, and harmonics, the instrument can create a more realistic sound. The humanization control also helps to make the sound more realistic by simulating the sync differences between the guitarists’ fretting and picking hands.
This acoustic guitar plugin is great but comes with pros and cons. The pros are that it’s a classic-sounding guitar tone without many frills, bells, or whistles. This also can be seen as a con, as it allows for little flexibility outside of the core sound that is its forte. If you’re looking for a tremendous sampled guitar song, this one will be awesome for you.
Guitar Harmonics Essential
This plugin produces similar to those guitar harmonics, giving it a more angelic or harp-like vibe. I find the plugin to be excellent sounding on its own, and I see it as a tool that you could be used to produce music for games or videos. This is a perfect option if you’re making more ambient and soundscape-style music breathwork or sync placements. All you need to do is throw a bit of lush, tasty reverb on this and you’re completely set. It is fun to play with after a bit of tweaking is done, that is.
Guitar Harmonics Essential is a plugin for Steinberg’s HALion sampler, but it is compatible with any DAW.
DSK Dynamic Guitars
The three virtual instruments offered by DSK Dynamic Guitars – Acoustic, Steel, and Nylon guitars – all provide excellent sound quality and realistic, dynamic responses. The control panel features several adjustment knobs, allowing users to customize the sound of the guitars to their liking.
This guitar is a free Swiss Army knife of guitar models. So if you’re looking for a realistic acoustic guitar sound, this option is well worth the space on your hard drive.
So check it out!
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
