# Squeaky acoustic guitar strings **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2006, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965 "2006-01-28T07:18:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/1 "2006-01-28T07:18:52Z")
You know when you’re playing your acoustic guitar and betwen notes you get that squeak as you move your fingers along the strings? Is that an actual technique or is it just a hard-to-avoid by-product of playing? And if it’s a technique, what’s it called? ---
**Author:** ![Bernard\_Marx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@Bernard\_Marx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bernard_Marx)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/2 "2006-01-28T07:38:15Z")
Well, if it were bagpipes, it would be called “crossing noises” But it’s not bagpipes, so I don’t know, sorry 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/3 "2006-01-28T12:49:22Z")
It’s not that hard to avoid: [string ease](http://www.encoremusic.com/guitar/2300435.html) is pretty popular. IIRC Strings labelled _slinky_ are less prone to what I’d just call string noise. Sometimes it’s a deliberate thing - the introductory line to Pink Floyd’s _Wish You Were Here_ features it. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/4 "2006-01-28T12:57:47Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > You know when you’re playing your acoustic guitar and betwen notes you get that squeak as you move your fingers along the strings? Is that an actual technique or is it just a hard-to-avoid by-product of playing? And if it’s a technique, what’s it called? IANAG, but it’s an essential element of one of my favourite songs - the acoustic _Taste of Cindy_ by J&MC, and it’s pretty loud, so I think sometimes it’s deliberate. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/5 "2006-01-28T13:31:03Z")
Liz Phair does it on “Perfect World,” I assume deliberately. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/6 "2006-01-28T14:44:00Z")
When I am coaching folks on how to play guitar, one of the first things I say is that you should spend 50% of your effort getting the sounds you want, and 50% of your effort preventing the sounds you don’t want. String squeak is part of that. Obnoxious string squeak I avoid like the plague, but subtle, natural string squeak, to me, enhances the organic sound of the song. To me it is like wood grain on well-made furniture, or variations in yarn color (called “abrash”) in real Persian rugs - just a natural variation in the sound of the song that makes it feel warm and natural. Hearing it when a truly great player plays - a Mark Knopfler or Stevie Ray, for instance - it just part of the process. It is like hearing Errol Garner hum to himself while soloing on jazz piano - just cool… ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/7 "2006-01-28T15:31:20Z")
The opening bass on the theme to _The Barney Miller Show_ also had it. Even as a kid it irritated the shit out of me. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/8 "2006-01-28T16:00:44Z")
In most cases it’s an unwanted byproduct. Besides String-Ease and the like, there are flatwound strings and strings in which the grooves are filled with an epoxy. Elixir strings are a version of the latter and have excellent tone and last a lot longer than regular strings. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/9 "2006-01-28T17:27:47Z")
I only checked into this thread for random curiosity, but I don’t leave empty handed: “String squeak” will delight the 8 and 9 year olds I babysit; they’re in a tonguetwister phase. (Sounds annoying, I know, but trust me: it’s a million times better than the “knock knock” phase we barely survived last year.) ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2006, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/10 "2006-01-29T00:48:19Z")
John Lennon’s _#9 Dream_ has a great “squeaky string” bit right after the “ah bawakawa” chorus. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/11 "2006-01-29T05:04:58Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#): > > In most cases it’s an unwanted byproduct. Besides String-Ease and the like, there are flatwound strings and strings in which the grooves are filled with an epoxy. Elixir strings are a version of the latter and have excellent tone and last a lot longer than regular strings. Ugh. I can’t stand Elixirs. They’re just way too slippery for me; there’s just not enough feel there. Plus they last long past the time they should have been changed, which means that lazy me just leaves them on. ---
**Author:** ![Mbossa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@Mbossa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbossa)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2006, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/12 "2006-01-29T05:55:29Z")
String squeaking is a prominent (and no doubt deliberate) part of Radiohead’s _Morning Bell/Amnesiac_, which happens to be one of my least favourite Radiohead songs. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2006, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/13 "2006-01-29T06:44:06Z")
I understand that in playing classical guitar, string squeak is considered totally undesirable. Part of the technique is lifting fingers completely off the strings before sliding up or down the fretboard. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/14 "2006-01-29T14:52:52Z")
The most prominent example of string squeak I thought of is at the very end of Dan Fogelberg’s “Longer.” ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/squeaky-acoustic-guitar-strings/341965/15 "2006-01-29T15:12:45Z")
I heard a record of Japanese _koto_ music that was full of string squeaks. Just like on guitars. I guessed either the _koto_ player deliberately included the sounds as part of their sonic design, or else the squeak was so hard to avoid they’d just decided to live with it.