Want Your Guitar to Sound Better? Master These 6 Techniques!

If you want to get the best performance possible out of your guitar, there are a handful of simple maintenance tasks that will help you get the most for your tone and playability.

Dan Erlewine, Tomo Fujita and Gene Imbody walk you through all 6 in this video (and they are easier than you might think). Check it out!

0:00 6 Things Every Player Should Know
1:40 Changing Strings
10:00 Adjusting the Truss Rod
12:58 Setting the Action
19:08 Adjusting Pickup Height
21:42 Adjusting Intonation
27:04 General Maintenance

Check out some of our other videos cover the topics above in more detail:

How to String an Acoustic Guitar

How to String an Electric Guitar

How to Measure Your Guitar's Action

Tomo's Video on Adjusting Pickup Height

How to Intonate a Guitar

Understanding guitar truss rod adjustment

5 Reasons Your Guitar Won't Stay in Tune

How to Clean a Guitar

Tools and supplies featured in this video include:

ESP Multi Spanner Wrench

String Action Gauge

Radius Gauges

Understring Radius Gauges

Truss Rod Wrenches

Jack The Gripper Tool

StewMac Hygrometer/Thermometer

D'Addario Guitar Humidifier

Peterson StroboStomp HD Pedal Tuner

Guitar Tech Screwdriver Set
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StewMac has everything you need to repair, build or maintain your guitars.
Everything we sell is backed by our Lifetime Promise, and we offer fast worldwide shipping.

Instagram: @StewMac_Guitar

[robertclarkguitar]

I absolutely adore Tomo. He is the kindest truly passionate guitar /music teacher. Equally player. Insane the man can play anything but usually jazzy blues. So clean and precise with rare effects at all. Amazing musician. He isn't about selling you anything but introducing you to the guitar. Amazing gentleman.

[replicated]

This is the best Stewmac video I've seen in quite a while. This is absolutely great. Hope to see more of these guys.

[kwpowell]

I've been a student of Dan for more than 30 years. The man is a legend. I bet he's forgotten more than most of us will ever know!

[ronmorey]

These three together would make for a great regular show on the channel. Thanks!

[Bertdevries]

I am 57 years of age, and I am Dutch. So please forgive me if I make a mistake in spelling a word or sentence. OK, So I am a starting guitarist and have many things to learn. I am so glad there are a lot of learning and podcast like channels. I have my guitar for about 6 or 7 months. At first, I bought myself a semi acoustic guitar. I loved the sound of it. It was a guitar from BAX music shop. A local shop with his own brand. A wonderful piece of instrument it is. After a while, I wanted to have an electric
guitar as well. So I bought a beautiful White single cut "Fazley" in the style of Les Paul. I noticed that playing a barre cord was much easier on my electric than it was on my semi acoustic.

When I saw this video tutorial, my question was answered: "Why is my snare slipping after replacing the 2nd (B) string after replacing?" I did wind in the wrong way! This was because the string is without any structure. I mean, It was all flat steel with nickel. And winding it without putting it down after a whole turn, it will slip. Thank you for showing me that and also stretching the string 3 times. I bought a tool to stretch your strings easier.

I also bought My equipment to measure the hide from the stings, a complete kit for maintenance of my guitar. Special oil for my fretboard and wipes to clean my strings and a stone to clean my frets. So I have everything to maintain and play my beautiful instruments. I learn a lot of these videos. Thank you for a thousand times. I just gave you a Big Thumbs up and subscribed to your channel.
I am a fan of this YouTube channel. Really great.
Sincerely, Bert from Hillegom, the Netherlands.

[KekmanForTheRestOfTheWorld]

Thank you so much for inviting Tomo Fujita!

[ditchgator]

Dan's book "How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great" gives all the wisdom of how to do just that...!
Invaluable 😉👍
Thanks Mr. Erlewine😎👍❤🖖

[dankyboi]

What I really liked about this is that you have 3 pros with different backgrounds in guitar basically saying "here's how this works, here's a rule of thumb but in the end you do you, have fun". Great video, there is always a little something to learn, especially from the little anecdotes

[embee]

I love the vibe the lads have going! There seems to be a lot of mutual respect and I just love them sharing their knowledge with us. Thank you!

[tacmason]

These guys are true “Guitar Lifers”, a real pleasure to see them pass that love forward !

[thisperfectworld]

This video is going to become my go-to reference for every electric guitar student I have from now on! The tip about intonating not just to the octave, but to chords above and below the 12th fret, is gold!

[dannfeltrin]

I've been keeping my guitars clean and checked for about 15 years (would always spend money with pros before that afraid of screwing up my guitars), and the tips here were great! Glad I'm already doing most of it, so I had that moment to be proud of myself hehe
Also, Dan and Tomo are legends! So great to hear from them directly. Great video!

[kennwan]

Dan seems like the sort of guy everyone would want to sit and have a coffee with. Some people really do emit an aura that makes them instantly likeable.

[neilsmith]

What a pleasure to watch three such knowledgeable, friendly gentlemen and experts in their own fields talking guitars. The perfect combination of characters and know-how. I really enjoyed this; a genuine pleasure and I learned a great deal. Thank you, guys. Just subscribed to the StewMac and TomoFujitaMusic channels.

[bisekibun]

We've learned a lot from Dan over the decades. Especially during the COVID shelter-in-place period, DIY guitar tune-ups have significantly improved our lives. As fans of StewMac, we would like to express our appreciation to Dan. We deeply value your passion and craftsmanship.

[vayabroder]

What a great video; love seeing Dan in his element along with a great player and educator and a great host. Thank you!

[johnfeole]

Thanks Gene, Dan, , Tomo for the clear, useful info..

[autodidacticprofessor]

4:44 FINALLY somebody talks about string diameter and the post-post length issue!!

[itsianlol]

Great video, excellent chemistry between all 3 hosts, a real treat! Thanks for the tips!

[Cayiguitar]

Dan’s humor is priceless, throughout all of StewMac’s videos. “…something with a truss rod hopefully 🤞🏼 “ 😹😹😹. 10:16
Thank you StewMac for making us better everyday.❤🎸