Six Strings
In this section: Techniques
Techniques

Volume swell

You pick the note with the volume off, then bring the volume up while it rings: the attack disappears and the note seems to come out of nowhere, like a violin bow. Note by note, you can also build up pads.

Notation
VS above the tab
Hand
Picking hand
Difficulty
Intermediate
Style
Ambient, country, rock

Listen

     VSVSVS
e|---------|
B|---------|
G|-7-7-5---|
D|-------7-|
A|---------|
E|---------|

What it’s for

A guitar note always starts with a jolt: the attack of the pick or finger, then the sound fades away. A volume swell flips that shape around. You pick with the volume off, then turn it up while the string is still vibrating: the attack is gone, and all you hear is a note that blooms. The guitar starts to sound like a violin, a pedal steel or an organ.

Roy Buchanan played them on his Telecaster’s volume knob, right in the middle of a solo. George Harrison used a volume pedal on the Beatles’ “Yes It Is” and “I Need You.” Bill Frisell made them part of his voice, somewhere between jazz and atmospheric music. And all of ambient and post-rock uses them to lay down pads, with plenty of delay and reverb.

How to do it

The example at the top of the page: the D on the G string, 7th fret, using the guitar’s volume knob.

  1. Turn the guitar’s volume down to zero. On a Stratocaster, it’s the knob closest to the strings; on a Telecaster, the one nearer the bridge.
  2. Rest your pinky on the knob, keeping the pick between your thumb and index finger. Your hand should be able to pick and turn the knob without moving.
  3. Pick the note: you hear almost nothing.
  4. Roll the knob up in one motion, over half a second to a second: the note appears and swells.
  5. Bring the volume back to zero before the next note, then do it again: pick, then volume.

With a volume pedal, your foot does the work: your picking hand stays free, and swells get easier and more even.

In tab, VS (for volume swell) above the note marks the swell; you’ll also see “vol. swell.” In standard notation, it’s an opening hairpin, <, under the note.

Examples

The example at the top of the page plays the same D twice: picked normally, then swelled. Then two notes from A minor, C and A, swelled as well.

At the intermediate level, two notes picked normally, then a long swelled note, three times in a row. The hard part: getting the knob back to zero during the two picked notes, just in time for the third.

       VS    VS    VS
e|-------------------|
B|---------5-8-8-5---|
G|---5-7-7-----------|
D|-7---------------7-|
A|-------------------|
E|-------------------|

At the advanced level, an A minor melody where every note swells in, one per beat, at 120 bpm. The knob goes up and back down on every beat: you need a quick, steady pinky.

   VSVSVSVSVSVSVSVSVSVSVS
e|---------5-------------|
B|-------5---8-5---5-----|
G|---5-7---------7---5---|
D|-7-------------------7-|
A|-----------------------|
E|-----------------------|

Licks

A country lick in G major that imitates a pedal steel: every note swells in with no attack, as if drawn with a bow.

Loop it in the Studio →
   VSVSVSVSVSVSVS
e|---------------|
B|---5-8-5-------|
G|-7-------7-4---|
D|-------------5-|
A|---------------|
E|---------------|

A rock lick in E minor at the 12th fret, with a distorted tone: the “violin” guitar, a slow phrase made entirely of swells. Distortion keeps the notes sustaining and makes each rise even more dramatic.

Loop it in the Studio →
   VS VS VS VS VS VS VS
e|-12-15----------------|
B|-------15-12----------|
G|-------------14-12----|
D|-------------------14-|
A|----------------------|
E|----------------------|

An ambient lick in E minor: the notes of a chord swelled in one at a time and left ringing, as if a delay and a reverb were plugged in after the pedal. Em(add9), then Cmaj7.

Loop it in the Studio →
   VSVSVSVSVSVSVSVS
e|-------2---------|
B|-----0---------0-|
G|---0---------0---|
D|-2---------2-----|
A|---------3-------|
E|-----------------|

Practice routine

Set your metronome to 60 bpm.

  1. One swell every two clicks on the D on the G string: pick on the click, volume at full on the next click, then back to zero.
  2. One swell per click, still at 60: pick on the click, peak just before the next one.
  3. The intermediate example at 60 bpm, then up to 86, its full tempo.
  4. The advanced example at 80 bpm, then up 5 bpm at a time to 120.

Listen above all for consistency: every note should swell the same way, smoothly, with no attack poking through.

Common mistakes

You can still hear the attack? The volume wasn’t all the way down, or you started turning too early. Check for zero before every note, and wait for the pick stroke before you turn.

The note has died before it arrives? You’re turning too slowly, or the note doesn’t sustain enough. A little distortion or a compressor keeps it going, and a half-second swell is often plenty.

The swell comes up in jerks? The knob is turning in several steps. Go for one continuous pinky motion, as if you were stroking the knob, and practice it without playing.

The melody sounds late? That’s normal: the note only reaches full volume after the attack. Pick slightly ahead of the beat so the peak of the swell lands on it.

Variations

  • With a volume pedal. Your foot handles the volume, your picking hand is free: you can swell whole chords and play faster.
  • With delay and reverb. Placed after the volume, they stretch out each swell: the notes overlap into a pad, like in the ambient lick.
  • Pedal steel style. Add a bend or a slide while the note swells: the resemblance to a steel guitar becomes striking.
  • On a chord. Strum the chord with the volume off, then bring it up: the chord arrives like a breath from an organ.
  • Automatic swells. Some pedals do the job for you: they cut the attack and raise the volume on every note you play.

Acoustic or electric

On electric guitar, everything rests on the volume knob, or a volume pedal. Where the knob sits matters: on a Stratocaster or a Telecaster, it falls right under your pinky; on other guitars, where it’s farther away, a pedal becomes almost essential.

On acoustic guitar, there’s no volume knob: without an amp, a swell is impossible. On a plugged-in acoustic-electric, a volume pedal makes it possible.

Going further