Guitars are essential for almost any kind of music, but do you really have the time to learn a whole new instrument?
This is where samples come in, since you can use some pre-recorded and well-sounding tracks to add to your mixes without having to learn the instrument itself.
Not only that, but even if you are a fantastic guitarist, there are times when it’s just easier and faster to use samples.
I honestly prefer to record as much as I can myself, but there really are times when you are running against the clock, and in this case, samples can be quite handy.
In this post, I’ll cover 20 of the best websites to get royalty-free guitar samples, both free and premium ones.
Let’s start with the free ones…
Free Guitar Samples
LANDR Samples
LANDR is best known for their online mastering service, but did you know that they also offer free samples for you to download?
They have 50 free guitar samples on their website that you can use.
I know it’s not a lot, but it’s still free and they sound great.
Listen to a free sample;
All you need to do to get the samples for free is register, and that’s it.
Cymatics Vibrations Pack
Cymatics.fm is a website that is extremely well known for all the samples of different genres it offers.
As far as guitar samples goes, you can get the “Vibrations Guitar Sample Pack” for FREE as long as you give them your email address so that they can send you offers, updates, etc.
The genres included in this pack are; Chill, Hip Hop, Metal, Pop and Reggae.
Listen to a free Sample here;
All the included samples in this pack sound terrific, so give them a shot.
Samplephonics
Samplephonics has some of the best free guitar samples to offer, even though they don’t have that many.
However, the sound quality is awesome and you will be able to find a couple samples for most genres out there, you just need to do some digging.
Now, you will need to register a free account in order to download them, but this isn’t too bad.
You can browse by mood, genre, instrument and format, which should, in theory, help you find what you’re looking for quickly…
However, even though I chose the Guitar under instrument and Rock as a genre, there would still come up loads of electronic music tracks, and other similar genres as well, without any sort of guitars.
Still, a great site to find freebies!
Standard Guitar
Standard Guitar is a Free guitar library for Plogue Sforzando in the SFZ format that was created by Unreal Instruments.
It can be used for almost any genre; From metal all the way to pop, and more.
Important Note: The website is in Japanese, so make sure to use your browser’s built-in translation tool to translate it to your language.
Now, this library is based on DI recordings; This means that you will need to use an Amp simulation plugin to get proper guitar sounds.
Standard Guitar’s interface gives you a lot of control over the sampled sounds like; Picking Volume, Tone, and more.
Listen to it here;
Due to its sheer number of samples and incredible sound quality, this would be one of my- or even THE top recommendation for a sampled guitar library, especially if you’re looking for heavy tones.
Additionally, you don’t need to register to download it, which is awesome.
Shreddage Stratus Free
Impact Sounds has come up with some amazing guitar sample libraries for Kontakt, most of which are premium (I will link to those later in this post).
All of these sample libraries sound absolutely amazing, and they even offer the Stratus one for free.
Listen to it here;
If you’re looking for a realistic Stratocaster sound, then make sure to grab this awesome freebie.
Shinyguitar
Shinyguitar is another free guitar sample library in SFZ format, that is meant to be used with the Plogue Sforzando Player.
The samples are of a hollow semiacoustic guitar, which means that it’s mostly designed for jazz and blues, acoustic music, and other similar genres.
Listen to it here;
It’s not the most realistic sound out there, but it’s definitely great for being free!
Looperman
Looperman offers dozens of electric- and acoustic guitar loops and samples completely for free; all you need to do is register an account and that’s it, the samples are ready to be downloaded.
It has a pretty in-depth search engine that lets you browse by category, tempo/key, genre, and more.
All the loops and samples have been uploaded directly by the users, which means that they aren’t curated by Looperman.
This simply means that you will find some less than professional-sounding samples on here.
However, you can view the number of downloads on each one which should give you a rough estimate of how much people actually like them.
But if you’re in need of free samples, then Looperman can be a great place to get started.
AmpleSound Guitar M Lite II
AmpleSound offers a huge collection of both electric-and acoustic guitar samples, as well as bass samples.
Now, almost all of them aren’t free, in fact as far as guitars go, they only give one of them away for free:
Guitar M Lite II is a fantastic plugin that offers some of the best sounding acoustic guitar samples I’ve ever heard, especially for being free!
It comes with loads of built-in effects and loads of other features such as “Picking” and “Strumming”, etc.
Make sure to give it a try since it’s awesome!
The Kit Plug
On their website you will not only be able to find a Guitar Sample Pack called AUX, but they also have drum kits, midi kits, and more, and they are all free to download.
Now, you will need to “connect” with them on Facebook to get the download link, which means that they will be able to send you promotions etc. through the messenger.
The samples sound fantastic, just listen to them in the video.
Sample Focus
Sample Focus offers loads of different samples, not just guitars, in a very easy to use website that has comes with a pretty good search engine.
You can also browse by instrument like Guitar and select a subcategory like Electric, Acoustic, and Synth.
One thing I like about this website is that you can see how many times people “Liked” the track, which is a good indicator of how good or bad it is.
Listen to a free sample;
Again, you will need to subscribe to download the samples.
Premium Guitar Samples
Prime Loops
On Prime Loops you will be able to find dozens of different guitar loops and samples in almost every genre imaginable for a very reasonable price.
Most of them sell for about $4.95, which is very low compared to some other websites.
You can mouseover each of the loops offered to see some details about them such as BPM, overall size of the pack, how many samples it provides, etc.
The only con to this website is that the search engine isn’t as good as on some others, which means that you’ll have to invest a bit more time when trying to find the samples you need.
Orange Tree Samples
Orange Tree Samples offers a huge selection of some of the best sounding electric- and acoustic guitar samples that I’ve ever seen.
All of the sample packs come with a built-in effects engine that lets you adjust the tone and add effects such as reverb in no time.
The packs are huge; about 20GB each when uncompressed and they are all in 24-bit.
Here are some samples of the Texas Twang (Telecaster) and the Jumbo 12 (Taylor 355) packs:
Texas Twang:
Jumbo 12:
Most of the sample packs sell for $179, and you can get bundles of all the electric- or acoustic samples at a discount.
Now, I know that they are quite expensive, but if you’re looking for realism and ease of use, I don’t think you will find anything better than Orange Tree Samples.
AmpleSound Samples
I already mentioned AmpleSound earlier when talking about their free Ample Guitar M Lite II acoustic guitar library.
They also offer a pretty big collection of premium samples all the way from a Schecter Hellraiser 9-string electric guitar to acoustic- and even classical guitars.
Selecting multiple packs will result in a discount, and depending on how many additional packs you purchase the discount will be higher.
Here are a couple samples for you to hear:
Ample Metal Hellrazer III
Ample Guitar L III
If you’re looking for an extremely realistic sound, then AmpleSounds should have you covered (Just like Orange Tree Samples).
Shreddage 3 by Impact Soundworks
Shreddage 3 is a virtual guitar emulation software that sounds absolutely phenomenal and that is capable of emulation various guitar models and even a bass right in-the-box.
It sounds incredibly close to the real thing, especially if you take your time to tweak everything.
Shreddage 3 can do anything from crispy clean sounds to heavy rock tones, arpeggios, strumming, and even amazing lead solos with vibrato, bends, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and more…
Listen to it here;
What are its Strengths; Excellent electric guitar emulation (Clean, crunch, high-gain, solos, and more).
Find out more about Shreddage 3 here.
Mode Audio
Mode Audio has a couple high-quality guitar loop packs to offer that you will have to purchase individually (no subscription available at the time of writing this article).
They all sound absolutely fantastic and the website is extremely easy to navigate…
I definitely recommend!
Splice
Splice is a huge music library that gives you access to over 2 million tracks, and of course they have Guitar samples as well.
They offer a monthly subscription instead of individual payments for $7.99/mo. which includes 100 downloads every month.
Loopmasters
Loopmasters is one of the best-known websites for getting loops, samples and one-shots.
They offer loops for every genre out there and for almost every instrument as well; guitars included.
One cool thing is that you can see the rating of the samples given by the users, which makes it easy to see if they are good or not.
Definitely worth checking out!
Noiiz
Noiize offers some of the best guitar samples I’ve heard so far, plus they have loads to choose from both from acoustic and electric guitars.
Now, it’s a subscription-based membership, meaning that you have to pay monthly or annually and you will have access to a certain number of downloads.
I’d recommend getting the unlimited package for $79 a year, otherwise you will only have 100MB and 300MB worth of downloads before you’re cut off.
They also offer some free samples, which I already linked to previously in the Samplephonic section.
Sounds
Sounds is a library of licensed, studio-ready samples and sounds that includes a vast number of royalty-free guitar samples.
They update their library daily and all the samples you get from them can be used on any of your tracks for commercial use.
Now, in order to access Sound’s library, you’ll need to pay a monthly subscription of about $10 and you’ll be able to download to your heart’s content.
Additionally, you can get a 1-month free trial without the need of spending anything, which is totally awesome!
BigFishAudio
BigFishAudio offers a total of 238 guitar loops that sound absolutely amazing.
I especially liked the acoustic and classical guitar samples, but the electric ones are also pretty good as well!
They also offer a wide variety of genres; from rock and metal guitars all the way to cinematic, and more.
Note: Read the requirements since some of the samples require the Full version of Kontakt to be used.
Top 3 Choices
Free samples are always nice, and something like Shreddage Stratus or Standard Guitar can work in most situations
However, if you really want the best sound then you may want to look for a couple premium samples.
In this case, the three websites I’d recommend are;
Conclusion
Guitar samples are essential if you aren’t a fantastic guitar player and need to use some in your recordings.
By just spending a little money, or none at all, you can certainly get your hands on some amazing-sounding tracks to include in your mixes.
I hope this information was useful.
Have a wonderful day!
