What each effect actually does, when to use it, and how to try all of them for free — right in your browser.
You've learned some chords. You're getting comfortable with basic picking. And you've noticed that the guitar sounds you love on recordings sound nothing like the dry, clean signal coming out of your amp or headphones. The difference is guitar effects.
This guide explains what each major type of guitar effect does, what it sounds like, and when guitarists actually use it — without assuming any prior knowledge. And because you're reading this on a site that offers a free browser guitar effects tool, you can try every single effect mentioned here without spending a cent or downloading anything.
Before you read: Open Guitar FX & Looper in another tab. As you read about each effect, try it out in real time.
Distortion is the sound of rock, metal, blues, and basically every electric guitar genre. When a clean guitar signal is pushed harder than the amp can cleanly handle, the waveform gets clipped — and that clipping creates harmonically rich overtones that make a guitar sound aggressive, thick, and powerful.
How to use it: In Guitar FX, the Distortion slider goes from 0 (clean) to maximum. Start around 30% for a light overdrive sound. Push to 70–80% for crunchy rhythm tones. Max it out for heavy lead sounds. Less is usually more — beginners tend to use too much.
When to use it: Rock rhythms, power chords, lead guitar solos, blues bends. Leave it off for acoustic-style fingerpicking or clean jazz tones.
Reverb simulates playing in a physical space. A dry guitar sounds close and immediate — like it's right next to your ear. Add reverb and it sounds like you're playing in a room, a hall, or a cathedral. It adds depth, space, and ambience to any guitar part.
How to use it: In Guitar FX, the Reverb slider controls the wet mix. Start around 20–30% — just enough to add space without muddiness. Use more for ambient or shoegaze tones. Use less when playing with a band, since reverb can blur the mix.
When to use it: Almost always, in small amounts. Solo guitar, ballads, atmospheric parts, single-note melodies. Reduce for tight, aggressive rhythm playing.
Delay records your signal and plays it back after a set time — creating an echo. Set the delay to 400ms and play a single note; you'll hear the original followed by echoes that fade out. The character depends on the feedback setting.
How to use it: In Guitar FX, the Delay slider sets the time between echoes (in milliseconds). 100–200ms creates a tight slapback. 400–600ms creates classic echo. The Feedback slider controls repeat count — high feedback creates cascading repeats, low gives you just one or two.
When to use it: Lead guitar solos (a little delay makes notes sound bigger), ambient textures, anything with a sense of space and motion.
Gain is simply how loud the signal is after all other effects. It doesn't change the tone — just the volume. In Guitar FX, set Gain so your playing registers clearly but doesn't clip your audio interface. 80–100 is a good starting range for most setups.
The Tone control shapes which frequencies you hear. Rolled down, it cuts high frequencies for a warm, dark sound. Turned up, it lets all the brightness through for a crisp, cutting tone. Think of it as a treble knob. Use less treble for jazz and blues; more for cutting lead work that needs to slice through a mix.
Feedback controls how much of the delayed signal is recycled back through the delay. A setting of 0 gives you a single clean echo. Push it high and the echoes cascade into infinite repeats. Be careful — very high feedback can build into a wall of noise.
Here's a good starter configuration to try in Guitar FX:
From there, start adjusting one control at a time and listen to how each change affects the sound. The best way to learn guitar effects is to experiment — there's no wrong answer, just different tones for different situations.
Eventually, yes — hardware pedals have lower latency and more expressive control. But for learning what effects do and developing your ears, a browser tool like Guitar FX is completely sufficient. You can learn the function of every effect, develop preferences, and figure out what you actually want in a hardware rig before spending any money. Think of the browser as your gear laboratory: free to experiment, zero commitment.
Try every effect in this guide for free — no downloads, no purchases, just a browser tab.
🎸 Open Guitar FX →