Best FREE Guitar VST Plugins

This article features the best free guitar VST plugins for Windows and macOS. For more options, visit our Free VST plugins directory.

I like sampling instruments, and I’ve tried multi-sampling everything from old computers (check out my free Commodore 64 plugin) to drum machines (you can download my free Samplefino library), guitars, and my voice.

After sampling dozens of different audio sources, I can confidently tell that the guitar is one of the most challenging instruments to multi-sample. The sampled guitar won’t sound natural unless you create dozens of round robins and numerous velocity layers.

So, you shouldn’t expect wonders from free guitar VST plugins and sample libraries. However, I tried and tested all the guitar VSTs listed here, and they provide good to great results. With some clever MIDI programming and attention to detail, you should be able to get a natural-sounding guitar performance with these free virtual guitars.

Free Guitar VST Plugins

These are the best free guitar plugins in 2024:

• Ample Guitar M Lite II
• Spitfire LABS Electric Guitar
• MonsterDAW Monster Guitar
• Solaris GTR Lite
• Zak Sound Sapphire Guitar
• Echo Sound Works Vinyl Guitar
• Audiolatry PlastikGuitar
• Steinberg Guitar Harmonics Essential

Ample Guitar M Lite II

Ample Guitar M Lite II is a high-quality free guitar plugin I often use to sketch acoustic guitar parts in new songs. It offers excellent realism and sound quality, although it is limited to fingerpicked articulations (the full version also includes picked and strummed notes).

The plugin is based on the Martin D-41 Acoustic Guitar that was deeply sampled and turned into an intuitive virtual instrument. It uses DFD (Direct from Disk) technology, which ensures low-latency playback.

Despite being limited to fingerpicked tones, Ample Guitar M Lite II lets you use multiple articulations, including sustain, palm-mute, hammer on/off, and popping. You can also adjust the fingering noise and resonance. These are two of my favorite Ample Guitar M Lite II features, allowing me to create expressive and authentic guitar parts using MIDI.

The alternate tunings and capo logic the software offers are another game-changer. I can easily alter the tuning to my preference and adjust the capo to fit the specific performance requirements, such as solo or chorus sections.

Ample Guitar M Lite II also includes humanization presets. You can use these to apply subtle imperfections to the MIDI-triggered notes, resulting in a more natural performance. I always apply some humanization to virtual guitar parts as they add to the realism.

This flexibility makes Ample Guitar M Lite II an essential tool in my production arsenal and one of my favorite free guitar plugins.

My experience with the Ample Guitar M Lite II has been amazing, especially considering it’s freeware.

With a download size of 848 MB, Ample Guitar M Lite II is a relatively compact guitar plugin you can easily add to your DAW without worrying about disk space.

Spitfire LABS Electric Guitars

LABS Electric Guitars is one of the most inspiring guitar VSTs on this list. Spitfire created a range of excellent free libraries for its LABS sampler, and Electric Guitars is no exception.

As a musician who loves playing sampled instruments using a MIDI keyboard, I was amazed by the level of expressiveness and musicality in the LABS Electric Guitars library.

Spitfire’s free guitar plugin fits a range of styles, from rock and blues to pop, indie, and 80s chorus-drenched tones. It offers dynamic plucks, sustained notes, and unique strumming rhythms that sound surprisingly realistic for a sample-based virtual guitar.

Another highlight is the LABS user interface that makes Electric Guitars incredibly easy to use. Simply load the plugin in your DAW and start playing while optionally fine-tuning the FX levels and tone to fit your project.

I appreciate how Electric Guitras and the entire LABS instrument collection are available for free. The plugin is compatible with both macOS and Windows, and you can download it for free via Spitfire Audio.

I believe that LABS Electric Guitars is a must-have free plugin for musicians and virtual guitarists who need a comprehensive and accessible guitar library. The blend of different guitar styles and the high-quality sounds provided make it an excellent addition to any music producer’s arsenal.

MonsterDAW Monster Guitar

Monster Guitar is a free guitar VST designed to help you sketch new guitar parts from your songs. It was developed by Agus Hardiman, who also created useful plugins like Monster Piano and Monster Synth.

I appreciate how Monster Guitar’s interface blends style and practicality. All presets have unique UI designs that convey their tone before you even start playing. The attention to detail is excellent, and I think it’s a practical feature that makes using Monster Guitar more fun.

Monster Guitar puts an essential but valuable set of tone-shaping tools at your disposal. Users can fine-tune the tone, envelope, and reverb parameters, which I found more than enough for editing placeholder guitar parts.

The workflow is simple – browse the included presets and find one that fits your current song. Then, adjust the available parameters to customize the tone and blend the guitar with the other instruments in your mix.

Monster Guitar offers a range of guitar styles, from sparkling cleans to crunching distortions. I found that the plugin has enough flexibility to fit a variety of music styles, from rock to reggae, pop, and indie.

In terms of performance, the plugin is highly efficient, with low CPU usage that ensures a smooth user experience, even in complex sessions. The sound library is a 2 GB download.

Having used the Monster Guitar as the guitar backdrop in several projects, I loved its flexibility and instant playability. Its ease of use and decent sound quality make it a worthy addition to your guitar plugin arsenal.

Solaris GTR Lite

Solaris GTR Lite is a free virtual instrument based on the Ibanez AS73G-RGF electric guitar.

As I mentioned in the introduction, sampling a guitar and making it sound realistic is incredibly hard, but Solaris GTR Lite does a decent job for a free guitar VST. I found that it works best for slow arpeggios that you’d typically hear in lo-fi hip-hop tracks.

Quiet Music incorporated an array of guitar pedals into the recording chain during the guitar sampling process, resulting in some unique guitar tones. We can access those tones as six presets covering clean and distorted guitars.

I liked how most of the presets sound great for strumming guitar chords in the background of a track. Solaris GTR Lite also works fine for casual solo parts but lacks the expressiveness and articulations needed for more complex performances.

One advantage Solaris GTR Lite has over other free guitar plugins like Monster Guitar is the effects section. It includes modulation, chorus, reverb, distortion, and a delay, so there’s plenty of room for shaping the tone to your liking.

Zak Sound Sapphire Guitar

Sapphire Guitar is a free virtual guitar instrument suitable for ambient music. It features acoustic and electric guitar samples layered with lush ambient pads and textures.

The plugin also includes creative effects like reverb, delay, and chorus. Combining the built-in effects with the already warm and vibrant guitar tones makes it easy to come up with beautiful sounds for your next ambient masterpiece.

I love layering Sapphire Guitar with evolving synth pads and deep bass drones. It’s not an instrument I’d use for a guitar solo or arpeggio, but it does wonders for slow and atmospheric guitar parts.

Another thing I like about Sapphire Guitar is how the interface lets you adjust the volume of five texture layers separately. I often program a MIDI guitar sequence and then use this feature to create the perfect tone.

If you need a free guitar plugin for cinematic, ambient, or lo-fi music, Sapphire Guitar by Zak Sound is worth a look.

Echo Sound Works Vinyl Guitar

Vinyl Guitar by Echo Sound Works brings acoustic guitar tones to your DAW. It is one of the nicest-sounding virtual guitars on this list, especially if you want to use it for guitar arpeggios and acoustic guitar solos.

The guitar samples were extracted from a vinyl record, giving Vinyl Guitar a cozy and somewhat lo-fi feel. It’s worth noting that there’s no vinyl noise included, so if you’re looking for that particular sound, you’ll need to add your own layer of noise.

I really like Vinyl Guitar’s interface. It lets you fine-tune various aspects of the tone, including the string buzz, fret noise, and the guitar pick sound. The only included effect is a reverb, but it’s highly customizable.

You can also choose between nylon and metallic strings, but I didn’t like the nylon string option as it sounds a bit muddy. The metallic strings sound great, though.

I also like how Vinyl Guitar sounds when the attack is softened using the included AR envelope. This type of tone is perfect for soft stringed pads and nostalgic lo-fi guitar parts for use in hip-hop and pop music.

Audiolatry PlastikGuitar

PlastikGuitar is a free guitar VST plugin featuring the sounds of a Yamaha Eterna classical acoustic guitar.

The instrument has a unique tone. It sounds a bit cheap and not perfectly in tune, but this gives it an organic feel that could work great for some styles of music.

There are five velocity layers per note, so it’s not the most expressive instrument, but you can get some excellent dynamics out of it.

However, don’t expect any high-quality guitar tones from PlastikGuitar. It’s an intentionally imperfect guitar plugin.

I used PlastikGuitar for a simple song arrangement in combination with a toy xylophone and a female vocal, and it works great for these types of songs. It’s also good for lo-fi hip-hop and electronic music.

Steinberg Guitar Harmonics Essential

Guitar Harmonics Essential is a free guitar library for Steinberg’s (also freeware) HALion Sonic 7 plugin. It stands out from other free guitar VSTs as it focuses on guitar harmonics, also known as flageolet notes.

The included guitar sounds were recorded by Cinematique Instruments, a boutique sample library creator who also makes some excellent free libraries for Kontakt.

In the case of Guitar Harmonics Essential, they captured some truly remarkable guitar tones and used them to create a unique guitar plugin with plenty of character. The interface offers only a few options for tonal adjustment, but I didn’t find that a drawback, as Guitar Harmonics Essential already sounds excellent out of the box.

Still, you can add reverb and delay effects and use the central knob to adjust the tone. It’s also possible to tweak the amplitude attack and release.

Even with these limited options, getting some highly customized sounds out of Guitar Harmonics Essential is possible. For example, you can shorten the decay and add a fast delay for some interesting lead tones. Or, soften the attack and add reverb to turn the guitar into a synth pad.

Summary – Free Guitar VST Plugins

As you can see, there are many free guitar plugins you can use in your DAW, especially if you’re looking for acoustic guitar sounds for arpeggios and playing melodies.

However, there aren’t that many great electric guitar plugins. Try recording real guitar sounds if you need distorted guitar tones and power chords.

But, for music styles like lo-fi hip-hop, pop, cinematic, and ambient music, these free guitar VST plugins will get the job done.

One of the top choices among these is the Ample Guitar M Lite II by Ample Sound. It emulates the sound of a Martin D-41 acoustic guitar with impressive accuracy. This plugin is suitable for acoustic and fingerstyle guitarists.

Monster Guitar offers good-sounding presets for those interested in distorted and clean electric guitar sounds. LABS Electric Guitars is another unique offering, delivering electric guitar tones with plenty of character.

While it’s true that paid guitar VST plugins offer a more polished sound, these free options provide remarkable quality for the price. With some time to explore and a willingness to experiment, I believe you can find a free guitar VST that suits your needs and enhances your music production experience.

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For more freeware plugins and instruments, return to our Free VST Plugins page.