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10 Best Sad Guitar Samples & Sample Packs – #mood

An instrument with a wildly diverse range of sound; from clean acoustic to lo-fi to pure atmospherics, the guitar is often what sets the tone for many of our favorite tracks. When we’re feeling down, there’s nothing that seems to accompany and comfort us better than a tune with a weepy guitar melody. Something that transports us, commiseration by way of the saddest guitar soundscapes.

Sad Guitar Samples Highlighted

Adding Samples To Your DAW

As software has continued to develop at lighting speed over the years, the user interface has become paramount to what keeps people loyal. If it ain’t easy and relatively pain-free to use, there’s always another option these days. Given that, fortunately the way in which we add samples to our DAWs has more or less become a drag and drop process across the board.

When using Splice, for example, you can do it either from the app by just dragging it to your timeline or from the browser of your DAW by finding the folder and adding the “Sounds” folder to your browser.

Saddest Sad Guitar Samples

Guitar can lift us up, rattle our bones, or put us into those deep, contemplative states. The first few warbly strums, ambient tones or careful plucks can transport us deep into our feels. From sad acoustic guitar samples to the more amplified variety, these tools are here to help build that world.

Think about the opening bars of just about any John Mayer, from Slow Dancing In a Burning Room to In the Blood. Or the subtly overwhelming somber work of Jeff Buckley on Hallelujah, the guitar sets the scene for what’s to come and these sample packs set the bar for sadness.

1. Josh J Guitar is Dead – Splice

Best for: Indie, Rock, Pop

Where to get it: Splice

Josh J. put together a nice, clean and shiny pack with some great tone to the recording. The loops here are really impressively diverse and the mood is on point. In addition to the 60 loops you get 100 ones shots to work with as well which is a solid bonus.

What’s in this pack:

  • 60 Loops
  • 100 One Shots

2. Ambient Guitars – Splice

  • Best for: Chillout, Electronica, Vaporwave
  • Where to get it: Splice

Sad guitar wouldn’t be anything without ambience and this pack delivers that in spades. A mix of electric and acoustic with riffs, chords and licks these are recorded on some classic guitars, think Fender and Gibson acoustic and electrics being passed through the chain of a Neuman TLM 107, UA 6176 and Fender Blues Junior amp. In addition to that, the guitars are pumped through top of the line outboards and pedals to create the tone you hear.

What’s in this pack:

  • 149 Loops

3.Atmospheric Guitars – Loopmasters

  • Best for: Trip Hop, Chillout, Ambient, Downtempo, Rock
  • Where to get it: Loopmasters

An impressive collection of truly immersive guitarwork. These too are pumped through pedalboards and plugins to create that thick atmosphere that really brings the emotion out of the fretboard. The nice thing with this pack is that you’re getting loops ranging from 70 to 120 BPMs. 

What’s in this pack:

  • 26 Loops at 70 BPM, 80 BPM, 90 BPM, 100 BPM, 110 BPM, 120 BPM
  • 150 Rex2 Files

4. Trak Train Dream Sum – Splice

  • Best for: Trap, Emo Rap, Chillout
  • Where to get it: Splice

Created by the TrakTrain, Dream Sum drops you into a trancelike, meditative state with the guitars. Ethereal by way of effects and reverb, these really wrap around you.

What’s in this pack:

  • 100 Loops

5.Strictly Guitars Mega Pack -Splice

  • Best for: All genres as it’s a repack
  • Where to get it: Splice

Running the gamut of genres, Function Loops have pulled together their best guitar samples into one epic repack. You’re really getting bang for your buck here. Acoustic, electric, heavy effects, you name it. A dream for any producer working in multi genres regularly.

What’s in this pack:

  • 209 Samples

6. Chillout Guitars – Splice

  • Best for: Chillout, Rock, Indie
  • Where to get it: Splice

An amazing collection that edges into that Jimi Hendrix vibe with some of the atmospherics. Think the intro of “Castles Made of Sand”. This is generally a slightly more upbeat set of samples but can be honed for your particular liking. A really useful package with apreggios, chords, licks and lead melodies that will add a lot of flavor to your production

What’s in this pack:

  • 149 Loops

7. Ambient Guitars – Prime Loops

  • Best for: Downtempo, Chillout, Experimental, Film Score
  • Where to get it: Prime Loops

Keeping with the more dramatic side of sad guitars, this is a gargantuan sample pack. It’s brimming with all the texture, layers and ambiance you’ll ever need. More on the out-there side of sounds and taking the guitar to the further reaches of what it’s capable of, this is dynamic assortment. A great pack for those involved in film scoring.

What’s in this pack:

  • 395 Samples

8. Lo-Fi Guitars – Splice

  • Best for: Indie Rock
  • Where to get it: Splice

A departure from the more moody vibes, this pack delivers more crunch. Not every sad song is a trippy soundscape, you know? You’re getting just over 100 solid lo-fi licks using some stellar instruments like; the Fender Jaguar, Epiphone Casino, Gibson Les Paul, Neve 1080 pre-amp, AKG 414 and Bock 195. These will certainly add to your tracks and spruce up your indie bonafides.

What’s in this pack:

  • 101 Loops

9. Twilight Years – Splice

  • Best for: Emo Trap, R&B, Hip-Hop, Rock
  • Where to get it: Splice

More of the classic guitar sound with this one that’s meant to fit well in that still emergent emo trap genre. These loops will feel just at home in rap as they do in a straight indie rock song. TrakTrain does a fantastic job delivering a varied collection of moods and adding a little overdrive now and then to make things interesting. 

What’s in this pack:

  • 100 Loops

10. Ethereal Guitarscapes – Samplephonics

  • Best for: Film Scores, Chillout, Ambient
  • Where to get it: Samplephonics

Ending with another beast of sample pack, Ethereal Guitarscapes is just as the title suggests. Pushing the limits of the 6 strings with all the effects under the sun; e-bow guitar pads, ambient plucked melodies, FX pedal sustain soundscapes, abstract FX loops and harmonics, chromatic layered one-shot samples. This is textures, layers and depth in the extreme. Mood for days.

What’s in this pack:

  • 233 Loops
  • 73 One Shots
  • Multisampled Instruments for Kontakt, Ableton Sampler, EXS24, NNXT, MachFive, SFZ and Halion.

Sad Guitar Is Made Better with Samples and Ambiance 

If you’re going for that sad, sad sound, adding some of these packs to your production repertoire is going to pay big dividends on the backend. While the guitar on its own can certainly create and give life to, those exquisitely sad melodies, fleshing them out, giving them texture and atmosphere is really going to breathe life into them in a whole different way. As a producer, that’s what you’re getting paid for anyhow, bringing the emotions to auditory life.

To enhance your tracks further, consider pairing them with some next-level drum samples.

Learn More About Samples: 

Can I get free sad guitar samples? 

Absolutely, this is the 21st century, you can get just about anything you want for free if you look hard enough. That said, it’s going to take you more time and you may not be able to get exactly what you’re after.

Going with a reputable provider like Splice functions as more or less a stamp of approval on the quality of product you’re getting.

Can you make your own guitar samples? 

You sure can! You just need a decent microphone, a computer and some serviceable recording software.

Have a look at our recommendations for the best Digital Audio Workstation here. That aside, while you can indeed put your own samples together, you’re result may vary depending on your level of skill as an audio engineer.

We put these lists together in order to take the hassle and hardship out of the process so you can focus on where your expertise really lives.

Should I credit or reach out to the artist if I use their sample?

It’s not necessarily required to credit or reach out to an artist if you’re using your sample though some artists on various forums very much appreciate hearing what you came up with with their samples.

With that being said though, it’s best to make sure you consult each sample provider you’re using to make sure you’re using the work appropriately and within the terms of use. This information can generally be found on their respective websites.