Ultimate List of Free and Paid Guitar Samples & Loops (All Genres)

From pop to country: the guitar plays an essential role in all kinds of music. On top of that, it’s much more difficult to replicate the sound of the guitar digitally in a DAW—in a convincing way, at least—than it is for instruments like the piano. So unless you play the guitar yourself, or are willing to hire a session musician, you need to find the right guitar sample pack. This is our guide to finding the best guitar samples—both free and premium—for all types of genres.

Tracklib

December 21, 2022

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Free guitar samples or paid samples
Guitar samples in various genres
How to work with guitar samples for the best results
How to clear guitar samples
How to make money with guitar samples
Final thoughts

Dig through our catalog of rock records & guitar multitracks to sample

Free Guitar Samples or Paid Samples

You may question why you’d ever want to pay good money for a guitar sample pack. Especially as there are so many great ones out there on the internet that are completely free. There are a number of downsides to using free samples, though. Firstly, it can be hard to find exactly what you’re looking for, particularly if you have a specific key and BPM in mind. Also, though the quality of free samples is generally good, it’s often not as good compared to premium sample packs. Finally, there may be limits on what you can do with free samples that mean they’re not quite as free as you’d imagine—it’s always best to check with each particular pack.

Premium guitar sample packs, on the other hand, have many advantages. Not only will you get amazing quality—such packs are often performed by the best session guitarists and recorded by the best engineers—you can find nearly anything you have in mind. Most premium guitar samples are ready to slot straight into your mix.

Acoustic guitar samples

Have a look at Tracklib’s Guitar Jams collection for plenty of character and real guitar authenticity. For free acoustic guitar sample packs, Looperman has plenty. For paid versions, there are many sample packs out there like this Studio Acoustics - Guitars pack from Loopmasters.

Indie & Folk guitar

Tracklib has plenty of indie and folk tracks, many available as stripped-down multitracks. This free sample pack from Beatstars has some nice indie samples to add to your guitar loops folder, too. Alternatively, the Indie Acoustic Guitar bundle is a paid option from Splice.

Summer Bug

Kotton Kandie,

A-C

Vindöga

Skenet,

A-C

Best electric guitar loops

To get an iconic electric guitar sound for free, you can consider this free pack from Echo Sound Works. If you’re after a VST, this free electric guitar plugin from Unreal Instruments is a good fit, as it's endlessly customizable.

But multitracks from real studio recordings is something you don't find often. So take a look at what Tracklib has to offer on that front—there are plenty of multitracks with the electric guitar:

Best jazz guitar loops

When it comes to jazz guitar loops, this free pack from Noiiz offers a variety of sounds. For premium options, there's a huge pack of jazz guitar loops available at TouchLoops, featuring 150 sophisticated samples at an unaffordable price. In the Tracklib collection, we’ve got plenty of great tracks and multitracks to sample from.

Clean guitar samples

BeatSamples has a pack of clean guitar samples. For paid-for collections of guitar samples, look to LANDR for a wide selection of sample packs.

Bass samples

There are plenty of free bass guitar samples to be found—such as this one from ApolloSound, and this collection from SampleRadar. There are plenty more premium options, too. This Full Funk Bass from LoopMasters is one of them.

Also worth checking out is this MODO BASS 2 from IK Multimedia—a physically modeled bass virtual instrument that can sound incredibly detailed and realistic, with a huge collection of bass guitar models. From Tracklib, there are endless bass tracks to sample. Here's a taste:

Soulicious guitar grooves

Add some soulful groove to your tracks with this selection of free soulicious guitar grooves from Looperman. For paid options, this Soulicious Guitar Grooves 2 pack from LootAudio is quite popular, too. On Tracklib, there's originally released music in this style such as the group South Street Soul Guitars for that 60s soul sound:

Poppin' Popcorn

South Street Soul Guitars,

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Soul Fire

South Street Soul Guitars,

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Pop guitar samples

Free pop guitar samples are hard to find, but Tracklib still has a ton of modern pop guitar tracks available. Alternatively, you might want to head over to Looperman to check out their offerings before upgrading to a premium pack. The Pop Guitars Vol. 1 from Preset.biz is a paid option, reminiscent of some of the biggest names in pop.

Progressive RnB guitar samples

For progressive RnB guitar samples and guitar licks, there’s not much out there for free. R&B Radio Guitars pack from Diginoiz is a cheap pick, or go for more expensive options like this pack from Sonoiz. But nothing gets more "progressive" than actual music, such as these forward-thinking R&B gems:

Country guitars

You can go for a free country sample pack like this one by Big Fish Audio. Or what about music composed by Taylor Swift's producer, Nathan Chapman? For a much wider selection from the 60s right up to the present day, Tracklib has plenty beautiful country guitar tracks:

guitar samples for beats music production

Post-Rock guitar loops

When it comes to post-rock guitar samples, Noiiz offers this free pack. For premium packs, this collection from LoopMasters is an option. If you want to control the type of style or sound you download, make sure to dig into Tracklib’s catalog so you can start downloading tracks to compile your own collection of sounds.

R&B guitar samples

We’ve got some absolute classic R&B songs in the Tracklib library ready for hassle-free sampling. Below you find a little taste. Alternatively, browse a website like SampleFocus if you’re looking for free R&B guitar samples—you just need to make an account to access them all. High-quality paid options include this R&B Guitar Compositions pack from Sloopy.

Classic Funk chops

If you’re looking for something premium, this Classic Funk Chops pack from Producer Loops is a quality choice.

Sad guitar loops

For free sad guitar loops, head over to YouTube and check out the work of prod. sorrow bringer. There are plenty of free packs there, but they’re not royalty-free. Check the video descriptions for the terms of use. Paid-for (and royalty-free) sample packs in this genre include this Sad Guitar Loops pack from Loop Masters.

'Sad Guitar' obviously isn't a genre, but by using the filters on top of the Tracks section on Tracklib, gets you in the right direction. Here are a couple of examples of sad guitar vibes:

Pasadena Sun - Guitar

+ 4 multi-tracks

Sam Borrello, Mike Casey,

+ 4 multi-tracks

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Lo-Fi chill guitars

As always, there’s plenty to sample from our own library–for instance, have a look at our Lo-Fi Multi-Track collection or music from Chillhop Records. For free lo-fi chill guitar loops, check out this free pack from Apollo Sound. Premium options include Lo-fi Chill Guitars from LoopMasters.

Neo Soul guitar samples

Head to Looperman for some completely free neo soul guitar samples–. As explained earlier in this guide, there are limitations to free samples, though. A paid alternative is this pack from LANDR, full of expressive guitar chords. Tracklib has plenty to offer so you can select anything you need. Our curated Neo Soul Grooves collection, for instance, is sure to get you inspired.

guitar tuning for music production keys pitch

How to Work with Guitar Samples for the Best Results

Once you’ve found a killer guitar loop or sample, you may need to make a few tweaks to make it feel at home in your track. Firstly, make sure the key and BPM of your sample are a perfect fit for the track. You need to transpose or time-stretch the sample if it’s not. Keep in mind that this can sound bad if you take it too far. It’s better to make sure you have found the right sample from the start.

Different genres process guitars very differently. Some—such as guitar loops in hip hop—can be almost unrecognizable from the original performance. While others, such as jazz, will be cleaned up but largely left as-is. Bear in mind that if your sample pack is aimed at a particular genre, it will probably have a lot of processing on the material already, and you may only need to do very little. However, you may want to apply certain audio effects to get the sound you’re after. Think of EQ, compression, distortion or amp simulation, and stereo widening effects.

How to Clear Guitar Samples

With sample packs, it’s always worth checking the terms of use so you don’t get in trouble. Is commercial use okay? Is there a maximum number of streams? What about a release on a major label, or syncing opportunities?

Guitar samples from commercially released records are usually more complicated to clear—unless you use a service like Tracklib to clear samples in a matter of minutes. If you use a guitar multitrack or a song featuring the guitar from the Tracklib catalog, we’ve done the hard work for you and simplified the clearance process. For other commercial music, however, you have to find the rightsholders for the master and publishing and negotiate an agreement, which can be costly and take a long time—if you even manage to get in touch in the first place. For a more in-depth look at clearing samples, have a look at our full beginner’s guide on clearing samples.

How to Make Money with Guitar Samples

In the digital era, there are countless ways to turn music with guitar samples into cash into your pockets. Firstly, there’s the conventional route of the commercial release–think Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and Bandcamp. These companies don’t actually pay you directly, though. You have to register with a distributor or distribution service like DistroKid for that.

Selling beats is another way to make money with guitar samples. Sites like Airbit and BeatStars allow producers to upload beats and sell licenses to people who want to sing or rap over that. You can sell the same beat to potentially unlimited people, so you can make a lot of money here if your beats are popular!

Thirdly, a great way to make money from guitar samples is by creating tracks for music libraries. This kind of music is used in the background of TV shows, adverts, YouTube videos, and corporate training videos. Check out Taxi.com for a big list of opportunities in this field. For more ideas and more details, have a look at our guide How to Make Money Selling Beats Online.

Final Thoughts

There you have it. Our complete round-up of the best places to find guitar sample packs for nearly every genre. If you want to sample real, original records to built off true musicianship and support the original creators and artists while you’re at it, here are three guitar-based collections to get started: