The Best Virtual Guitar VST Plugins
Every few years, music critics tout the death of rock n’ roll, or the end of the reign of guitars. Yet, the six-string instrument is all over modern hits and edgy beats. A guitar has this sort of vibe-y charm that can’t quite be replicated by a synth. Like the sound of a piano, gently plucked strings and strummed chords are highly evocative and emotional. The only drawback is this: While it’s easy to switch from a MIDI controller to an acoustic piano, translating musical ideas to the guitar is way more laborious. It might take years - and a lot of bloody fingertips - before you achieve the results you want with a real guitar. Luckily, guitar modeling in VST form has never been better or more realistic than it is now! Whether you make lofi beats, R&B tunes, indie bedroom pop bops, or straight up country ballads, here are some of my favorite guitar plugins to get you that groovy sound.
The Best Virtual Guitar VST Plugins
1. Kontakt 7 | Native Instruments
2. Komplete 14 Standard | Native Instruments
3. Virtual Guitarist | ujam
4. Arcade | Output
5. Classic.Gtr Lite | Quiet Music
6. Scoring Guitars | Heavyocity
7. Ample Guitar M Lite | Ample Sound
8. Evolution Guitars libraries | Orange Tree
9. Vinyl Guitar | Echo Sound Works
Kontakt 7 | Native Instruments
As a Native Instruments staple, Kontakt 7 is in a class of its own. Not only will this powerhouse help you unlock myriad third-party libraries, but it comes loaded with its own mighty collection of sampled instruments.
Often overlooked, modules such as Acoustic and Band are full of gorgeous - and, quite frankly, underrated - sampled instruments, including guitars of all sorts. It also contains many synths, drums, samples, and whatever else…
If you’re new to music production and you want to upgrade your setup, don’t you buy hardware. Start with Kontakt… and maybe end there too. It might be more than enough.
You don’t need to waste your cash on other fancy plugins. Save your money for cool shoes or something.
Download Kontakt 7 here
Komplete 14 Standard | Native Instruments
If Kontakt isn’t enough for you, Native instruments has a whole lot more to offer.
Among its many tools and instruments, you’ll find the Session Guitarist range. Not only does these modules allow you to get rich and realistic guitar tones, but it’s also one of the best VST to create naturalistic strumming and finger picking patterns.
From acoustic to nylon, to different flavors of electric, all the feels are in there, and no one does amp simulation better than NI.
Speaking of amps, Komplete 14 also includes Guitar Rig 7, the best amp and pedal simulator on the market. This way, if you do decide to pick up an ax at your favorite pawn shop, you’ll be able to plug it in your laptop and get excellent tones out of the box.
Download Komplete 14 here
Virtual Guitarist | ujam
If you like the concept of Komplete’s Session Guitarist, but you don’t like its price tag, why not give ujam a go?
Much like your favorite off-brand cola, their Virtual Guitarist range gives you just as much functionality and great sounds at the fraction of the price. With their no-nonsense GUI, usable tones and very powerful parameters, they are just as good as your expensive big brand counterparts.
Get authentic strummed or picked patterns with a simple touch of your laptop keyboard, or play in instrument mode and make your own melodies.
I have to admit, ujam pretty much knocks it out of the park with their plugins. Give them a shot.
Check out the Virtual Guitarist range here
Arcade | Output
Arcade might not be the most flexible guitar VST, but it makes up for it in a big way with a treasure trove of creative musical ideas.
In case you don’t know it yet, Arcade is a powerful sampler that comes preloaded with loops of different instruments, covering countless genres. With Arcade, you save time and do what you do best: create music.
Just load up Arcade, pick a key, choose a kit, and voilà… You’re making a beat. And it probably sounds pretty good, too!
Output’s instrument isn’t solely dedicated to guitar samples, but there are many in there, no matter what genre you’re making, whether it’s lofi, latin grooves, indie pop, or even coked-up 70s funk. Arcade is the perfect tool for the beatmaker on the go.
Download Arcade here
Classic.Gtr Lite | Quiet Music
Billed as an “ambient Spanish guitar,” Classic.Gtr Lite is the little free VST that could. Armed with 7 presets and basic editing capabilities, it can reproduce the velvety tone of a classical guitar pretty realistically, but it really shines when you tweak it and give it a synth-y vibe.
It probably won’t be your best bet for acoustic music genres, but if you’re making lofi beats, R&B, or even left-field trap, this will help you achieve the slightly uncanny texture you might be looking for.
It’s original, it’s smooth, it’s free… What’s not to like?
Download Classic.Gtr Lite here
Scoring Guitars | Heavyocity
Like its name suggests, Scoring Guitar isn’t designed to emulate the feel of a guitar perfectly. This is a plugin to get you that trippy, dramatic feel of ambient guitars, like the ones you might hear on the soundtrack of a Hollywood blockbuster.
Can you make beats with it, though? Hell yeah you can!
This might provide some cool pad textures for you heady trap beats, or that epic ambience if you’re making trippy lofi for that cinemascope in your mind. This one is made for you if you like to experiment and express yourself differently.
Just load it up and see how it can inspire you.
Download Scoring Guitars here
Ample Guitar M Lite | Ample Sound
Ample Sound knows how to hook you in! They make great free versions of their professional-sounding instruments, then you like them so much that you have to buy the full version because of their highly addictive grooviness.
The Ample Guitar M Lite plugin is modeled after a Martin D-41, which in terms of acoustic guitars… you could do worse. That’s their only free guitar model, but if you want to expand your sound, you’ll have a choice between many string instruments, including several electric guitars.
Start with the free one, see if you like it, then expand your arsenal.
Download Ample Guitar M Lite here
Evolution Guitars Libraries | Orange Tree
This one is not a standalone plugin, but rather a Kontakt library, but it sounds really good, so what’s the difference?
Orange Tree is a well-kept secret in the industry. I feel like you hear about Omnisphere all the freaking time, but I had to dig in obscure subreddits and back pages of gear forums to find this one.
Maybe Orange Tree doesn’t advertise because it knows what it has: pure mother-effin’ gold.
I bought a few of their carefully-sampled libraries, and I have to admit they’re my go-to when I need legit-sounding guitars and basses. I’ve also seen famous beatmakers use it during some livestreams, so that’s a sign that it must be pretty good, right?
Depending on your needs, you might want to watch a few of their demos on YouTube to find which libraries you want. Or you can just get one of their bundles. Either way, you can’t go wrong.
Download Evolution Guitars Libraries here
Vinyl Guitar | Echo Sound Works
My mom used to say “Nothing in life is free.” Seriously, she said that all the time.
Well, there’s one thing that is free, mom, and that thing is Vinyl Guitar, a plugin by Echo Sound Works.
If ESW sounds familiar, it might be because I mention them on this blog all the time. The company makes some really dope presets I’ve been using for a while. They were one of the first companies to make really cool synth VST expansions that you could actually use to make cool music with.
Echo Sound hooks you up, too. Vinyl Guitar has 2 modes you can blend, one that’s more realistic, and one that sounds resampled, with sort of a lofi quality.
If you want to make trap beats like Juice WRLD, and if - like me - Nick Mira is like your “Blue God”, get this VST.
And even if you don’t like Nick Mira, this VST is free, so get it. Like, what do you have to lose?
Download Vinyl Guitar here