Riff Tone

Brown Sugar (Live At Stadia Delle Alpi, Turin, Italy / 1990 / 2009 Remaster)

The Rolling Stones

Guitarrock1990s

Original Gear

GuitarFender Telecaster 'Micawber' (butterscotch, 5-string, open G tuning)

AmpFender Twin Reverb (likely Silverface, cranked)

PickupsBridge: Fender lap steel single-coil, Neck: Gibson PAF humbucker

Amp Settings

gain6

bass6

mid7

treble7

reverb3

presence6

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Live performance, 1990, riff section. Keith Richards' main live guitar for 'Brown Sugar' is 'Micawber', set up for open G with only five strings. Amp is a Fender Twin Reverb, typically run very loud and clean with breakup from volume. No evidence of pedals in the main riff section for this era; effects are from amp only.

Tone Character(10)

bright and bitingpercussive and rhythmicopen and airydynamic and responsiveslightly gritty cruncharticulate attackclassic Telecaster twangtight, focused midrangenatural amp breakupsubtle spring reverb ambience

Difficulty

The riff is rhythmically driving and requires familiarity with open G tuning and 5-string Telecaster setup, but is not technically complex in terms of speed or advanced techniques. The main challenge is maintaining the groove and articulation at a fast tempo.