Riff Tone

Heart of Glass

Blondie

Guitarrock1970s

Original Gear

Guitar1972 Fender Stratocaster (likely, based on era and period photos; no direct source confirmation for studio recording)

AmpMusic Man HD-130 (likely, based on period interviews and Blondie studio photos; no direct source confirmation for this song's studio recording)

PickupsFender single-coil pickups

Amp Settings

gain3.5

bass5.5

mid6.5

treble7

reverb3

presence5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1978 (Parallel Lines album). No direct source confirms exact guitar/amp for 'Heart of Glass' riff, but period-correct gear and photos indicate Stratocaster and Music Man amp were used in studio. Live rigs in later years used Mesa/Boogie and Soldano, but these are not relevant for the original studio recording.

Tone Character(10)

bright and glassytight and percussiveslightly compressedclean with edge-of-breakupchimey top endarticulate and definedminimal sustainfunky, disco-influenced rhythmmodest amp reverbno heavy distortion

Difficulty

The riff requires precise, funky rhythm playing with clean articulation and tight muting, but does not involve complex chords or advanced techniques.

Sources

Rig Rundown - Blondie's Chris Stein and Tommy Kessler Blondie Guitar Sound??? - The Gear Page What makes a riff sound New Wave? : r/musictheory

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