Riff Tone

Look But You Can't Touch

Poison

Guitarrock1980s

Original Gear

GuitarGibson Les Paul Standard (likely 1980s, as used by C.C. DeVille on 'Open Up and Say... Ahh!')

AmpMarshall JCM800 2203 (100W head, classic for 80s hair metal and Poison's studio work)

PickupsStock Gibson humbuckers (likely 490R/498T or similar 1980s spec)

Amp Settings

gain7.5

bass6

mid6

treble7

reverb3

presence6.5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1988. No direct evidence of alternate guitars/amps for this riff section; Les Paul/Marshall stack is the documented Poison studio setup for this era.

Tone Character(10)

tight palm-muted chugsaggressive 80s rhythm crunchbright and cutting upper midsfull-bodied power chordssaturated but articulate attackhair metal riffing claritypunchy low endslightly scooped but present midsMarshall-style sizzlesustained chord ring

Difficulty

The riff requires solid palm muting and clean power chord transitions at a moderate tempo, but does not involve advanced techniques or fast lead work.

Sources

"You can look but you cant touch" Guitar Lesson - YouTube Poison - Open Up And Say...Ahh! Favorite song on this album?

Create an account to adapt this tone to your gear

Create Free Account