Riff Tone

Miserlou

Dick Dale & His Del-Tones

Guitarrock1960s

Original Gear

GuitarEarly 1960s Fender Stratocaster (left-handed, strung upside-down, heavy gauge strings, tremolo blocked)

AmpFender Dual Showman head with JBL D-130F 15" speakers, Fender 6G15 Standalone Spring Reverb Unit

PickupsFender single-coil (bridge position)

Amp Settings

gain4.5

bass5.5

mid7

treble7.5

reverb9

presence7

Effects & Signal Chain

reverbFender Fender 6G15 Standalone Spring Reverb Unit

Notes

Studio recording, 1962. Dick Dale played extremely loud, with heavy picks and all five tremolo springs installed. The tremolo was blocked. The amp was developed with Leo Fender specifically for Dale's needs. Reverb was provided by a standalone Fender 6G15 unit, not built into the amp.

Tone Character(10)

extremely bright and cuttinghighly percussive attackdripping wet spring reverbaggressive and rawtwangy and sharparticulate single-note clarityloud and powerfulstaccato, machine-gun pickingsnappy and bitingfull-bodied with little breakup

Difficulty

The riff requires expert-level alternate picking at very high speed, with relentless stamina and accuracy, making it one of the most challenging surf rock riffs to play cleanly.

Sources

Learn how to play Dick Dale’s iconic Misirlou guitar riff | MusicRadar Mod Garage: The Dick Dale Wiring - Premier Guitar 6 scales from around the world every guitarist should know | Guitar World Learn to Play: Riffs in the Key of Dick Dale | Reverb News

This tone has been researched 4 times by the community

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