Riff Tone

Stand By Me

Ben E. King

Guitarother1960s

Original Gear

Guitar1950s Fender Telecaster

AmpFender Tweed Tube Amp (likely 1950s Fender Bassman or Deluxe)

PickupsSingle-coil (Fender Telecaster stock 1950s)

Amp Settings

gain0

bass6

mid6

treble6

reverb2

presence5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1960-1961. No evidence of pedals or outboard effects on the original recording. Gear inferred from era, genre, and typical studio setups for Atlantic Records at the time. No direct source confirms exact amp/guitar, but Telecaster and Fender amp are widely accepted for this era and style.

Tone Character(10)

clean and roundwarm vintage single-coil soundarticulate and percussive attacktight, focused low endslightly rolled-off highsdynamic, touch-sensitive responsestudio dry soundclassic 1960s R&B rhythm guitarno audible effects or pedal colorationno breakup or distortion

Difficulty

The riff is built on simple open chords and straightforward rhythm, making it accessible to beginners. The main challenge is maintaining steady timing and a clean, articulate attack.

Sources

Which scale can I play over Stand By Me (Ben E King) that ... - Reddit Ben E King: Stand by Me -- how to match the key of bass and lead?

This tone has been researched 5 times by the community

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