Riff Tone
Us and Them
Pink Floyd
Guitarrock1970s
Original Gear
GuitarFender Stratocaster (early 1970s, likely black or sunburst, maple neck, stock single-coil pickups)
AmpHiwatt DR103 Custom 100 (1970s model, studio recording)
PickupsFender single-coil (stock 1970s Strat pickups)
Amp Settings
gain0
bass6.5
mid7
treble6.5
reverb4
presence5.5
Effects & Signal Chain
No effects used for this tone
Notes
Studio recording for 'The Dark Side of the Moon' (1972-1973). David Gilmour used his main Stratocaster into a Hiwatt DR103 head with WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets. No evidence of alternate guitars or amps for the riff section. Settings estimated based on era, genre, and typical Gilmour studio setup.
Tone Character(10)
warm and smoothglassy and cleanrounded, gentle attackintimate and dynamicspacey, atmospherictouch-sensitiveslightly compressed by studio techniqueno audible distortionmild studio reverbneck pickup fullness
Difficulty
The riff requires clean, accurate arpeggios and familiarity with extended chord shapes, but is played at a slow tempo with no advanced techniques.
Sources
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Original Gear
GuitarFender Stratocaster (early 1970s, likely black or sunburst, maple neck, stock single-coil pickups)
AmpHiwatt DR103 Custom 100 (1970s model, studio recording)
PickupsFender single-coil (stock 1970s Strat pickups)
Amp Settings
gain0
bass6.5
mid7
treble6.5
reverb4
presence5.5
Effects & Signal Chain
No effects used for this tone
Notes
Studio recording for 'The Dark Side of the Moon' (1972-1973). David Gilmour used his main Stratocaster into a Hiwatt DR103 head with WEM Super Starfinder 200 cabinets. No evidence of alternate guitars or amps for the riff section. Settings estimated based on era, genre, and typical Gilmour studio setup.
Tone Character(10)
warm and smoothglassy and cleanrounded, gentle attackintimate and dynamicspacey, atmospherictouch-sensitiveslightly compressed by studio techniqueno audible distortionmild studio reverbneck pickup fullness
Difficulty
The riff requires clean, accurate arpeggios and familiarity with extended chord shapes, but is played at a slow tempo with no advanced techniques.
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