#Long road to ruin solo lesson how to

Now it’s time to look at some of Foo Fighters most popular songs. Okay, so we’ve addressed the fundamentals. BreakoutĪmp Settings for Popular Foo Fighters Songs Overdrive/ Distortion: allows you to easily switch from clean/ distorted sections.Compressor: this will provide more smoothness, saturation and sustain (all very helpful).Reverb: useful for providing more depth, especially when using a clean tone.Make sure you also check out the brand-specific amp controls guide which is relevant to you, to get the most from your rig:Īlthough for most songs you can get close to the right tone with just an amp, pedals are still very useful if you have them.

#Long road to ruin solo lesson how to

Check out my complete guide to amp settings to learn what these controls (and others) do and how to adjust them to get the best possible tone. Some amps also have additional controls such as presence and contour. If your amp has a single EQ/ tone control, set this so it favours the treble frequencies as opposed to the bass which is normally around 2 o’clock on the dial. If you are using humbuckers then you’ll often need more treble and less bass and mids. If you are using single coils then you’ll usually need more bass and mids and less treble. If it sounds too overbearing then you can decrease it. The mids will give the tone more fullness so you can increase it more if it sounds too thin.

The mids control is usually moderately-high for most Foo Fighters songs so start with it on around 6-7 to begin with. If the tone sounds too loose and warm then you can decrease it, and if it sounds too thin then you can increase it. Start with this on around 3-4 to begin with. The bass control adjusts the low-end frequencies and usually is set quite low for most songs to make the tone sound tighter. The treble is higher for the lead parts (Chris) compared to the rhythm sections (Dave). This is usually moderately high (7-8) for a lot of songs to give the tone plenty of definition when using high gain which prevents it from sounding muddy. The treble control adjusts the brightness and crispness of the tone. Some amps have a single tone/ EQ control, whereas others have individual bass, mids and treble controls to give you more freedom to shape the tone.

When playing the rhythm sections (Dave Grohl mostly), the gain will usually be higher then when playing the lead sections (Chris Shiflett), but this will depend on the specific song. The quality of the gain is also usually better than cheaper solid state amps. This is useful because many Foo Fighters songs have clean and distorted sections and the pedal will allow you to switch between them. If you are using a tube amplifier you’ll need this cranking close to maximum in most cases.Īlternatively, you may be using a distortion or overdrive pedal. If you are using a solid state amplifier (most reading this article will be) then start with the gain set on around 6-7. The type you’re using will dictate how you generate distortion. There are two types of amplifier: solid state and tube. The exact settings you’ll need depends on which part you’re trying to play, the exact song itself and of course your guitar and amp, so there’s a lot to unpack here. There are almost always two guitars playing in each Foo Fighter’s songs (Dave Grohl and Chris Shiflett). There are three main aspects to consider here: In order to get a good understanding of the settings needed to sound like Foo Fighters, I’ll first be going through the fundamentals before we jump into examples for specific songs.