Delia's Gone

Description

There are two guitar parts in this tune, playing 'guitar 1' on an acoustic is ideal. Johnny Cash used dreadnought Martin steel string acoustics almost exclusively, but any acoustic will do. If you don't have an acoustic, electric guitar on the clean channel without effects can work.

Also, on guitar 1, we are going to be using a capo on the first fret. This will enable us to use open 'cowboy' chords instead of bar chords. This technique is used frequently in country music. So if I play an normal open A major chord, now it sounds as if it is a B-flat major chord, because the capo takes the place of our index finger when barring!

Guitar two is a rockabilly clean guitar part. A "Strat" style type of guitar is best with single coil pickups. Most humbucking pickups have too much gain and are to "dark" for the sharp pop and clarity necessary and country music.

For amps, a Fender amp with built-in reverb is preferable. Use the cleanest channel on your amp, and dial back the distortion as much as possible. Think clean, bright and punchy. Today I am playing a Fender deluxe reverb amp on the Axe Fx II. My amps settings are, Drive at 2, bass at 9, mid at 8, and treble at 9.

For effects, I have my reverb set to a medium room with 18.5% mix. You will also need slap back echo, use it sparingly. Longer delay times and more repeats can clutter your sound. My settings are: time-89 ms, feedback-15%, mix-13%.