Song Rig
Lonely Boy
Dan Auerbach · El Camino · 2011
Tone Overview
What Makes This Sound Unique
El Camino marked the Black Keys's commercial breakthrough and Auerbach's most polished studio tone. Lonely Boy uses a layered guitar approach — a clean/lightly overdriven guitar providing the rhythm foundation, and a gritty, vintage-distorted guitar for the lead fills. The tones draw from classic 1960s rock and blues records rather than contemporary settings. A Supro Saharan or similar vintage combo provides the natural, speaker-compressed breakup.
Signal Chain
- 1Gibson ES-335
- 2Supro 1624T Dual-Tone (1960s vintage)
- 3National Reso-Phonic (lap steel)
- 4Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi
Amp Settings
The Supro's natural speaker compression at high volume creates the El Camino distortion character — it is an old-fashioned amplifier breakup rather than a pedal distortion. The tone is gritty but warm, never harsh.
Technique
How to Play It
Auerbach's right-hand technique incorporates bluegrass-influenced hybrid picking — using a pick for the downstroke on low strings and fingers for the upstroke on high strings — giving his rhythm parts more rhythmic complexity than pure pick strumming.
Budget Alternative
Achievable With
A semi-hollow or P-90 equipped guitar into a small vintage-style combo (Fender Champ, Supro clone, Epiphone Valve Jr) pushed to natural breakup. The warm, compressed quality comes from speaker saturation rather than pedal distortion.
Your Gear
Adapt to My Amp
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