John Frusciante

• Use the neck pickup for leads — Frusciante rarely used the bridge
• The DS-2 in Turbo mode adds Marshall-like sustain at lower volumes
• Small Clone chorus at full depth and moderate rate for RHCP cleans
• Light pick attack, lots of vibrato — the expression is in the fingertips
• Marshall at bedroom volumes with the DS-2 pushing it is key
• Park the wah pedal at mid-position (around 50% toe) as a fixed filter for a nasal, vocal quality on funk rhythm parts — don't sweep it
• The RHCP clean funk tone has no overdrive at all: neck pickup, light compression, chorus — the rhythm feel comes from muting and attack, not gain
• Add a short slapback delay (160–200ms, single repeat, level at 3) under dirty lead lines — barely audible on its own but adds dimension to the DS-2 sound
• Vibrato starts on pitch and then deviates — Frusciante's classical guitar training means his vibrato always reaches the target note before the wobble starts, not before

John Frusciante's tone spans clean funk rhythm playing to raw, overdriven leads — all on a Stratocaster through a Marshall. His approach is musical and varied, drawing from Hendrix, Mayer and Gilmour.