Song Rig

Follow Your Heart

John McLaughlin · Shakti · 1976

Tone Overview

What Makes This Sound Unique

McLaughlin's total departure from electric guitar — Shakti used an acoustic guitar with scalloped frets and sympathetic strings (a custom guitar built to approximate Indian sarod tone). The resulting sound is light-years from the Marshall double-neck, producing a delicate, resonant acoustic tone with micro-tonal capabilities.

Signal Chain

1Custom acoustic guitar (scalloped frets, drone strings beneath main strings)
2No amplification — purely acoustic for most Shakti recordings

Amp Settings

Gain / Volume0

Bass5

Mid6

Treble7

Acoustic — the Shakti period was McLaughlin's rejection of electric guitar entirely. The custom instrument's scalloped frets allow string bends equivalent to Indian music's micro-tonal ornaments, impossible on standard fretboard.

Technique

How to Play It

Indian classical ornaments on guitar — McLaughlin adopted the gamakas (ornamental pitch movements) of Indian classical music, using scalloped frets to slide and bend strings in ways unavailable on standard fretboards.

Budget Alternative

Achievable With

Acoustic guitar with scalloped frets (must be custom-made or modified) → no amplification → listen to Indian classical sitar and violin music to understand the gamakas McLaughlin is imitating. A standard acoustic guitar cannot produce these ornaments.

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