Song Rig
In Bloom
Kurt Cobain · Nevermind · 1991
Tone Overview
What Makes This Sound Unique
In Bloom features one of the most guitar-dense arrangements on Nevermind — the intro riff uses chorus on a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar (an unusual choice for Cobain), while the main body of the song returns to the Mustang-into-DS-1/DS-2 combination. The layering of guitar tracks by Butch Vig in production creates a thickness that is impossible to reproduce with a single guitar.
Signal Chain
- 1Fender Mustang
- 2Rickenbacker 330/12 (intro)
- 3Boss DS-1 Distortion
- 4Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion
- 5Fender Twin Reverb
Amp Settings
Similar scooped-mid setting to other Nevermind tracks. The layering of tracks in production creates the wall-of-guitar density — live, Cobain could only approximate this.
Technique
How to Play It
Cobain rarely used a pick consistently — he alternated between pick, fingers and hybrid picking in ways that gave his strumming a looser, more human quality than technically trained players.
Budget Alternative
Achievable With
Fender Mustang or Jaguar into a Boss DS-1 with mids scooped. The intro chorus guitar requires an EHX Small Clone if approximating the full studio arrangement.
Your Gear
Adapt to My Amp
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