
Song Rig
Jeremy
Mike McCready · Ten · 1991
Tone Overview
What Makes This Sound Unique
Dynamic and restrained for most of the song, then explosive in the outro solo. The verse guitar is clean and arpeggiated, the chorus builds to crunch, and the outro solo erupts into full Stratocaster blues-rock. The tonal arc mirrors the emotional narrative of the song.
Signal Chain
- 1Fender Stratocaster (multiple pickup positions)
- 2Fender amp (clean to edge of breakup by section)
- 3Tube Screamer (engaged for solo)
Amp Settings
Verse: clean with generous reverb. Chorus/bridge: amp pushed to light crunch. Outro solo: Tube Screamer engaged, amp at edge of breakup. The progression from clean to full crunch is entirely through Tube Screamer engagement and pick attack, not amp channel switching.
Technique
How to Play It
Clean intro: arpeggio picking with even attack. Outro solo: aggressive, bluesy phrasing with hammer-ons and hard bends. The outro solo is played with a heavy pick attack that pushes the Tube Screamer input stage harder on each note.
Budget Alternative
Achievable With
Stratocaster → reverb pedal → Tube Screamer → Fender Blues Deluxe. Clean intro: bypass TS9. Solo: engage TS9 and pick harder.
Your Gear
Adapt to My Amp
More from Mike McCready
Other Song Rigs
Alive
Ten · 1991
The quintessential early 90s alternative rock guitar solo — built on a Stratocas…
View rig →Even Flow
Ten · 1991
Driving, rhythmically locked alternative rock — Even Flow has a tighter, more ag…
View rig →Black
Ten · 1991
Pearl Jam's most emotionally devastating ballad — Mike's clean-to-overdriven arc…
View rig →Yellow Ledbetter
Jeremy (B-side) · 1992
The most Hendrix-adjacent McCready tone — Yellow Ledbetter uses a clean-to-sligh…
View rig →Given to Fly
Yield · 1998
The Yield era McCready tone — cleaner, more open, and less compressed than the T…
View rig →