Song Rig
Beautiful Day
The Edge · All That You Can't Leave Behind · 2000
Tone Overview
What Makes This Sound Unique
Edge's return to open-space delay guitar after the Achtung Baby industrial era — clean, bright, and optimistic. The dotted-eighth delay pattern creates a rhythmic cascade of notes that fills the arrangement with motion even during simple chord holds. The tone is spacious and atmospheric, designed to sound like hope itself.
Signal Chain
- 1Gibson Explorer (or Fender Stratocaster, multiple guitars tracked)
- 2Korg SDD-3000 Delay (dotted eighth, multiple repeats)
- 3Line 6 DL4 Delay (for additional delay layers)
- 4Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier (moderate gain)
Amp Settings
Bright and moderately driven — the treble-forward setting helps the delay repeats remain audible as they decay. Edge's rigs typically run multiple delay units for different time signatures that interact rhythmically.
Technique
How to Play It
Controlled strumming locked to dotted-eighth delay pattern — Edge plays simple single notes and chords at specific positions in the bar, and the delay doubles them into complex rhythmic cascades. The playing itself is often minimal; the delay does the rhythmic work.
Budget Alternative
Achievable With
Strat or Explorer → Boss DD-8 or TC Electronic Flashback 2 set to dotted-eighth delay at the song BPM → medium-gain amp. Set delay feedback to 4–5 repeats at declining volume.
Your Gear
Adapt to My Amp
More from The Edge
Other Song Rigs
Where the Streets Have No Name
The Joshua Tree · 1987
The most iconic delay-driven guitar tone in rock — a dotted-eighth note delay sy…
View rig →Sunday Bloody Sunday
War · 1983
Harder-edged than The Joshua Tree work — less delay-dependent, more rhythmically…
View rig →One
Achtung Baby · 1991
Achtung Baby marked a change in Edge's approach — less Vox AC30, more distorted …
View rig →Pride (In the Name of Love)
The Unforgettable Fire · 1984
The famous dotted-eighth delay guitar pattern — the riff is played as straight q…
View rig →With or Without You
The Joshua Tree · 1987
Built on the Infinite Guitar's unique sustain — a guitar fitted with an EBow-lik…
View rig →Mysterious Ways
Achtung Baby · 1991
The Edge goes funk — Achtung Baby's most rhythmically driven track features wah-…
View rig →