Fear of the Dark
Iron Maiden · Fear of the Dark · 1992
The main riff is a bridge-position Strat humbucker into a cranked British tube head — mid-forward, tight in the low end, and less saturated than it sounds because two guitars are tracked in unison or an octave apart. Set the gain around 7 with mids up and bass moderate, then let picking attack do the work; keep effects off the rhythm track and save reverb or delay for the clean intro and solos. No source documents the exact amp or knob positions for this recording, so the settings below are inferred from the band's period rig and the sound of the record.
Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record
Tuning
Standard tuning, no capo
Standard E tuning; the main riff is doubled by two guitars in unison or an octave apart, and the song opens with a clean arpeggiated section before the heavy riff enters.
Guitar
- Fender Stratocaster (Dave Murray) · Seymour Duncan Hot Rails / JB Jr. (DiMarzio Super Distortion in earlier years) · bridge pickup
- Fender Stratocaster (Janick Gers) · Seymour Duncan Hot Rails · bridge pickup
Amp
Marshall JCM800 2203
No session-specific amp source exists for this track; gear histories place Murray and Gers on Marshall heads (JCM800-type) plus early rack gear in this period, so treat the model as the documented category rather than a confirmed studio unit. The 2203 has no reverb, hence null.
Amp
Marshall JMP-1 + 9200 power amp
Competing account: the JMP-1 preamp/9200 rack is the widely documented Murray and Gers rig, but it dates from roughly 1993 onward (Real Live One / X Factor era), so it is more likely the live rig than the 1991–92 Barnyard session rig. Values left null because the JMP-1's scale is not 0–10.
Tone character
tight British crunch · forward mids · bridge humbucker bite · moderate gain, not saturated · dry, few effects
Continuous 16th notes at about 160 bpm with palm muting and quick position shifts, so it is an alternate-picking stamina test more than a stretch of the fretting hand.
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Adapt it to my gearSources
- Fear of the Dark (song) – Wikipedia
- Iron Maiden – Fear Of The Dark (Discogs credits)
- Seymour Duncan – Janick Gers
- Fender Dave Murray Stratocaster
- Dave Murray Guitars & Gear List – Guitar Lobby
- Dave Murray Guitars And Gear – VVN News
- Fear Of The Dark Guitar Lesson – Guitar Lessons 365
- Iron Maiden – Fear Of The Dark (transcription)