Nail the ToneThe Rolling Stones

Paint It Black

The Rolling Stones · Aftermath (US edition) / single · 1966

On the record the hook everybody calls the main riff is not a guitar at all: Brian Jones played it on sitar at RCA Studios, Hollywood in March 1966, with Keith Richards on acoustic strum and a supporting electric. To cover the riff on guitar, go bridge pickup into a bright combo just starting to break up — treble high, bass moderate, gain around 5 — with no pedals, and let the picking attack do the work. Tune to standard and play it in Em, but know that the original pressing is noticeably sharp, so a straight play-along will fight you.

Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record

Tuning

Standard tuning, no capo

The record sits roughly a quarter tone sharp of concert pitch (between Em and Fm, likely tape speed), so play it in Em in standard tuning or tune every string up about 40 cents to play along; note the famous riff melody is a sitar on the record, doubled by Keith's acoustic strum and a supporting electric.

Part: Riff

Guitar

  • Sitar (Ravi Shankar-style, Indian)
  • Gibson Hummingbird
  • Gibson Les Paul Standard (1959, Bigsby) · PAF humbuckers · bridge pickup

Amp

Vox AC30 Top Boost

GAIN
5.0
BASS
4.0
TREBLE
7.0

The Stones had a Vox endorsement in 1966 and Richards said of studio use, "I have no doubt they were. The AC30's a damn good amp."; other accounts put small Fender combos (Champ, Harvard, Showman) in front of him at RCA, and the AC30 has no mid, presence or reverb control, hence the nulls.

Amp

Fender Showman

GAIN
4.0
BASS
4.0
MID
5.0
TREBLE
7.0

Listed as the documented alternative: Ground Guitar notes the AC30 was occasionally swapped for a Fender Showman in the mid-60s, and a big clean Fender gives the same bright, barely-breaking-up edge heard under the sitar.

Tone character

bright near-clean chime · edge-of-breakup crunch · trebly, mid-forward · droning sitar buzz · dry mono 60s ambience

easy

The riff is a single-note Eastern-flavored line on the top strings that needs steady alternate picking and clean position shifts at a brisk tempo, and the rhythm part behind it is straight Em-B7 open chords with a driving downstroke strum.

Want this on your own amp?

These are the record's settings. Tell us what you play through and we'll translate every knob to the amp you actually own — free.

Adapt it to my gear

Sources