Say It Ain't So
Weezer · Weezer (The Blue Album) · 1994
The signature clean riff is Ric Ocasek's early-'60s Fender Jaguar into Electric Lady's Fender Twin, per engineer Chris Shaw — bright, dry, and nearly effect-free, with the rhythm coming from muted upstrokes rather than any pedal. The heavy chorus stabs are a separate overdub on one of Ocasek's P-90 Gibsons through Cuomo's Mesa/Boogie Mark I into a tall Marshall 4x12. Ocasek pushed the band toward bridge pickups for brightness, and the record has essentially no reverb or delay, so play it dry and let the pick attack do the work.
Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record
Tuning
Standard tuning, no capo
Standard tuning throughout; the clean riff sits over C#m–G#–A–E, and the heavy chorus riff is a separate overdubbed guitar.
Guitar
- Fender Jaguar (early-'60s, Ric Ocasek's) · Fender Jaguar single-coils · bridge pickup
- Gibson Les Paul Junior/Special double-cut (Ric Ocasek's) · P-90 · bridge pickup
Amp
Fender Twin Reverb
Engineer Chris Shaw stated the clean rhythm for this song was cut in Electric Lady's Studio C on Ocasek's Jaguar through the studio's Fender Twin; he also said there were essentially no reverbs or delays on the album, so keep amp reverb near zero. A long-circulating forum rumor credits a Vox instead — the engineer's account is the stronger source.
Amp
Mesa/Boogie Mark I (60W head)
Cuomo's Blue Album distortion amp, run into his tall '68 Marshall 4x12 with greenbacks, reportedly at fairly low volume; this is the chorus/bridge crunch rather than the clean verse riff.
Tone character
glassy single-coil chime · bright, thin, dry clean · clipped percussive attack · almost no effects · chorus riff: mid-forward crunch
The main riff is four repeating chord shapes played with clipped, muted upstrokes, so the challenge is the steady offbeat skank and keeping unplayed strings quiet, not the fretting.
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