Back to Community
Little Dreamer
Van Halen
GuitarRiffDistortedrock1970s
Original Gear
GuitarFrankenstrat (homemade Strat-style, single humbucker, maple neck, Floyd Rose not yet installed in 1978)
AmpMarshall Super Lead 1959 100-watt (late '60s, unmodded, run with Variac at ~90V, into Celestion-loaded Marshall 4x12 cab)
Amp Settings
mid7
bass6
gain7
Create a free account to see all tone details
Sign Up FreeTone Character
brown soundwarm and mid-forwardBritish crunchtouch-sensitivesinging sustaintight palm mutingopen, uncompressed overdriveslightly rolled-off highsclassic late-70s Marshall breakupdynamic response to picking
Difficulty
The riff requires intermediate control of dynamics and palm muting, with subtlety in picking attack to achieve the signature Van Halen 'brown sound' and groove.
Sign up to adapt this tone to your gear
Sign Up Free