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Suede·Social·Issue No. 20
Tone recipes·2026 · JUL
Rock1991

01Red Hot Chili Peppers

Under the Bridge

The intro is the most copied clean Strat tone of the 90s. Position 4 (middle + neck) into a Marshall Major running clean at high volume — there's a faint amp compression sheen but the tone is essentially clean. The picking-hand arpeggios are loose, slightly behind the beat, with the fingers brushing strings as much as picking them. Tone has a warmth and a slight reverb tail that's never on a pedal — it's just the room and the amp at volume.

02Signal chain

Guitar to amp, 1 pedal between.

  1. In
    Guitar

    1962 Fender Stratocaster, position 4

  2. 01
    Barely audible chorus to widen the clean tone
    Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble

    Vibrato off, Chorus on, very subtle

  3. Out
    Amp

    Marshall Major (200W) clean, mic'd in a large room

03Field note

The secret sauce

It's not the pedals — it's the fingers. Frusciante's right-hand technique is part fingerpick, part claw, with thumb-led arpeggios that give every chord change a slight rolling feel.