Do I Wanna Know
A slow, brooding riff full of pauses over a stripped-back, hip-hop-minded drum beat.
What is the Do I Wanna Know guitar tone?
The Do I Wanna Know guitar tone is a slow, brooding riff full of pauses over a stripped-back, hip-hop-minded drum beat, heard on Arctic Monkeys' 2010s indie rock recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Arctic Monkeys reportedly tracked it with the old Rickenbacker amp with no knobs, just two holes, that Alex Turner says the band recorded a lot of AM through and nicknamed The New Black, his account of the album rather than of this song; Turner developed the riff on his 12-string Vox Starstream XII, a guitar producer James Ford says Turner bought as a bit of a joke before it turned into an inspirational instrument, and its melody was first laid down in a two-week session in the desert at Joshua Tree, for an album Ford produced at Sage & Sound in Los Angeles and Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, with Ross Orton credited as producer of this track; Guitar.com lists Turner's black Les Paul Custom, a 1962 Gretsch Duo Jet and a Fender Jazzmaster for the sessions, and Jamie Cook's Gibson SG with fuzz from a Coopersonic Valve Slapper or a Big Muff, and which guitar plays the riff on the record is not documented. Indie rock guitar is mostly riffs and arpeggios that sit bright and mid-forward beside the bass, so note definition and the gaps between the notes matter more than the amount of gain.
You do not need that exact gear to land in the same place. What carries this sound is the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup choice and the order of the effects, and all four can be rebuilt on equipment that costs a fraction of the original. The numbers change from amp to amp, because a high-gain head and a small practice amp reach the same voicing from different knob positions. That translation is what Tonelify works out for the rig you actually own.
Do I Wanna Know amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 5, Bass 4, Middle 6, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 2, with the bridge pickup.
- Gain 5
- Bass 4
- Middle 6
- Treble 7
- Presence 6
- Reverb 2
- Signal chain
- Overdrive or fuzz → Short delay → Room reverb
- The control that matters most
- The gaps. MusicRadar describes the riff as spacious and full of pauses, so the silences are part of the part: keep the gain where a note stops dead when you mute it, and get the weight from a fuzz or drive pedal into a moderately set amp rather than from the gain knob, which fills the gaps with sustain and hiss.
These positions are free and they are a starting point. A Katana, a Spark and a valve head reach this voicing from different knob positions, so Tonelify rewrites every value above for the amp and guitar you own. Your first match is free with an account, and needs no card.
Adapt these to my amp- Pickup
- Bridge pickup
These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. If you tell Tonelify which amp you own, it rewrites every value above for the controls that amp actually has.
What gear did Arctic Monkeys use on Do I Wanna Know?
The old Rickenbacker amp with no knobs, just two holes, that Alex Turner says the band recorded a lot of AM through and nicknamed The New Black, his account of the album rather than of this song; Turner developed the riff on his 12-string Vox Starstream XII, a guitar producer James Ford says Turner bought as a bit of a joke before it turned into an inspirational instrument, and its melody was first laid down in a two-week session in the desert at Joshua Tree, for an album Ford produced at Sage & Sound in Los Angeles and Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, with Ross Orton credited as producer of this track; Guitar.com lists Turner's black Les Paul Custom, a 1962 Gretsch Duo Jet and a Fender Jazzmaster for the sessions, and Jamie Cook's Gibson SG with fuzz from a Coopersonic Valve Slapper or a Big Muff, and which guitar plays the riff on the record is not documented.
Sources: MusicRadar: how Arctic Monkeys created Do I Wanna Know?, Guitar.com: the genius of AM by Arctic Monkeys, NME (archived): Arctic Monkeys nearly named AM after an amp, Wikipedia: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)
Tonelify reads that chain and translates it to the amp and guitar you already own, returning gain, bass, mids, treble and presence values along with a pickup position.
How do you get the Do I Wanna Know tone on your own amp?
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Do I Wanna Know tone questions
What amp settings do you need for Do I Wanna Know?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 5, Bass 4, Middle 6, Treble 7, Presence 6, Reverb 2, with the bridge pickup. These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. Tonelify rewrites the same values for the specific amp and guitar you own, because a high-gain head and a small solid-state combo reach the same slow, brooding riff full of pauses over a stripped-back, hip-hop-minded drum beat from different positions.
What is the most important control for the Do I Wanna Know tone?
The gaps. MusicRadar describes the riff as spacious and full of pauses, so the silences are part of the part: keep the gain where a note stops dead when you mute it, and get the weight from a fuzz or drive pedal into a moderately set amp rather than from the gain knob, which fills the gaps with sustain and hiss.
Can you get the Do I Wanna Know tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with the old Rickenbacker amp with no knobs, just two holes, that Alex Turner says the band recorded a lot of AM through and nicknamed The New Black, his account of the album rather than of this song; Turner developed the riff on his 12-string Vox Starstream XII, a guitar producer James Ford says Turner bought as a bit of a joke before it turned into an inspirational instrument, and its melody was first laid down in a two-week session in the desert at Joshua Tree, for an album Ford produced at Sage & Sound in Los Angeles and Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, with Ross Orton credited as producer of this track; Guitar.com lists Turner's black Les Paul Custom, a 1962 Gretsch Duo Jet and a Fender Jazzmaster for the sessions, and Jamie Cook's Gibson SG with fuzz from a Coopersonic Valve Slapper or a Big Muff, and which guitar plays the riff on the record is not documented, but the parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order. Those translate to other equipment, which is what the adaptation step does.
Is Do I Wanna Know a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a riff part with a distorted character, from Arctic Monkeys' 2010s indie rock catalogue.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
Your first match for your own gear is free with an account, and needs no card. After that both plans start with a 7-day free trial: Stage is $6.99 a month for 20 matches, Headliner is $10.99 a month for unlimited matching within a fair use limit of 150 new matches a day, and yearly billing works out cheaper on both. Reading this page and the rest of the library costs nothing and needs no account.
