Smooth Sailing - Queens of the stone age | Guitar | Page 1

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 3:21 PM

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Hey! There's this guitar with this tone I can't quite figure out. The guitar pretty much only plays every once in a while, but it adds a lot of punch.

To me it maybe sounds like some distortion and maybe a wah pedal? It's really gritty without being too loud and distorted. Having a hard time figuring it out. If anybody could help I would appreciate it a lot.

You will hit it play in the follwing clil. Note: I am not talking about the guitar consistently playing notes in a group of 2, but the distorted guitar that comes in and adds some punch :)

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I'm also not quite sute if it's playing 5ths or single notes. 🦥

jagged forum Mar 25, 2026, 6:29 PM

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hexed frost Hey! There's this guitar with this tone I can't quite figure out. The guitar pre...

depending on your setup

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homme like to push mids into the amp, with an overdrive as a boost

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on this section it's quad tracked single coils

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 9:19 PM

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jagged forum depending on your setup

Shoot that's a bunch of new terminology I gotta learn tom

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 9:28 PM

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jagged forum depending on your setup

I'm using a line 6 pod go. And a Telecaster. Basically I need to focus on the mids (tone knob about halfway, maybe change the amp EQ), with some kind of overdrive on top.

jagged forum Mar 25, 2026, 9:34 PM

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hexed frost I'm using a line 6 pod go. And a Telecaster. Basically I need to focus on the mi...

if you can slap an eq pedal in front (either a 10band or parametric) and slide up to the max either 800 or 1,5k hz that would work

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the qotsa distortion sound (from like clockwork, at least) come from pushing a shit ton of mids into the preamp. an eq pedal or sd-1 with tone all the way can do that

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 9:43 PM

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I'm definetely getting closer when I focus more on the mids.

jagged forum Mar 25, 2026, 9:47 PM

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keep treble relatively low too

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 9:48 PM

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jagged forum if you can slap an eq pedal in front (either a 10band or parametric) and slide u...

I put on a parametrc EQ. The max mid Freq is 8 khz. And the min is 1.25 khz.

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You said put it to max but the min is a lot closer haha

jagged forum Mar 25, 2026, 9:48 PM

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put mid freq at 1.25
then the LEVEL of mids at max

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 9:48 PM

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I probs misundertood haha

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Ahhhh okidoki

jagged forum Mar 25, 2026, 9:49 PM

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also put the Q (width) in the middle, too wide and you muffle the "grit", too narrow and you lose the "grit"

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depending on the signal chain different frequencies could matter

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maybe it's 1,5khz that sounds better

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also experiment with the pickup and don't be afraid to compare with the song, like play the song, then play the guitar, yaddeyadda

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 9:52 PM

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Oh yeah I'm definitely getting closer

jagged forum Mar 25, 2026, 9:52 PM

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speaker choice?

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 9:52 PM

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W0t does that mean 🦥

jagged forum Mar 25, 2026, 9:53 PM

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those are the "ir" or "cab" section.

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try the ampeg b15 one

jagged forum Mar 25, 2026, 9:56 PM

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hexed frost Oh yeah I'm definitely getting closer

news?

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 9:56 PM

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Ok!

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It sounds great! I'll try the speaker thing first

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I was using the IR OH412MES-ST V6. I felt like it was actually a bit closer than the ampeg b15

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 10:15 PM

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It sounds really similar now. Thank you for your help @jagged forum!

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Actually one last thing if you don't mind:

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Is the tone for the main riff the same tone with less overdrive? Like mids and stuff or do you think it's pretty different?

jagged forum Mar 25, 2026, 10:30 PM

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hexed frost Is the tone for the main riff the same tone with less overdrive? Like mids and s...

i think so yeah. i know less about like clockwork's album tone, but i think the pushing mid part is always true.
so yeah, maybe less overdrive, but that's your ear to judge 😉

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 10:31 PM

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Sick! Thanks dude. I learnt a lot.

jagged forum Mar 25, 2026, 10:31 PM

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Feel free to ask me about Qotsa :)

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 10:38 PM

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Haha I'll be listening to more of their stuff later. Smooth sailing is my favorite song as of now. I had a really fun time trying to figure out the all the melodies on my guitar. It's cool hearing 2 guitars and a bass all hit 3 different licks together and disecting what's being played.

jagged forum Mar 25, 2026, 10:38 PM

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dude yes

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2 guitarists feels insanely thick

hexed frost Mar 25, 2026, 10:39 PM

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Regarding the tone I was trying to find right now, I kind of liked how they used it as a percussive element to make the song hit harder.

#Smooth Sailing - Queens of the stone age