Tears in Heaven

Eric Clapton · Rush: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack · 1991

The original 1991 studio recording for the Rush soundtrack is a nylon-string classical guitar, fingerpicked and close-mic'd — no amp, no dirt, no pedals. Sources disagree on which classical guitar: MusicRadar names a José Ramírez III built in 1991 for the recording and a 1977 Juan Alvarez for the video, while Ground Guitar credits the Alvarez with the recording itself. Either way the tone is all in the instrument and the picking hand, so play it clean with the mids up and keep reverb low.

Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record

Tuning

Standard tuning, no capo

Standard tuning in A major, fingerpicked on nylon strings; the rhythm part leans on slash chords (E/G#, F#m7/E, D/F#) with a bridge that moves to G major, and on Unplugged a second guitar (Andy Fairweather Low) doubles the same shapes.

Part: Rhythm

Guitar

José Ramírez III classical (nylon-string) · none (mic'd)
Juan Alvarez classical (1977) · none (mic'd)

Amp

Acoustic combo or PA channel (no amp on the record)

GAIN

3.0

BASS

4.0

MID

6.0

TREBLE

5.0

REVERB

2.0

The original was a nylon-string guitar in front of a condenser mic into the console at The Village Recorder, Los Angeles (engineer Ed Cherney, producer Russ Titelman) — there was no guitar amp. If you're playing it through an acoustic amp or PA, keep it clean with a slight low-end trim, mids up for the woody body tone, and only a touch of reverb.

Pedals

Studio plate/room reverb (console send) · reverb · short decay, low mix (roughly 10-15%) — a pedal reverb on a low setting gets you there

Tone character

warm nylon-string body · soft rounded attack · clear upper mids · no dirt at all · short intimate reverb

medium

Fingerstyle with a moving bass line under two-note shapes, plenty of slash chords and a thumb-over F# grip, and a bridge that changes key — the picking hand pattern is the part that takes work.

Want this on your own amp?

These are the record's settings. Tell us what you play through and we'll translate every knob to the amp you actually own — free.

Adapt it to my gear