Let Her Go
Passenger · All the Little Lights · 2012
The rhythm part is a single steel-string acoustic — almost certainly the Gibson J-45 Mike Rosenberg bought in Sydney and played for years before the song broke — capo'd at the 7th fret and mic'd in the studio, with no guitar amp or pedals in the chain. The sound is dry, close and chimey, with the low end left mostly to the bass and piano and just a touch of mix reverb behind it. If you're plugging in, run an acoustic combo or DI flat-to-bright with the bass trimmed and only a hint of reverb, and keep the strum light so the top strings ring rather than thump.
Where these numbers come from: worked out from the documented rig and the sound of the record
Tuning
Standard tuning, no capo · Capo at fret 7
Rhythm part is played with C-family shapes behind a capo at the 7th fret (F–G–Am–C shapes sounding C–D–Em–G in the key of G); the record layers a second acoustic plus bass, drums and piano behind it.
Guitar
- Gibson J-45 · None used — mic'd in the studio
Amp
AER Compact Mobile (acoustic combo)
No guitar amp was used on the record — the acoustic was mic'd at Linear Recording in Sydney; these are settings for reproducing that dry, chiming capo'd tone through the AER acoustic combo Passenger has been seen using live. Bass is pulled back because the part sits high on the neck and the mix leaves the low end to the bass and piano.
Tone character
bright capo'd chime · tight, controlled low end · dry close-mic'd acoustic · gentle studio compression · soft, even strum attack
Four easy shapes behind a capo at the 7th fret, but the constant eighth-note strum has to stay even and light, and the F shape (often played as a two-finger Fmaj7-style grip) needs a clean fret hand to avoid buzz that high up.
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