Where The Streets Have No Name Guitar Lesson - U2 - Famous Riffs

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Click here for my U2 playlist featuring ALL of my U2 song lessons! • U2
For a Free detailed PDF with the settings and simple math formula to achieve this tone, click the link above.
Today's video guitar lesson is not only a lesson on playing the intro to "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2, but also how to achieve the same dotted 8th note delay effect The Edge uses throughout.
This delay effect guitar sound is so essential to how you actually play the riff that any lesson on how to play it would be incomplete without the knowledge of how to achieve that tone.
Be sure to download the PDF above that lays out the simple math formulas needed in order to know how to set up a dotted 8th note effect no matter what you tempo you are playing in or what type of delay device you own.
After you have your tone dialed in, actually playing the riff is quite simple.
We have a series of 6 repeated notes that just seem to float over the underlying chord progression implied by the bass guitar. This kind of musical effect is very common in U2's music and of course countless other bands that have utilized the technique since then.
Be sure to articulate the guitar lines accurately so that all of the notes pop out nicely. Besides the delay, try to use a single coil guitar with the pickup selector in the 2nd position.
Alright that is about it, have fun with this Where The Streets Have No Name guitar lesson video and remember, after learning the intro, try coming up with your own timed delay effect riffs. Fair warning though, playing with this type of tone can certainly become addicting. :)
Carl..

[@tedjames9556]

Been playing for over 40 years and haven't heard the delay explained like that before. Great info and understandable. Played it perfect the first time!! Thanks and keep those lessons coming, finally playing some of these old songs right!!

[@capsuleboy]

Yes, I mean, I always thought it was like 1 delay at 400ms and the other one at a quarter (like 150) and you got a dotted eight. I am still not sure of the explanation, but it seems that dotted eighth is not only defined by the relation of one delay tempo to the other delay tempo, but also both work in conjunction with the tempo of a song.

[@tonymcalister9878]

That is by far the best explanation of dotted 1/8, and millisecond conversion that I have every heard. Thanks.

[@robino0821]

This is great, thank you! A huge part of his tone also comes from the picks he uses.Herdim Standard Nylon Guitar Picks from Germany.

[@Blackdog4818]

I came for a guitar lesson and a math problem broke out.

[@porscheman998]

Well, music is math, so technically you always get a math problem with a music lesson!

[@quagmyre84]

You crazy mf, respect 🤘

[@flip1213]

Another easy way to get the dotted eighth feel....tap your foot on the quarter note in tempo, then clap your hands 5 times against the 4 on your foot, making sure that the first clap is on the 1, and the 5th clap is on the 4. 5 against 4. The "tempo" of the 5 claps is your delay setting. Your technique is great, but if math scares people, this technique works as well. Thanks for the video!

[@TheTwangKings]

Thank you for making it asy to understand how delay works. It makes it easy to use a Calc sheet to compute it for different note values!

[@georgerichardson7728]

This guy's accent is great, and he's a fantastic teacher, thanks buddy !

[@martinlessard9623]

Excellent explaination for the delay. Tx so much.

[@andrewknox8786]

Nice explanation. I read that Edge also plays this in stereo through 2 amps, with a slight delay on one amp, to enhance the effect.

[@benbrunskill5618]

Very much a common misconception. He does use 2 amps on some songs, but not this one. For the most part his rig is mono and the two amps are used for tone reasons - the main one is pretty bright, the second one is fatter sounding and gets added for solos or heavy parts.

[@charaiveti-charaiveti]

i finally understood what is and how the dotted 8 works! thanks, carl!! subsequently, i realized i do not need to count, for i have that red blinking button on my multi-effect pedal board - i just have to tap the 1/4s in the tempo of the song and that's it!

[@paulorobertolittlepaul9361]

Perfect introduction ... You play all sound notes ... Congratulations ...

[@drsous70]

That totally went over my head

[@espimgardino]

Cara.. única coisa que tenho a lhe dizer é, obrigado. Seu trabalho e dedicação ajuda muita gente, assim como eu, que trabalha na noite e não têm muito tempo para tirar as músicas. You are a Monster. A great master. God Bless you. Brasil

[@scopex2749]

THAT is spot on its time I learnt this riff!

[@MaianoRacingTeam]

NIce Lesson, I always tought that this riff was waaaaaaay more complicated. THANK YOU!

[@benj6949]

Hi Carl, could you PLEASE do the full lesson on this! That would be awesome!!!

[@MetalBuffalos]

just look up "bpm to delay caculator" and use whatever comes up and you can also look up the bpms for songs

[@bustermcthundernut]

Wow, didn’t know that’s how to calculate delay lol. Thanks man!

[@Whitesp44]

God damn son...so a friend told me...if you smoke weed and play, don't watch this video and try to learn this song. Your mind will literally melt. Thank you as always for the great video God bless everybody stay healthy

[@noname1st139]

he uses same riff in a similar pattern for- "with or without you" I noticed, it's very similar anyway.

[@davesmith6794]

Please say you're going to do a video on the rest of the song! Great explanation of the delay, thank you. But, we really need the rest of the song.

[@capsuleboy]

Thechnically I dont understand quite correctly, but luckily in my gt10 I have patch called "Irish delay" (you know why) It has a dual delay, 1 delay is set to this "BPM♩" and the other one is set to this "BPM♪." (with a dot). The the whole thing is set to TAP tempo, so I can adjust with tap, and it will automatically give me the dotted 8th to whatever tempo I tap.

[@pauloratm]

Beautiful!!!! Thanks for this amazing guitar lesson!

[@ajaypimpalapure1322]

Excellent job

[@brendanringwood9102]

Great lesson. 10yrs later.. deadly

[@jensastrup1940]

Great explanation. Thanks

[@ThisMoth]

Snow (hey oh) by hot chili pepers would be insane, and thanks for La Grange!

[@jadipeperzak4034]

hard song to pick

[@fyerfytr]

Awesome lesson thanks!

[@michaelstephen5827]

Thanks Carl, great job explaining the dotted 8th. for those of you who may have had a few drinks like michael k below, this will get you the same result (60,000/BPM of song) x 0.75

[@jonmorgan7942]

Hi, great as always but can you do the complete song as no-one seems to be doing it or brushing over key parts. Jon

[@keller804]

Like the vid!. first, its awesome, and we can see the whole song!

[@neilreynard]

Great video! Just about to subcribe!

[@seansalins3078]

Great lesson! but I am not seeing the link to the PDF you mention. Help please!

[@U2FanSanFran]

You gonna do a tutorial on the chorus?

[@dariodentino5279]

Appreciate your no nonsense approach, i.e. not worshipping the rock.gods. Keep it up!

[@MrCahouette]

great job thank you !

[@bldallas]

So a diesel locomotive leaves the A station, heading west at 50kPH, and how long will it take the The Edge to figure out this riff using only three fingers....

[@jonetrance4495]

can you do a video of playing big country,fields of fire?

[@tikitikibamboo]

Like it people! Whole song would be more than awesome!

[@adamwatts4937]

That taught me a lot on the dial in

[@pud354]

2:20 "A lot of them kinda rip-off The Edge" True, but didn't The Edge 'rip-off' David GIlmour in the first place (In regard to his "The Wall"-era dotted eighth guitar magic)? 🤔

[@kornyfoxx17]

Yeah damn whaaaat ain't no way you can get away with saying David Gilmour ripped off the edge

[@briancoyne6700]

Didn't understand any of that :( Felt like I was in HS math class again.

[@tweedguitar9103]

Thanks Carl, Thankyou for providing the Delay Settings formula mathematically. This is invaluable information. Could we do another example please,? for example Another Brick in Wall, or Run Like Hell ? Anything with a signature delay based setting. sincere thanks,

[@ruffcutmagicreview]

What about the rest of the song?

[@JohnHWelch63]

If you don't have a sophisticated delay pedal and you can only set the milliseconds I'll save everyone some time. Set your delay for 418ms.

[@erikk.2227]

What a great looking Strat--do you mind sharing what model you're playing?

[@GuitarLessons365SongLessons]

Eric Johnson signature model

[@gillozada5090]

thanks so much, my fave edge riff

[@dakotaashe3184]

wym edge

[@padraigodriscoll986]

@@dakotaashe3184 The Edge is the lead guitarist of U2

[@dakotaashe3184]

@@padraigodriscoll986 cool cool

[@Ali-vv2ic]

what other bands use the dotted 8th note delay a lot? its my favorite part of old u2 but i struggle to hear it anywhere else

[@squamham8426]

this song by Rob Scallon called Rain heavily utilizes dotted 8th note delay. its a really easy yet impressive sounding song to play.

[@SecretSauce8]

Any comments on the time signature? It sounds like he starts with a 3/4 time and switches to 4/4.

[@logancantin9374]

please do the whole song!

[@huckaberry8912]

Yeah you put it on the table better than Most,But then again nothing is better to me than American tele.

[@luisLopez-uz3mv]

So pretty much I learned how divide seconds in to milliseconds Lol

[@hanxstiff5760]

Don't forget the blue Herdim Pick.

[@GuitarLessons365SongLessons]

Oh yeah, and played upside down to! :)

[@JgHaverty]

+Hanx Stiff it blows my mind how IMPORTANT that pick is!!!!

[@juanvegas2010]

the outer edge of a quarter or halfdollar works too

[@lightinme217]

I use the yellow

[@dannylawson5992]

Freakin algebra class !

[@huckaberry8912]

I always thought music teachers Delay a student,Learn all you want and close the door,,,, work work work and work/Thanks for your vids... who the hell wants to know the enthalpy?

[@ryank732]

What delay pedal are you using?

[@Heavyfher]

Hello everybody, where is this PDF Doc with the Delay formula located? I click on the link and it takes me to the U2 lessons playlist. No PDF. Thanks in advance!!

[@raulbalmez9207]

Where I can found the delay settings, 'cause I can't find them?

[@arlottonick]

Raul Balmez it’s 362 ms with about 3 repeats

[@rogeriosartori555]

(45,000 / tempo) = 8th dotted time in ms

[@petreauchristophe7589]

hello carl vous pouvez vous me dire comment etes accorder j/explique quand je reprend exactement le meme accord que vous la note sonne plus bas ou plus haut donc descend d/une case ou plus haut merci de m/eclaissire christophe

[@tonelok]

two key ingredients missing. Position 2 on the pickups and a herdim pick. The pick alone makes all the difference in the world.

[@slinkytones1736]

Do you know which colour/thickness pick?

[@ulckpictav9786]

hello, thanks you for your several video !!!!! this is super!! and your explication !! but I HAVE A big question!! how or what is the materiel or pedal that it must to use for to play this music or in general on all music of U2???!! I AM a boy french a play a guitar a little and I WANT to play this music and other U2 but it is impossible because I have know the materials or the pedal several necessary for play this music!!!! Thanks your for your response!! !!!! you are a good prof!!!

[@ChasD]

I know you posted this a year ago, however, if you still need to know what pedal to use to get close to the U2/ Edge sound - Pretty much any modern delay pedal will get you close. The Edge originally used an ElectroHarmonix Memory Man delay unit, though those are now old/ rare/ hard to find and are collectible/ expensive when they do come up for sale. He later moved on to more modern digital delay pedals and then to multi effects racks. To cover most of the Edge's classic delay pedal guitar songs, try something like a Boss Digital Delay or any other equivalent digital delay from other effects pedal manufacturers. As long as you get a decent enough delay range (some of the older and cheaper delay pedals from years back couldn't delay long enough to play "Bad" for instance), you should easily be able dial in the correct delay and repeat levels to play almost all of U2's classics.

[@sophieprovan2485]

What amp do you use? :)

[@noname1st139]

I need a calculator for my guitar now,my head hurts 😂

[@dirtywater5336]

yes, David Gilmour ripped off The Edge haha

[@sirawesomehat8814]

um, other way around.

[@rikstewart1979]

He never said that, he said modern bands rip The Edge off

[@HooksBill]

@@rikstewart1979 What people hear vs what people actually say. Never ceases to amaze me lol.

[@golfcoursemanager33]

where's the formula link?

[@andresmason9085]

r u using analog or digital delay?

[@nietzsche688]

+insertNameHere The Edge used to have a Memory Man in the early days, but then moved to the TC Electronic 2290 Delay unit. I have tried with both analog and digital and sounds more crisp with the digital but has a fuller sound with the analog IMHO. So try both.

[@brandonirons9346]

How would you do this on Acoustic Guitar ?

[@strawberrykicker2]

You wouldn't

[@sagitzemach4047]

Check trace bundy version and you will see how

[@brandonirons9346]

strawberrykicker2 why not?

[@majkelbrz23]

😊

[@doublebguitarplayer9434]

5 way switch should be on the 2nd position, outta phase. That’s how he plays it. Good video though.

[@keller804]

How do you input 375 ms delay on the Boss ME 80? PLEASE HELP!

[@mauricioaguilam.1064]

Hablas mucho amigo!!!

[@TheMeJustMe75]

U2 annoys me but the opening riff is awesome.

[@edge_bob]

360k views WOW.

[@Final-Ts]

Interesting! I never knew or noticed the "echo effect" and have always loved how mystical this song sounds. On the other hand though, now that I know, I think it's almost like cheating by U2. For example-- I am a piano player (which I am), and if I wanted to play this song on piano I would have to actually strike each note twice, where THEY only have to pluck the string ONCE. Granted, this song wouldn't sound the best on piano, but as a musician, I feel they are cheating even though the song sounds awesome. Maybe I'm just old-school, haha! :)

[@synvila]

Indeed! It's like when keyboardists use the damn sustain pedal. Total cheating! Why don't they just hold down the keys that they want sustained? And don't get me started on singers using reverb… Cheaterz!

[@Final-Ts]

+Henrik Carlsson I read your argument/post and appreciate your input. However, my point is that half the notes aren't actually "played". I'll give you the sustain pedal for piano.... but there are sustain pedals for electric guitars as well. Let's call that portion a draw then, since both instruments have that (piano has it naturally, guitar has the pedal). So NOW, with all that aside, we're talking about the riffs for this song.... There are 6 notes physically played in a loop by the guitarist in about 1.5 seconds (with echo effect... which means 12 notes). With piano, I will have to play twice as fast because I have to strike 12 notes in the same amount of time as the the guitarist-- which only has to strike 6. Since they are double notes it makes it much more difficult for a pianist because it's D D A A G G F# F# G G A A-- meaning-- each finger has to 'double tap' at VERY high speed-- which takes A LOT of coordination. I've dabbled in guitar but have played piano for over 20 years. However, I know guitar well enough to say that WITH an echo pedal, playing that riff is around 'novice' level for difficulty (for guitarists). However-- to play all 12 notes with double tapping on piano (which would be required) is VERY advanced, and the skill needed is leaps and bounds ahead. I like the song. I'm just saying that where the guitarist performer can causally play 6 notes, I have to ACTUALLY play all of the notes. AND, I can actually do it... but only because I've been playing piano for many many years. And even with saying that, it's STILL difficult, even for myself. It's not the same thing... hence why I called it cheating.

[@Markle2k]

+Finaltits You have seriously underestimated what is going on with the delay. Even by the end of the first measure there are far more than 6 notes going on because several repeats are overlapping and overlapping with a decay in volume. Performing those notes together _and_ getting the dynamics correct is physically impossible for one guitarist. It is like having several guitarists (as many as there are repeats) play the same notes in a round a dotted eighth apart, with each successive guitarist playing at a lower volume than the previous guitarist. Also, a sustainer pedal is a different thing than a sustain pedal on a piano. A sustainer pedal for a guitar stops the note or chord when the notes or chord is removed. What it is is a compression pedal that maintains the output from the pedal at the same amplitude even as the signal out of the guitar decays. It keeps on turning up the gain on the signal input from the guitar to do so. The sustain pedal on a piano holds the damping pads off the strings of the keys struck even when the keys are released.

[@Final-Ts]

+Markle2k Hello. I don't think that I've "seriously underestimated". I WILL say thanks for your time spent in writing your comment and did learn some things I previously didn't know. However, I said from the beginning that I know that it's more than 6 notes. I always knew that there was an echo effect which I said was at least double that--so I stated 12 for example. It's probably more like 24 or 36 or more... but the majority of people will most consciously hear the double or triple 'only' since each notes volume diminishes and the next note played is quickly after and louder... drowning out the sound of the previous notes repeat a lot. My original point was only to state that it would be difficult for a piano player to simulate that EFFECT by skill alone when a guitar player can just casually play 6 notes with a proper pedal.... a pedal that piano doesn't have. However again... I DO appreciate your comment and learned some things I didn't know before. So thank you.

[@Markle2k]

+Finaltits It's the repeats coming in and out of sync with one another and the chordal effects as well that gives that shimmering, warbling, ethereal quality. It's fairly demanding to keep the timing perfect to achieve the effect. I think you could probably easily achieve the same effect with an electric piano/organ if you could borrow a delay pedal. Assuming it has an effects loop or you use external monitors/computer interface, that is.

[@justincredible.]

Later when I grow up I wanna be Edge's guiter... anyone of them...

[@aarmington]

the edge was a MASTER of the delay!!!

[@ralphiebarba]

andrew armington was? IS my friend

[@mattburch9873]

IS

[@Jenzemannen]

I don't get it...

[@demicorpz8844]

Math 😤

[@davidbuzzin426]

👍🇺🇸❤

[@petreauchristophe7589]

j/oublier carl si vous me répondait en anglais non problème j.ai une traduction a bientôt carl christophe

[@petreauchristophe7589]

rebonjour carl sur ma fender sa viendrai des cordes j/employ des cordes extra light je viens d/ effectuer avec du temp un réglage sa i joue j/en sais rien y/a plusieurs facteur a l/avenir sa coute 30euros un réglage

[@mikica473]

WTF is this about. Im slightly drunk so doesnt make it any easier.

[@Bluenose352]

When Eric Johnson would mess with his guitar, before playing Cliffs of Dover, he would use the same delay.

[@G_Ellis606]

Sounds pretty good...not 100% perfect but close...

[@blindguitarist_08]

Haha technically Edge ripped off Gilmour

[@simoncooper5020]

Who's he the edge 😂

[@erinvb5619]

He is the guitarist of U2, he’s really really talented!

[@Menyhard]

I was never good in math🤣 uh