Heat Wave is the Motown machine running flat out, and the guitars in it are doing something most rock players never think to do: playing clipped, damped chords on the offbeats as a percussion instrument. Robert White, Eddie Willis and Joe Messina were often on the same session, playing interlocking parts.
What makes the sound. Bright, thin and short. Clean electric with the treble up, heavily damped so each chord is a click with a pitch. There is no sustain, no drive and almost no reverb - it is all attack, sitting in the gaps left by the tambourine.
The analogue recipe. A clean amp with the treble up and the bass right down, guitar on the bridge pickup, and the fretting hand relaxing between chords so nothing rings. Play up around the seventh fret and leave the low strings alone entirely.
On a Boss GT-100 / GT-1000 / GX-100. Clean model, EQ bright with the bass cut hard, a compressor to bring up the click, and a small room reverb. Gain at zero. Anything you add beyond this takes you further from the record.
On a Kemper. A clean profile with the bass rolled off and a compressor stomp. The part is the sound here - if it is not percussive when you play it unplugged, no profile will make it so.
Skip the guesswork. The Soulster Tonebook for fans of Motown Classics → has the chords, capo positions, tempos and dialled-in settings for this one.
See all 110 Motown & Girl Groups prints →
Put it on the wall. The "Heat Wave" Paperback print → and the Paperback t-shirt → carry the same song.
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