Tomorrow Never Knows Guitar Tone: Harrison's Backwards Moan

One chord, a drone and a pile of tape loops: Revolver ends with a song that threw the rulebook out. It closed the 1966 album, made at EMI's Abbey Road with George Martin. Harrison's solo was played normally, then flipped on tape so it swells in backwards.

What makes the tone. An Epiphone Casino into a Vox AC30, with a raw, moderately driven tone chosen because it reverses well. Sustain and harmonics matter more than attack, since the attack ends up at the end of each note. Tambura drone and tape loops fill the bed, so the guitar only has to moan.

The analogue recipe. Casino or similar hollow-body, then a mild overdrive, into an AC30-type amp. To fake the reversal live, add a reverse delay after the amp, set fully wet, and finish with a small room. A tape loop, if you have one, is even better.

How to play it. It sits in C Mixolydian, no capo, at 130 BPM, and is rated beginner. It is essentially one held C, nudging to B flat now and then. The skill is in the solo: play smooth, sustained phrases with little picking attack, so the reverse effect has something to swell from.

On a Boss GT-1000 / GX-100 / GT-100. Twin Combo preamp, Jensen 2x12, booster in Warm OD mode for the solo, compressor in FX1, chorus off, then a reverse delay and a room reverb. Put the booster on CTL1 so one press drops you into the backwards solo. Keep the delay fully wet for the solo, so only the backwards swell is heard.

On a Kemper. A Vox AC30 profile set up for the solo, with compressor in Stomp A, Soft Drive in Stomp B and a Reverse Delay in the X slot, plus a room reverb. Make a morph that switches B and X on together, and keep the delay block off so it does not double the effect. The drone itself needs very little else.

Skip the guesswork. Want it exact? “Tomorrow Never Knows” is one of the songs in the Soulster Tonebook for fans of The Beatles (Psychedelic Era) →, with settings for five rigs and the playing notes to go with them.

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