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Kiss - Love Gun - Guitar Lesson

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Key E minor
Kiss - Love Gun guitar lesson video
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Amp Settings

Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
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Roll back the gain slightly and pick near the neck for a warmer, more open crunch.
Love Gun album cover
Love Gun
1977 3:19
Listen on Spotify
Kiss Hard Rock 1977 E minor
Capo Advisor 0 E minor · Original key

About Love Gun

Few Hard Rock tracks from 1977 are as immediately guitar-forward as "Love Gun." The song opens with a clean, arpeggiated figure that sets up the chord shapes before the full band crashes in, and nailing that contrast between the clean intro and the driven rhythm sections is one of the first things to get right. Playing in E minor at 120 BPM in standard tuning keeps things approachable, but the rhythm work demands tight palm muting and a confident sense of groove to keep the mid-tempo feel from dragging. Kiss built the track around a repeating riff that relies more on attitude and dynamics than complexity, so focus on consistency across the repeated sections. The lead passages sit in a blues-minor feel around the E pentatonic minor box, so if that position is already familiar, the solos will come together quickly. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop and slow down the clean intro arpeggios until the pick attack and chord voicing feel clean before bringing the tempo back up.

  • The song is in E Standard tuning, so no retuning is needed and open E-minor chord shapes work throughout.
  • The clean arpeggiated intro is the trickiest transition point, as you must shift cleanly into heavy rhythm guitar when the band enters.
  • Lead lines draw heavily from the E pentatonic minor scale, making this a useful song for cementing that foundational box position.

How to Play Love Gun

Tuning: E Standard · Key: E minor · Tempo: 120 BPM

Use the section loop to isolate a passage, drop the speed below 100%, and set the metronome to 120 BPM to build it up to tempo.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

Ace Frehley's 1959 Les Paul Standard with stock PAF humbuckers delivers the warm, singing sustain that defines Kiss's lead tone when cranked through Marshall amplifiers. The moderate output and responsiveness of PAFs let his solos cut through without compression, creating that vocal-quality sustain signature to the classic era.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

The Les Paul Custom's thick mahogany body and humbucker configuration provide the foundational warmth and sustain essential to Kiss's rhythm and lead work throughout their career. Its slightly hotter output compared to standard models contributes to the band's characteristically thick, aggressive tone.

Marshall JCM800
Amp

Marshall JCM800

Ace Frehley switched to the JCM800 in his later Kiss years, using its tighter, more defined gain structure to achieve singing leads and aggressive rhythm tones. The 100-watt model's preamp-driven breakup, pushed hard with master volume around 6-7, anchors Kiss's powerful, sustain-heavy sound.

Marshall Plexi (1959 Super Lead)
Amp

Marshall Plexi (1959 Super Lead)

The Marshall 1959 Super Lead Plexi was Ace Frehley's primary amplifier during Kiss's classic era, delivering natural tube breakup and responsive dynamics when cranked loud. This head's warm, organic gain is fundamental to the singing quality and sustain heard on iconic Kiss solos and rhythm work.

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Pedal

Dunlop Cry Baby Wah

Ace Frehley uses the Cry Baby wah expressively throughout Kiss solos, most famously parked in a half-open position on 'Detroit Rock City' for a vocal-like tonal boost. The pedal's dynamic responsiveness pairs perfectly with his PAF-equipped Les Paul and cranked Marshall for expressive, singing lead work.

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