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U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name - Guitar Lesson

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Key D major
U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name guitar lesson video
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Amp Settings

Classic Rock

Gain6
Bass6
Mid7
Treble6
Presence5
Master7
AI tone preset

AI-selected preset based on genre and era — adjust the knobs to taste.

Roll back the gain slightly and pick near the neck for a warmer, more open crunch.
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U2 Alternative Rock D major
Capo Advisor 0 D major · Original key

About Where The Streets Have No Name

That shimmering, arpeggiated intro is the whole reason guitarists come to this song. The Edge plays it with heavy delay and reverb in E Standard tuning, and getting the timing right against your own echoes is the real challenge. At 120 BPM in D major, the part sits in a comfortable range, but the delay-drenched picking means any hesitation or sloppy note placement gets exposed immediately. Nail the right-hand consistency first, keeping your pick attack even so the repeats stack cleanly rather than turning into mush. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the intro passage slowed down until the picking rhythm feels automatic before you bring it back up to tempo. U2 built the song around that texture, so the guitar tone, a clean amp with dotted-eighth delay, matters almost as much as the notes. If you play it dry, it loses its character entirely, so dial in your delay before you run the tab.

  • The signature intro riff relies on a dotted-eighth note delay setting, so matching that effect is essential before the picking pattern makes sense.
  • The arpeggio pattern is played in E Standard tuning in the key of D major, making the open strings ring naturally through the chord shapes.
  • Keeping a consistent, light pick attack throughout is the main technical hurdle, since the delay repeats will amplify any uneven dynamics.

How to Play Where The Streets Have No Name

Tuning: E Standard · Key: D major · 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.

Fender Stratocaster
Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

The Edge uses American Vintage Stratocasters for their bright single-coil sparkle, delivering the glassy chime essential to clean arpeggios like 'One' where delay patterns need absolute clarity. The articulate tone lets every note ring distinctly through his dense effects chain.

Fender Telecaster
Guitar

Fender Telecaster

The Edge's 1975 Fender Telecaster Custom provides crisp, chimey tones for cleaner passages, offering single-coil brightness that cuts through his signature delay textures without losing note definition.

Gibson Les Paul Standard
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

While less documented than his Explorer, the Les Paul Standard's humbucker warmth and sustain complement The Edge's heavier, distorted textures on tracks requiring thicker tonal body.

Gibson Les Paul Custom
Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

The Edge deploys the Gibson Les Paul Custom for specific heavier tracks, using its humbucker output to generate warmer, more sustained tones that anchor driving rhythms with midrange punch.

Gibson Explorer
Guitar

Gibson Explorer

The Edge's 1976 Gibson Explorer with modified bridge humbucker is his signature guitar, providing the midrange punch and sustain needed for his iconic dotted-eighth delay patterns on 'Where The Streets Have No Name' and 'Pride'.

Fender Deluxe Reverb
Amp

Fender Deluxe Reverb

The Edge uses Fender Deluxe Reverbs alongside his Vox AC30s for pristine clean tones and lush reverb textures, creating stereo width that showcases his delay-driven arpeggios with spatial depth.

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