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Kiss - Rock Bottom (Acoustic Intro) - Guitar Tab

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Kiss - Rock Bottom (Acoustic Intro) guitar tab video
Guillaume Vrac
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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.
Kiss Hard Rock

About Rock Bottom (Acoustic Intro)

The acoustic intro to "Rock Bottom" gives guitarists something easy to overlook on a Kiss record: a fingerpicked or softly strummed passage that sets up the full-band eruption to follow. Playing it well means keeping your touch light and your timing patient, because the contrast between the quiet intro and the hard rock body of the song only works if you resist the urge to dig in too hard. In E Standard tuning, the open strings are your friends here, so let them ring and pay attention to how long each note sustains before you move on. The chord shapes themselves are not the hard part. What demands attention is the phrasing and dynamics, keeping a consistent, even attack across each note or strum. Use the Practice Toolbar to loop the intro slowed down until that evenness becomes automatic. Kiss built their reputation on spectacle, but this moment shows the quieter side of their early Hard Rock songwriting from 1974.

  • The intro sits in E Standard tuning, so no retuning is needed, and open chord voicings ring out naturally throughout the passage.
  • The main technical demand is dynamic control: keeping your picking hand light and consistent to preserve the contrast with the loud main riff that follows.
  • Looping the intro at a reduced speed on the Practice Toolbar helps you lock in even note sustain and clean transitions between chord shapes.

How to Play Rock Bottom (Acoustic Intro)

Tuning: E Standard

Use the section loop to isolate a passage and drop the speed to build each section 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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