Classic Track: Aerosmith – Dreamon

Aerosmith’s debut single packs a punch with keyboard-style guitar comping and syncopated powerchord riffs Everything you need to know before playing ‘Dream On’

Taken from the band’s self-titled debut album, Dream On gave Aerosmith their first big hit and established the blueprint for their own brand of rock power ballad. The song was written by vocalist Steven Tyler, who also played the RMI synth harpsichord on the track. Lead guitarist Joe Perry doubles the keyboard parts on guitar, creating a wide stereo image on the intro and verses where the instruments are panned hard right and left.

The intro/verse riff illustrates how easy it is to create keyboard-style riffs using simple three-note ‘triad’ chord shapes – and you can apply this approach to almost any chord progression. In the chorus the syncopated powerchord riffs of Perry and rhythm guitarist Brad Whitford are panned hard right and left, creating a huge soundscape. Add in some tasteful licks, including judicious use of the exotic-sounding harmonic minor scale, and it’s a veritable feast of classic rock guitar material to digest!

Joe Perry has famously favoured Gibson Les Pauls throughout his long and illustrious career, but he’s played this track on both humbuckerand P90-equipped guitars. That tells you that he’s erring towards a bright, trebly-rich tone to stand up to the top end of Tyler’s synth harpsichord. Amp-wise, you’ll get best results if you use your crunch channel to add ‘tameable’ overdrive, ie, so that backing off your guitar’s volume cleans up the sound during the intro and verse. The guitars on the original track were kept fairly dry, using minimal reverb, so keep your echo settings low; you just want to add a little ambience without spoiling that ‘in yer face’ sound on the choruses.