Edward John O'Brien (born 15 April 1968) is an English guitarist, songwriter, and member of the rock band Radiohead.

He often creates ambient sounds and textures, using effects, sustain units and the EBow, and provides backing vocals.

With musicians including the Radiohead drummer, Philip Selway, O'Brien toured and recorded with the 7 Worlds Collide project in the 2000s.

O'Brien had been writing songs for years, but lacked confidence and felt their character would be lost with Radiohead.

[3] He grew up listening to post-punk acts such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, Adam and the Ants, Depeche Mode, the Police and David Bowie.

[12] For their second album, The Bends (1995), the guitarists' roles were more divided, with Yorke generally playing rhythm, Greenwood lead and Ed O'Brien providing effects.

O'Brien thanked his bandmates for their musicianship and friendship, saying that "some of the nights we have in the rehearsal studio [are] like transcendental moments".

[28] He had written songs for years, but lacked the confidence to bring them to Radiohead and felt they had a "distinct energy" that would be lost if they became a "hybrid product".

[27][28] O'Brien's debut solo work, the non-album track "Santa Teresa", was released on 4 October, 2019.

[29] O'Brien's debut solo album, Earth, was released on 17 April 2020 on Capitol Records[30] to positive reviews.

[31] It features the Radiohead bassist, Colin Greenwood, plus the drummer Omar Hakim, the Invisible members Nathan East and Dave Okumu, the folk singer Laura Marling, the Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley and the Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche.

[39] With Selway and other musicians, O'Brien toured and recorded with Neil Finn as part of the 7 Worlds Collide project.

[42] He appeared in a 2011 episode of the BBC Radio 5 Live sports programme Fighting Talk in support of Record Shop Day.

[45] In 2014, O'Brien and Selway signed an open letter protesting a ban on guitars in British prisons and stating that music was important for rehabilitation.

[46] O'Brien worked with Fender to design a signature model guitar, the EOB Stratocaster, which went on sale in November 2017.

[3] In 2019, O'Brien joined the RSPB Let Nature Sing project, which aimed to get birdsong into the UK charts to raise awareness of the decline in Britain's birdlife.

[48] In 2020, O'Brien contributed to Ear Opener, an online video course aimed at helping young people write music.

[49] That November, he gave evidence to a DCMS Committee inquiry into the impact of streaming on the music industry.

[51] O'Brien said in 2017 that his most used effects for Radiohead were distortion, an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man delay and a DigiTech Whammy pitch shifter.

[21] To create the high-pitched chiming sound that introduces "Lucky", O'Brien strums above the guitar nut.

[21] On "Dollars and Cents", O'Brien uses a pitch shifter pedal to shift his guitar chords from minor to major.

[17] O'Brien uses the EBow, an electronic sustaining device, on his guitar to generate drones and ambient leads on songs such as "My Iron Lung", "Talk Show Host", "Jigsaw Falling Into Place", "Where I End and You Begin" and "Nude".

"[59] O'Brien's earliest guitar influence was Andy Summers of the Police, particularly his use of delay and chorus effects on "Walking on the Moon".

[17] His other influences include Peter Buck of R.E.M, Paul Weller of the Jam, Johnny Marr of the Smiths, John McGeoch of Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees, and the Edge of U2.