Grunge, punk and '90s alternative guitar

This is music that values feel over speed. The riffs are simple enough to learn quickly, but making them sound heavy, loose and tight at the same time is a skill of its own, and it is a quick route for a beginner to a band-ready sound.

Grunge and '90s alternative

• Drop D tuning: the low E string tuned down to D, so a power chord on the three lowest strings takes one finger and the bottom end sounds bigger. Many songs go further, to drop C# or a whole step down.
• Loud-quiet dynamics: a clean or lightly overdriven verse breaking into a fully distorted chorus. Doing it well means controlling the picking hand and the pedal at the same time.
• Big, open chords and unusual voicings: chords that leave open strings ringing against the fretted notes, and shapes that move up the neck without changing.
• Fuzz and distortion: a fuzz pedal into a slightly driven amp gives the thick, ragged tone of the era. The pedals guide explains what each type does and the order they go in.

Punk

Punk keeps rock guitar to the essentials: power chords, fast downstrokes on every eighth note, and songs that rarely stop to breathe. Downpicking at a steady fast tempo for a whole song takes stamina and a relaxed wrist, built up gradually with a metronome. Palm muting gives the verses their chug; open chords let the chorus ring.

Where it connects

The technique overlaps with rock and metal, which push the same rhythm skills further, and with bass, which in this music often drives the song as much as the guitar does. Drop and lowered tunings are compared in the alternate tunings guide.

When you bring a song, Bill writes it out in the tuning it was recorded in, starting from the main riff.

Questions