Grunge soloing
- Thread starter Vimana
- Start date
Conti
Chief Conti
- Jan 21, 2006
- 4,314
- 64
- 48
sadisticsatyr
Young Apprentice
Me too....its more of a lead than a solo....any skill involved would bring you closer to a metal category thus foiling your aim to be a grunge band 
DeadlySinners
Thrasher
Hahaha, I too agree with everyone. The solo for Smells like teen spirit Nirvana (The only grunge I really listen too) is all just a wah pedal and covers about 4 or 5 frets.
sadisticsatyr
Young Apprentice
sceloporus
Member
I don't know much(anything) about grunge but with any basic solo I've been told to pick a scale, play around with the notes(play in different progressions and patterns) and pick how fast you want it.
Then just mess around with it until it sounds good.
Then just mess around with it until it sounds good.
SouthernTrendkill
Super Normie
- Aug 22, 2007
- 1,110
- 0
- 36
- 36
Well it seriously depends on what type of grunge you are going to be playing.
Alice In Chains style would be just like metal, like Pantera but a bit slower and bluesier.
Soundgarden style would just be like any rock solo, Pearl Jam too. A scale. If there's anything that seperates grunge solos from just general rock solos by Kiss or Led Zeppelin, it would have to be irreverence. That punk-rock attitude. That means be sloppy if you want to be, never be concerned with speed at all, and do a lot of feedback and "noise solos" where you just hit a bunch of random notes and make feedback noise. A good sounding bit of feedback can be every bit as good as a guitar solo, especially in a grunge song.
The key to Nirvana soloing would be to be as simple as possible. Still tasteful and cool, but as simple as possible. It's like old Johnny Cash stuff - just a handful of notes in a repeating sequence. I mean, Come As You Are's only has 4 notes and that is the way a lot of Nirvana solos are. I can't exactly tell you exactly what to do, but just look at Nirvana's solos and it will easily come to you. It's not essential that you play with any technical assurance. Just some notes in a cool pattern that fits the song.
And anyone who thinks grunge doesn't have solos is stupid. Virtually all rock ever has solos. Well over half of Nirvana's songs have solos. I can't even think off of the top of my head ANY Nirvana songs that don't have solos.
One other thing you can do is just play the vocal melody with notes. That is exactly what Smells Like Teen Spirit's guitar solo is. It shouldn't be hard to figure out what notes to play for this, just play whatever sounds like the vocals. If it's not exact it will still have the EXACTLY right sound that a grunge solo should have. Unless you're singing a Slayer song because then the solo would sound too fast...
Alice In Chains style would be just like metal, like Pantera but a bit slower and bluesier.
Soundgarden style would just be like any rock solo, Pearl Jam too. A scale. If there's anything that seperates grunge solos from just general rock solos by Kiss or Led Zeppelin, it would have to be irreverence. That punk-rock attitude. That means be sloppy if you want to be, never be concerned with speed at all, and do a lot of feedback and "noise solos" where you just hit a bunch of random notes and make feedback noise. A good sounding bit of feedback can be every bit as good as a guitar solo, especially in a grunge song.
The key to Nirvana soloing would be to be as simple as possible. Still tasteful and cool, but as simple as possible. It's like old Johnny Cash stuff - just a handful of notes in a repeating sequence. I mean, Come As You Are's only has 4 notes and that is the way a lot of Nirvana solos are. I can't exactly tell you exactly what to do, but just look at Nirvana's solos and it will easily come to you. It's not essential that you play with any technical assurance. Just some notes in a cool pattern that fits the song.
And anyone who thinks grunge doesn't have solos is stupid. Virtually all rock ever has solos. Well over half of Nirvana's songs have solos. I can't even think off of the top of my head ANY Nirvana songs that don't have solos.
One other thing you can do is just play the vocal melody with notes. That is exactly what Smells Like Teen Spirit's guitar solo is. It shouldn't be hard to figure out what notes to play for this, just play whatever sounds like the vocals. If it's not exact it will still have the EXACTLY right sound that a grunge solo should have. Unless you're singing a Slayer song because then the solo would sound too fast...
DeadlySinners
Thrasher
Also, if you have any extra money then I would consider buying the Digitech grunge pedal. It will give you the ideal grunge tone and sound.
But if your gonna start a grunge band. Try and incorporate a little metal soloing in it, that would be a cool grunge band if you ask me. But just fool around in the pentatonic boxes and you got a good simple solo.
But if your gonna start a grunge band. Try and incorporate a little metal soloing in it, that would be a cool grunge band if you ask me. But just fool around in the pentatonic boxes and you got a good simple solo.
- Mar 2, 2007
- 11,671
- 20
- 38
I saw that pedal when I was working (I work at Music & Arts) the other day and I was thinking of getting it.
I don't really want to make straight up Grunge, Grunge died pretty much after Kurt died. All other Grunge I've heard besides Nirvana completely sucked ass. From what I gathered from listening to Nirvana Grunge is like a mixture of Punk and Metal. With a lot more Punk in it than Metal.
I dunno if this sounds crazy to anyone but I think Smells Like Teen Spirit was influenced by Peace Frog by The Doors. I mean the main riffs are pretty similar and Kurt does the same loud raspy shouting that Jim does in that song.
I don't really want to make straight up Grunge, Grunge died pretty much after Kurt died. All other Grunge I've heard besides Nirvana completely sucked ass. From what I gathered from listening to Nirvana Grunge is like a mixture of Punk and Metal. With a lot more Punk in it than Metal.
I dunno if this sounds crazy to anyone but I think Smells Like Teen Spirit was influenced by Peace Frog by The Doors. I mean the main riffs are pretty similar and Kurt does the same loud raspy shouting that Jim does in that song.
SouthernTrendkill
Super Normie
- Aug 22, 2007
- 1,110
- 0
- 36
- 36
Yeah I think Nirvana & The Doors are closely related. But Kurt hated The Doors, so there's probably not a connection. And I think some of Nirvana's early stuff has more metal in it than punk...
sadisticsatyr
Young Apprentice
SouthernTrendkill
Super Normie
- Aug 22, 2007
- 1,110
- 0
- 36
- 36
Nothing surprising there, the guy is an asshole.
I disagree. He was a fine guy. Everybody hates some bands. I hate The Shins. My fans in 2020 after I am dead will be like "Damn why did Doug hate The Shins? That's fucking stupid."
Similar threads
