Grunge music revolves almost exclusively around the power chord. These three-note shapes form the basis of music from Nirvana to Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. Power chords are unique among all other chords for a number of reasons.
Grunge fuses elements of punk rock and heavy metal, but without punk's structure and speed. The genre featured the distorted electric guitar sound used in both genres, although some bands performed with more emphasis on one or the other.
He did use scales, he was just not aware of it. You can create a melody with just humming and you have unintentionally created a song based on a scale. Kurt doesn't need to know music theory based on his music genre, he didn't do much complicated playing either.
BADGBE. BADGBE is a low and heavy tuning where the low E string is tuned all the way down to B. It is an unusual tuning but has gained popularity, especially in alternative rock genres like grunge and progressive rock.
Every 'Big 4′ (Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden) Grunge Album, Ranked Worst to Best. Thrash may have their "Big 4," but so does grunge, and they all were responsible for putting the Seattle sound on the scene in the early '90s and dominating the music world for a little over half the decade.
Grunge Music Characteristics
Grunge music features intense vocals, often angry like punk rock and sometimes using harsh vocals like in metal, with lyrics covering dark and depressing topics. Distinctive, repetitive guitar riffs are common in grunge music, with simple drum lines.
Nirvana are generally the predominant band associated with grunge, but as we've pointed out, there were quite a few groups that started out before them. However, it's impossible to deny their importance to the scene.
The grunge sound you're looking for necessitates a humbucker pick up in the bridge postion and ten-gauge strings.
Many guitarists in grunge bands used 10 gauge strings. 10 gauge strings can take more attack, add volume and increase the sound of the guitar.
Grunge Amp Settings. A general amp setting would be to treble about noon, mid-range around 8-9, and bass around 5. To get a good crunch, you'd need a relatively large gain. The primary cause of Kurt Cobain's distortion was a Boss DS-1 and DS-2.
By definition, grunge is all about de-emphasizing the silhouette of the body and looking “untidy” in an attempt to mirror the cool look of popular musicians in both punk and heavy metal rock bands.
Grunge Color Palette #
Brown, beige, grey and black are dominating colors. Vibrant shades of vivid colors are being replaced with more natural and subtle colors. The color palette below presents colors which are often used when it comes to grunge designs.
Grunge. It's a word that became synonymous with the Seattle sound. It's a word that was used to describe a number of different “alternative” bands from the region in 1980s, and then also into the 1990s with bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Mudhoney and Screaming Trees.
Grunge fashion/style was influenced by disheveled and androgynous thrift-store clothing, defined by a looseness that de-emphasizes the body's silhouette. Men wear second-hand or shabby T-shirts with slogans, band logos, etc. A tartan shirt might accompany the T-shirt, along with ripped or faded jeans.
Though the '90s have come and gone, the music and fashion elements of grunge still exist among artists and fans alike. However, each has been imbued with a modern twist.
The term grunge was first used to describe the murky-guitar bands (most notably Nirvana and Pearl Jam) that emerged from Seattle in the late 1980s as a bridge between mainstream 1980s heavy metal–hard rock and postpunk alternative rock.
Tina Marie Bell (February 5, 1957 – c. October 10, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter and front woman of the Seattle-based band Bam Bam. The band with Bell was considered one of the founders of the grunge music scene.
Drop D Tuning in Alternative Rock
Nirvana, the band that gave the world the ferocious drumming of Dave Grohl (who later birthed Foo Fighters), the murky bass stylings of Krist Novoselic, and the late, great vocalist/guitarist/songwriter Kurt Cobain, used Drop D tuning on nearly all of their songs.
Much of Nirvana's work was in standard EADGBe tuning, including “Smells like Teen Spirit”, “In Bloom”, “Polly”, “Breed” and others. Other tunings Nirvana used were drop D, and variants of that and standard tuning tuned down. “Heart Shaped Box” and “On a Plain” were recorded in drop D tuning, DADGBe.
To play along to the Unplugged version, you'll need to tune down to Eb tuning just like Kurt did. You can learn and play this song in standard tuning, and I stay in standard tuning for all the video tutorial below.