Hey
guys, it’s Tuesday so I’m back with another cover. My apologies with the lack
of postings on both my Facebook and Twitter pages but I’ve been caught up with
so many other assignments for my other various classes. To top it all off,
within five minutes of turning my guitar amp on this morning, I believe it blew
through another fuse so I will not be posting an electric guitar cover today as
I was meaning to. I’ve also changed up the song I will be covering as the one I
had planned does not come through that cleanly on the acoustic unless I do some
more tinkering around but I am going to be doing one by the same band either
way.
The
band I will be covering this week is none other than the explosive power house
known as Rise Against. I have been following this band from very early on in
their career and it has been quite something to hear them put out consistent
great material. From very early on in their career they have found their
signature sound and stuck with it. This sound is a common feature found in many
punk bands but I do not believe any band executes it as well as Rise Against.
In their early days they had more of a straight-up up beat punk rock sound. The
appealing factor, for me at least, was the use of octave melodies and
harmonies. They are found everywhere throughout their songs earning them a
classification as a melodic punk rock band in my books. They have influenced my
style of guitar playing immensely because every time I try to put together a
song of my own I am always thinking ahead to the part of what octave melodies
can I throw into it just so it can have that extra catchy hook.
Rise
Against has gone through a handful of guitarists throughout their career. They
are currently on their fourth guitarist. Every guitarist has in a way respected
the band’s signature sound that they have come to be known for and contributed
to the writing process by embracing that sound. The band’s lyrical content has
always revolved around political topics and individual hardships. They are not
afraid to criticize wrongdoings and always stand up for what they believe in.
Every member of the band is a vegetarian and they have supported PETA’s mission
in bringing awareness to the disgustingly unjust treatment of animals before
they are made into our meals. They have opened up my eyes to it and is one of
the main reasons I have been a vegetarian for the past seven years.
The
song I have chosen to cover this week rather than the planned one is Prayer of
the Refugee. In a nutshell, the meaning behind the song is a message against
the practices America partakes in to fuel their capitalist society. The song
has soft verses following a repeated guitar riff and explodes into aggressive
choruses. The band plays the song in an E flat tuning but I play it in a drop D
tuning since it is less work to tune just one string down rather than tuning
all of them down. Refer to my blog covering the Billy Talent song if you would
want to know how to tune down to drop D. The riff throughout the intro and
verse simply involves playing a D# on the G string along with an F# on the B
and switching the F# to an F. Listen to the song to figure out the rhythm but
it’s fairly straight forward. The backing chord progression for the verses is
D#, B, C#, G#, D#, B, F#, back to D# and then repeat. The chorus follows a
similar progression involving D#, F#, C# and B but I am playing what I believe
to be the lead octaves also in the key of D#. The bridge of the song involves
repeating G# and F# three times and then going down to E and D#. Those are pretty
much all the parts of the song for the rhythm section but in my cover I am
playing mainly the leads, or what I think the leads sound like.
I’ll
try to find time to purchase some new fuses for my amp as I would really want
to do the next cover on the electric as I think it will come through better on
it. Until then I hope you guys have an amazing week and keep checking my other
pages! Share with your friends!
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