Cage The Elephant style

by Gabriel Leopardi

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  • Hi GMC!

    Welcome to my new lesson covering the style of Cage The Elephant, an American Alternative & Indie Rock formed in 2006 in Kentucky. The band consists of

    Matthew Shultz – Vocals
    Nick Bockrath – Lead Guitar
    Brad Shultz – Rhythm Guitar
    Daniel Tichenor – Bass, backing vocals
    Jared Champion – Drums
    Matthan Minister - Keyboards, guitars, backing vocals

    Music Style:
    The band is known for energetic live performances and for possessing an eclectic sound. Their first album had influences from classic rock, funk and blues rock, however they incorporated strong alternative and punk influences in their second album from bands like Nirvana and Pixies. This helped them to shape their own sound and style and that's what I'm covering here. If you are into indie rock and grunge music, you surely will hear the influences that I've talked about. If not, but you like this sound I strongly recommend you to check my Grunge and Indie Rock series starting with Nirvana's and Pixies lessons.


    Tonality, Chord Progression & Scales:
    Their music is melancholic, but always have some kind of optimistic feel that reminds me a lot to Pixies, but also to Post Rock bands. I've covered many of this music in my lessons so again check my archive HERE to get more into this sound. This composition is in G major tonality, and I combine triads with power chords to give this the alternative sound. However, what's even more characteristic in their music is the lead guitar work based on simple repetitive melodies focusing on notes from the chord sounding at each moment.

    Techniques:
    This lesson is special for beginners that want to incorporate the necessary techniques and skills to be able to play pop and rock songs. This lesson includes strumming, alternate picking, down picking technique, arpeggios, power chords among some other interesting elements that will also give you ideas on how to arrange a chord progression.

    Sound:
    I used LePoin plugins to create the guitar tone. These are free amp emulators that are extremely recommended. The cabinet used for this guitar tone is HyBrit which is a Marshall amp emulation. I’ve also used a phraser fx. Check out the settings:

    Lead guitar



    Rhythm guitar



    Tuning: standard EADGBE tuning

    Tempo: 110 BPM




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