Fu Manchu Style

by Gabriel Leopardi

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    THE PROFESSOR As Gabriel says, and demonstrates perfectly in this lesson, the material covered is not tricky, but you will need to have a strong handle on the Minor Blues Scale and the inner groove of the material in order to master the Stoner Rock style on guitar. 

    Learning how to play, build and apply the Minor Blues Scale will help you take your first steps into the Stoner Rock genre. As well, working slowly with a metronome and concentrating on playing every rhythm solidly in the pocket will also go a long way in bringing an authentic sound to your Stoner Rock jams.

    Hi GMC!

    Welcome to my new Stoner lesson! If you check GMC archive, you'll find that I already worked on two generic Stoner Rock lessons which have been very popular here. I received many messages with request to cover many different bands. I think that it’s time to work on some of the coolest Stoner bands ever.

    My first lesson of this new Stoner series was based on the amazing band Kyuss, now it’s time for Fu Manchu, a Southern Californian Stoner Rock band formed in 1987.

    Music Style:
    As we said in the previous lesson, Stoner rock is a sub-genre that combines elements from heavy metal, psychedelic rock, blues, acid rock and doom metal. This style is usually slow to mid tempo and includes bass-heavy sound, melodic vocals and retro sound. In this lesson I composed a tune inspired by their rocker side that can be found in songs like Evil Eye and Squash that fly.

    Tonality, Chord Progression & Scales:
    This tune is in A minor and the scale most used, as we discussed in Kyuss lesson, is the minor blues scale. Most of the riffs use that blue note added to the minor pentatonic. You will find the chord progression over the tabs and also on screen in the main video.

    Techniques:
    This lesson is not tricky. You have to concentrate on groove, be precise with your timing, not only for the rhythmic sections also during the solo. The techniques used are strumming, palm muting, bending, vibrato, and double stops.

    Sound:
    I used my Pod HD 500 to create this guitar sound. I basically combined a Vox combo with a Fuzz pedal to get this guitar Stoner sound.

    Click HERE to download the POD HD500 Patch.

    Tuning:
    I used standard 440.

    Tempo:
    145 BPM

    Ok guys – time to rock!

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