King's X Style

by Darius Wave

Lesson step:

  • main
  • 1
  • 2
  • Members only3
  • Members only4
  • Members only5
  • Members only6
  • Members only7
  • Difficulty: 4

Recommended lessons

  • Lesson
  • My notes
  • Statistics

  • Welcome to King's X style lesson !


    King's X is one of the collest bands from the 90s (when we speak of guitar playing). Ty Tabor was both - using some classic rock influences and forced new experimental tools of expression. King's X has it all - groove, energy and a great way of expression. No matter how cool a modern shred can look, but bands like King's X has their specific kind of flow that is incomparable to any of modern guitar genres. I invite you to try out this one and find same flavor in playing, as a did for myslef.

    Considering the period of their most popular songs, I personally relate Ty Tabor's tone with soft chorus and sort of "strat" bridge single coil tone. In this lesson I went for a strat and made a coil split. I believe it can still sound cool with a humbucker though. Just avoid too much gain from the amp - it would destroy the effect (will blurry) the moments of percussive s trums and harmonics. On the slow video I went for a raw, non-chorus tone for a better clarity for your personal, detailed playing analysis.

    Important notice for improvisation.

    While most of the song you can use D-minor scale, there a transposition to E-minor in the part 4 (let's call it "chorus part"). You should literally switch to E-minor scale as well.


    Gear used (in order of connection chain placement):

    1. SX SST57 guitar (JB Junior bridge pickup - coil split mode)
    2. Presonus Inspire 1394 firewire audio interface (input gain 40%)
    3. Cubase 7.5 stock chorus (sync 1/1, width 10%, spatial 75%, mix 50%...all are default settings)
    4. Poulin LeXtac vst plug-in:
    - Channel - blue
    - Input 50%
    - Gain 70%
    - Pre EQ - brighter
    - Bass 50%
    - Middle 40%
    - Treble 50%
    - Contour 100%
    5. Kefir impulse loader (mix 100%)
    6. Impulse - Catharsis s-preshigh



    Tuning - Dropped D (D6 A5 D4 G3 B2 E1)


    Backing track progression:

    4/4 D9# | D9# | D9# | D9# | Dm | Gm F | Ab6 G7sus4 | Gm | Dm |
    D9# | D9# | D9# | D9# | Dm | Gm F | Ab6 G7sus4 | Gm | Dm |
    Em | Em | G | Gsus2 | Csus2 | Csus2 | Am |
    Csus2 | Csus2 | C6sus2 | D5b F |
    D9# | D9# | D9# | D5b F | D9# | D9# | D9# | D5b F |
    D9# | D9# | D9# | D5b F | D9# | D9# | D9# | D5b Dm |



    Tempo: Main song tempo is 150 bpm. There are backing tracks available at 70, 90, 110, 130 and 150 bpm.

    Time signature: 4/4

    Scales used in this lesson:

    D-minor



    D-blues scale



    E-minor scale








  • Login to use my notes. No GMC account? Register here.

  • Members practicing this lesson

    REC Takes

      This lesson does not have any REC takes yet.
      Here is how to submit one.

    Lesson views

    • Total views: 0
    • Member views: 0
    • Guest views: 0