Muse Goes Stoner

Hi GMC!

Welcome to my new lesson based on the style of Muse. This lesson has come to my mind as soon as I heard their newest songs, some singles that will be part of their album Drones. I noticed that they have got back to their rocker sound and it has been a great excuse to create a lesson that re-creates it, explains details about their way of creating riffs and also gives beginners a new excuse to practice rhythm and submit many REC takes.

Music Style:
Muse is a unique band that created their style by mixing sounds from genres like Metal, Pop, Rock, Electronic, Industrial, Orchestral, Soundtrack music. The other big characteristic is the limitless talent of their singer and guitarist Matt Bellamy. As I commented previously, this lesson reflects their rocker and stoner side so I just focused on that side to compose this modern rock tune that I hope inspired you to create your own ideas. This lesson is suitable for those who have worked on my first Muse lesson but also for all those rockers that enjoyed my Stoner Rock lessons.

Tonality, Chord Progression & Scales:
Their songs are very different and they have experimented with different tonalities, modes, modulations, scales and chords. When they go more epic, the harmonies become more complex and show a bit influence by bands like Queen and The Beatles. On rocker songs, they keep some harmonic complexity but they mostly go for the simple stuff and focus on groove and power. This lesson is in D minor tonality and the scale used to compose the riff is D pentatonic minor. Very simple, not too many notes, not too many elements, but as you can see, we can do a lot just by using the first and easier scale that everybody learns.

Techniques:
This is a modern rock rhythm lesson so I use strumming, alternate picking, palm muting and vibrato on this one. It’s very important to play each riff tight with the groove but also to pay attention to accents and dynamics to give your rhythm playing more life.

Sound:
I used LePoin plugins to create the guitar tone. These are free amp emulators that are extremely recommended. The head used for this guitar tone is Poulin HyBrit which is a Marshall amp emulation but I also added a Fuzz pedal from Waves. Check out the settings:




Click HERE to download my Patch.

I used Cubase to record audio and midi, EZdrummer for drums and Trillian for bass.

Tuning: Drop D

Tempo: 120 BPM