Guest Post: Rethinking Guitar – Deconstructing The Common Men

The following is a guest post by Kevin Ian. If you are interested in guest posting, please contact me!

Hello kind readers! It has been quite some time since my last column. For my next series of posts, I decided to try something different: deconstructing my band’s music to show the use of various techniques I have discussed in earlier posts.

I will take a new song every few weeks and break down the basic chord formations and how I utilize various compositional techniques.

Hanged Men (http://thecommonmen.bandcamp.com/track/hanged-men-2)

This is one of the easiest songs off our newest album “Let it Burn.” It is also very typical in it’s angular guitar parts and post-punk influence.

The intro is a simple dyad of Dm (from low to high E A D G B E)

X X X 7 6 X

The second half to this riff is Dm F Bb A7

The second guitar comes in here with octave D C D E outlining various intervals of each chord.

When the main riff comes in again, the first guitar is “answered” by a second guitar playing

X X X 10 10 X

This second dyad finishes the rest of the Dm chord in the verses and provides a “call and response” feel to the riff itself

The chorus is another simple progression of Bb C Gm F Bb C Gm A7

There is nothing too special about the guitars during the chorus, but it is noteworthy to mention that while one utilizes full harmony chords

Bb X 8 8 7 6 X

C X 10 10 9 8 X

Gm X 5 5 3 3 X

F X 3 3 2 1 X

A7 X 0 2 0 2 0

The second guitar plays simple power chords with only the root and fifth of each chord. The result is a fuller sound and a bit more power when doubled by the bass.

I have included a video which includes the original recording of the song. Other bands that employ such techniques are pretty common amongst other post-punk bands and is very recognizable in the genre.

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I hope you have enjoyed this new installment!

Kevin Ian’s band The Common Men can be found on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and CD Baby. They will soon be on Pandora and have been garnering favorable reviews for their latest release “Let it Burn.” All of that information can be found on their main page http://www.thecommonmen.tk or via their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/thecommonmen