Smells Like Teen Spirit

This must be one of the most recognisable songs of all time and is the first track on the album Neverrmind which was released in 1991. This was Nirvana’s second album.
The song is the only one written by all 3 band members (Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl). Allegedly, Kurt Cobain came up with the main riff and the chorus vocal melody, but it took the band playing it over and over again and slowing it down to mould it into it’s current shape. So it was very much a joint effort.
Kurt Cobain admits Smells Like Spirit was an attempt to write the ultimate pop song and that he was trying to rip off the Pixies by using their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard.
The intro riff (which is also played throughout the choruses) starts off with a relatively clean sounding guitar and then explodes into the trade mark heavily distorted (hard sound) when the rest of the band join in and for the rest of the times it is played throughout the song.
The song is written in the key of F minor, with the main guitar riff constructed from four power chords (F5–B♭5–A♭5–D♭5) The guitar chords were double tracked because the band wanted to make it sound more powerful,” and I really think they succeeded.
Everyone knows this riff, even though the chord sequence is quite clichéd – it even sounds similar to Boston’s More Than A Felling – but it is the sound, energy and the way Kurt Cobain plays it in his individually syncopated way that make it stand out. Bloomin’ marvelous.

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Each Riff Includes Step By Step Videos, Tabs and Backing Tracks

Learn to play this Riff and Jam with our included backing tracks. And all the teaching and Jam session videos can either be viewed online, or downloaded to your PC.

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Related posts:

1. Life In The Fast Lane
2. Don’t Fear The Reaper
3. Back In Black
4. Beat It
5. Last Train To Clarksville

Tags: Andy Partridge, BandJammer, Guitar Riffs, Learn Guitar, Nirvana, Smells Like Teen Spirit