The 1975 Style

Hi GMC!

Welcome to this new lesson covering the style of “The 1975”, and English pop rock band from Manchester.

Music Style:
Their music is usually laberled as Pop, but they combine elements from electropop, funk rock and indie. Some of their biggest influences are Talking Heads, My Bloody Valentine and Michael Jackson. In this lesson I’ve tried to re-created their most funky electropop sound that can be found in some of their most popular songs.

Tonality, Chord Progression & Scales:
Their music combines major and minor keys. They sound Pop, but they also sound melancholic and dark, so you’ll find a nice combination of major and minor keys. In many cases, they modulate from major to minor keys in the same song. This lesson’s tune is in E major key so the mode is Ionian.

Techniques:
Their guitar work is usually very groovy, but with a minimalist approach. Less is more is their main principle and that gives the tracks a lot of air and space for synths and effects. The techniques that we’ll use here are based on rhythm techniques. We’ll use alternate picking, strumming, palm muting, single string grooves among some other elements.


Sound:
I used Fractal Ax8’s preset called: Funk #49 which is based on a Fender Bassman amp. I used Cubase to record audio and midi, addictive drums 2 for drums and Trillian for bass.

Tuning: Standard 440.

Tempo: 100 BPM