The Hives Style Lesson

The Hives Style

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    THE PROFESSOR In this rockin’ lesson from Gabriel, you will learn how to mix minor and major sounds in the style of one of the greatest rock bands of all time, The Hives. By mixing these two tonalities together, you will be able to write and play chord progressions in the style of this modern rock band. 

    When learning how to play in the style of the Hives, learning how to play major triads in different inversions, as well as understanding the Natural Minor Scale and it’s related harmonies will go a long way in allowing you to learn this style in a comfortable and confident fashion.

    Hi GMC! 

    In this lesson I will cover a band that literally blew my mind this year when I saw them as the opening act of Pearl Jam. It’s one of the most powerful bands that I have seen live. I’m talking about “The Hives”, a Swedish rock band formed in 1993. I just read their description on wiki and looks like I'm not the only one saying that they are amazing live.

    “The Hives are known for performing in ever-changing, matching black-and-white suits. The band puts emphasis on their energetic live shows, notably with lead vocalist Howlin' Pelle Almqvist's engaging onstage banter and his guitarist brother Nicholaus Arson's crazy stage antics. They have been acclaimed by music critics as one of the best live rock bands in current music.” - wikipedia

    Music Style: 
    Their style is defined as Garage Rock & Punk. Their style reminds me a lot of Iggy Pop & the Stooges. In this lesson I tried to re-create their biggest hits style with powerful riff composed with power chords and very catchy rhythms.

    Tonality, Chord Progression & Scales: 
    This tune is in D minor tonality and I mostly use major chords and power chords. I have been analyzing their music and I can see that they prefer minor tonalities over major ones. That’s why I created these power chord riffs using minor scale. You will find a deeper analysis of the scales and progressions used to compose this tune under the slow video parts.

    Techniques: 
    This is a rhythm lesson so we will basically work on strumming and timing. It’s a very cool lesson for beginners who need to improve their groove in rhythmic songs.

    Sound: 
    I used my Pod HD 500 to create a tone based on vintage amps like Fenders and Voxs.
    The drums have been recorded using SSD 3.5 and the bass with Trillian.
    Click HERE if you want to download the patch used on this lesson for Pod HD 500. 

    Tuning: I used standard 440 tuning

    Tempo: 140 BPM 

    Ok guys – set your amp level at 11 and start rocking!
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