Pop rock fingerstyle + TAB, guitar and bass backing tracks – “Still Calm”
A fingerstyle guitar tune in the pop rock genre, with downloadable tablature. You can also grab the backing tracks below, both for bass and for guitar. Obviously, it’s not a solo performance this time. But who said fingerstyle was strictly about playing solo, hey? It’s a soft rock song, played with a clean tone all the way through. Don’t let that make you politely throw up in your mouth though. Not everything in rock should be about the hair pulling distortion, right? Yep.
Three finger control
The picking hand uses the index, middle and ring fingers, both when playing the melody line and during the solo. Ever seen those fingerstyle players who switch to a pick or thumbpick when soloing? Well, I’m not them. Even if I use fingerpicks, I keep alternating between the picking fingers. It doesn’t only feel more natural and economical to me. It also keeps the tone being more colorful. At least so I believe, but what do I know? Nuthin’, man.
Slides and double stops
Yeah, because the fretting hand is busy with these. Sort of. Notice that I rarely if ever bend strings. I play .012-.052 sets, because that’s what feels comfortable. These gauges don’t lead to comfortable bending though. Who cares, there are a million other string benders, even some darn good ones. So I actually preferred to remain slightly different this way. Which of course means that to reach the notes I decide not to pick, I need to hammer on or slide up to them. That’s what happens in this video, too. The other notable aspect about the main theme is the subtle double stops. You’ll see where they are if you check out the TAB. Speaking of the tablature, you can also get the backing track to play guitar over it. As well as the bass backing track, so you can try figuring out the original bass line. Or come up with a new one yourself. I trust your taste and skills. You can do it!
