Rancid Style

Hi GMC! 

Welcome to my first Ska Punk lesson on the site! This time I decided to cover the style of the cool band called “Rancid”, one of the most popular bands of this sub genre.

“Rancid is an American punk rock band formed in Berkeley, California in 1991. Founded by 80s punk veterans Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman, both of whom previously played in the highly influential ska punk band Operation Ivy, Rancid is credited—along with Green Day and The Offspring—for reviving mainstream interest in punk rock in the United States during the mid-1990s. Unlike Green Day and The Offspring however, Rancid remained signed to an independent record label and retained much of its original fan-base, most of which was connected to its underground roots.” - Wikipedia.

Music Style: 
As you can imagine, their style is a perfect combination of Punk Rock and Ska. In this lesson I tried to recreate this combination inspired by their most popular songs like “Time Bomb”, “Ruby Soho” and “Roots radicals” . If you listen to the whole lesson, you will notice how this band usually goes from the Ska rhythm to the Punk rhythms very smoothly.

Tonality, Chord Progression & Scales: 
The tune starts in G major (intro), then modulates to A (verse), gets back to G (punk section) and finally gets back to A in the solo. I found this classic rock and blues progressions in many of their songs as well as these type of modulations. The scale used for the solo is A pentatonic minor.

Techniques: 
This lesson combines rhythm and solo so it’s a great lesson for working on your timing and lead guitar. We will use the Ska rhythm so this could be tricky at first if you’ve never tried it. The solo is rocker and uses mostly bending, double string licks and vibrato.

Sound: 
I used my Pod HD 500 to record this lesson. I used the Treadplate Dual Amp Model with a 4x12 2001 Treadplate Cab Model.
My guitar is a Gibson Les Paul Studio. 

Tuning: 
I used standard 440. 

Tempo: 
175 BPM 

Ok guys – it's time for Ska!