Why Weezer's Guitars Sound RIDICULOUSLY HEAVY!

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#sugarpillproductions

[SugarpillProd]

🎸Download my guitar course & learn how to make pro level guitar recordings at home:

[FrabjousBat]

Glad to see Weezer getting some love on this channel 👌👌

[elrondhubbard]

The inverted power chord is such an easy "trick" to add some dynamics to regular power chords. I (the bass player) tried explaining this to the guitarists in my last band (who wanted to cover Weezer) and they couldn't wrap their heads around something so simple. I quit the band shortly after that.

[jellovator]

The overdrive/distortion on the bass adds a ton of that heaviness too.

[lokiofasgard]

I've been trying to capture a little bit of the weezer energy for an assignment and this was exactly what was missing, thank you!

[layne]

It's always given Weezer songs such a distinct sound. So much that I pretty much always call those inverted chords, "Weezer" chords. It blends so well with their Beach Boys meets the Cars sound, and gives so many of their songs that punch that is needed when making power pop/alternative rock

[stevencavin]

Ok, now I gotta pull my electric out the case and try these out 😆 I'm familiar with the one five and one five octave power chords, but new to these inversions. So simple yet effective 👌

[HardlyRamone]

Nice to see a quality video about this! Always liked Weezer's thick rhythm sound. A lot of people miss that Johnny Ramone of the Ramones essentially always fretted his A shape barre chords with those inversions on the low E. I don't know that he EVER played the regular chord shape with the E muted out instead. The inversions are pretty important for thickening his sound, because he played all those classic Ramones songs on Mosrite guitars sporting very mids-emphasizing overwound bridge pickups, plugged into the trebley lead channel of his Marshall 1959s. The final tone isn't very meaty, but the chord inversions thicken it back up in a very pleasing way. Pair that with the 3rds from the barre chords, and you get quite a distinct beefy harmonic sound. The Ramones "Rocket To Russia" album almost sounds like they've layered an organ with the guitar, but it's genuinely just Johnny's chords reverberating in a large room. I've largely replicated the tone, and the results are wild. Very overlooked. You'd think these 2nd inversions in general would be everywhere, they're such a simple technique to employ.

[magpye]

Clever dynamic shifts as well from a songwriting standpoint - Say It Ain't So does this really well

[efficiencygaming]

I love that you posted this just as I started getting back into Weezer 😂

Awesome stuff, man!

[Farewelltokingz]

I think the trick also has to do with the bass, especially on Pinkerton. Matt sharp is playing intervals other than root often which creates slash chords. Also the bass tone has a good amount of fuzz on the low end.

[LingusDaDingus]

rivers studied music theory extensively. and took dive dives into bands like the beach boys, oasis, nirvana, the beatles, the velvet underground, and more. this was the result of his hours of work. he has thousands of demos and recordings available for purchase on his website.

[diddyfaplord]

There is an inverted power chord in “Anthem” by blink-182 that is a secret weapon of that song. Could be argued that is one of their heaviest songs.

[Azubi_Meatball]

I like to see it as emulating a 7 string, since it sounds like it could be a 7 string with how thick it sounds. It really helps me with writing songs since 7 strings are so expensive lol

[sdurham]

Opening riff of In the Garage, so heavy

[booneh]

Sometimes they’ll add a third to those inverted chords instead of another fifth to make it even thicker.

[chadwickmcfaggins]

I always loved how thick their tone was

[robertgerow]

I called these weezer chords when I was learning guitar

[fernandoy.narciso]

I still can't understand why the green album still gets so much crap from the fans, it's been my introduction to the band

[teatiago]

I think they also invest a lot on the amps and distortions, yes. If you've ever seen them live you can notice they're all the way up on gain.