The Offspring 5-Pack

Lessons

• Lesson 1: Pretty Fly For A White Guy

  Pretty Fly (for a White Guy) is possibly The Offspring's most popular song from their 1998 album "Americana". This was a huge hit in the 90's, and I still remember growing up and watching the music video as a teenager. It's got a really catchy riff that shows how much you can do with simple power chords. By using power chords in more of a melodic way than a harmonic way, it creates catchy hooks and chord changes that really grab the listener. After this there's a sparse double stop riff on the top two strings to emphasize the rest of the rhythm section. Aside from this, the song is mostly basic power chords, so if you can master quickly shifting chords and changing strings, getting this song under your fingers will take no time.

• Lesson 2: Come Out And Play

  Come Out and Play is a widely played single from The Offspring's album "Smash" released in 1994. There's not a whole lot to this song, since 90's alternative rock is very simplistic to play. This lesson is geared towards guitarists that really want to learn The Offspring's riffs and get them down as opposed to learning difficult techniques. This song revolves around shifting power chords, so you'll need to be able to comfortably move your left hand as one unit, keeping the fingering shape solid as you lift up and move across the fretboard. This song is pretty quick, so it's a good chance to practice keeping your timing tight. Aside from these power chord sections, there's some single string melodic licks that break up the simple chord progression. You'll want to emphasize the techniques like sliding and pull offs to make the other sections stand out as well.

• Lesson 3: Gone Away

  Gone Away is a song by The Offspring from their album "Ixnay on the Hombre" released in 1997. This song is a heavy power chord based tune, which is almost exclusively what The Offspring wrote. The easy thing about this song is that it's pretty much straight 8th notes the whole time, so you'll have a chance to really get comfortable with repeated downstroke picking. If you're looking to beef up your right hand picking, practicing this song with all downstrokes will really help you progress. There's a cool double stop lead guitar section where you're playing the equivalent to power chords on the upper two strings, but the lower notes change to create a major sound, which is an unusual harmony compared to the rest of the song. After this, there's a great single string melodic line that goes over the verse, which is a great way to get used to playing simple melodies over a power chord background.

• Lesson 4: Self Esteem - Electric Guitar Lesson

  Self Esteem was a worldwide hit from The Offspring's album "Smash" released in 1994. Like most Offspring songs, this one is also based around mostly power chords. There's a lot of sliding in and out of the chords, which adds the element of leading tones and target notes. When you're sliding to notes, you need to have your target position in mind that you're going for to keep your playing accurate. With a little bit of practice, this one will be quick and easy to get under your fingers.

• Lesson 5: The Kids Aren't Alright

  The Kids Aren't Alright is one of The Offspring's more popular songs off of their album "Americana" released in 1998. This song is unique because unlike most of Offspring's songs, this one isn't based around power chords. Instead it has a fourth string, palm muted 8th note rhythm that's interspersed with chord hits which creates a scale that plays over the droning note. This leads into some simple single string riffs in the lower register, interspersing the guitar part on top of the rhythm section. It builds into a palm muted power chord section that's pretty simple to learn and play. The solo in this song has some great melodic qualities that have a really smooth feeling, so it's important to let your notes ring out in a legato style. There's also a cool bending section where you bend octaves, a common rock technique to add tension, so this will give you some great fundamentals to practice.