Punk-pop quintet Yellowcard formed in Jacksonville, FL, in 1997 but didn’t solidify their lineup until a move to Southern California in early 2000. They have become quite popular on radio and television circuits since. They have enhanced their musical stylings by adding violinist Sean Mackin, much like The Dave Matthews Band with their own Boyd Tinsley. Sean Mackin lists Tinsley as the reason he picked up the violin as a younger musician. One defining characteristic of the band is their use of rather simplistic chords with an edgy sound. Vocalist Ryan Key has been compared to Chris Carrabba from Dashboard Confessionals with his high-end voice and brash sense of pitch fluctuation.
Intro & Verse
The intro and verse have a neat guitar part but in the official recording by Yellowcard, you can hardly hear what’s being played because of the heavy use of a tremolo effect.
Below you can see me perform the riff without any tremolo effect. I’ve chosen to fingerpick the piece, but you can choose to use a pick.
Fretting hand…
Picking hand…
Chorus
The has two guitar parts and a bass guitar part all playing similar roles. The straight eighth notes in each individual part should all be picked with strong downstrokes. It’s a brisk tempo at 160 beats per minute so it’s going to be hard to keep up.
Here’s what all three parts sound like together:
Guitar 1
The plays standard power chords with the addition of the B string and high E strings played open. You will be using your 1st , 3rd, and 4th fingers when applicable.
Guitar 2
The 2nd guitar part is very similar to the 1st.
Bass
The bass part is really easy. You can just use your 1st finger to
play all notes within the tablature.
