Lesson punkrock music part 2

Anyone can play punk, it's one of the easiest styles to play. But not everyone can make it sound good.

Bands

If you want to sound good, you should stop listening to most of the bands around now (Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Good Charlotte, etc.) You need to start listening to bands like, The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Misfits, Dead Kennedys, AFI (early stuff), The Offspring, etc. These are great examples of what punk music is supposed to be.

Techniques

There are some basic techniques you need to know to play punk:

Power chords

Palm muting

Arpeggios

Hammer-ons/Pull-offs

Bends

Slides

Octaves

I haven't included how to do these techniques because there are plenty of other lessons for that.

Intro

You can do many things for the intro, you can play a short melody, play a simple catchy riff, have the bass and drums play on their own, play the chorus with no lyrics or anything else you want. There doesn't even have to be an intro.

Verse

The verse should be quieter than the chorus. You could play arpeggios or palm muted power chords. A commonly used idea is to have the guitar come in and only play the second have of the verse to build up for the chorus a bit.
Some examples of good verses are:

Die, Die My Darling - Misfits
E|---------|---------|---------|---------|
B|---------|---------|---------|---------|
G|-4-4-4-4-|-4-4-4-4-|---------|---------|
D|-4-4-4-4-|-4-4-4-4-|-5-------|-4-------|
A|-2-2-2-2-|-2-2-2-2-|-5-------|-4-------|
E|---------|---------|-3-------|-2-------|

I Choose - The Offspring
E|------------------------------------|
B|-7--8--7-7-xxxxxxx------------------|
G|-7--7--7-7-xxxxxxx------------------|
D|-7--7--7-7-xxxxxxx-3--3-3-5--5-5-5--|
A|-5--5--5-5-xxxxxxx-3--3-3-5--5-5-5--|
E|-------------------1--1-1-3--3-3-3--|

x - mute

Chorus

The chorus should be loud and simple, most good choruses have catchy riffs. You should mainly use power chords but you can include other techniques. Some examples of good choruses are:

Smash - The Offspring
e|----------------------------------------------------------|
B|----------------------------------------------------------|
G|---------------8-8--8-8-8-8--6-6--6-6-6-6--6-6--6-6-6/8-8-|
D|-6-6--6-6-6-6--8-8--8-8-8-8--6-6--6-6-6-6--6-6--6-6-6/8-8-|
A|-6-6--6-6-6-6--6-6--6-6-6-6--4-4--4-4-4-4--4-4--4-4-4/6-6-|
E|-4-4--4-4-4-4---------------------------------------------|

Miss Murder - AFI
Eb|-------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
Bb|-------------------------------|--------------------------------------|
Gb|--------7--7-7-5--5-5----------|--------7--7-7-5--5-5-----------------|
Db|-7--7-7-7--7-7-5--5-5-5--5-5-5-|-7--7-7-7--7-7-5--5-5-5---------------|
Ab|-7--7-7-5--5-5-3--3-3-5--5-5-5-|-7--7-7-5--5-5-3--3-3-5---------------|
Eb|-5--5-5---------------3--3-3-3-|-5--5-5---------------3-<2>-<2><2><2>-|

Eb|-------------------------------|----------------------------|
Bb|-------------------------------|----------------------------|
Gb|--------7--7-7-5--5-5----------|----------------------------|
Db|-7--7-7-7--7-7-5--5-5-5--5-5-5-|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-2--2-2-2---|
Ab|-7--7-7-5--5-5-3--3-3-5--5-5-5-|-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-2--2-2-2---|
Eb|-5--5-5---------------3--3-3-3-|-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-1-0--0-0-0---|

<> - natural harmonic

Bridge

A lot of punk songs have a bridge. Bridges should be short (usually half as long as the verse or chorus), and they are usually a melody or short riff. It usually after the chorus and it should be more relaxed than the chorus.

Solo/Interlude

Just because it's punk doesn't mean you can't have a solo but it shouldn't be too complicated. Just a few notes or an arpeggio repeated will do. If you don't want a solo or you can't play one yet you can just have an interlude. This could be anything from another riff, or a key change, to playing nothing at all. Solos should use things like hammer-ons/pull-offs, slides, arpeggios, bends and other techniques ("I choose" by The Offspring has a good solo but I won't tab it here).

Outro

The outro is the end of the song. It could be a big finish or it could just die out. You could just play the chorus or the intro again with small changes.

Arrangements

Don't feel restricted by arrangements. You don't have to do what everyone else does and it's good to be different. Sometimes you might want to make a really short song, one band that does that really well is Frenzal Rhomb. Some common arrangements are:

Intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo/interlude, verse, chorus, outro

Intro, chorus, bridge, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, solo, verse, pre-chorus, chorus, interlude, chorus, outro.

Remember there are no rules when it come to punk. Have fun.