Difficulty: Intermediate
Composer – Yellowcard
Where to find this song – Ocean Avenue track # 6
Release Date – July 22, 2003
The Band:
Ryan Key – vocals, guitar
Sean Mackin – vocals, violin
Ben Harper – guitar
Longineu Parsons – drums
Alex Lewis – bass
The Bio:
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 Carabbara 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…