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It’s Food

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: August By Cake On “It’s Food,” Robert Pollard uses some open string drone guitar riffs, using the open fourth string D note in conjunction with fretted notes on the third string. There is also some chord strumming involved in this song, with simple power chord shapes. You need to […]

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The Rally Boys

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Zeppelin Over China “The Rally Boys” has outlasted the rest of the tracks on Zeppelin Over China by being the only one still performed live from this album. I can’t imagine this one ever leaving the set list, and in fact I think I’d be pretty disappointed if it […]

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Drag Days

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Under The Bushes Under The Stars “Drag Days” is one of bonus tracks on Under The Bushes Under The Stars, although I can’t imagine hearing the album without it. There’s a pretty simple lead guitar part that runs through this song, and the chords are all standard barre shapes, […]

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Focus On The Flock

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Tremblers And Goggles By Rank In a recently published interview with Robert Pollard, he referred to “Focus On The Flock” as “complicated and interesting.” I’d say that sums it up pretty well; once again, Pollard has lumped together a slew of different musical ideas into a song that keeps […]

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Roosevelt’s Marching Band

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Tremblers And Goggles By Rank Robert Pollard sometimes combines a catchy riff with some chord strumming to comprise a verse. “Roosevelt’s Marching Band” is a prime example, but others that immediately come to mind include “I Love Kangaroos” and “Make Use.” The riffs are typically pretty simple and often […]

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Alex Bell

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Tremblers And Goggles By Rank If you’ve read enough of the posts on this site, you may have been clued in to the fact that my favorite Robert Pollard songs to play on guitar are often those with multiple different (seemingly unrelated, even) sections. “Alex Bell” might just be […]

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Red Bodies

By: Boston Spaceships Appears on: Let It Beard “Red Bodies” features a lot of different sections that involve power chord strumming, some arpeggio work, and even a guitar riff that was originally sung by Robert Pollard on his boom box demo for this song and then played on guitar by Chris Slusarenko when recorded for […]

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Physician

By: Guided By Voices Appears on: Surrender Your Poppy Field I don’t know whether “Physician” is my favorite song on Surrender Your Poppy Field or just my favorite to play on guitar, but maybe it’s both. There are some quirky changes throughout and the whole middle section provides a nice break from the tempo of […]

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