Follow You Home by Nickelback

Our note-for-note guitar lesson on Nickelback's "Follow You Home" gives you the tools to master the techniques used by one of rock's most iconic bands. This energetic track features a range of guitar techniques that not only add intensity to the song but also offer players valuable practice in building their own guitar skills. With this lesson, you'll break down every riff and solo, focusing on improving your playing by mastering key techniques used throughout the track. Andy James breaks down this rock classic in this exclusive Lick Library video tutorial.

About the Guitarists in "Follow You Home"

Nickelback’s lead guitarist, Ryan Peake, and frontman Chad Kroeger, are responsible for the signature heavy yet melodic guitar work in "Follow You Home." Their guitar styles incorporate elements of hard rock and post-grunge, delivering aggressive power chords, punchy riffs, and soaring solos. Peake's technical proficiency and Kroeger's gritty rhythm playing combine to create the unmistakable Nickelback sound. Learning this song offers insight into both rhythm and lead guitar techniques, allowing players to understand how these two roles complement each other in modern rock music.

Techniques Covered in "Follow You Home"

Power Chords

"Follow You Home" kicks off with a powerful rhythm guitar part built on power chords, one of the most fundamental tools for any rock guitarist. These simple yet effective chord shapes allow for fast transitions and a tight, driving sound. Mastering power chords helps improve your timing and hand coordination while adding punch to your playing. They are also perfect for building strength in your fretting hand.

Palm Muting

To achieve the tight, chugging rhythm that drives the verses of "Follow You Home," Nickelback employs palm muting. This technique creates a percussive sound that gives more dynamic control over the guitar. By lightly resting your picking hand on the strings near the bridge, you can alternate between open, ringing notes and muted ones, adding texture to your rhythm playing. Palm muting is crucial for developing a tight, controlled sound in heavier rock genres.

String Bending

In the song's solo, Peake uses string bending to create expressive, vocal-like notes. Bending strings allows you to change pitch smoothly, adding a human feel to your lead lines. It’s an essential technique for rock solos, helping players develop strength in their fingers and improve pitch accuracy.

Vibrato

Closely tied to string bending is vibrato, which gives notes a distinctive shake, making them feel alive. Vibrato adds depth and emotion to your lead playing, helping you sustain notes in a more dramatic way. In this lesson, you’ll practice applying vibrato to bent and unbent notes, perfecting this technique to bring your solos to life.

Hammer-ons and Pull-offs

Throughout the lead sections, you'll encounter hammer-ons and pull-offs, techniques that add speed and fluidity to your playing. By allowing you to play multiple notes with just one pick stroke, these legato techniques are essential for building speed and smooth transitions between notes. They also help develop finger strength and dexterity.

Pinched Harmonics

Nickelback adds an aggressive edge to the song by incorporating pinched harmonics. This technique involves striking a note with your pick hand in such a way that you produce a high-pitched squeal. Pinched harmonics give your playing a unique, screaming quality, perfect for heavy rock and metal solos. Learning this technique enhances your picking precision and adds a new dimension to your tone.

Alternate Picking

Alternate picking is essential in the faster, more intricate sections of the song. This technique involves alternating between downstrokes and upstrokes, allowing for faster and more efficient picking. Practicing alternate picking improves speed, rhythm accuracy, and endurance, helping you tackle fast solos and complex riffs with ease.

Slides

The song also incorporates slides, which add smooth transitions between notes and give a more connected feel to the music. Sliding between notes helps players improve fretboard navigation and creates a fluid, professional sound when transitioning between different chord shapes or scales.

Why Learning These Techniques is Beneficial

By mastering the techniques found in "Follow You Home," you'll gain a solid foundation in rock guitar. These techniques—power chords, palm muting, string bending, and more—are staples of modern rock and metal. They help improve your overall control, speed, and precision on the guitar, making you a more versatile player. Whether you're jamming along to Nickelback or writing your own music, these skills are essential for crafting powerful, dynamic guitar parts.

Learning these techniques in the context of a real song also helps solidify their application, giving you practical ways to incorporate them into your own playing. Each technique you master adds another layer to your guitar playing, making it more expressive and dynamic.

Guitar Techniques Used in This Lesson

• Vibrato
• Alternate Picking
• Legato
• Pinched Harmonics
• Hammer-ons
• Pull-offs
• Power Chords
• Palm Muting
• String Bending
• Slides

By focusing on these techniques, you'll not only master "Follow You Home," but you'll also gain valuable skills that will serve you across a wide range of rock and metal genres.