You need to dampen the sound but not too much so that it doesn’t have any sustain. It’s not the hardest technique in the world but it takes a lot of practise. It results in a dampening effect on the string so it doesn’t ring out as it normally would. It’s used heavily during the verses of loads of songs including “What’s Your Name Again” and “Dammit”. Next on the list of techniques used by Blink 182, is palm-muting. This will help build up strength in your fingers so you can hold the position more comfortably when it comes to performing the song.

Practise holding the power chord for longer than you’d normally need it.

Start slowly at first and work up the speed being careful not to get sloppy.

Practice moving the power chord position around the fret board.

Rest it lightly on any strings that are not involved in the power chord.

Make sure you mute any unused strings using your first finger.

Here are some tips to make your power chords sound better. Blink 182 almost exclusively use power chords when playing rhythm guitar so it’s vital that you master them properly. Power chords are the bread and butter of pretty much every rock band out there. Here’s a few techniques you should think about practising! Power Chords But improving your playing ability will go a lot further to help you sound like Blink 182. Using all their equipment won’t help if you can’t master their technique. The best way to sound like them, is to play like them. Sounding like Blink 182 isn’t all about using their guitars, amps and pedals. The Electro-Harmonix Big Muff is a great option to help you achieve this kind of tone. They produce a unique tone which can be described as fizzy and noisy. Fuzz Pedalsįuzz pedals are also useful to help you replicate Blink 182’s sound. The Boss DD-7 Digital Delay Pedal will help you achieve this tone. You can change the parameters like the number of repeats, rate of repeats and volume on most basic delay pedals. They take a note or chord and play it back repeatedly. Delay Pedalīlink 182 also use delay pedals. I was surprised on how cheap I could find it on Guitar Center. The Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer is the most popular option to help you achieve this tone. It produces an iconic tone associated with loads of famous guitarists. There are a few different types of overdrive pedal, but the most famous is the tube screamer. It gives you more sustain without reducing the clarity of the tone, which can happen if you use a distortion pedal or crank the gain up on your amp too high. Overdrive pedals are used to mimic the sound of driving a tube amp hard enough to distort the signal produced on a clean setting. Overdrive Pedalīeing a punk band, rather than a metal band, Blink 182 use overdrive pedals more than distortion pedals. Here are a few pedals that can help you achieve a similar tone to the band. Don’t go too high though, or you’ll use the classic crunchy tone.īlink 182 aren’t associated with using complicated or extensive pedal boards. Aim to have your gain on about 7, and adjust it higher if necessary. The gain also doesn’t usually have to be as loud as you might think. Have the treble at around 7 and the bass and mids on around 4 to start with and then work from there. Switching to the bridge pickup will help to produce this clearer tone. The distorted tone is punchy and sharp, rather than muffled and flat.

Have the gain as low as your amp will allow it, and set the bass to around 4 and mids to about 5. Switching to the bridge pickup will help too. The exact setting will depend on your amp.

So you can try adjusting your amp to increase the treble. The clean tone is quite twangy and sharp. If you want to sound like Blink 182, you’ll need to master both sounds. The clean tone is used almost exclusively in first verses, bridges and intros, whereas the distorted tone is used in the choruses but also throughout the entirety of some songs. Blink 182 mainly use two different tones, a crunch punk rock tone and a clean tone.

Blinkk 182