Guitar Songs, Tabs & Lessons

BTS

1 guitar song · Tabs, Lessons & Tone Guide Pop Rock

Choose a BTS Song to Play

Fake Love - Guitar Cover

YouTube Stats: 718K · 28K

Band Overview

BTS is a South Korean pop group formed in Seoul in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment, and while they are primarily known as a K-pop vocal and rap ensemble rather than a guitar-driven band, their catalog contains a surprising number of tracks that feature prominent electric guitar work. Songs like "Fake Love" showcase brooding, atmospheric guitar lines layered over trap-influenced beats, making them genuinely interesting pieces for electric guitarists to learn. The guitar parts in BTS songs are typically handled by session musicians and producers rather than band members themselves, but the quality of the writing and arrangement is top-notch, blending modern rock textures with electronic production in ways that challenge guitarists to think beyond traditional rock contexts. For guitarists, the appeal of learning BTS material lies in developing a different skill set than what you would get from standard rock or blues repertoire. The guitar parts tend to emphasize clean-to-slightly-overdriven tones, rhythmic precision, and the ability to sit inside a dense, layered mix without overplaying. "Fake Love" in particular features a memorable clean guitar riff that loops throughout the track, requiring solid timing and consistent dynamics. It is an excellent exercise in restraint and groove, teaching you to lock in with programmed drums and synth bass rather than a live rhythm section. The overall difficulty of BTS guitar parts tends to fall in the beginner-to-intermediate range from a pure technical standpoint. The riffs are not shred-heavy or laden with complex chord voicings. However, the real challenge is nailing the feel, the tone, and the precision required to make these parts sound polished and production-ready. If you are a guitarist looking to expand into pop, K-pop session work, or modern production-oriented playing, BTS tracks offer a practical and rewarding entry point. Think of it as training your ear for contemporary arrangement rather than just building speed or learning scales.

What Makes BTS Essential for Guitar Players

The main guitar riff in "Fake Love" is a clean-tone, single-note line that loops with hypnotic precision. It is a great exercise in consistent pick attack and dynamic control, teaching you to play with metronomic steadiness against electronic drums.
BTS guitar parts frequently use ambient, reverb-heavy clean tones that sit behind the vocal mix. Learning to dial in these spacious, effect-laden sounds will improve your understanding of how guitar functions in modern pop production.
Rhythmic palm-muting appears in several BTS tracks where distorted guitars enter for dramatic effect during choruses or bridges. These sections demand tight synchronization with programmed percussion, which is a different discipline than playing with a live drummer.
Many BTS arrangements feature arpeggiated chord patterns played with a clean or lightly overdriven tone, emphasizing chord extensions like add9 and sus4 voicings. These shapes are common in K-pop and J-pop guitar work and will expand your chord vocabulary beyond standard barre and power chords.
The guitar layers in BTS songs are often doubled and panned wide in the stereo field. When learning these parts, pay attention to how slight variations in picking dynamics and timing between takes create that wide, shimmering studio sound. It is a valuable lesson in session-style overdub technique.

Did You Know?

"Fake Love" was co-produced by Bang Si-hyuk and Pdogg, and the guitar riff was reportedly one of the first elements written for the track, serving as the harmonic and melodic anchor before the electronic production was built around it.

BTS tracks are primarily crafted in studios using a combination of DI-recorded guitars and amp simulation plugins, meaning you can closely replicate the tones at home with a decent audio interface and software like Neural DSP or Amplitube.

The guitar work on BTS albums is often performed by anonymous Korean session guitarists who are highly skilled across multiple genres. These players rarely receive public credit but are responsible for some of the catchiest riffs in modern K-pop.

"Fake Love" charted at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it one of the most commercially successful songs to feature a prominent clean electric guitar loop in recent pop music history.

BTS member Jungkook has been spotted playing acoustic guitar in behind-the-scenes content and live streams, and he reportedly learned guitar partly to contribute to the songwriting process on later albums.

The rock-influenced guitar tones heard in BTS songs like "ON" and "Dionysus" lean heavily on high-gain amp sims with tight low-end, showing the influence of modern metalcore production techniques bleeding into mainstream K-pop.

Essential Albums for Guitarists

Love Yourself: Tear 2018

This album contains "Fake Love," which is the standout guitar track in the BTS catalog and the primary reason guitarists explore their music. The clean guitar riff is perfect for practicing loop-based playing and tone shaping. Other tracks on the album also feature subtle guitar textures that reward close listening and teach you how electric guitar can enhance pop arrangements without dominating them.

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Map of the Soul: 7 2020

This album pushes BTS into more rock-adjacent territory with tracks like "ON" and "Dionysus," both of which feature aggressive, high-gain guitar riffs and power chord progressions. These songs are great for practicing tight palm-muted downpicking and learning how distorted guitar fits into heavily produced pop and hip-hop contexts. It is the best BTS album for players who want something heavier to sink their teeth into.

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Tone & Gear

Guitar

BTS studio guitar parts are typically recorded with versatile workhorse guitars. Session players in the K-pop world frequently use Fender Stratocasters or Telecasters for clean and lightly driven tones, and Gibson Les Pauls or PRS Custom 24s for heavier, rock-oriented sections. For "Fake Love" specifically, the clean, glassy riff tone suggests a single-coil guitar (likely a Strat in the neck or middle position) recorded direct or through a clean amp sim.

Amp

Most BTS guitar tones are achieved through amp modeling software and plugins rather than physical amps. Clean tones resemble a Fender Twin Reverb or Roland JC-120 style: pristine, slightly scooped, with plenty of headroom. For the heavier tracks, a high-gain model inspired by a Mesa/Boogie Rectifier or Peavey 5150 with tight low-end is the go-to. If you are using real amps, keep the clean channel sparkling clean and rely on effects for color.

Pickups

For the clean, atmospheric tones heard in "Fake Love," single-coil pickups (or a coil-split humbucker) in the neck position deliver the right balance of clarity and warmth. Standard Fender single-coils or noiseless alternatives like Fender N3s work well. For the heavier BTS tracks, medium-output humbuckers in the 8-10k ohm range provide enough drive for high-gain tones without losing note definition in fast passages.

Effects & Chain

Reverb is the most critical effect for nailing BTS guitar tones. A lush hall or plate reverb with a long tail creates the spacious, atmospheric quality heard throughout their catalog. Add a touch of stereo chorus (think Boss CE-2 or a plugin equivalent) for width on clean parts. A short digital delay (100-200ms) can also help fill out the sound. For "Fake Love," keep it simple: guitar into a clean amp sim, add reverb and a subtle chorus, and focus on playing cleanly. Distortion pedals are only needed for the rockier tracks.

Recommended Gear

Guitar

Fender Stratocaster

BTS session players use Strats for the clean, glassy riffs in tracks like 'Fake Love,' where single-coil pickups deliver the clarity and warmth needed for their atmospheric K-pop production. The versatile workhorse handles both pristine clean tones and lightly driven passages with sparkling note definition.

Guitar

Fender Telecaster

Telecasters provide the bright, cutting clean tones BTS producers favor for layered studio arrangements, offering the single-coil clarity essential for their polished, spacious guitar textures. This workhorse guitar excels at delivering the crystalline riffs that sit perfectly in modern K-pop mixes.

Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Standard

BTS employ Les Pauls for heavier, rock-oriented sections where medium-output humbuckers deliver punchy drive without sacrificing note definition in fast passages. The guitar's warmth and sustain complement high-gain amp modeling, giving their harder tracks weight and character.

Guitar

Gibson Les Paul Custom

The Les Paul Custom's versatile humbucker configuration allows BTS producers to achieve both warm, driven tones for rock sections and thick, articulate high-gain sounds through amp modeling. Its tonal range makes it ideal for BTS's genre-blending studio work.

Guitar

PRS Custom 24

BTS producers favor the PRS Custom 24 for its tonal versatility across clean and high-gain applications, with medium-output humbuckers that maintain clarity in complex arrangements. The guitar's balanced voice bridges their atmospheric clean passages and rock-oriented heavier tracks seamlessly.

Amp

Fender Twin Reverb

The Twin Reverb's pristine headroom and lush reverb character define BTS's signature spacious, atmospheric guitar tones heard throughout their catalog. Its iconic scooped EQ and built-in reverb tank make it the sonic template for their clean amp modeling and production aesthetic.

How to Practice BTS on GuitarZone

Every BTS song page on GuitarZone includes a built-in Practice Toolbar. No app to download, no account needed. Open any song, then use the toolbar to slow the video to 0.5× speed, set an A/B loop around the exact riff you're working on, and jump between song sections instantly.

The toolbar appears automatically on every guitar tab, lesson, and cover page. Pick a song below, hit play, and start practicing at your own pace.

Practice Fake Love - Guitar Cover