Alternative Rock Guitar
Alternative rock emerged in the late 80s as a reaction to mainstream arena rock. It values raw energy, unconventional song structures and emotional honesty over technical showmanship. If you grew up on 90s and 2000s radio, these are your songs.
GuitarZone covers the essentials: Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Oasis, Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters. From clean arpeggios to walls of distortion, alternative rock teaches you how to use dynamics and texture.
Alan Walker 4
Alan Walker ‒ The Spectre 1
Arctic Monkeys 3
Audioslave 4
Back To The Future Theme 1
Bastille 1
Blind Melon 1
Chris Cornell 1
Christina Perri 1
Coldplay 7
Collective Soul 2
Counting Crows 1
Dave Matthews Band 4
Death Cab for Cutie 1
Dinosaur Jr. 1
Disturbed / Simon & Garfunkel 1
Eurythmics / Marilyn Manson 1
Five Nights at Freddy's 1 Song 1
Foo Fighters 6
Gnarls Barkley 1
Goo Goo Dolls 1
Green Day 4
Imagine Dragons 5
Ind I Fjeldkamrene outro 1
Jane's Addiction 2
Jeff Buckley 3
Jimmy Eat World 1
Kings of Leon 3
Linkin Park feat. Kiiara 1
Modest Mouse 1
Muse 14
- 1 Blackout TAB 2003
- 2 Dead Inside COVER 2015
- 3 Defector TAB 2009
- 4 Hysteria COVER 2003
- 5 Knights Of Cydonia TAB 2006
- 6 Plug In Baby TAB 2001
- 7 Pressure TAB 2018
- 8 Psycho TAB 2015
- 9 Reapers TAB 2015
- 10 Starlight TAB 2006
- 11 Stockholm Syndrome TAB 2003
- 12 Supermassive Black Hole TAB 2006
- 13 Undisclosed Desires LESSON 2009
- 14 Uprising TAB 2009
Neal Hefti 1
Oasis 9
Pearl Jam 9
Pirates of the Caribbean Theme 2
Portugal. The Man 1
Queens of the Stone Age 1
R.E.M. 5
Radiohead 11
- 1 Bullet Proof..I Wish I Was TAB 1995
- 2 Creep LESSON 1993
- 3 Exit Music LESSON 1997
- 4 Exit Music (For a Film) TAB 1997
- 5 High and Dry LESSON 1995
- 6 How to Disappear Completely LESSON 2000
- 7 Karma Police LESSON 1997
- 8 Nude COVER 2007
- 9 Street Spirit LESSON 1997
- 10 Street Spirit (Fade Out) TAB 1995
- 11 True Love Waits TAB 2016
Rag'n'Bone Man 1
Red Hot Chili Peppers 11
- 1 Around the World LESSON 1999
- 2 Black Summer TAB 2022
- 3 Breaking the Girl LESSON 1991
- 4 By the Way LESSON 2002
- 5 Californication COVER 1999
- 6 Dani California LESSON 2006
- 7 I Could Have Lied TAB 1991
- 8 Otherside LESSON 1999
- 9 Scar Tissue LESSON 1999
- 10 Snow (Hey Oh) TAB 2006
- 11 Under the Bridge TAB 1991
Semisonic 1
Smashing Pumpkins 1
Soul Asylum 1
Spin Doctors 1
Stone Temple Pilots 9
Temple of the Dog 2
The Cranberries 2
The Smashing Pumpkins 8
The White Stripes 1
Thirty Seconds To Mars 1
Tokyo Ghoul 1
Twenty One Pilots 3
Violent Femmes 1
Weezer 3
4 Non Blondes 1
Alternative Rock Guitar Techniques
Alternative rock guitar is all about contrasts. Quiet verses explode into loud choruses. Clean tones switch to heavy distortion mid-song. Chord voicings are often unconventional: open strings ringing against fretted notes, unusual tunings, and arpeggiated patterns that don't follow traditional rock formulas.
Muse pushed the technical side with complex riffs and effects-heavy tones. Red Hot Chili Peppers blended funk rhythms with rock power. Foo Fighters channeled punk energy into radio-ready anthems. Pearl Jam kept blues-rock alive with raw, emotional solos.
Start with Everlong to learn drop D power chord shapes. Try Californication for clean tone melody work. Hysteria will push your alternate picking and stamina.
Related genres: Grunge, Alternative Metal, Punk Rock. Or browse songs from the 90s when alternative rock peaked.