Drake - Hotline Bling - Guitar Cover

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2016 4:27

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About Hotline Bling

At 104 BPM in D minor, "Hotline Bling" sits in a laid-back, mid-tempo pocket that feels deceptively easy until you try to lock in with its sparse, looping production. The guitar arrangement centers on repeating a clean, minimal chord movement in D minor, so your left hand gets a real workout in keeping shapes clean and consistent every single time around. Because the groove lives in subtle rhythmic placement, a guitarist covering this needs to focus less on flash and more on feel: staying behind the beat slightly and letting the chords breathe. The tuning is E Standard, so no retuning is needed, and the key of D minor gives you a natural home on the fretboard to explore melodic fills between chord hits. If the rhythmic phrasing is tripping you up, set a tight A/B loop in the Practice Toolbar and slow it down until your strumming hand is landing exactly where the groove demands. Drake built this track around a hypnotic, repetitive feel, and matching that restraint is the real challenge for any guitarist covering it in Pop Rock style.

• The chord movement sits firmly in D minor and repeats throughout, making consistency and clean fretting more important than complex chord vocabulary.
• At 104 BPM the groove demands a relaxed, behind-the-beat feel, so practicing with a metronome at reduced tempo first will help you nail the pocket.
• E Standard tuning means no retuning is required, and the D minor key sits comfortably in open and fifth-position shapes on the fretboard.