Editing Nirvana (band) (section)

===Instrumentation===
Cobain's rhythm guitar style, which relied on [[power chord]]s, low-note riffs, and a loose left-handed technique, featured the key components to the band's songs. Cobain would often initially play a song's verse riff in a clean tone, then double it with distorted guitars when he repeated the part. In some verses, the guitar would be absent to allow the drums and bass guitar to support the vocals, or it would only play sparse melodies like the two-note pattern used in "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Cobain rarely played standard guitar solos, opting to play variations of the song's melody as single-note lines. Cobain's solos were mostly blues-based and discordant, which music writer Jon Chappell described as "almost an iconoclastic parody of the traditional instrumental break", a quality typified by the note-for-note replication of the lead melody in "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and the atonal solo for "Breed".<ref name="Chappel">Chappell, Jon. "Nirvana's music". ''Guitar''. June 1993.</ref> The band had no formal musical training; Cobain said: "I have no concept of knowing how to be a musician at all whatsoever... I couldn't even pass Guitar 101."<ref>{{cite AV media |date=11 December 2013 |title=Kurt Cobain - Nirvana Rare Full Interview Seattle, 1993 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rhotCKLwcQ&t=1m57s |location=[[Seattle]] |time=1m 57s |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210423211808/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rhotCKLwcQ&t=1m57s |archive-date=23 April 2021 |access-date=13 May 2014}}</ref>

Grohl's drumming "took Nirvana's sound to a new level of intensity".<ref>di Perna, Alan. "Nevermore". ''Guitar World''. March 1999.</ref> Azerrad stated that Grohl's "powerful drumming propelled the band to a whole new plane, visually as well as musically", noting, "Although Dave is a merciless basher, his parts are also distinctly musical—it wouldn't be difficult to figure out what song he was playing even without the rest of the music".<ref>Azerrad, 1994. p. 231–32</ref>

Until early 1992, the band had performed live in [[concert pitch]]. They began tuning down either a half step or full step as well as concert pitch. Sometimes all three tunings would be in the same show. By the summer of that year, the band had settled on the half step down tuning ([[Guitar tunings#E♭ tuning|E♭]]).<ref name="requiem">Cross, Charles R. "Requiem for a Dream". ''Guitar World''. October 2001.</ref> Cobain said, "We play so hard we can't tune our guitars fast enough".<ref name="cheaptricks">Gilbert, Jeff. "Cheap Tricks". ''Guitar World''. February 1992.</ref> The band made a habit of destroying its equipment after shows. Novoselic said he and Cobain created the "shtick" in order to get off the stage sooner.<ref name="classicalbums">''Classic Albums—Nirvana: Nevermind'' [DVD]. Isis Productions, 2004.</ref> Cobain stated it began as an expression of his frustration with previous drummer Channing making mistakes and dropping out entirely during performances.<ref>Azerrad, 1994. p. 140</ref>