To find the right line, Kenney simply opened his ears up wide. “The interaction between guitar and vocals leaves negative space, which made it pretty clear where I could fit in. How much of that I wanted to fill was up to me.” After sitting out for the very beginning, Ben starts off by planting long root tones under the introduction in Ex. 1, setting up a great contrast for the driving riff that enters at bar 9.

Kenney’s line for the verse (Ex. 2) is where things start to get interesting. Leaving a “one-drop” rest on the first downbeat, Ben summons the ghost of the Police’s “Spirits in the Material World.” The slippery vibe of this part (check out all of those slides!) is Ben’s nod to players like Kim Deal of the Pixies. “In the slide from D down to Bb, I stop off at C for a hot second,” says Ben, pointing to beat one of bar 2. Note that on the repeat of Ex. 2 in each verse, Ben makes a subtle change by picking—rather than slurring—that C.

Ex. 3 comes from the song’s powerful chorus. Here, the guitars drive harder than in the verses, but Ben takes an alternative approach, playing the line legato. Ben sums it up perfectly: “It’s greasy!” In rehearsals, Ben took some drastic measures to make sure he’s ready to pull off this line live. “Jumping around onstage, it’s hard to home in and play that part right. It takes confidence to slide around like that. My secret is to rehearse those parts playing my fretless Lakland. It’s given me a non-medical breakthrough when it comes to focus!”

When the bridge hits at 2:13, it sounds like the bass drops out. “What you may think is guitar is actually me strumming chords on my Lakland Bob Glaub,” says Ben. Ex. 4 shows his double-stopped chord line. “Live, if I’m feeling frisky, I may kick on a chorus pedal for that part. Plus, I run my live rig pretty hot, so it grinds a little more there.” Ben and the band then launch into one last unison riff (Ex. 5) before pounding out a last round of choruses.

Ben offers this bit of advice to players wanting to improve their own writing skills: “If a song is almost done by the time it gets to you, listen to figure out where you can fit among the other parts. If you overlook any of them—drums, guitars, vocals—you’re not going to create that synergy. It’s about staying out of everyone else’s way while still showing yourself off.”