The soft, smooth tones of 70s/80s AOR (Adult Oriented Rock) has come to be known as yacht rock. Though not really a formal genre, there are common elements, including pillow-soft production and close jazzy chord voicings, that have pricked up the ears of many modern artists cherry-picking the 'best' aspects.
Though hip-hop has long been sampling well known as well as obscure AOR tracks (Warren G's Regulate lifts a lot of Michael McDonald's I Keep Forgetting, while De La Soul's Say No Go goes for Hall & Oates' I Can't Go For That), the popular subgenre of chilled lo-fi hip-hop is a perfect context to utilise the non-confrontational stylings of yacht rock.
This sample pack focuses on the guitar parts and includes loops and single chord hits from a variety of clean guitar tones. Some of the tempos used range a little higher than most chilled hip-hop tracks, though they remain comfortably within the hip-swaying boundaries of yacht rock.
Article continues belowThis is to provide some usage outside of the intended sub-genre, and to invite the use of time-stretching which, along with a healthy serving of vinyl crackle and/or noise, will warp the guitar parts into something a little more crusty and 'sampled'. Re-pitching, stretching and generally mangling these samples is very much encouraged!
What you need to know
All the samples are supplied as WAV files so can be imported directly into your DAW or sampler of choice.
Because they're royalty-free, you're welcome to use the samples in your music in any way you like - all we ask is that you don't re-distribute them.
The samples are supplied in a zip file, so you'll need to extract them before you can see them. Enjoy!
Examples
Yacht rock samples: click to download
For more than 97,000 more samples, head to our SampleRadar hub.
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