After the verse, the song goes straight to a rockin' chorus, and in this lesson I'll show you all the guitar parts that are played in this section. There are two rhythm guitars playing open chords with simple fills, and the lead guitar is outlining the harmony on the lower strings. Very effective guitar parts!

In this lesson we'll look at the chords and strumming for the verses, pre-chorus, and chorus. Pay attention to the dynamics throughout this song. The verses are relaxed and open. The pre-chorus builds with some vocal harmonies and a call and response between the arpeggiated and strumming guitar lines. The chorus hits big with the full band while the vocals are supported with rich harmonies. The strumming for the verse is important to the overall feel of the song and helps push it along while still retaining the relaxed, ballad feel. The pre-chorus introduces an...

The second and final choruses play the chord progression in the new key using barre chord shapes. Dig in and strum here with a higher dynamic. Also, watch out for that quick transition into the bridge 4 bars early from the second chorus!

The pre-chorus figure introduces the overdriven rhythm guitar. Pay particular attention to the B minor and Bsus2 chords. Accessing the Bsus2 is as simple as removing your 2nd finger from the B minor chord.

Now it's time to check out what this guitar is playing after the intro, when the song goes to the verse and the chorus. We're still in open G, so don't let that confuse you! Chances are that you have played this kind of riff many times in standard tuning, and you'll notice that it's actually much easier in the open tuning. Once again I'm gonna play through a verse and a chorus up to speed. Then I'm gonna break it down and finally play through it a slower tempo so you can play along.

In this short section of the song, we move up to the IV chord, D, and play a quick series of three barre chords: D, C, and G.

The chorus has some simple chord movement: it starts on an A major barre chord, this same barre chord moves up a minor third to C, and the same barre chord shape again, up another whole step to the IV chord, D. Then the chorus tags with a E major "barre" chord, the E form with open string (there's no "barre" in this; the nut of the guitar acts as the barre). This played with a synchopated rhythm, starting on the 2nd beat. It then moves up a minor third from the E to a G major chord.

The main riff of the song is the rhythm guitar, which doubles as the verse and the chorus. The progression is D - C - G played on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings with plenty of mutes to keep it funky! The rhythm is as follows: Measure one) play two eighth notes on D, one up beat on C, then two down beats on G. Measure two) play two eighth notes on D, one up beat on C, then an upbeat and the next downbeat on G. You will want to mute and strike all of the rests except on the first G. The subtle variation in the rhythm and the mutes make for a nice and funky two-measure pattern...

After the verses they go to a pre-chorus, and in this section the main guitar lays out while a new part comes in. When they play this song live, they just have one guitar part playing straight through the song, but this is how they do it on the studio version. This part uses power chords and punk attitude to build up to the chorus.

Song 2 has a strong 90's element to it and became one of Blur's biggest hits outside of England. It's driven by a rhythmic pattern repeated both in the chorus and the verse, but played with a different feel. The chords in the song are all power chords outlining a I-bVII-bIII-IV-V progression. But the way the chords are played, it's more of a riff than a progression. One of the things that makes this song so cool is the big dynamic differences between the verse and the chorus so we're gonna check out some pretty aggressive picking techniques. Also we'll check out ho...

This lesson takes a look at the backing guitar for both the bridge and chorus sections of the song. In the first bridge that's played, a clean sound is used to create ringing, open tones. In the second bridge that comes later, a grittier, distorted sound is used to make it more powerful. The chord voicings are reduced to triads, and the full chords that finish the passage are reduced to a single note line, which is played staccato with a bit of palm muting. The chorus is a tad unconventional.

What's up everyone, it's Mike from Guitar Tricks, teaching you "Song Of The South" as made famous by Alabama. This is a pop country classic from the 80s that features some simple but effective acoustic and electric guitar playing. In the following lessons, we'll talk about a open chords, power chords, a boom-chick strumming pattern, and rhythm fills. We're in the key of A, a 4/4 time signature, at a tempo of 81 bpm, which changes to 165 bpm in the double time outro section.

The electric plays a wide open rhythm part in the chorus sections using power chords and single notes. The riff starts out with a single strum of an open A power chord, then an open E power chord. Next is a single note riff based around D, featuring a slide from the 4th to 5th fret on the A string, alternated with the open D string. Note the move back to the A chord on the 4th beat of the second bar. The intro is the exact chorus progression, but it's interesting that the when the vocals come in, the guitar lays out (this is the first chorus). The guitar also lays...

The acoustic uses simple open chord shapes in the choruses. Having a capo placed on the 2nd fret facilitates playing in the key of A using open G, D, and C shapes. This is a very common technique in country music. The approach here is a relaxed, single strum for each chord, not too aggressive. It adds a nice texture to the mix. As for variations, the electric lays out of the first chorus, but the acoustic plays a muted strumming pattern throughout. Mute the strings by resting your left hand on the strings. The right hand strums produce a percussive effect. Be s...

So we've talked about open and power chords, boom-chick strumming patterns, and some cool rhythm ideas; now let's put everything together and play along with the backing track! Play the song through along with me several times, so you have everything down fluently. We'll look at a single guitar performance next, and in the last video you'll play the song by yourself with the rhythm section.

Now you're ready to step up and take over! We've muted the guitar audio here so you can play the song yourself along with the rhythm section.

After the chorus we get three measures of voice and organ after which the guitar enters with a one-measure riff in G on the first three strings. Notice how this interacts with the "hooky" bass line. This plays four times before returning to the second verse. After the second verse and chorus this will repeat and then modulate down to E where it plays four times and then launches into the jam section.

The verse is played with the same rhythm and feel as during the hook line. When the chorus enters, the rhythm guitar continues playing it's part from the verse and the lead guitar plays a new and complimentary rhythm. Continuing with the eighth note feel, it accents the pick-ups on the high strings and then plays a suspension-unsuspension on beat two. This part is played for each chord throughout the chorus.

After the third verse and chorus, there is a second breakdown with the drums and vocals this time. After four times of "takin' care of business", the guitars play the chorus progression with only two hits per chord: the pick-up and the down beat. After playing the progression like this four times, the full groove comes back in and we get the the chorus ride-out. You will notice that during the third verse and chorus as well as the ride-out the lead guitar is playing fills around the vocals. Rather than teaching you these fills, which are improvisatory by nature, try us...

Here we'll be using the same chord pattern and picking notes as the intro but with the full distorted sound for the first half. For the picking pattern we'll be using palm muting. In the song downstrokes are used for this part but you can also use alternate picking for this pattern, which I find a little easier.

After the verses, they go to a pre-chorus, and in this section the second rhythm guitar comes in. The two guitar parts take a very rhythmic approach and groove really well together. One is playing short hits on the downbeats while the other is playing intricate 8th note rhythms to fill in the space between.

In this lesson I'm gonna show you the two guitar parts that you hear in the chorus of "Can't Stand Losing You". Much like many other Police songs, they resolve the reggae feel from the verses in a rockin' and very singable chorus. The basic harmony is based on 6 bar cycles which makes is sound like an endless cycle of chords, but when you know that secret, it really isn't that tricky!

First off, we need to tune the guitar to drop D for this part. What drop D tuning means is to simply tune your low E string one whole step down to D (you can use your D string for reference). This is where we kick in the fat fuzz box distortion. You'll be playing the same chords as the verse for the first part of the chorus, only now we'll play them down here with the drop D tuning. Instead of playing the 16th note driven rhythm like the verse, here you'll play an 8th note based groove, a great way of changing it up to make it sound extra heavy. Also be sure to lock i...

Now that you have these simple parts under your fingers, it's time to play the whole song through. Don't forget your fuzz box!

Now that you have the A section guitar parts down, let's hear what's happening in the B section, or chorus if you will. This section features some really cool ideas of how to use the open strings with the capo, how to play anticipated rhythms, and how the guitar follows the vocals. You will hear the B section twice in the track.