19th Nervous Breakdown

Description

What's up, it's Mike from Guitar Tricks, teaching you "19th Nervous Breakdown" as made famous by the Rolling Stones. This is a classic early rock tune based on R&B and the blues, but played as a pop rock song.

This tune features 3 guitar layers. All guitars are clean electric guitars with a bright tone. Guitar 1 plays a variety of distinctive riffs and strummed rhythm guitar throughout.

Guitar 2 plays a steady, complimentary riff that moves with each chord in the song, providing a steady foundation. Guitar 3 is a bonus guitar layer that appears in the outro to mimic the "dive bomb" bass overdub heard in the original recording.

The song kicks off with a great R&B-ish riff adapted to a rock style that is heard throughout the tune. The whole band then launches into the verse section that ends off with a distinctive fuzzed out riff. The chorus continues with the same vibe and a different chord progression. There is also a bridge section that appears twice in the song to add excitement, drama, and a nice arc to the arrangement. The tunes ends off with an outro vamp that features a jarring "dive bomb" bass overdub that compliments the lyrics of the song perfectly.

To play this tune using only one guitar, simply play Guitar 1 all the way through!

In the following lessons, we'll talk about rhythm strumming approaches, chord arpeggiation, and barre chord shapes. We are in the key of E major, with a 4/4 time signature, at a tempo of 192 BPM.