Nirvana: Rape Me

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Summary: Rape Me

This track is a brilliantly quirky grunge song that has plenty of rhythm changes and a wide range of power chord and open chord changes. It's great fun to learn, and once you have the structure together, you'll love playing along to the track!

The Chords: Open & Power!

For this track we are using both open chords and power-chords, which is a great challenge for beginners to change between. All the chords we are using are shown below. Remember, if you play any of these chords with slightly different fingers, that is no problem! Stick to what you like!

Rhythm: The Nirvana pattern!

The rhythm pattern in the first section is based around a 16th note pattern, as shown below. The only other thing to bare in mind is the 'scratchy' notes that give it that grundge edge. The first pattern below is the pattern without the muted strums, the second has the muted notes.

When we move to the second section of the song, the strumming pattern is shown below. IMPORTANT: After the first time round you simply don't play the first beat, which gives you time to get back to the C# chord.



    Keep Learning: Powerchords

    Many thanks for watching this video and visiting the website. If you love this tune, but find some of the chords quite hard to follow, check out our powerchord course right here on the site. We take you through all the shapes and how to change the chords quickly and cleanly. We also learn the theory behind the chords and apply them to some great tunes! You can check it out here: Powerchords Guitar Course.

Ready to move on? Remember to check out every lesson in this unit first – then try the next unit...

About A Girl

Franco takes you through all the chords and rhythms you need to learn and master this classic Nirvana track. The song is a great track for beginners as it is relatively simple and easy to repeat through the entire song.