Summary: Smells Like Teen Spirit

The most iconic song of the 90's is now here on YGA! We simply need a few powerchord shapes, a distorted guitar tone and we're already half way there! Thomas walks you through the main riff and the solo from the song.

The Chords: Powerchords

The first thing we will need are a lot of powerchord positions! In fact, we are only using just two shapes, but we move them all across the guitar throughout the song. Below are all the chords that feature in the song.

Rhythm: Counting 16th notes

The guitar part uses 16th notes. To count 16th notes you need to say "1 e and a, 2 e and a, 3 e and a, 4 eand a", which will make one bar. As for when to then strum the chords, the pattern looks as shown below (remember that some of these notes are dead strings, as Thomas walks through in the video):

Lead: The solo

The solo is based around the key of F minor and we are using our F minor scale across the neck. The main positions we are using are shown below:

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.