When we're talking about classic guitar riffs, they don't get too much more famous than this. They also don't get that much harder in a pop/rock context! We once again see the awesome use of add9 chords, alongside some quick and accurate right hand picking. Simone takes you through all parts of the song in this lesson.
Section 1: The Riff
For the iconic riff we are playing basically one shape the moves across the whole guitar. The shape is based on the 'add9' chord shapes (just like Every Breath You Take), but as we only use the root, fifth and 9th, we would consider is 'sus2' chord. These are the shapes:
Section 2: The Powerchords
The riff is followed by a cool power chord section, where you play all downstrokes and palm muting. The chords you are playing are shown here.
Section 3: the chorus
The chorus uses more full chord shapes, rather than powerchord versions. This really opens up the sound of the song to create a clear new section. The three chords are shown here.