At Last (Etta James) Guitar Lesson with Backing Tracks + TAB

In this guitar lesson, we look at TAB for how to play every section of At Last—including the iconic string intro. Try it all with Backing Tracks!

At Last | TAB

Even though some sections repeat, I’ve decided to TAB out all of At Last as I feel this is the most appropriate way to approach playing this classic with a band.

Use this as a starting point to develop your own variations on the theme. Let’s begin with the intro, using chords to support someone else playing the string line.

Later, this part returns in the outro. I’ve changed how it’s played there slightly to give you a few more ideas.

If the job of playing the string part falls to you, here’s the TAB for that as well. I’ve included the chromatic ending line too, which fits nicely when this part comes back at the end.

Next up is verse 1. I recommend playing it like this:

As you’ll see, the idea is to play almost entirely on two strings at a time. This keeps the part focused and helps you cut through the mix. Switching between strings 4–3 and 3–2 adds a nice bit of variation.

Here’s the bridge section. Again, it mainly uses two strings with little hammer-ons and slides for expression.

Then comes the second verse—or maybe we should call it the third? Try playing what’s written here first before you experiment with your own way of approaching the verses.