Get Lucky (Daft Punk) Guitar Lesson with Backing Tracks + TAB

In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play Get Lucky all over the fretboard using TAB, Backing Tracks, and the CAGED system!

Get Lucky | TAB

Playing Nile Rodgers‘s guitar parts can quickly feel intimidating due to the variations he brings to his style. A good approach is to transcribe a few bars, repeat them, and then start making variations.

An even better strategy is to focus on what feels like the main rhythm, using the CAGED system and TAB to explore the entire fretboard. This way, you get a great exercise, ensure you’ll never get bored during the gig, and create a solid foundation to play like Nile rather than simply copying him.

In Get Lucky, we only have four chords, so let’s find the main rhythm and practice playing it on three strings all over the fretboard. Here’s the first and most obvious area.

You could play the entire tune here, starting with the Em shape. Here’s some TAB to show how this can be done:

A few important points to note here:

The 8th notes are played like 16th notes. A small dot above the stem indicates this. We use this notation because it’s easier to read 8th notes.
We’re looking for the closest possible shape.
We play only on strings 4, 3, and 2.
The rhythm remains identical throughout.

Next, we move on to the Gm shape as our starting point. Two shapes overlap with the previous example. Notice how the rhythm stays consistent.

That initial Gm shape may feel like a box-ticking exercise, but if you stick with it, you’ll soon appreciate this unique shape.

Now, let’s keep moving down the neck to find the Am shape, which looks like this:

All shapes are new here, but one has changed the chord—E has become an E5. This happens because:

We’re sticking to using only strings 4, 3, and 2, and because it’s a D shape, there is no 3rd when playing these strings.
We don’t want to move down to an open E chord, as it’s just not funky enough for this style.

Let’s move up the fretboard to start with the Dm shape.

Now, the Bm has become a B5, for the same reason E became an E5 earlier.

The E chord is the same as in the first example, although we now think of it as a G shape rather than an A shape. We also play it with a different finger—the index, not the ring finger.

Lastly, the Cm shape looks like this:

We’re perhaps a bit too high up here, especially with that final E chord.

Remember, this is an exercise designed to create a platform from which you can improvise a part when playing Get Lucky. Once you’ve mastered this, moving around the fretboard between the shapes becomes easy.

Your next step should be incorporating the top string, still playing no more than three strings in each part. You could also experiment with varying the rhythm.