I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll | TAB
Let’s go through how to play this as if you were the only guitarist in the band. I’ve made some altercations to make this work, here’s the intro:
You need to bend that low G to make this sound right. You also need to get the 3/4 bar right and play the last A5 on two strings so it’s easier to get to the E5.
Speaking of E5, check out the bigger version in the last bar!
The final lick is what is on the record, however, there’s also an octave, to incorporate that, you must modify how to get back to the E chord. here’s one way:
That’s how they play it on the record, I invented the E5 that follow as on the record, the other guitar playing it is enough.
Here’s anther way to fret the lick and get to a bigger E5:
This lick is two octaves above guitar 1, you could play the octave in between as well, like this:
If you’re feeling like showing off, you could go between all these ideas.
Verse
The verse has more strange time signature tricks (this is also what guitar 2 plays behind the solo):
That last chord is held into the next section.
Bridge
You don’t play the A that starts the bridge, that is just held from the verse. Then stop, then pump B5’s to get to the chorus.
Chorus
The chorus is almost identical tot he intro, only one note is missing, one of the bent G’s. That’s to make room for the vocal.
The outro chorus stops short of the E and repeat instead:
Solo
The solo starts with some pinched harmonics on the low E string, then use an E major pentatonic, although I’m pretty sure the guitarist is thinking C# minor pentatonic here, which to most beginners looks like the same thing.
On the record, the solo continues where I’ve written A5 – B5 etc, but since the singing starts again, it’s been pulled down in volume. You’re best off going back to rhythm guitar here.
When you can play all this TAB, try it with the backing tracks using only the chord chart to guide you!
I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll Backing Tracks + TAB | Related Pages
I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, chord charts, and the original recording.
| E5 | E5 (lick) |
I saw him dancin’ there by the record machine…
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