Need Your Love So Bad (Fleetwood Mac) Guitar Lesson with Backing Tracks + TAB

In this guitar lesson, we study both the rhythm parts and solo licks from Peter Green’s legendary cover version using Backing Tracks!

Need Your Love So Bad | TAB

Before we check out Peter Green’s amazing licks, let’s find a way to play a rhythm guitar part, as you probably won’t have a Hammond organ and string section on the gig.

Doing this also gets you familiar with the chord changes, which is important once we start soloing.

Intro + Verse 1 + Outro

Here’s a part that works well for the intro, verse 1, and the outro. Try it along with the original recording and see if you can improve it.

Need Your Love So Bad TAB, intro, verse 1 and outro.

The main idea here is to avoid the root, then hold the chord for the second bar. Notice the A – F#m move — this will be recycled later.

Here’s verse 2 and 3. Now we comp on the beats, making a big strum, then switch to the higher strings when the snare hits.

Check out the A – D7 move — it’s almost the same as the F#m in the previous part. The note that would create the difference is simply left out.

Need Your Love So Bad TAB, intro, verse 2 and 3.

Bridge

The bridge keeps the same comping idea from verses 2 and 3.

Solo

Here’s the intro solo. It’s very restrained, full of space, and packed with subtle detail. You could easily spend an hour playing this along with the original recording, aiming to capture every nuance.

Let’s analyse what’s going on here:

The first lick uses the A major pentatonic. The bend up, down, then up again must be very controlled.
The second lick features a subtle hammer-on.
Over the D chord, we can view the phrase as either A major pentatonic or D major pentatonic — the notes used here overlap.
The D#dim7 chord gets an A minor pentatonic flavour blended with the major pentatonic.
Over the A and F#m chords, we play just one note on each — the 3rd and the root. How you bend and phrase them is what matters most. The final two notes over F#m use the F# minor blues scale (b5 to 5).
The Bm phrase outlines the b7 to root from a B minor pentatonic. As this is the turnaround, we clearly outline the changes.
The E chord builds tension as we bend quickly towards the #5 of the chord. The intervals here are 9, 5, #5, and sus4 before resolving to the root of A.
The final chord lick outlines the 3rd and 5th, then the 5th and b7 of D7. We then move chromatically towards the A chord, resolving on the 3rd and 5th. At the start, this phrase functions as the 6 and root of D before the chromatic movement begin.

Using what you’ve learned from mimicking Peter Green’s touch, memorising the intro solo, and studying the intervals, can you continue soloing in this style in an improvised way to the backing tracks?