You Really Got Me | TAB
Let’s start with the Kinks version, it’s super easy! Here’s the intro which is also what you play for the solo, just repeated more times.
The main thing to notice here is how the G5 has another octave, the F5 doess’t. This makes it more powerful and much easier to play.
Verse
The verse is the same as the intro, just moved to new chords. The most important thing here is that whenever we move to a new chord loop, we anticipate it with the chord below.
had this not been the case, I could have used more repeat signs and made this section more compact in the TAB.
End
Finally, the end section introduces a full D chord as we ritardando to a held D chord.
When you can play all this TAB, try it with the backing tracks and chord chart, or alternatively, Swiftky move on to the Van Halen version!
Van Halen | TAB
When Van Halen cover this they move it to the key of A and change it, make sure you can clearly see the modifications! Here’s the intro.
The G5 is only a single note and we take advantage of the open A, the last one is with an extra octave to make it bigger. Before the band comes in we hold the A5.
As the band has entered a couple of muted strums are added. The final chord is not an A but a held and vibratoed G root.
Verse
For the verse there are more modifications:
There are licks at the end of the A riff, I’ve not included these as this is a beginner lesson – feel free to experiment with your own!
The biggest difference is that there is no leading onto the new chord riffs with a chord from below, apart from into the E5 where we play a B5 on new frets.
The final riff is played with slides down, the first one is longer. For the finale, we play a few mutes and then a D5/A, the bass still plays a D so it is technically still just a D chord but on the guitar, adding that A string makes it bigger.
End
Here’s the end, notice how we end on a different chord to what the Kinks did, its the Jimi Hendrix chord, a dom7#9.
When you can play all this TAB, try putting it together with the backing tracks!
You Really Got Me Backing Tracks + TAB | Related Pages
You Really Got Me | Chords + Lyrics
You can learn how to play You Really Got Me by The Kinks + Van Halen using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, and the original recordings.
| G5 F5 G5 N.C F5 | G5 F5 G5 N.C F5 |
Girl, you really got me goin’…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
