This is a personal favorite of mine and after playing this song for almost 20 years I still enjoy performing it to this day! One of my early influences was and still is David Gilmore so I hope you get as much enjoyment out of this song as I do.
This lesson will be broken into two parts
- Rhythm
- Solo
Rhythm
Chord Shapes
This song is all bar chords, master these shapes before you start on to the rhythm. (Click to view larger images)
-
D Minor (Dm)
-
G Major (G)
-
F Major (F)
-
C Major (C)
Chord Pattern
% = repeat what was ever in the last bar.
|Dm | % | % | % |
| % | % | % | % |
| % | % | % | % |
| % | % | G | % |
| % | % |Dm | % |
| F | C |Dm | % |
| F | C |Dm | % |
Solo over the Dm chord
Rhythm Pattern (Guitar 1)
This rhythm pattern is played over the feel of a 16th note rhythm. This means you strum 4 times every beat (Down Up Down Up) therefore 16 times every bar (in a 4/4 time signature). I have left the notation above the tablature so you get a better idea of how rhythm looks. Generally, as soon as a student hears the rhythm pattern it will be understood more easily then when they look at the notation of it. Learn more on notation rhythms here.
This rhythm pattern has an A and B variation. The A variation is played when he is singing. For the two bars where there is no singing the B variation is played.
The only difficult part of the next chord and rhythm pattern would be the fact that it is a bar chord. The rhythm is just 16th notes all the way, you don't even have to apply much of a feel to the rhythm.
Once again bar chords, bar chords & more bar chords. Follow the link to learn them! This rhythm is straight forward, take the four beats in the bar and only strum down on the 1st, 3rd & 4th then for the Dm you're back to the above signature rhythm pattern.
ALL IN ALL IT'S JUST A... NOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL
Rhythm Pattern (Guitar 2)
This part is played over the 4 bars of G that was shown before. This chord shape is a "C Shaped Bar Chord" played on the 7th fret. If you were to place a capo on the 7th fret and play a C chord you would actually sounding a G Major chord. This produces a higher sounding G chord and is effective for doubling up guitar parts like this one. This C shaped bar chord isn't used much when playing standard rock songs. To understand how this shape works it helps to know about the CAGED system (learn more about the CAGED system here).
This next rhythmic riff is common in a lot of songs. The style of playing a group of 3 top string notes over a stationary chord can be found is such songs as...
- Wanted Dead Or Alive - Bon Jovi
- Give A Little Bit - Supertramp (Skip to end of song 3:00s)
- The Traveling Wilburys - End of The Line
There is four shapes you have to learn to be able to play this part. The slide show below show the pattern and the correct order you have to play them in.
Rhythm Riff (Played Over Verse & Chorus)
This part is very subtle in the song and it shadows the vocal line. If your were playing this song in a band with only one guitarist this is the part that would be sacrificed for the more dominant rhythm above.
The tab below shows two parts being played together. If you were recording this song in a studio you would play both parts separately, if you were playing it live then you could either choose only one part (the lowest would be best) or play it using octaves (this would be more difficult).
When it reaches the F5, C5 & D5 there is only One guitar part.
