This song is regarded as one of the pillars of punk rock. In true punk style, there's plenty of powerchords, energy and no palm muting - that would be too quiet. Although the Pistols played it live with one guitar, there are actually 2 guitars in the original recording. This is the main / lead guitar. If you want to play the song this is the best guitar part to go for at first. Apart from the solos it's actually easier. We've taken the second guitar out from the audio here to avoid confusion (they play very similar stuff).

Intro - Descend through a little powerchord sequence and end up battering the C5 chord. The song is in the key of C, and much of it revolves around that C5 chord, as we see in the main verse riff...

Verse - This is actually a kind of classic rockabilly style riff, just with tons of distortion and attitude. It's short and repetitive, so good for learning quickly. Stick to playing the C5 chord, then release your 1st finger a couple of times to get the open A note. End the riff by sliding to F5 and then E5. Repeat that riff a few times and the last time round (before the chorus), just keep playing the C5 then slide up to the chorus...

Chorus - Yup, its just the intro sequence of powerchords again!

Turnaround - After the chorus, return to the verse riff for a while then end with the G5 and Open A.

That's the guts of the song. There are a few slight variations later but not much. What's left are the 2 solos:

Solo 1

Solo 2

Have fun!