So we've seen the backing chords played by the Rhythm guitar. The song is in the Key of G major, and the main 4 chords used are G major, C major and D major. Now let's plug in and see the electric lead guitar riffs.

We've slowed things down a lot. The song parts are quite easy, but it will take practice to get to full speed with them.

Intro / Bridge - This little 3 note lick involves hammering onto the middle D note.

Verse - The lead guitar plays little chord stabs along the highest 3 strings. The chords are consistent with the backing chords. For example, while the backing guitar strums G major, the lead guitar stabs / mutes this high G major. When the backing chord changes to D major, the lead switches to this high D major. Later, when the backing chords switch to C major - G major the lead guitar follows suit with high C major and G major too. Occasionally adding little licks between.

Use thumb muting to eliminate string noise from the lower 3 strings if you need to. Check out the Core Skills on Muting for more info on that.

You may notice that the chord stabs are mostly played on the second beat of each bar, not the first beat. Some people call this the 'off beat'. If you listen to the pulse of the music carefully you can hear how the chord stabs fall on this second beat. It gives a kind of funky / reggae effect. There is a quick trick to getting the hang of this. Listen to the snare drum and aim to stab the chords along with the snare drum (not the bass drum, which most of the time is played on the first beat of a bar).

Chorus - This is similar to the verse. It uses similar stab / muting on the high chords and the timing is based around the second beat too. It's easier than the verse because there are no little lead licks during the chorus.

For most of the chorus you just need to cycle between G major and C major. Then end on:

G major - C major - G major - F major

Then it's straight back to the Intro / Bridge lick, and repeat the whole lot again. That's all you need to play the whole song!