This famous Rolling Stones song needs little introduction. The chord progressions are straightforward to play making this song a good choice for players beginning to improve at making trickier chord changes at a faster pace. All the lead licks are also included here - and they are worth practicing. They aren't exceptionally hard, but the timing and picking is actually quite intricate and will be a challenge.
A word about the tuning. We've recorded it in Eb - so use the ActionTab tuner to tune your strings down a half step (1 fret) to the following:
Low Eb - Ab - Db - Gb - Bb - Eb
However, the Stones record it slightly out - by about another quarter note. So when you play along with the original song you'll find it sounds a little off. We did it in true Eb for your sake - tuning everything slightly off isn't the easiest, and once you can play the tune you can always choose to re-tune by that quarter note and get that original Stones sound.
The ActionTab is structured in the following way -
intro - verse - chorus (rhythm) - verse - chorus (lead) - bridge - verse - chorus (lead) - outro (rhythm) / outro (lead)
In other words we show the rhythm guitar for the first chorus. However, for every chorus after that we show you the lead guitar part. Remember that in the song both are played together. If the lead is too tricky for you right now, you can just repeat the rhythm guitar parts instead - some nice easy chord changes! We've also done the same thing for the outro. First you'll hear the rhythm guitar part (nice easy chord strums). After that you'll hear the lead licks - these are what is played over the top of the previous outro chord sequence!
Of course the main riff of the song is played during the verses. It's punchy and fun to play - just beware that it involves a very slight bend and strike of the adjacent open B string at times. This will take practice to get right!
To summarise - the whole song is here, and depending on your sense of adventure you can choose to play either rhythm or lead!
The chords for the rhythm parts are very straightforward, but linking them together can be difficult. Notice that as you move between the end of the verses and into the chorus that the guitar riff ends early by a few notes - this gives just enough time to move your hand up to the high frets for either the rhythm or lead parts played next.
As always - whether you are playing the rhythm or lead parts, practice getting it right at a slower speed before building up speed. Break the song up into segments and practice them in manageable chunks. Once you get them right as individual chunks then work on sewing together the next part! The lead licks are challenging, but very fun to play once your fingers learn their way - careful of the timing, it's very important for getting the feel right in the song!
Enjoy :)
