This song is originally recorded in C tuning by the band, however we're going to do it in D tuning - which is a safer tuning for most guitars. D tuning means tuning each string down by 2 frets. Whereas C tuning involves tuning down by 4 frets. Some guitars just don't like that without being specifically adjusted for it. You should be fine tuning down by 2 frets to get D tuning:

Low D : G : C : F : A : D

This is a fast paced song, but tends to stick around the one chord shape. This means it isn't hard to learn at slow speed, but it will take practice to get tight on the timing and build up speed. As always, go slow and get it right - then work on building pace. The song is really just a handful of riffs, and each riff is not too hard to learn if you take your time!

Intro - Just 4 stabs / mutes on the D minor chord. Easy enough :) This is THE main chord for the whole song. Bear in mind that if you were in C tuning, this would be a C minor chord. We're sticking to the Chord names associated with D tuning.

You don't have to thumb-mute the chord, you can use your 1st finger instead by extending it enough to touch the string, but not fret it.

Bridge - For many, this is the main hook (catchy riff) of the song. It's short and repetitive. The trick is to move the little finger correctly during the strums here. Again, it's all based around the main D minor chord.

Usually this slide starts the riff each time it's repeated. However sometimes little frills are played instead, like harmonics or little licks.

Verse - Just alternate between the Low D and the D minor chord as shown. Use muting between chord stabs to get those nice, punchy gaps in the rhythm. Use your thumb to kill the low D (or your 1st finger if you prefer to mute that way).

Notice that he takes the hand away from the strings briefly for a quick strum right at the end of the riff. Just repeat everything again immediately after this stroke.

This quick open strum is useful. It's a very common guitar method for making fast chord changes without breaking your rhythm. For example, after this D minor chord has been repeated for a few times, he uses the quick open strum to give time to shift fingers to the A major / A 7 chords. The same trick is also used to switch to the last verse chord - Db major.

Just keep repeating these song segments until the chorus...

Chorus - This invovles alternating between two types of riff.

The first type is the simple octave chord progression - starting here (this is the main progression, but there is one variation later in the chorus).

The second type is just alternating the A5 and Low D note.

That's all the main song riffs. In Part 2 we'll look at the various other riffs that appear later in the song, plus the solo.