Chords for Learn to Play "It's A Long Way to the Top" by AC/DC (Guitar Lesson)

Hi there, Steve Stein here again.
I've got a request for It's a Long Way to the Top by ACDC.
So I'm gonna give you a video on that, teach you how to do that a little bit.
And please remember if you have any requests for songs, just click on the link and I would be more than happy to teach you
how to play them.
Just let me know what you're looking for.
Okay, so Long Way to the Top.
First thing to know about this song is that a lot of the older ACDC stuff is
slightly out of tune.
Okay, so you might need to readjust that a little bit.
I'm gonna teach you how to play this using open chords here.
So we're gonna start off on the A chord. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ So the first thing we need to do is we need to know how to make an A
open power chord.
Now if you know how to make an A major chord,
of course, that's done with three fingers like this.
When we want to make the A open power chord,
we're gonna press on those three strings, but we're gonna do it with our index finger instead.
So I'm pressing on strings two, three, and four at the second fret with my index finger.
So I'm just kind of pressing on to that thing.
I'm kind of literally grabbing on to the guitar like this.
Okay, now you'll notice that my thumb is coming over the top.
My wrist is up like this a little bit.
We're normally when we teach open chords and stuff, we tell you to keep your wrist down
so all the notes are working, which is great.
In this particular instance, though, I don't care about these bottom strings.
So that's why I can just grab on.
I don't have to like try and miss them or anything like that.
Just grab on to that.
And the goal here is that I'm really just trying to strum the fifth and the fourth strings of this A chord. _
Now again, if I hit the third string, it's perfectly fine. _ _
If I hit the second string,
_ it's still okay, but the goal with a power chord is to try and keep that chord relatively small when I strum it.
Okay, so I've got my A chord here, and then I've got a [A] strumming pattern.
And I'm gonna show you the basic outline of the strumming pattern here.
It's going_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
So in between there, what you want to do is you want to stop the strings from vibrating.
And you can either do that by using the karate chop part of your hand, and you kind of touch right over where your middle
position [Eb] pickup would be, somewhere around there. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [E] Okay, just somewhere in there.
Not really in your palm muting stance.
If you know where palm muting is, you want to be further up than that.
Okay?
So you'll notice with me too, what [A] I'm doing over here on this side is I'm also stopping the strings with my left hand.
You don't need to use both.
Just choose one or the other. _
_ _ Okay?
So just find what's comfortable, whichever one you'd rather stop the strings with.
So after you strum twice, you stop those strings.
So either I'm using my left hand, _ _ or I'm using my right hand. _
Just kind of karate chopping across all six strings.
My hand is open, and I'm touching on those. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Em] Okay?
Now as you start feeling that rhythm a little bit, you can start adding a couple of scratches here and there, in [A] no rhyme or
reason.
I'm thinking of the rhythm as [B] more like this.
_ _ _ [D] So what's happening is every once in a while, I'm adding in one of them. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
And if that's too weird for you, for now you can just stay with that outline.
_ _ _ _ _ And as you get more comfortable, then start kind of adding that in. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ Now, [B] if you try and play along with songs like these, I just thought I'd let you know this.
There's a great product out there called Amazing Slow Downer, and it's made by Ronnie Music.
R-O-N-I Music.com.
And you can change the pitches of the songs
up or down to match what your guitar is tuned to, instead of you always having to retune your guitar.
So that's what I do with my students with a lot of these songs.
Like a lot of this old ACDC stuff is I'll retune
the songs to match the
guitar that I'm playing.
Of course, I'm tuned standard right now.
So that's a really great way of getting over it if you don't want to play along with it,
and it's out of tune.
You could go purchase something like that,
and then retune the song to be in tune with you.
So here's our intro riff.
_ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
That's really 90% of the song.
Now when we get to the chorus, when we get to,
it's a long way to the top, what you're gonna do is you're gonna play A, _
[G] G, [D] D, [A] A.
_ Okay, so I'm playing an A power chord like I was doing before.
Then I'm going to G.
Now you could go to a three finger G or a four finger G.
_ If you wanted to go to a power chord, you could certainly do that as well.
I'm going to show you how to use open chords right now though.
So you're going from A,
G,
[G] _ _ _ [D] _
[A] D, A.
_ So let me play it for you here.
So we're going,
_ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
_ _ then I do it again. _ _ _
[G] _ _ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ Now we get to the, if you think it's easy doing one night stands, what you're [G] doing there
is you're just gonna play that [A] A chord. _ _
Then you're gonna go to D.
[D] _ _ _ Now we're at the end of the chorus.
He says [G] it's a long way to [D] the top
if you want to [A] rock and roll.
_ And then you start all over doing the rhythm. _
_ _ _ _ _ And then you start all over doing the rhythm.
_ _ _ _ _ You just start that all over again.
So don't get worried about whether or not your G should be a three finger or four finger or that sort of thing.
You know, if you play this, there's a million ways you can play these songs, obviously.
I just want to show you the most effective way to play it so you can get going on it and have some fun.
_ So let me just summarize the song for you again in a mapping sense.
If you've watched some of my videos,
that's one of the most important things you need to learn how to do is to visualize the song in your head.
Okay, so with this song, the entire song for me is that A chord.
And then I get to the chorus.
Now the chorus is A G D A.
And I do it again.
A G D A.
And then I do A to D.
Okay, so that's the, it's a long way [G] to the top [D] if you want to rock and [A] roll.
Then you do it again. _ _ _
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll. _
_ _ And then if you think it's easy doing one night to stay on that chord, then D.
Try playing in a rock and roll band.
Then G.
[G] Long way.
[A] _ _ _ _
So the last time you do long way to the top if you want to rock and roll in the chorus, it's just G D to A.
So you remember that the first two are A G D A.
Then you do that little segue which is A to D.
And then you end with G D A.
And that is your tune.
So it's pretty easy again
_ understanding what you're supposed to be playing, how you're supposed to be playing, and how the song goes.
Mapping the song out.
Okay, so good luck with that song.
Hopefully that helps you out a little bit.
And remember to send me some requests if there's