Chords for 🎸 All Apologies • Intro & verse riff w/ tab (Nirvana guitar lesson, standard tuning)

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_ _ [F#] _ Hey friends, what's going on there?
This is David Potts with SongNotes.
And today I'm pumped to be bringing you a riff lesson where I'm going to show you how
to play the sort of intro and verse riff that you hear in Nirvana's song, All Apologies.
This is a great recognizable riff.
It's fun to play.
You're kind of only on a few frets up here, so it's not too hard, not too much moving around.
And you can do a super beginner-friendly version [F#] _ _ [A] _
_ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
[B] where you can sort of add a bit more of some
droning [B] bass notes stuff to give it a [D] more full sound. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
I'm going to show you all that and more, but let's dive on in.
Just remember, check out my website, _ PlaySongNotes.com if you want to find the notes and [F#] tabs for this.
Now, out of the gate, simple, simple, simple version.
If you just want to play the sort of recognizable part of this riff, simplest possible version,
here's what it looks like.
Our home bass is going to be ninth fret on the fifth string with our index finger.
So check this out. _
_ [A] _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _
[D] _ _ [Bm] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
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_ So that's the sort of easiest possible version.
I'm playing one note at a time.
I'm never playing the low E string, so never play that.
And [N] basically, fret-wise, you saw what I did there.
It's [F#] basically, there's a common pattern here.
We're on the fifth string and on the fourth string.
I'm always going between nine, ten, [A] and twelve.
[F#] Okay?
And when I do that, I do nine with my index finger, ten with my middle finger, and [D] I slide
up [D#] to twelve with my middle finger as well.
So my middle finger sort of owns these frets, the tenth fret and the twelfth fret.
And my index finger owns the ninth fret.
The only exception here is this sort of last measure where I'm [F#] basically going from eleven
[E] to nine [D] and then down to twelve on [A#] the third [E] _ [D] and then fourth string.
Okay?
You [G] also could just stay on the third string and go eleven to [D] nine to seven.
Okay?
But basically, [E] _
understand that of these four measures, the first measure and the third
measure are the exact same thing.
It's the second measure and the fourth measure which are [F#] different.
But again, just sort of practice [F#] it slow.
_ _ [G#] _ [F#] _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F#m] _ _ [D] _ _ Okay?
_ [Em]
That's the core melodic riff of the thing.
Just play that again, look at the tab, note my fingers, and you'll be in good shape.
It's all about sliding from that tenth to the twelfth with your middle [F#] finger.
Okay?
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[A] _ And [Bm] then that last part, _ _ find the fingering that [B] works for you.
Whether you're going _ [Bm]
like that or _ like that.
Okay?
Now, but [G#] let's talk about the fun part of this which is bringing in this sort of droning
sixth string bass note.
Now here's the key about tuning.
You need [C] to tune your guitar's low E string [D] down a whole step.
Okay?
So I'm in standard tuning except for my low E string is a whole step down.
So that would make it drop D tuning.
Okay?
So basically, _ _ tune your low E string so it matches your fourth string.
They're just an octave apart.
Alright?
So you need to do that.
[D#] And again, Nirvana has everything down a half step even further as I noted before.
But what this lets you do is some really fun stuff.
Specifically, if you put your finger in that home [D] bass note _ [D#m] _ and then you play the bass
note at the same time, _ _ _ _ _ _ they're sort of in the D major chord there so they sound nice
and good together. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G#] And then what we can do is sort of play that first part of the riff while we're droning
the bass note just to see what I'm talking about here.
How it sounds [D] good. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ Okay?
Again, that's that first measure. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ And [G] initially, I want you to sort of always play the sixth [A#] string along with the fifth
string just to [B] give yourself an idea of how this sounds [D] together. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Just repeat that first measure to get used to it. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Okay?
And [G] then I'll talk about how to bring in [G#] these sort of second, third, and fourth measures
to make it work also.
Now we have the first [D] one. _ _
_ _ And the second measure, _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ for this one, I'm [F#] actually not going to play the bass note with every strum.
But I'm going [D] to do it _ on _ _ that first strum.
This first strum of the second measure where I'm going to the fourth string.
I'm doing open, open, twelfth.
Okay?
_ _ And then I'm going to just stay on just the fourth string as far as my picking goes.
_ [Bm] _ _ Okay?
[D] So, _ [Am] _
[A] _ practice that. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ [Bm] And then you put it [D] together, those first two measures. _ _ _ _ _
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[B] _ _ Okay?
One more [D] time. _
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_ _ _ [G] _ Okay?
And [D] then you repeat the first one again. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
And then for the fourth one, the trick is very similar.
You start the same way.
_ _ And then for this first strum, we're going to do open, open, open eleventh. _
Strum those four notes at once. _ _
_ _ _ Alright?
But then for the rest of the notes after that _ strum, you're not going to strum the bass note.
_ _ _ _ Alright?
And the reason I'm [F#] showing you all this is because when you're playing the riff, you
want to give that _ bottom bass note a constant presence, but you don't want to overdo it
because it will sound bad for some of these.
So here's the sort of ideal that I've worked out, the ideal way of strumming it.
Specifically, you don't want to have the bottom bass note go in [D#] at every strum.
You kind of want to cherry pick it, but you don't want it to overwhelm things.
Okay?
It's kind of like you want it at the party, but you don't want it to be the one making
all the noise and taking all the attention.
That would be distracting.
[D] So _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G#]
alright?
So basically, that's how I play this song.
[B] So again, it's a matter of just first [F#] learning this melody.
_ _ [A] _
[F#] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [G] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
[E] And you can do that without tuning your low string down, okay, if you want.
But then it's if you want to add that full sound, you're basically [D] going to _ _ drone [A#] the
bottom note some of the time, as I showed you earlier, but not do it too [D] heavily.
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_ _ Alright, so [G] that's all you need for this one.
Guys, I hope this was helpful for you.
Let me know in the comments if you have any questions, or if there's any other Nirvana
songs you'd like me to do lessons for.
Definitely let me know.
If there's one thing you can do to help me, it's to send this lesson to somebody who you
think will appreciate it.
It'll help get this channel in front of people who are looking to learn some songs on guitar,
and that makes the world a better place.
But otherwise, this has been David Potts.
Make sure you check out the website, _ playsongnotes.com.
And remember, I want you to pick up your guitar and play.
Have a good one, my friends, and I'll see you around. _