White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" Riff Is Awesome For Beginner Guitarists!

And a great one to get your fingers moving. :)

Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes is a super popular song! Everyone seems to know it, and that catchy and recognizable riff can quickly get stuck in your head. In this super easy beginner riff lesson, we'll learn how to play Seven Nation Army by The White Stripes.

Playing this riff is a great way to improve your finger agility at this stage in your guitar journey. It took Nitsuj some time to get it right! Like most things on our guitar-learning journey, practice is the cure here. :)

IS SEVEN NATION ARMY HARD TO PLAY?

Learning Seven Nation Army with my left hand has been super enlightening! Going through this course with Nitsuj made me realize how tricky this little riff can be. You need only one finger to play it, and the notes are all on one string. But there's quite a bit of coordination involved.

It's normal if you can't play along with the original recording to begin with - don't let that discourage you! It's a great practice riff for beginners, and little improvements will go a long way. You'll also be able to revisit this song as you advance in your guitar playing.

🎸 Intermediate Seven Nation Army Lesson: if you're at Grade 3 or above, head to my Intermediate Seven Nation Army lesson for the power-chord and barre-chord versions of this riff!

HOW TO PLAY THE RIFF IN SEVEN NATION ARMY BY THE WHITE STRIPES

We're going to jump around with the 1st finger on the 5th string quite a lot. There’s a lot of moving up and down the neck. You’ll want to use the little finger of your picking hand as an anchor and rest it on the guitar. That’ll allow you to keep your fingers in the right place.

🚨 Don't worry if you can't play this riff perfectly - Nitsuj struggles too! Practice it loads and try to get the right groove and feel.

Try to avoid picking the other strings when you're playing this riff. To guard against this, touch the 6th string with the tip of your 1st finger to mute it and try to lay the rest of your 1st finger across the remaining strings to mute them, too. If you accidentally hit them, they won't make a sound. :)

THE WHITE STRIPES SEVEN NATION ARMY RIFF: TAB

Follow the Tab below to help you learn this riff. You’ll learn how to read guitar TABs in Module 4, so don't worry if you're not familiar with it. For now, focus on the numbers on the second-bottom line - these are the frets you play with your fretting hand.

Seven Nation Army Guitar Tab For Beginners

💡 Get full tabs, chords, and lyrics for the full Seven Nation Army song and 600+ song lessons! Start your free trial over at JustinGuitarTABS .

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