How to Play "Under The Bridge" on the Guitar

Video Transcript

"JOE WILES: Hey, this is Joe Wiles with the Rock and Roll Conservatory on behalf of Expert Village. We're counting down the top 80 most downloaded guitar tabs on the Internet, and we've arrived to number 66, "Under the Bridge" by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. We're going to start with a standard-tuned guitar with the capo on the 2nd fret here. Now, I'm going to use a C chord form and I'm going to call it a C chord form even though--because the capo is on the 2nd fret, it is actually a D chord. But we're just going to call it a C chord for the sake of the video, okay? Now, the C chord is A string, in this case, 5th fret; D string, 4th fret; G string on the 2nd fret of the capo--with the capo, the B string on the 3rd fret with your index finger and the high E string on the 2nd fret because of the capo. We're going to hit the A string and the B string at the same time with our pick and maybe our ring our finger, and then we're going to arpeggiate up the chord. Watch my hand. I'll do that again. And now, we start a transition into the next chord. We're going to start on the 4th fret of the A string here to the 2nd fret, kind of the open position because of the capo, and then the 3rd fret of the--I'm sorry, 5th fret of the low E string, 4th fret of the low E string to the open 2nd fret of the low E string. Okay? So it sounds like this so far. And then we're going to start with our E chord form. We're going to hit the open E or the 2nd fret E string with the 2nd fret B string. That chord is 2nd fret, E string; 4th fret, A string; 4th fret, D string; 3rd fret, G string; then 2nd fret, B; then 2nd fret, E. Again. One more time, watch my picking hand. Then we transition back into the C chord form. We're going to use our ring finger here on the 4th fret and then release it to the 2nd fret where the capo is. In the 3rd fret here, on the--excuse me--5th fret here on the A string to the open 2nd position, then 4 to 5 of the hammer-on. Okay? So far, we're here. That's the first half of the intro. In our next segment, we're going to take a look at the second half. I'll see you there."