ACDC You Shook Me All Night Long Guitar Lesson – Guitar Lessons For Beginners

This is my guitar lesson for beginners I threw together for ACDC’s You Shook Me All Night Long, I hope you like it. This song IS the backbone for rock guitar. This song I had also learned a long time ago but it wasn’t exactly played the way that I play it now. When I played it, I used basic chords and not the chord variations that Angus Young uses (this makes all the difference in the world! When playing this song). Angus uses specific variations of basic chords usually and he’s also about timing… If you don’t mute a chord the same way he does, the song just won’t sound right – you’ll see what I’m talking about in the Guitar Lessons For Beginners videos below. This song is basically a feel good rock song. It’s a blast to play and I hope you like it.

What is ACDC’s You Shook Me All Night Long About?

It’s about girls… basically that’s it. ACDC isn’t necessarily known for their “deep” lyrics. I read song thing kind cool on songfacts.com though – Johnson wrote the lyric “She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean” to compare cars to women obviously – “they go fast, let you down, but then make you happy again when you see the new model” they said. This also was the first ACDC song to make the US top 40. In case you didn’t know this song was sung by Brian Johnson and not the original singer Bon Scott who drank himself to death in 1980.

What’s going on musically in the song?

This song has Angus young playing lead guitar and his brother Malcolm playing the rhythm parts. This song is basically a couple variations of basic guitar chords with a couple of power chords mixed in during the solo. It’s very important that you use Angus Young’s variation of the chords in order to make the song sound right and not basic guitar chords. You can learn these variations in the guitar lessons for beginners (the YouTube videos) below. There’s also a bit of muting going on with your pick hand. The muting creates that Angus Young or ACDC “kick” that you feel when listening to the song.

ACDC You Shook Me All Night Long Guitar Chords

The guitar chords used in this song are variations of basic guitar chords. Know your basic G, C, D and Cadd9. All major chords and all pretty easy to learn if you haven’t tried learning them already. Angus Young uses these guitar chords but usually takes on of the fingers in the guitar chord off for his variations. This creates a less colorful sound and adds “power” to the chord, almost making it sound like a power chord. Watch the guitar lessons for beginners – you’ll see what I’m talking about.

The ACDC You Shook Me All Night Long Guitar Solo

The guitar solo is basically a ton of blues licks – just like any other classic rock guitar solo or any other ACDC guitar solo for that matter. Make sure you know how to use vibrato and bends very well when you play any ACDC or Angus Young solos. This solo goes through primarily two pentatonic positions – one on the low part of the neck and then at the end climbs up to the higher part of the neck. Know your pentatonic positions!!!

ACDC’s You Shook Me All Night Long Is Played In Standard E Tuning

ACDC – You Shook Me All Night Long – Intro – Guitar Lesson

ACDC – You Shook Me All Night Long – Verse – Guitar Lesson

ACDC – You Shook Me All Night Long – Chorus – Guitar Lesson

ACDC – You Shook Me All Night Long – Guitar Solo Lesson

ACDC – You Shook Me All Night Long – Outro Lesson

How To Make Your Guitar Sound Like Angus Young’s Or ACDC In You Shook Me All Night Long?

Angus Young used a Gibson SG guitar almost all the time. His brother Malcolm I think used a Gretsch hollow body electric. The Gibson SG kind of has devil horns and is a great guitar. He actually has a signature model that sells for about $2000 you can buy. If you don’t have $2000, you can buy his guitar pickups for about $200 and have the guitar shop put them in your guitar for about $100 bucks. He also played everything through Marshall Amps.

What I do to get the sound. I use a Marshall amp with a Pod XT Live Floorboard. I have a tone on there that sounds exactly like Angus Young’s. I use my Epiphone Les Paul custom. If you use a Fender to play ACDC it just doesn’t sound right most of the time. Let me know if you’d like the tone, I can send it to you.

ACDC You Shook Me All Night Long Guitar Tab

I’ve also put together a guitar tab for ACDC’s You Shook Me All Night Long. It’s the same guitar tab that is followed in the guitar lessons for beginners. Here’s a link . Click Here – ACDC You Shook Me All Night Long Guitar Tab

Take a couple of days and learn this song – It will make you sound like a pro! Not really too hard of a song to learn either. I really hope you could take something from these guitar lessons for beginners. Cheers

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