Back In Black Guitar Lesson – AC/DC


In these video guitar lessons we will take a look at how to play "Back In Black" by AC/DC in it's entirety note-for-note.

Known for it's catchy opening riff, "Back In Black" quickly became a fan favorite for AC/DC fans around the world and helped propel their fame to new heights.

In this Back In Black guitar lesson series I will show you how to play all the riffs and solos note-for-note. We have a lot to sink our teeth into with this one! 🙂

The opening riff also acts as the verse and contains a couple of tricky little licks that may take a little bit of practicing. The first lick is a blues based open string lick across multiple strings. It requires an accurate alternate picking technique to play cleanly.

The second part of the main riff ends with a bunch of large stretches and shifts. This lick especially can take a while to master if you don't have a good reach on the guitar. Make sure you keep your thumb lightly placed in the middle of the back of the neck in order to help your fingers do those stretches. Be sure to place it light enough that you can easily lift it up during the quick shifts.

The chorus riff is based around basic power chords and is quite easy compared to the verse. However, since those chords move fast you will want to develop a bit of muscle memory with them before playing it up to speed.

The other main riff in the song comes after the solo and uses fast pull-offs, cross string picking and large stretches. Yeah this song is definitely a good workout! Just take your time as always. Work out how it is picked and pay attention to the small details so that you are practicing the riff the same way every time. After that, this riff will lock into your hands in no time. 🙂

The last video contains the killer guitar solo. Angus Young never fails to bring it with all of his solos and this one is an absolute classic. As with most of his solos, it is blues based containing many bends, fast licks and melodic phrases.

To learn the solo more quickly I suggest breaking it down into phrases like I teach it in the lesson. That will enable you to focus better on making each phrase sound musical so when you put them together you will be able to play everything at a high level without thinking about it very much. Diligent study with solos like the one in "Back In Black" are well worth the effort!

So I hope you guys enjoy learning this classic AC/DC song and don't forget to not hurt yourself with those stretches! 🙂

Carl...

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Back In Black Guitar Lesson Pt.1 - All The Riffs

Back In Black Guitar Lesson Pt.2 - Solo

16 Comments

  1. Hi Carl (from Mark Daniel) on September 16, 2014 at 1:51 pm

    Great lesson! I am glad that we are getting back to rocking on the song lesson page! I know it is important to to cover the gambit as it is a good marketing technique but it is good to get back to the rock.
    Have a great day,
    Mark

  2. Imre Szabo on February 24, 2015 at 1:18 pm

    I really love rock, but I love classical music (especially Beethoven), pretty much pop song, country, blues as well. Basically every song is played by instruments not by computer . I think it is really important to respect the roots (e.g. classical music), ’cause those musicians did a great work, included music theory which still in practice. I don’t like a few music genre but I can respect if it’s made with passion and love for music.

    • Imre Szabo on February 24, 2015 at 1:46 pm

      I forgot to say you are doing a fine work here, thank you, Carl!

  3. michael whitley on May 31, 2015 at 9:31 am

    Hi CARL thanks for all the time you put into these lessons , your a great teacher.

  4. Rusty Conyers on July 12, 2015 at 6:10 pm

    Carl, I have a question about how to get my guitar amp to sound like like yours(or the song you’re teaching. I have a fender mustang ll. I have a fender american strat. I know I can download and I’ve tried, but it still doesn’t sound like yours. Some settings or helpful hits maybe. I’m not that good, but I would at least like to sound like the recording. I hope this is not asking too much. Thanks. I was and still am a Marty fan, but you’re more detailed and I that you for that . I’ve learned more from you.

  5. Tokunbo Edward on August 11, 2015 at 6:59 pm

    Dear Carl,
    I love your tutorials on Youtube and i have some songs to request.
    These are songs by Johnny Flynn from the film, Song One.
    1. Iris, Instilled
    2. Black Cadillac
    3. Bulb Went Black
    I’m pretty good on the Acoustic Guitar. You do not have to stress up to make a video on Youtube.
    Kindly let me know the costs.

    Many thanks.

  6. ronnie sampson on September 8, 2015 at 11:45 pm

    carl could you do a lesson on krokus screaming in the night intro

  7. Heather Yanta on November 18, 2015 at 10:37 pm

    Can I request TNT by ac/dc please. Thanks

  8. James Madison on December 20, 2015 at 3:28 pm

    Could you do a lesson on Estranged by Guns n Roses please?

    • Carl Brown on December 21, 2015 at 10:51 am

      I plan on that being my next GN’R lesson series coming very soon!

  9. ronnie sampson on February 4, 2016 at 1:47 am

    can you do some bob seger maybe mainstreet?

  10. Ric59 on April 11, 2016 at 2:26 am

    Hi Carl, Excellent Tutorials. You have a really great site here.
    I may be in a minority here but would like to see some Pat Travers
    or Robin Trower please. Specifically “Just Another Day” by Trower
    Seems like it would not be ultra hard but is a nice moody guitar piece.
    Thanks, Ric

  11. Daniel Schram on June 7, 2016 at 6:56 pm

    Thanks for these great guitar lessons and for sharing your knowledge with us

  12. Jason Loehr on May 1, 2017 at 6:02 pm

    Hey, Carl! Could you do a lesson on, One of These Nights by Eagles?

  13. Mason Carter on March 23, 2018 at 3:46 pm

    I’m a beginner Electric Guitar player so can you plz do a lesson on tuning for back in black by AC/DC, Thanks.

  14. Megan on May 25, 2018 at 4:37 pm

    Hi Carl, could you do Even flow and Black by Pearl jam?

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