Black or White Guitar Lesson – Michael Jackson

In this Black or White guitar lesson video, I will show you how to play all the guitar parts for this smash hit by Michael Jackson.

"Black or White" is dominated by a guitar riff played by Jackson's co-writer, Bill Bottrell. That riff is often incorrectly attributed to Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash. Slash's guitar playing is actually heard in the skit that precedes the album version of the song.

That guitar riff is instantly recognizable and is built around some simple triads. I have added the bass line to this riff just in case you would like to incorporate it into your playing of the song. But I will show you a couple of different ways as well in order to find one you like.

The chorus and pre-chorus are very simple since they only contain sparse major and power chords.

The bridge section is really fun to play when the guitar enters. It is still a rather simple riff, but it does move around quite a bit. You even get to play the ol' Hendrix chord, which is a E7#9. 🙂

After that I will demonstrate how to play the funky little breakdown section underneath the rap. That section contains some higher voiced chords, but it is the rhythm that is the most essential thing here.

I hope you guys enjoy learning this classic by the late great Michael Jackson!

Carl...

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Black or White Guitar Lesson - Michael Jackson