Drain You Guitar Lesson – Nirvana
In this Drain You guitar lesson video, I will show you all of the chords for one of Nirvana's greatest songs.
The original tuning is usually referred to as "D standard". It requires you to tune every string on your guitar down one whole-step. Those notes will, be starting from the 6th string, (D G C F A D).
As with other songs that Nirvana recorded in "D standard", live versions find them usually tuning down just one half-step instead of the whole -step down found on the original recording. So if you want to play along with a live version of this track, you will still play it the same way I teach it in this video lesson, however you will need to tune your guitar to (Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb). I will be using the original "D standard" tuning during the lesson video.
As for the chords you will be learning in "Drain You", Kurt Cobain keeps everything pretty basic. The main riff is based around simple power chords. The intro to the song simply plays that familiar riff with a clean guitar tone, followed by the band launching into the same riff with heavy distortion.
The only odd section will be the middle breakdown section. The are lots of effects being used here, including a rubber duck toy that Cobain brought into the studio. For that section, I will show you basically what he did during the live shows. It won't be possible to make it sound exactly the same, but you can definitely get the same chaotic effect.
I hope you guys enjoy learning this extremely fun Nirvana song!
Carl...
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