Need You Tonight Guitar Lesson – INXS


In this quick Need You Tonight guitar lesson video, I will show you how to play all the chords and guitar riffs for this huge 80's hit by INXS.

The opening main riff of the song is instantly recognizable and utilizes some cool guitar techniques within it. It will require you to play a bar chord and have good muting skills to get it's punchy sound. The main riff also has some slapback echo and guitar layers so the closest you can really try to get it to the original sound is to perform the riff like they do live, which is exactly what we will do in this guitar lesson.

Speaking of those guitar layers, as I mention in the video, there is one guitar layer that comes in about half-way through the song that uses a guitar that is tuned down one-half step. I will point that out and show you how to best recreate it with a standard tuned guitar (which is what INXS did live) and also let you know how to play it if you do decide to tune down.

The verse introduces a tricky alternate picked riff. The trickiest part of this riff isn't the picking itself, but the rhythm. It is slightly varied during the repeat. This gives it a cool flowing quality, but pay close attention to this part of the lesson so you will know exactly how to accomplish that rhythm.

As for the rest of the song, I will tackle the chorus riffs and go over the more prominent guitar layers found throughout the track so you can confidently perform a good version of "Need You Tonight" with just one guitar in a live setting.

Hope you guys enjoy learning this 80's classic!

Carl...

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Need You Tonight Guitar Lesson - INXS

2 Comments

  1. Paul Bentley on December 13, 2023 at 6:21 am

    Hi Carl,

    Have you tried instead of doing the full C barre chord on the 8th, try the power chord shape off the ‘D’ string at the 10th, and you can leave the high ‘E'(3rd) open for the full chord. I think it keeps the high end funky sound of the guitar in the same area, plus you’re near to the area for the next chords. 🤘 🤩

    • Carl Brown on December 20, 2023 at 8:01 am

      I have to demonstrate the songs I teach in the exact same way the original artist performed it or else I would be crucified on YouTube. Feel free to play it however you wish. 🙂

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