No Excuses Guitar Lesson – Alice In Chains – Unplugged
In this No Excuses guitar lesson video, I will show you how to play the unplugged version of this Alice In Chains hit on acoustic guitar.
Before watching this lesson and trying to play along with the original recording, you will need to tune your guitar down one-half step to (Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb).
The chords used throughout "No Excuses" are extremely easy. This is probably the easiest Alice In Chains song there is to play. At least until you get to the guitar solo.
Even though it may look like I am playing bar chords, in fact, none of the chords require a bar. The top two strings are allowed to ring open, creating a drone effect and making the song very easy to play.
There is a second guitarist (Scott Olson) playing along with Jerry Cantrell on this Unplugged version of "No Excuses". Olson is the one playing the lead guitar fills during the chorus. I have included the fills in the video lesson just in case you have a second guitarist to jam along with as well.
Jerry Cantrell's solo is going to be the most difficult section of the song by far. One thing that makes it a bit challenging is that Cantrell chose to play most of the solo up around the 12th position, which can be pretty uncomfortable on an acoustic guitar.
I will break the solo down phrase-by-phrase which will be the best way to tackle it. Hopefully, the added difficult on playing the solo in such a high register on the fretboard will make for a great strengthening exercise for your hands.
Carl...
If these free lessons help you, please donate to keep new ones coming daily. Thanks!! 🙂