The Police – Every Breath You Take Video Guitar Lesson
In this free video guitar lesson you will learn how to play "Every Breaeth You Take" by the Police in it's entirety.
Besides being a HUGE smash hit, it also uses mostly add 9 chord voicings on the guitar which helps the song get it's haunting and open sound.
If you follow the fingerings I use in the video you will see how Andy Summers manages those difficult add 9 streches by the movement of his index finger in the middle of the picking pattern.
This "Every Breath You Take" guitar lesson will give you a great chord workout and in addition is a good study in controlling string dynamics with palm muting.
Hope you guys enjoy this one! Cheers! Carl..
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Hi, Carl. This is one of my favorite songs. But it seems to be one of those songs that requires big hands/long fingers to play. Is there an alternate fingering pattern that can be used for us small-handed blokes? Is so, what are they? Or is the small hand excuse just that, an excuse?
How are you positioning your thumb behind the fretboard? Make sure it is around the middle of the neck or maybe even slightly lower than that.
That will help your fingers spread out easier and reach those notes. Andy Summers isn’t a guy with very long fingers either. But he has really good positioning and playing form so that allows him to comfortably play those extended chords shapes. 🙂
Hey Carl, do you have any tablature for this song to go with the video?
Sorry Matt, I am not legally allowed to include TAB. 🙁
As a result of bilateral wrist surgeries, I will never have the ability to make the stretches required to play this
exactly as taught here.
But that didn’t stop me. My version sounds exactly the same as demonstrated by Carl, but removes the
obstacles. This may help someone else play this magnificent tune on the electric guitar.
The problem for me were the two first arpeggios, the rest I can manage.
1) Starting finger position: 2nd finger on the 5th str/7th fr, pinky on the 4th st / 9th fr. (skip over ring finger)
1st finger on the 3rd st/ 6th fr. To play arpeggio, simply pluck the open 5th string (A note), then hammer down with the second finger on the 5th st / 7th fr. (E note), keeping it down for the rest of the pattern.
Pretty much just the movement of one finger up and down. Totally works. Palm muting keeps this sound spot on.
2) Bar across 2nd fret w/ first finger. At the instant the F# is picked on 6th string, ease off pressure and slide
first finger bar up to the 4th fret while picking the 5th string . That provides the second note of C# . The balance of the arpeggio is nailed using the ring finger and pinky hammer on/off on the 4th string, 6th and 7th frets respectively (Aflat/A)
Notes of the arpeggio: F#,C#,Aflat, C#, A, Aflat , C#, Aflat
Try it. 🙂
Hey Carl,
Great lesson as always!
How about a new one? Tesla “Little Suzi”?
And maybe a couple old one’s? “Stairway To Heaven” and “Paradise City”?
Hi Carl,
all of your videos are just great – I love all of them.
What I think, what you could add, would be the technical details of the original song to be able to set up the home equipment to sound just like the originals, so what effects are used and maybe how they are setup.